Addacat, your duck does sound like she is in pain. You should probablt call a Vet, and see if there is something they can do to help her. I've seen ducks with part of their beak broken off; is that what has happened to your girl? It's dangerous that she isn't eating; is she drinking water any? Keep offering her stuff to eat. My ducks love cheese crakcers, and even though that isn't the best thing for them I do give them some every once in a while for a treat. Maybe she might like that?? If she isn't drinking either try getting a dropper and dropping some water down her throat. Let us know how she does, maybe some one else will come along and know what else to do. Genny

Amity and Kristin Just got a call from my sister who is visiting her aunt and friends in Arizona, well thats in the desert [spelling] anyway she was on a ladder picking oranges and this hummer landed not a foot from her head just watching her , every time she moved the ladder to a different spot the hummer would also move close to my sister, so she assumed the hummer had a nest in the tree but she never did see that nest, but the hummer just kept her eye on my sister , I had to laugh at her , I also had feeling of awe and jealousy. She said there are lots of hummers there, said the temps were in the 90s, but she didnt want to come back here till it warmed up. You may not have interest in this , but I thought you might being the hummer lovers that you are.

Great garden tour/childbirth analogy, Mel. So true, and what memories it brings back! Our garden has been on tours several years, and this year I get to recruit tour hosts. I will be honest with them and give them the good with the bad. There is much more good. One issue is a closing time for the garden. Gardeners love to talk, and some will hang around until midnight if you let them, even with posted hours. At all times, you need at least 2 adults hosting. Be prepared for children who must use your bathroom. Very frail or overweight people sometimes insist they can move a barrier and walk across a pond gangplank. Overly helpful gardeners will insist on deadheading your daylilies that you are hybridyzing. People will argue that coins in water never hurt a fish (aaarg!) Guests will bring children who will feel free to cross over to your neighbors' play equipment. Last year, we built a waterfall from a tree into our pond, and people not only stuck their heads under it, but some drank it! I had to point out that it was recirculated pond water--ewwww! You'll endure comments like "wow, you must have lots of time on your hands or a full time gardener" No...I just don't park in front of the tv every night...then I do some quick lessons on composting and soaker hoses versus mowing and weeding. In addition to labeling unusual plants, you might want to print up a list of plants and sources. I used to do quite a bit of trading on the gardenweb exchange forum, so my yard is full of plants not available (and not hardy) in this area. I potted up seedlings and divisions ahead of time to give away, and had a trade list available to selectively hand out. some of the big hits were heirloom plants and the very new. We had a photo album showing the progress of the yard in the 4 years we've been here, because it looks very established. A complaint many tourists had was some yards looked like they were planted last week. Had to laugh...some were! The homeowners got insecure about what they had and tried to "buy" an instant garden, and it showed. I would suggest you don't put in anything new in the month before the tour. Have potted plants ready to move in empty spaces. Neighborhood boys searching for a baseball flattened some of my perennials the day before tour started last year, and I had to fill in with large planters set into the flower bed, and no one knew the difference there. Our tourists appreciated the igloo full of iced tea. One igloo was enough for the 250+ people we had each day. Every year, I get a few thank you cards in the mail in the weeks afterwards, and once, a lady brought me a new plant I didn't have as a thank you gift. All in all, it is tremendous fun if you are prepared for it. Make a plan to finish last minute work 2 days before so you can go into it well-rested. I still run into people at various places who remember me and my garden, because I took the time to talk to them. It really gives you a boost! Cindi

