I got some rain!!! YEAH!!! Not a ton but enough to make my hostas ALL start poking their noses through! Aside from those...there is a bunch of things all about 1-2" up...name a few..... Astilbe Rudbeckia Lady's Mantle Sedum Assortment of Iris's Tulips - of course Daylilies are not like 6" tall Fern's Liatris A few more but I can't remember! Seems like the SUN part of my perennials are more on the up and up! Even my PARADE rose (a little rose!) that I got last year for my flower boxes was put in the ground and mulched heavy and is already showing green shoots!! I got it for like $5.00 a piece at Walmart...they bloomed little roses/like in a little bush with little dollar coin roses all summer and I thought they would not make it but obviously did!! The Snapdragons I planted last week are doing FABULOUS and so is the morning glory! I am impressed! I live in the Minneapolis area..Hennipen county...can anyone tell me...if I am DARING do you think I can put some cucumbers or squash out there? I started them indoors (I always do!) and theyare like 8" tall (squash-zucchini) and have multiple leaves, and like 5" tall (q-cumber)! They are soooo ready to go out there and keep asking me but I was scared....they will go in in the same area/sort of, as the snapdragons up against the fence/trellis with no wind! Anyone think I can drop them in this week???? Weather looks like 50 will be the night low after Tues.!!!! I am anxiuos I know!!!! Also...can anyone tell me...we are going to move my veggie area to a few NEW raised bed areas....it will be like 12" deep....what do you recommend me using for filler?? I know I need soil, compost manure, and maybe some sand? Anyone know what amounts of each?? Is there a ratio?? Also....I can't use TOP SOIL so should I just bite the bullet and buy all bags of the expensive potting soil for the "soil" part? Thanks much in advance! Becca

Mac, Hi, my name is Linda and I'm a bird addict (esp. bluebirds, I'll admit). LOL I started with bluebird boxes in 2004 and have gone through all the stages that you describe except the BB gun (knock on wood, I don't have problems with HOSP but don't even breathe the words 'house wren' to me...long story). You will find that you will wake early and the first thought on your mind is 'how are the birds'? And you will go to bed with the words 'hope the birds will be ok.' As far as info, besides the link to sialis.org, this board is the best place I can think to come to ask questions, the place you come when things have gone bad and you just want to cry to someone, the place where you won't be judged because you have mealies in your fridge. As Lisa so aptly put it: you have just begun. It's a long story but I was recently seen throwing a kitchen implement at a bird who was causing problems. In a past year when it was extremely hot, I put not only 1 reflective umbrella over the bluebird box but I dragged my patio umbrella from the back yard to front, along with the heavy base, and put it over the umbrella and the box. We are certifiable. But we have each other :) Hang in, enjoy what you can, accept that there will be times when things won't go the way you want them to. bluebird blessings, Linda...

Linda, If you look at these picture you can see how I put eye screws in the top of the box. Then I tied a couple 3/4 inch washers on the end of the fish line for weight, that's so the line doesn't blow around and get tangled up. You don't want it hanging too close to the opening or there is a risk of the blues getting tangled in it. Then put it through the other eye screws and tie washers on the other end. If you look closely at the second photo you can see where I filed a very narrow notch in the roof so the string hangs in the same place all the time. Just pull it down tight in the notch being carefull not to break it. Also in the first picture you see the silver mylar ribbons hanging on the box. That is the curly gift wrapping ribbon type stuff that you put on Christmas or birthday gifts. It's waterproof and it blows around in the wind. For some reason I can't explain, the sparrows won't go near it. I learned that trick from another Bluebird web site. A woman researcher in CA. discovered that the sparrows don't like it. As far as the screen inside, I left mine in so the nest is off the bottom of the box so it stays dry. There are vents that let the air circulate and that also helps it stay cooler since the box is out in the open sun. I also left the pegs in because the blues will roost on them during cold weather. They didn't seem to be in the way when the adults were going completely inside the box to feed the little ones or to remove the fecal sacs. In the pictures it looks like the box is close to the fence, but it's about eight feet away from it mounted on a pole with a baffle and grease on the pole below the baffle. After the babies fledged I cleaned the box out the next day and the nesting material was free of any bugs and completely dry. Leaving the box just the way I bought it seemed to work just fine so I won't change it. "If it ain't broke, don't fix it" is my motto. I hope this helps you, I had a successful nesting and now the parents are bringing the young ones to my feeder for the mealworms I put out every day. My success is a combination of luck, research and all the help from members of this forum. I hope I get lucky and have another nesting but it's getting late in the season and the nights are already getting pretty cool here in the mountains of eastern WV.

This letter to the journal Nature outlines the safety risk of antibiotic resistance due to horizontal gene transfer from GMOs and points out that this is not the only risk that needs to be urgently addressed by the authorities. ------ Ampicillin threat leads to wider transgene concern Sir: We are concerned by the suggestion, in your Editorial "Don't rely on Uncle Sam" (Nature 434, 807; 2005), that the US Food and Drug Administration does not consider the presence of the ampicillin-resistance gene in Syngenta's unapproved variety of genetically modified Bt10 maize to represent a safety problem. This is not the view of the UK government's scientific advisers (the DEFRA Antimicrobial Resistance Coordination Group), who state that some important veterinary pathogens remain susceptible to ampicillin (K. L. Goodyear et al. J. Antimicrob. Chemother. 54, 959; 2004). They state that there is "extremely low or no detected resistance in certain bacterial species", so that "any occasional transfer of resistance genes to these organisms would be a very significant event". If, as a result of such horizontal gene transfer, it became necessary to use more modern antimicrobials to treat animal disease, they write, "then there could be significant consequences for the consumer through the food chain". The risk of horizontal gene transfer from genetically modified organisms (GMOs) is not a theoretical one. One study found that, after Bt genes in plasmid form were incubated in the saliva in a sheep's mouth for a few minutes, they could still transform Escherichia coli bacteria so that they developed antibiotic resistance (P. S. Duggan et al. Br. J. Nutr. 89, 159$B!](B166; 2003). In addition, it is worth noting that the ampicillin-resistance gene in Bt10 maize and other genetically modified crops is a remnant of the bacterial plasmid inserted into these varieties, and would therefore function very efficiently if taken up by bacteria as a result of horizontal gene transfer. Once the Bt10 maize incident has been dealt with, we feel there should be a review of the general question of horizontal gene transfer from GMOs. There is no reason to believe that any health implications are confined to antibiotic-resistance marker genes; they could, for example, equally apply to the inserted Bt toxin genes present in all genetically modified Bt crops. However, the transfer of antibiotic resistance is the only such risk currently being addressed by the authorities that regulate GMOs. We consider that the case-by-case approval approach used by the authorities does not adequately address such problems, which are common to all GMOs. Gundula Azeez Soil Association, 40-56 Victoria Street, Bristol BS1 6BY, UK