I love the color of the cup and saucer. Very pretty! I actually found this same wine bottle and 4 of it's shorter friends for 25 cents each earlier today! I totally would've paid $3 for that big one though!

After trying to pay attention I am seeing birds with different color beaks but haven't paid attention to the tails so that will be my next thing to look after. I am believing that there are different types of birds around here now as there are some that have dark beaks and some with light, don't know about my fish thief though as I havne't seen it happen again. I have realized some have yellow eyes and some black but did not pay attention to beak color, again, at the same time as the eyes. I need to be more observant. There are also some that land on my feeder and eat and some that forage the ground and some that walk like pigeons with the bobbing head. I'm trying to pay more attention when I have spare times to sit and watch and tell the difference between the different types I'm seeing and their behaviors so maybe I can figure this out and learn more about what is in my yard. My first instinct was the martin because of the colonies and I always see them flying, as described (When I first moved here I thought they were some kind of hawk babies because of their flight). Now I'm realizing that there are more than one type of birds that I'm seeing.

NancyPlants - this is my third year growing trees & shrubs. First year I grew Kousa dogwood, last year I grew apple, pear, St. John's wort, potentilla/cinquefoil and spirea. The dogwoods from year one grew 15" the first season and another 14" this year. I'm growing them in large containers but will plant them next spring so they have regular soil in which to spread their roots and continue growing. My neighbor who laughed hilariously at the idea of winter sowing the first year but who also brought me a truckload of recycled milk jugs from the town dump every week wasn't laughing by the time the green wave rolled through in April/May. This year he brought me 4 heirloom apple and 10 pear tree seeds from a farm in northern Vermont and asked me to winter sow them for him. I gave him 4 apple seedlings and 10 pear tree seedlings in April. A few weeks ago he brought me 12 seeds from the apple tree that grows behind the town hall. Those I divided evenly between two milk jugs. They are winter sown and sitting outside along with the other containers I've done so far. The St. John's wort and spirea sprouted wonderfully and I planted two pots of SJW either side of my front door back in October. I set the spirea in a large container on my breezeway until I decide where to plant it. I harvested seeds from my neighbor's pink spirea. You're welcome to seeds in exchange for postage if you'd like to give them a try.

My little 5 yr old son put us in our place (a long time ago). This joyful package of life came bounding toward us one day and remarked, "I know why there are 2 parents!" My wife and I shot glances toward eash other and we read on each other face. So soon? We'd hoped this sort of conversation would come later. My wife replied, "No. Tell us why." He replied, "Its because when I am hungry and one of you is busy, the other one can feed me!" That explained it. Thanks for little boys and their logic. It put us in our place and taught us a lesson: Get the full story before answering - don't make asumptions.