Oh, geez. I heard it again this morning, and I tried to find it with the flashlight, but it hid very well. I'm not going to let Pookie out until daylight, and she's not happy about it. Plus, Roscoe the puppy is in for her morning visit, and she is Pookie's arch enemy. :D The only good thing about all of this, especially with the barn owls, is that I heard a GH last year, too. The Barnies went on to raise a big family, so hopefully, they'll be safe again this year!! :( Awwww, the poor Chihuahua!! But I'm sure glad he was ok! I can't imagine witnessing that! Pookie is a LOT bigger than a Yo Quiero dog....but GHs are a LOT bigger than some hawks. YIKES! EAT OUR GOPHERS, GH!!!! Brenda

Okay! Who slipped something into my drink!!?? Knocked me right out!! lol I've been very busy this week end. Yesterday I got a wonderful box from Annie! A BIG WOOHOOOOOO!!!! This is what she sent me...:) Iris 'Thornbird' - I bought this last year and then gave it away, so I'm so happy to have another one! I really love it! Iris 'Thriller' - I love the color of this, it's a beauty! Iris 'Gay Parasol' - Another gorgeous one! Iris 'Coral Point' - I have no Iris' in this color, LOVE it! Iris 'Dappled Pony' - This one is awesome, it's speckled with purple, just beautiful! :) Hosta 'Fair Maiden' Love it! Hosta 'Waving Wuffles' This is sooo cool!! Hosta 'Takudamu Aureonebviosa' ?sp. I love the coloring of the leaves! and my prize Hosta 'Wolverine' These Hostas are such a nice variety of leaf coloring and shape! Thank you sooo much Annie!! I love them all! Everything arrived happy and healthy! So, with all of these new additions I talked hubby into tilling me a Shade Bed!!!!!! :) :) :) I spent all day/late afternoon working on it, an then had to get ready for a wedding dance. Today I went and bought mulch and another Hosta, 'Fragrant Dream' ($3.99) and 2 Heucheras 'Melting Fire' ($3.99 ea.) When I got home I spent the next 2 hours digging a little trench around the bed, filling it and the bed with mulch and planting all of my new additions to it! I still need to plant my Iris' from Annie, but I'll do it tonite. I need a break! Tracy, I have your prize plants planted in there also. And my hosta's I received in Frans 100 swap are in the new bed. I will take a picture and get it posted tonite or tomorrow. I'll check back later, Karen

Animals can be so strange....you may put all your time and effort into building just the right box, selecting a 'perfect' site, and then....nothing. Or the opposite may happen, and it will seem as if they were sitting around WAITING for you to get their new home up and going for them. I think it's different for everybody, but you will have to be PATIENT. Years ago we got a booklet from the DNR that had blueprints and general info for houses that were specific for each species. We looked it over and chose to make wood duck boxes, thinking they would have a place to nest by our pond. What we learned, in fact, was that many species simply don't care if a box is not "designed" for them...if they can get their bodies through the hole, there's nobody already at home (depending on the animal this may not matter either) and the place seems safe enough, it's a done deal. Not only will screech owls use a duck box as a day haven, they will indeed nest and rear young in them. There is a slough I frequent that has three duck boxes on it, and during one spring I discovered one particular box was home to a nest of screechies. I think the slough was dry that year, but usually this box is surrounded by about 2 1/2 feet of water...a rough first flight for any chick. I can't recall how many chicks were in that nest...I will have to try to dig out the animal album and find the photos. But they will use a duck box. When we first hung out duck boxes here at our place, I was getting frustrated waiting. It was something like three years before we finally found a nest, and then all three boxes had action!! It's worth the wait, so hang in there. But I'm still waiting for bats to use their house....I don't think they need any extra places with all the shagbark hickories. But the winner in my Crazy Nester category goes to the bluebirds at my dad's place. For the past three years, there has been a pair of bluebirds nesting in his martin house. Not a thing to be seen of any martins, but these blues are shoulder to shoulder with house sparrows and to this day I don't yet understand how they are pulling this off.

Very cute to see your new babies coming up! My (not first-years for the most part) perennials are still buried in snow, a record year here! But you got me out looking at a few protected areas close to my house - so, along with peonies and bleeding heart, I see meconopsis (might not work in your area, they wouldn't want a hot summer) and (Rocky mountain) columbine! And I know oriental poppies would be coming up by now for me if they weren't under snow. One more I have already coming up is not for everybody but I really enjoy the herb Sweet cecily, Myrrhis odorata. It grows profusely and I chop and drop it to mulch in place before it goes to seed and then it flourishes again; it smells amazing to me and has tall, fluffy white flowers. Editing to add, primula! I'm zone 4 here in Anchorage, AK but we have such cool summers especially lately and that stymies many plants. Here's my meconopsis: