"Where exactly does a property owner have what you suggest as an absolute right to do whatever he/she likes with his/her own property? Certainly not in these United States" Exactly my point. Our property rights (as protected by the Constitution) have unfortunately vanished. It is evident by the reaction of many on this board. Cutting down a tree is far different than pouring toxins in a stream. Surely you can see that. What if the property owner dislikes redwoods wants to cut the tree, let it rot (no profit motive) and plans to plant his favorite trees (say tan oaks or big leaf maples) instead. Should that be legislated as illegal as well?.... "So far they have only succeeded at achieving that goal in dictatorships." I disagree again. Usually one of the first things that a dictator (socialist and communist) will do is take away property rights and right to bear arms. Usually in the name of "the common good" I would rather see the greed of millions of people or groups of people looking out for and competing for their own best interest than an all powerful government looking out for the interests of a few (themselves and their wealthy donors). If we have to lose an occasional tree because of some idiot, it is a price we pay for freedom. Long story short it seems that it would be so much more efficient for concerned people to pool their money and go offer these knuckle heads some money to sell the land. They could turn it into a park and charge small fees to care for it. Instead they throw millions down the rat hole, cesspool of Washington lobbyists (talk about greed) just to hope to have a little influence.

The story doesn't end there, I'm afraid. As I said, I plugged the hole in the nest box where the TUTIs nested. While I was distracted with them, a pair of bluebirds who have been hanging around here started a nest in my second video box which is in my back yard. I hadn't been paying enough attention because I had intended to put that one out of commission also. By the time I turned my attention to that box, the nest was almost done. Mama has been working on the nest and at the same time working with Daddy to feed the 3 (maybe 4) fledglings from their first brood which grew up somewhere else (I'd seen the parents come to my feeder and carry mealies off beyond my yard a few houses/never did find where the nest was; I'm guessing they got evicted by our little brown bird 'friend'). So for the last few days I have been so happy to see the whole family in my backyard, all 5 or 6 of them. They go back and forth from the mealie feeder to the top of the nest box which is not far away. Anyway, I WILL be monitoring the box as carefully as I can. My husband rigged up a cord that goes from the nest box to inside my kitchen. If I see a HOWR on the box or in the box, I pull on the cord and can shake the nestbox! Hope I never have to use it. The box is also easier to get to than the one in the front (no steps, yeah!). I have evidence that having the whole BB family around will offer them a lot of protection. As I watched (and recorded), a HOWR went into the nest box & started to pick at the nesting material with the intention, I'm sure, of throwing it out the hole. However, 'The Family' showed up and blocked the HOWR IN the box. I swear that HOWR must sit somewhere and watch the BBs cause it had the guts to go into the nest while Mama is actively in and out of the nestbox while working on the nest. Actually prior to getting trapped in the box that time, the HOWR had gone into the box & started picking at the pine needles but I chased it out quickly. So if you go to my dropshots page (guest password birdbrain), there's a new video 'HOWR gets trapped in box by bluebirds'. If you listen carefully to the video, you can hear the bluebirds 'chatting' while the HOWR quivers at the bottom of the nest. Not sure what the quivering is all about but I know that some animals (like cats, for instance) 'quiver' in anticipation of pouncing/striking. You can see that it tries to get out the hole twice to no avail (it seems to 'throw' itself at the hole). I was afraid that one of the parents was going to go into the box and get hurt. Yes, maybe there would have been a battle and the bluebirds MIGHT have won but I didn't want to take the chance so I opened the back door (this was before I had my 'shaker cord'). My two male dogs got out in front of me and not only chased away the bluebirds but also the wren. Amazing video, though! The nest is done now and when the first egg is laid, up goes the wren guard, and I go into active monitoring. Blessings, Lina... Here is a link that might be useful: Video HOWR gets trapped in box by BBs

