Just a couple of miles from my house is a long streach of farmland. Open pastures, uncut woods. You can literally drive for miles and not see a house. There is a flock over there, I see them a lot when I'm passing thru to my house close to sunset. There must be between 30 and 40, we lost track last time we tried to count around 25. And they will cross the road in a flock, never paying attention to the car or to our intrusion. I also have the same thing going on with a lot of deer around here too. Broad daylight and they will just stand and stare at you. The turkeys are supposed to be shy, I had never seen but one before and I've been a pretty avid outdoorswoman all my life, riding horses, camping and on dirt bikes. I was so shocked, I just stopped in the middle of the road and watched them pass. I understand the population is getting much larger, maybe that has something to do with it. I'm no expert, but they look the same as the ones here.

During the breeding season just the males in my yard display the tail feathers - the females hang around as usual, although sometimes the feathers on their backs look a bit ruffled. A few years ago two hens showed up with about a dozen babies and the two of them started an elaborate display. I think they saw I was watching them; I don't know if it was a warning or just showing off the babies. I haven't seen this again. Female turkeys with display Claire

Actually we are fat because of the fat fairy. Remember when you put your tooth under the pillow and got a quarter? Or nickel? Well, that winged (^(^((&&*&%$%$ takes the teeth and grows them into fat cells. When you are sleeping happily with all your adult teeth she sneaks in and glues it to your butt and thighs, and anywhere else she can. And uh, I kind of roll around in the dirt too, it sure makes me happy to be all dirty in the garden! Tally Ho!

I have flowers on 3 varieties out of however many I planted---maybe 8 or 10 varieties. The ones that are flowering are the ones with earlier DTMs. I don't always get flowers on potato plants. They seem more prone to flower when we are having a prolonged period of cool, moist, rainy weather just like we've had for much of April. That don't bloom as much, or at all, in a spring with hot, dry weather. I planted later than usual this year and didn't really expect to see flowers in April this year, but you get what you get. The temperatures we have been having are absolutely perfect for potato plants but I wish we were having more intense sunlight for them instead of constant clouds. Although I don't know that the two things are necessarily related, I've noticed that tuber initiation often begins around the same time the potato plants flower. Based on that, we'll be able to harvest some new potatoes in a few weeks to go with freshly-picked green beans (which now are just blossoms themselves). Green beans with new potatoes is one of our favorite springtime meals.