lol, Well, I'm relieved to hear they won't go hungry. We wouldn't want any swarms of hungry hoppers flying all over the state. Every year, I look at the APHIS Rangeland Grasshopper forecast so I have an idea of what to expect during the growing season. Based on the 2015 forecast, I am not expecting huge hordes of them here---only moderate-sized hordes slightly to my west. They're always worse to our west as our county varies a great deal in terrain and climate, with the western areas having very sandy soil and generally drier weather and the eastern areas having more clay and 2-4" more rainfall during the growing season. However, if you look at the 2015 forecast, which I've linked below, you can see that they forecast a huge hopper population for this summer right there in the TX panhandle, so I guess we shouldn't be surprised that the hungry little devils are flying in swarms large enough to be caught on radar. We also probably should have expected that after they exhausted the food supply in TX, they'd had straight for OK where plentiful rainfall this year has left lots of green food to tempt them. I'm actually not that concerned about the damage those hoppers will do when they get to OK. We have so much more green out in the pastures, fields, etc. that they will not just automatically flock to home gardens like they do in drought years when the fields are brown and only irrigated farms and gardens are green. I'm more concerned about how many eggs they'll lay in the soil here in OK that will lead to a population boom in 2016....which is closer than it sounds. 2015 APHIS Grasshopper Rangeland Forecast

I have a set of Native American Medicine cards, the Raven: black as pitch/mystical as the moon/speak to me of magic/I will fly with you soon The Crow: Are you cawing/so I may know/the secrets of balance/within my soul?/ Or are you sending/your sacred caw/just to remind me/of universal laws? Sorry, I can't format this better, the / substitutes for line breaks.

They are attacking their competitors for the females reflected in the windows. I've had them do it for weeks some years. My only consolation was thinking they were too busy going after themselves in the windows that they likely didn't find any time to mate...and pass on the stupid gene. Depending on the window location, for both robins and woodpeckers (pecking on the house), I've had good luck with a mylar helium filled balloon - if you can get it to float in front of the window...or anything that flutters in the breeze will spook them away. One year I put curling ribbon streamers, thumbtacked above the windows. Worked great until I came home one day and he had pulled them all down to use in embellishing his nests, trying to impress his mate. (apparently, the male robin builds the nests and often builds several prototypes hoping one will entice a female to lay her eggs in it. Or you can try an inflatable owl you can get at a marine supply store. Good luck!

Hello Girls the box is safe and sitting in my kitchen. I may wait till tomorrow so I can enjoy it.. I cleaned the community garden today. Pulling wood stakes ,string and labels. Anything that will jam up a rototiller next year. Then had to unload and clean the car. My hands are killing me. I am looking forward to see what my OBF friends have included for next years garden Thank you