I love my birds, and sometimes do some crazy stuff to accomadate them! I have a robin that nests on top of my garage door opener every year for the last 3 years..if i am doing anything in the garage she sits on the ledge and just bickers at me until i leave, so i do what i am doing, then leave every so often so she can get in there and feed her babies...i enjoy her..she follows the mower and grabs whatever she can after the grass is clipped..i get a kick out of her. i have a pileated woodpecker that comes every night at dusk and grabs huge chunks of a stump and just flings them over his shoulder..he is very skittish, and if he sees me he is gone for the day. i should have gotten rid of that stump years ago, but he seems to like it, so it stays... i have hummers all over..i just love them. 2 years ago, i had a pair of mourning doves make a nest right in the middle of my gravel driveway...so i moved it off to the side, and they went back to it and raised their chicks...i put traffic cones around it so nobody would accidentally run over it...it was the highlight of my day to see them..they drag their wing and act wounded to lure you away from their nest..every morning and every night, i watched them play wounded..they are still here, but further from the driveway now, so i don't get the show that i used to! i also get a huge kick out of the humminbird moths..they are all over my bee balm every summer..once you get used to spotting them, they are easy to find, and they aren't afraid at all, you can get them to sit on your hand..they look like mini hummingbirds.. i never just look at my roses..i always look at what supports them, and what they support...i am glad that i don't use chemicals..Donna

My garden and house caters first and mostly for my dog - he's the most pampered pet you can imagine :-) This includes his own doghouse in the garage (that he hardly ever uses, but is used by the roaming cats in the neighborhood, much to Timmy's distress), an enclosed front porch with doggie door, basket, rug and private sofa, free roaming of the garden, two more beds inside the house, etc. You get the picture - he's the king of it all :-) As for wildlife, since we live on the foothills of a small mountain range and part of a natural park, we do get quite a lot of critters. We have a birdbath that is used not only by the birds but also by the bees and wasps, of which there are gazillions (we are in a honey producing area). Birds in the garden include sparrows, robins in Fall and Winter, loads of blackbirds, gold finches and a multitude of others I can't name. Last Saturday I saw my first swallow of the year. Above us on the hill we can frequently spot hawks, of which there are some colonies in the park. At night owls are a frequent visitor and we can hear their calls many times. Cuckoos are also a familiar sound as soon as Spring is here. I have a lot of evergreens in the garden and this provides excellent nesting sites for the birds. Preferred are the bay trees, laurustinus and the conifers. I'm constantly finding nests whenever I prune anything. I had a resident bat for about a year, sleeping in a closed garden umbrella we had on the patio. Unfortunately I had to remove the umbrella because the wasps decided it was a good place to nest, so it had to go. I was already stung twice, didn't want to be stung whenever I opened the umbrella! Still, bats visit frequently and it's common to see one or two flying around the garden at dusk. Some years we have glow worms in the Spring, which I absolutely love. It's magical to see them hovering around the garden at night. Other assorted critters include geckos, small lizzards, snakes, mice (yuk!), crickets, locusts and the occasional hedgehog. In terms of specifically catering for critters, I keep the birdbath going all year (we don't have hard freezes) and try to plant things I know will be used by the wildlife. This includes berry shrubs like pyracantha which are a major hit with birds in the cold Winter months. I also have a weeping mulberry tree and let its production go to the birds, who have a feast with the fruits. The compost pile is also a good feeding ground and there's a little bird that spends hours there hunting for the small fruit flies that proliferate inside the pile. Butterflies are catered for with things like lantana, mock orange and buddleia. I need to add more larval food to cater for butterflies, but haven't come quite up to it yet. I don't use any sort of chemicals in the garden, don't even spray the roses, and this of course translates into a welcome sign for critters, even if it means that slugs and snails are huge, sigh... I don't use a slingshot to get rid of them, like Edna does ;-), but I do throw them onto a neighbooring field that is kept wild. All in all, I consider a privilege to have wildlife in the garden and have been slowly educating myself to encourage it as much as possible. Eduarda

LOL Tsuga. I think with the warmer weather we were having I was getting overzealous. I even started painting my garage, yet to be finished. I've been feeding suet all winter. In the past month, I've seen my first downy woodpecker as mentioned earlier, and another unidentified bird...same size as a sparrow, almost looks like a sparrow at a distance, but a closer look shows a muted red on its head and neck region, and when they spread their wings you can see a red spot on their back. Not bright red like a cardinal, a soft muted red. I've never seen them before. In one glance, I have robins, cardinals, juncos, the unidentified bird, chickadees, and usual sparrows in my yard. Tons of activity. They seem to be enjoying the new evergreen thuja green giant I planted last year too. I just purchased some black oil sunflower last night, have to figure out where I'm going to put it. I read the seeds inhibit plant growth.

Lemony Mushroom Risotto Gourmet : February 2001 This crowd-pleasing risotto works well as a main course-accompanied by green salad and crusty bread-or as a side dish for leftover chicken. Active time: 45 min Start to finish: 45 min Yield: Serves 6 to 8 2 2/3 cups boiling-hot water 1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms 3 cups chicken broth 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter 1/2 lb small cremini mushrooms, quartered 1 small onion, finely chopped 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons Arborio rice (8 oz) 1/4 cup dry white wine 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh lemon zest 1/4 cup finely grated parmesan 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley Pour 2/3 cup hot water over porcini in a heatproof cup and let stand until softened, about 10 minutes. Lift porcini out of water, squeezing excess liquid back into cup, and rinse well to remove any grit. Coarsely chop porcini. Pour soaking liquid through a paper-towel-lined sieve into a glass measure and reserve. Meanwhile, bring broth and remaining 2 cups hot water to a simmer. Keep at a bare simmer, covered. Heat 1 tablespoon butter in a heavy skillet over moderately high heat until foam subsides, then saut� cremini, stirring, until browned, about 7 minutes. Add porcini and reserved soaking liquid to skillet and boil, stirring, 1 minute. Remove from heat. Cook onion in 1 1/2 tablespoons butter in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 4 minutes. Add rice and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute. Add wine and simmer, stirring constantly, until absorbed. Stir in 1/2 cup simmering broth mixture and cook at a strong simmer, stirring frequently, until broth is absorbed. Continue simmering and adding broth 1/2 cup at a time, stirring frequently and letting each addition become absorbed before adding the next, until rice is tender but still al dente and creamy (it should be the consistency of a thick soup), 18 minutes. (There will be leftover broth.) Stir in zest, mushrooms, remaining 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, parmesan, parsley, and pepper to taste. (If necessary, thin risotto with some of remaining broth.) Serve immediately. ____________________________________ personal notes: add lemon juice to the porcini in the first step with the water, for extra lemon flavor. I also steeped the mushrooms in the lemon water overnight which worked well. Here is a link that might be useful: from Epicurious' website