Love the blog BECAUSE yesterday I drove to a Tucson wildlife rehab home and gave them one orphaned Gambel's quail chick. I had it for one day and then was told by the feed store that is was illegal to raise it. "Pipsqueek" showed up first in my garden compound and then, six hours later in my garage at which time I caught it and brought it inside to rest on a low temp heating pad. I was thrilled to read comments on how it is possible for numerous eggs to hatch at once when only one a day is laid. Thanks for that. Here is a suggestion to discourage any birds from laying eggs in pots or other containers you want to be off limits: Partially crush aluminum cans and lay around the plants, totally covering the possible nesting site. The birds can't fit in there now and should find a more suitable site. I have used this for years, even placing cans on top of the patio fan where some dumbbells want to roost! It is unsightly but very effective. Replace when a strong wind blows the can(s) off. Here are 2 photos of "Pipsqueek" I took yesterday. I placed a toy Hush Puppy dog in the box because it had droopy ears like a bird's wing and that did the trick to comfort the baby quail. The mirror initially helped, too. I don't know how to include a video I took.

Hi, lauramg8 I'm looking for mostly shade plants. I need to fill an area between my house and driveway. It is fairly steep and shaded by my neighbor's house and a very large oak. The shrubs and bushes that are there now are not doing well. They are leggy and have fungi growing on them. Over all, they just don't look healthy. There is no ground cover so every time it rains some soil is washing down onto the driveway. The roots on a couple of the dogwoods are more visible now than a couple of years ago. I'm not quite sure what I'm looking for since I am new to gardening. I do know that I would like to plant things for the wildlife e.g. food for butterflies, bees, and birds. -Tina

Thanks for your concern, Golddust. I'm OK, just got out of a cold shower. Finished harvesting the tomatoes in the greenhouse while it was raining, so it wasn't as hot in there as when the sun is blasting in. But the tropical air mass has won round one. Natal, your description of the air as "thick and dripping" is right on. I feel like I should be able to reach up and squeeze the moisture out of it. Mrsmarv, I think we'll be heading North too when the time comes we can't handle this place anymore. I was thinking today that I don't have the genetic background to handle this weather- my ancestors came from Scandinavia. I must have thick blood.

I see my post caused a bit of a stir. First, we live in Canada so the benefits of an LLC are not applicable here. In Canada, we can set up a business as a sole proprietorship, partnership, or incorporation. With both sole and partner, the individual(s) personal income and assets are liable if the business goes south. In incorporating, personal is separate from business. Ultimately, incorporating is most beneficial. However, we decided to go for a partnership and for a couple of reasons. One, we don't foresee making oodles of money in our first year. Secondly, we will invest our own money into the business. And because our income and business are interlinked in a partnership, any moneys we use (income and profits) will help lower our tax (that's the general idea). Our plan is to throw all profits right back into the business. Doing this will show we are actually "losing" money and so the amount of taxes we will pay will be lower. Once enough money is made so that we can let go of our 9-to-5 jobs and focus solely on our business, we will then switch from partnership to incorporation. First thing we did when dreaming up this concept was to secure an accountant and have been following his advice.