compost_hugger_nancy- Yes, Claire is a REAL BIRDLADY, and a GREAT one at that. She helped me identify the Red breasted Nuthatch when I called it a chickadee, lol. Plus has helped with other things too. Thank you for the kind words, I'm glad you like the photos and stories. bob414- They are different, I've been around them my whole life, so I'm use to them. I have photos (before digital) from 20 years ago where you see orbs spiraling down the hallway of the house I used to live in. I have photos of them in cars I would restore. I would have to take a lot of photos just to make sure the orbs weren't in the way. Claire- No I haven't got a hold of any organization concerning the orbs. A. (There are some entities you call orbs that are visible to infrared cameras but not to the human eye. They may be visible to birds which are known to be able to detect a wider spectrum of light wavelengths than humans. To the infrared camera they appear as floating points of light in constant movement). True, birds even have like a sonar (radar) that they can pick up other birds with and energies like a tracking device that is in the air. I think if there is too much energies (orbs included), it will interfere with their tracking and they may not fly. Most of the orbs stay in constant movement but some don't. Here are some dancing- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhdSd2SrhOU B. (The orbs seem to be centered around (and in) your house and don't go too far outward although they do travel high and may extend far up right above you). True, it may be a portal. C. (They seem to be able to pass through walls (which are made of non-living materials) but they seem to avoid living materials such as birds and maybe trees. All living organisms as far as I know have a bioelectric field associated with them. They also seem to avoid cars and trucks except when covered with snow. Maybe the metal carries a charge)? True and false. They avoid birds but not necessarily trees. I've seen still orbs on the branches with a little bit of flicker. Bioelectric field is basically Orgone Energy (natural energy)that was discovered by Dr. Wilhelm Reich back in the forties. I have orgone devices in and around the house, even on the deck. They don't avoid vehicles, I have pics of orbs in vehicles that I was restoring. D. (They're not particularly affected by wind or heat or light or magnets, although they may notice the magnetic field). True E. (They appear in loose groups on a fairly regular schedule; around sunset and then again around midnight. The activity of the groups is very variable - sometimes slow and sometimes very excited). True F. You're located in Southern Alaska which is near the Arctic Circle. True Question 1. (You're in aurora country, do they react to auroral activity? Today activity is low, but we're near solar maximum and the Auroral Oval could easily extend out to Southern Alaska when activity increases, as it does on a day by day basis. Auroras are chock full of energy which could affect your orbs). There is probably lots of them during aurora borealis due to the amount of energy available in the air. Question 2. (What about sound, which is another form of energy? You have neighbors so you can't just go blasting out strange music (or you shouldn't), but if you set up a camera indoors you could play with sounds of very low and very high pitch, as well as everything in between). True, even though I might be inside the house, I know there is some 'music' that seems to bring more of them around. I will show you the test when I get the cameras up in the house. I had to order more cameras because two of the ones that came in were bad and not working. I will be pointing more cameras upward to see how they act with the auroras. I will be testing frequencies as well. Question 3. (Do they come out when it snows? You said you didn't film when it snowed because you "didn't want to get a false reading/observation", which is very reasonable, but maybe you could put a cover of some sort over a camera and a dark background to see if they're there. My thought is that snowflakes are charged so that might affect the orbs). The orbs do come out when it snows and you can see them going against the direction of the snowflakes and some go sideways. I can also do the covering of the camera with the black background just to see how their behavior is. Question 4. (What type of light did you use for your test? Incandescent, fluorescent, halogen, LED? Maybe a 'black light' bulb that produces UV light would have an effect). I used an LED light. Good idea on the black light, I need to get one and perform that test. Question 5. (Would they react to a battery? Batteries have an anode and a cathode so there might be an attraction or repulsion to one end and not the other). I went and did that test, here is the video- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0dI_h1gnm6w Question 6. (Winter Soltice is coming up this weekend and it might be worth looking to see if there's any difference in activity. There's a lot of cultural history and also hype about the solstices, but maybe there's something to be seen). True, I took a video at 1am because they were acting different, shocking- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ef18lpRjQow It's my pleasure passing on information like this. If you look into lets say Orgone Pyramids, you'll understand more about the energies around us and how you can change things for the better where you live. P.S. Almost forgot to mention about the ravens that have been coming by lately- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6Pgb-KrsBU Ed This post was edited by Trickyfingers on Sat, Dec 22, 12 at 9:38