For those interested in the tomato garden he starts that part of the tour right at the 4 minute mark of the first link. The string trellis, tomato pruning set up is almost identical to mine, so his methods interested me. He recommends snipping off suckers until "there's a good bloom". As far as I understand indeterminate tomato growth, each vine is going to set one flower cluster every third leaf branch. So there won't be a "good bloom" (imo) until he lets several suckers flower at once. There's a little contradiction there. He says prune until it happens; I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen until pruning stops. In the market or greenhouse forum here there was a few professional growers saying they prune their tomatoes to one stem until they're three and a half or four feet then leave them alone. That's probably/hopefully what Ryan meant to suggest, and that's how I want to try the string trellis next year (with a half dozen plants). One problem is it gets hard to support with just vertical strings as he suggested. Once all the suckers are vigorous and producing suckers of their own, you either spend a ridiculous amount of time dropping multiple strings vertically to each and every sucker that then need to be clipped or wrapped a couple times a week; or, as I figured out late this year, tie off some horizontal strings (connecting everything) between six and eight feet. Three horizontal strings across the whole shebang 8 inches apart in height did the job better than a dozen or more vertical strings. Think of it like an elevated weave where needed. Also interesting how he used strings for peppers and eggplant. Thanks for the links.

Runsnwalken may be thinking of ethoxyquin, which is a preservative believed to be carcinogenic. Runsnwalken has consistently posted about the poor quality of commercial dog food, and while I agree with that basic premise, Ann Martin is guilty of overly-emotional fear-mongering and yellow journalism. The book is seriously light on REAL statistics and actual data. Quoting her book and making statements like dog food kills babies ("I'm quite sure somewhere in the us that a child has died/gotten sick from pet food")is conjecture, speculation, innuendo, sensationalism and histrionics. The top problems with Purina One are 1. The first ingredient is chicken inclusive of its water content (about 80%) and this ingredient will weigh only about 20% of its wet weight once water is removed (as it must be to make kibble) it is unlikely that this is the true first ingredient in the food. It would have been far better is chicken meal was the first ingredient listed. 2. Therefore, the true first ingredient is corn gluten, a waste product. Whole grain corn appears again as the 6th ingredient. Corn is grain that is difficult for dogs to digest and the cause of a great many allergy and yeast infection problems. 3. Brewers rice is the third ingredient. Brewers rice is a low quality grain and by-product. 4. The next ingredient is by-products. By-products that are of such low quality as to be rejected for use in the human food chain, or else are those parts that have so little value that they cannot be used elsewhere in either the human or pet food industries. 5. The fifth ingredient is wheat. Wheat is believed to be the number one cause of allergy problems in dog food. 6. Beef tallow is a very low quality fat. It's also used to make fabric softener. 7. Pea bran is filler. No way could Purina One be considered a decent food. There are plenty of decent foods in the same price range. OH, and comparing Purina One to Science Diet is certainly comparing apples to apples since the main ingredient in science Diet is also corn. Try comparing Purina One to Kirkland or Canidae, both of which have a named meat source as a true first ingredient for a more valid experiment. As a bonus, both Kirkland and Canidae are CHEAPER. Healthwise is another decent food that is cheaper than Purina One. I've done the comparison and have found a remarkable difference in coats, eyes, teeth, ears, energy and overall health between grocery/feed store crap and even the cheapest super-premiums. I've also compared cheaper super premiums and the more pricey super premiums. For me, there was no visible difference between Kirkland and Wellness. I had to discontinue an all-meat product (EVO) because it was too rich As chickadeedeedee stated, the claim that euthanized pets are rendered into dog food has been debunked. Part of the study is quoted below "Because pentobarbital is used to euthanize dogs and cats at animal shelters, finding pentobarbital in rendered feed ingredients could suggest that the pets were rendered and used in pet food. CVM scientists, as part of their investigation, developed a test to detect dog and cat DNA in the protein of the dog food. All samples from the most recent dog food survey (2000) that tested positive for pentobarbital, as well as a subset of samples that tested negative, were examined for the presence of remains derived from dogs or cats. The results demonstrated a complete absence of material that would have been derived from euthanized dogs or cats. The sensitivity of this method is 0.005% on a weight/weight basis; that is, the method can detect a minimum of 5 pounds of rendered remains in 50 tons of finished feed. Presently, it is assumed that the pentobarbital residues are entering pet foods from euthanized, rendered cattle or even horses. " Still not particularly appetizing, but not nearly as sensational as some would have you believe. Avoiding foods with ingredients such as "meat meal" and "meat by-products" (ahhhh...the mysterious "meat") is a good idea. I thought Shroppie gave a decent, general answer to your original question, Carmen_Grower_2007. Instead of thanking him (her?) you chose to snark at others and giggle at a spelling mistake. So others have SOHDD, but AMDD (Appropriate Manners Deficit Disorder) is OK?