I received my box from Faye today and wow! what a large box she sent stuffed full of goodies! I love everything she sent which included a beautiful tin "welcome" sign with flowers and a dragonfly, a darling patriotic cottage style windchime, a large pack of seed bags,plant ties,post it notes, sharpie markers, glitter glue, garden gloves, hand lotion, an "Outdoor Favorites Recipe Book" which my husband confiscated already, a great variety of wonderful candy and bouncing balls for the grandkids (they're gonna love them), and a bunch of different garden seeds which I can't wait to plant. And last but not least, the cutest card with an adorable puppy and kitty on the front with a surprise amazon MP3 gift card inside so I can purchase download my own favorite music! Perfect! I adore everything, but my favorite is the patriotic cottage style windchime! It matches my house style just right and how cute! You sent too much Faye. Everything is greatly appreciated. I would have chosen the same things if I were buying it for myself! You are such a great gardening friend! So thoughtful! Thank you, thank you, thank you! Sue N.

Ok, Matoad! Lets see if I can make this a little bit easier for you. Go to the link below, put in your zip code, and hit enter. Youll come up with a list of the birds that youll commonly see in your area. Thatll eliminate a whole lot of possibilities! Dont click on the link on top that says: Show this checklist with rare species included. Thatll just freak you outyou and a whole bunch of other peopleme included! Once you get to the list youll be able to eliminate a bunch of the birds, like most of the water birds, right away, and youll wind up with a pretty short list of ones you need to try to identify. If you see something and have some idea what it might be, click on the name on the list and youll come up with a picture and some basic information. Then click on Identification, and youll get a whole bunch more information along with more pictures and information/pictures of "similar species." Since youre already starting with a list of the most likely birds, its a lot easier to use than a book that has birds from all over the country. If you see something and you dont have any idea at all what it is, flip thru one of your books to get some idea of what it is, and then go back to the list with the limited choices. Since youre here in the metro area, youre list is probably the same as mine. If you have sparrows or sparrow-like birds, theres a pretty good chance youre looking at house sparrows (which arent really sparrows) or house finches (which really ARE finches!!!) Check out those pictures and Im betting it'll cover a whole lot of the birds youre seeing. Up here in Thornton the birds I mostly see are House Finches, Eurasian Collared Doves, Mourning Doves, Red Shafted Northern Flickers, Hairy Woodpeckers, Blue Jays, sometimes Goldfinches and a couple kinds of Juncos, and, of course, Robins. I rarely see them at this house (had them at the last house which is only a couple miles away), but I know there are Downy Woodpeckers and Black Capped Chickadees around here. Oh! And how could I forget? I also have herds of blackbirds! I do my best to keep them scared away, but sometimes thats a losing battle! Over the years Ive seen a few other things, but that list covers 99% of the birds I regularly see at the feeders in my yard. If you put out "generic" bird seed, you probably have mountains of House Sparrows too. I quit feeding millet several years ago, so they finally stopped coming to eat me out of house and home. I feed black oil sunflower, safflower, and thistle now, and though they cost more, at least its going to birds that "matter!" In winter I feed suet too. If you see something that you dont have a clue about and you can get a picture of it, post it and theres probably somebody around here who can tell you what it is. Last year I think I did it on two of the days. I just kept a scratch pad nearby and listed things as I saw them, and then just changed the number any time I saw more of any particular bird at the same time. Youre not supposed to keep track of the total number you see during the dayjust the most you see at any one time. After youve counted you just go to the Backyard Bird Count site and you go to a page which is very similar to the list youve been referring to for identification, then you scroll down to the right bird and enter your numbers. The second picture above is a male hairy woodpecker and the third one is a Eurasian collared dove. Ive never before or since seen so many, but on one of the bird count days last year I had TWELVE robins in my yard at the same timenine at the birdbath right outside of the window, and the rest on the grass real close to it. I couldnt believe it when they just kept coming and coming! I usually have a pair or two around. Hope I get to see that many at the same time again sometime! It really is easy if youre around to keep an eye out for them. I hope this info will encourage you and others to give it a try. When you have time, go to the list to identify the birds youre seeing before the bird count. Most of the birds you see will be the same ones over and over, so once you know what they are you wont need to be trying to identify them on the count day. Everybodylet us know if we can try to help you identify something, Skybird

