It's good to hear that you have properly mounted your nestboxes with baffles. Your Blues will be much safer in their future nestings. Good luck in the return of your Blues. Also, you may want to think about either making or buying a sparrow spooker if you have house sparrows around.

almost any prefinished hardwood the recommended cleaning is a product like Bona (home depot) normally sells it with a microfiber mop. You don't really need much of cleaner but the method would be to lightly spray the mop with cleaner or water and then go over the floor. Unless the floor is heavily soiled plain water would be the best. Don't use products from the grocery store. HD sold a mop like a swiffer that sprayed the floor. It was a Bona product.

LOL! Here they are: Oberon -- 22 pounds of attitude! He'll be three on Nov. 6. Zora the Diva -- she just turned 3 on June 22 (she actually climbed into bed and pulled the covers up over herself) Zigfried (125 pounds, but Obie punks him out all the time. His bark is definitely worse than his bite!) and Zelda (she's a Pepper & Salt Giant, and one of 10 -- yes, TEN -- of Zora and Zig's litter born March 1 and 2 of 2007. Her coat is beginning to get more gray in it now; this pic was taken at the first of April) And finally, Zena (Zena is a puppy mill rescue that I intended to foster, but she fit in so well with my pack that she stayed) So, I guess you understand that I don't just want a pool -- I NEED a pool! Giants literally have webbed feet and will swim for hours if allowed to do so. Making the trek to White Rock Lake for swimming with my motley crew is no longer an easy thing to do. LOL! They are really humans in fur! Oh! And here's the ten little Giants last year, about a week before they went to their new homes (at seven weeks, they were alreay weighing between 20 and 25 pounds -- the size of my Mini! LOL!):

red eared-You did the right thing w/the turtle! That blind turtle of my mom's is going to outlive her, that is too much of a commitment for me, without any payoff, as far as I am concerned! I would love to see pics of your house. Post them here if you want! hoosier-Thanks! I guess since this is going to be our home for a loooong time, I feel I want everything perfect. Also, this is the first(and maybe the last) house that is not only a home, but a way of expressing ourselves. I never used to be "into" interior decorating, landscaping, etc. I mean, I could appreciate a beautifully appointed room or a pretty plant, but now I am actually interested in learning more about them both. While I just said I feel more comfortable in a slighly messy (lived in) house, I also appreciate going to someone's house and seeing that a "mood" has been created and effort has been put into bringing it all together. I am worried about having my beautiful spanish dining set handed down from my parents, gorgeous art on the walls, well thought out window treatments and then have something simple and basic as baseboards detract. But yes, yes, I know...no one is noticing! Except maybe a Gardenwebber. Not sure I would let any of you in my home! Haha, I kid, I kid!