Larry, Since armadillos cannot get into my fenced garden, I generally only see their holes in the grass lawn or their tail drag marks in the gravel driveway. I almost never see footprints for that reason--the clay ground where the lawn is never has enough moisture that anything leaves tracks in it. I did see footprints one year when I left the garden gate open and one got into the fenced garden. It promptly dug a very deep burrow underneath a raised bed...going in from the side pathway, and I had a heck of a time getting him (or her) out of there. We have not had substantial rain in a long time so our soil is so hard that you'd think the armadillos couldn't dig it at all, but they do. However, I did water the lawn for a few weeks when we overseeded with winter rye in October so that did soften up the ground enough for the dillos to dig. Our rainfall for the last 30 days is less than 20% of average. We are having pretty heavy frost on most mornings, so that is a small bit of moisture and I guess it is better than nothing, but it is just barely better than nothing. I have a general gut feeling that we will see very little precipitation for the rest of the year. We do have ant hills. They popped up a month or two ago when we had an inch of rain. I've been scattering organic fire ant killer on those mounds whenever I run across one. They are more common right now in my garden veggie garden soil than in the yard in general. Our last pond is down to only a few inches of water and it looked pretty stagnant and brackish when I checked the water level yesterday. All the wildlife goes there to drink, so I'm going to have to drag out the two child-sized wading pools today and put them down by that pond and fill them with the water hose. I did that all of last summer but hadn't used them much this year. For the last two months, I have been filling small wildlife watering holes in the ground with the hose every few days. Lots of birds, coons, armadillos and other small critters drink from those small fairly shallow depressions but the deer and larger animals prefer to drink from the deeper pond or, when it dries up, from the wading pools. Every now and then I fill up a small overflow pond next to the lily pond with water. At most, it holds about 6" of water. When I fill it up, the cardinals and other birds splash, bathe and play for hours. They seem about as starved for water as the ground and plants. This is a rough year, waterwise. I hope next year is better. Dawn

"I also once had a keeshound, so cute, but I made the mistake of not knowing the breed before buying and they need yards and room to run." I don't know who told you that about Keeshonden but that's not particularly accurate as a definitive statement. I've been a Keesmom for 7+ years now and volunteered with Kees rescue for a time (left due to philosophical differences); it took us a year of research to choose a breed. (Mutts are fantastic dogs if you're more flexible than we are about size, temperament, and such, but we needed the relative predictability.) Like any dog, they do need exercise to stay healthy but ordinary walks can be plenty sufficient, which is one of the many reasons why we chose the breed. I taught him to go round on a lunge line like a horse for those days when I was too unwell and DH too busy to give him a proper walk, since he was never interested in things like chasing a ball or Frisbee. This is the first house we've had with a properly fenced yard as opposed to a trolley or a small fenced run primarily for toileting, and it's not even very large. Our handyman is Dutch (and he was very surprised to see a Keesie here!) and says they are as common "back home" as a Lab is here, even in dense urban areas. Of course, if you want to get into agility, flyball, or other doggy athletics, the average Kees is more than happy to oblige and bust his furry little behind to make his people proud of him. Keesies are usually far more intellectually energetic than physically energetic; they are often too smart and creative for their own good, and if they get bored they can get extremely inventive looking for something to do, which many people interpret as the dog needing to be exhausted with a great deal of vigorous exercise instead of mentally stimulated. That goes double if they're lonely, with many Kees preferring the company of humans to that of other dogs - they CAN be very intellectually and emotionally demanding dogs. sovra, your friends will be best off contacting a Dalmatian-specific rescue. They can start by Googling "dalmatian rescue" and working from there. A Dal with a history of aggression toward smaller animals (probably a high prey drive combined with lack of training/redirection) needs some serious rehab work with an experienced fosterer before s/he is ready for home placement.

Thanks for all your hard work Karen! Can't wait to read it in its entirety. Jodi-

Thanks again everyone for your very kind comments about the photos and thanks Jemdandy for the monarch explanation. Here is NB we are a zone 5b. According the the Vesey & HGTV Canada growing zones site, Casey is about the same 5b-6, which I found surprising. So I am sure if she gets the seeds started the plant should do fine. We do have a naturalized milkweed that grows, strangely enough, along a railway tracks. Unfortunately the rail company regularly cuts the vegetation along the tracks for safety reasons so it is more difficult to get the seeds unless you know someone with the plant. I just found someone this summer on a garden tour and she gave me a plant and seeds so I should have naturalized seeds next year I hope. These seeds are from a cultivated plant, orange butterfly/milk weed (Asclepias tuberosa). I have been able to keep it growing for a fews years now. Our Monarch population in Canada has dropped in recent years so I am trying to plant things that will draw them back. Without crucial plants like the milkweed, we will loose them completely. Again thanks for the lovely and encouraging comments about the photos...they are much appreciated.