Hi Claire and Jud, Yeah, you both are right about the redpolls being around a lot- been having a flock of about 20 come by frequently everyday. I have to give an update now because I've uploaded some videos on youtube since the last time I posted here. Can you believe I'm having problems once again now with this Sony camera. Like the other two cameras, the focus has issues, it wants to work when it wants to. Here is a recent video i did on the redpolls and you wil see what I'm talking about (otherwise it's a good camera)- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Klb44uKe6Z0 Here is two redpolls that stay together all the time, away from the flock, I named them 'Sue and 'Lou'. They are a funny pair- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UelrTOoY0U Here is the red breasted nuthatch, I named him 'Zippy" ê - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hVYPQ5FpBDw Remember I mentioned about the flock of dark birds with the long beak coming around a whole bunch? Well, I found out they are European Starlings. I have one in particular that comes by many times a day and talks- I named it 'Centra'- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-j6gXSQ9FM I still see the ones with the black top and black going down the chest, just haven't caught a clear photo on camera yet. I ended up naming the raven too- I named him 'Rav'. He comes by too and talks a lot. He is one cool raven and funny too- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyyaWHIN_lM http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2R7k7tjle0. I'll be posting a short video of Crooked Beak, Squeaker and baby soon. Ed

Amy, If there is anything worse than looking for the glasses (or two pairs of glasses) perched on your head, it is doing that same thing while also looking for the set of keys that you actually are holding in your hand as you search for your keys and glasses simultaneously. Some days I wonder how Tim and I manage to get out of the house at all. It is almost a given that I leave the house last when we are going someplace because I am looking for my keys or glasses....but then, I finally make it out to the vehicle, and he remembers he forgot something and has to go back inside. Every. Single. Time. We decided we just have to laugh about it together or it would drive us bonkers. A sense of humor is a valuable part of aging. HU, I've been watching the precipitation forecast, and am not happy about it. Then I drive myself nuts by looking at the 6-10 day outlook, the 8-14 day outlook, etc. I am trying to stay calm and not freak out over the coming rain, but of course, I am not happy. Maybe we'll get lucky and it will miss us. No, I don't really think that will happen, but I am going to hope it will. Just when I think the soil will dry out enough to be workable, here comes more rain. The temperatures are lovely though. It was 77 degrees here today at our house, and that's an awesome temperature for the last day of February. The trees know it though---leafing out and blooming and looking so happy. Tomorrow should be equally nice, but the high temperatures and wind will combine to give us High Fire Danger again, which we've had every day for the past week, I think. It is that time of the year. Hopefully there won't be many fires on Sunday. Jennifer, Inoculant is interesting and how much it does or doesn't help depends on what your soil already is like. If you've already grown peas and beans in the area, the necessary rhizobia bacteria might already exist in your soil, so if it does, you don't really need to inoculate. It never hurts to use it though. Think of bean and pea inoculant as a sort of probiotic for your plants. Generally you will get growth that is more lush, green and productive if you've used it because it helps the plants fix nitrogen. Jen, I'm glad you found a chow rescue. Jennifer, I agree with dbarron that one blackberry plant would be fine as almost all modern-day blackberry varieties are self-fruitful. I cannot think of a single variety available nowadays that needs a separate variety as a pollinator. If there was one, the native berries likely would take care of it. With just one plant, though, you shouldn't expect enough berries at one time to make jam or anything like that. Learn about proper pruning because the berries that produce on a plant in a given year come from either floricanes or primocanes, and the plant must be pruned at the right time accordingly. Most blackberry varieties produce on floricanes, but there's some newer varieties that produce on primocanes. Also, do your research and know if the variety you're being is erect, semi-erect or trailing so you can put up the appropriate kind of support. Then, prepare to fight the birds and other wild critters for every single berry. Here's the OSU Fact Sheet on Growing Blackberries in the Home Garden. It will tell you everything you need to know to get started with blackberries. Blackberry & Raspberry Culture in the Home Garden I grew them for 12 or 14 years here in three different locations on our property, and then the voles began eating their roots and I finally gave up. My gardening life was so much easier when the garden had a shorter fence, the bobcats patrolled the garden and the voles stayed away from the garden. Of course, the tradeoff was that the deer jumped the fence and got into the garden, which is why the shorter fence wasn't the best choice overall and was replaced with a taller fence. At the time we did that, I had no idea what a problem the voles then would become. And, yet, the voles don't eat the roots of the native dewberries (trailing blackberries) that invade my garden every year. Dawn