A good dog is an immense help. My gal Lady loves for me to pick up my BB gun, or just say the word squirrel and she is ready to go squirrel hunting. The BB gun will not kill them, I doubt that it even breaks their tough hide, but it sure can put them into overdrive going across the tree canopy. They have never bothered anything in my garden, but when the figs start to ripen in the fig tree, the battle is on between me, the birds and squirrels. Little to nothing, besides me and Lady, deters them. A stereo blaring on a nearby picnick table, Kawliga my fake Owl in the tree or other measures probably bring gales of laughter form them critters, as they select the plumpest, biggest, sweetest fig to sample. Year before last I was able to get enough to put up 17 pints of excellent fig preserves, last year there was not much because of the second year of a severe drought, but the tree is this year. Nothing bothers them till late July or early August when suddenly, almost overnight it seems, they swell and start to ripen. As a side note, the girl at the vets office was amazed at Lady's understanding of one word questions, suggestions or commands. Even in the dreaded confines of the little room in the Vets office, and after having blood drawn and being poked and prodded, she would get excited by asking if she wanted to go for a ride (I am sure that she wanted to leave there) or go for a Walk, the word squirrel started her looking around the ceiling of the room to see if one invaded there, just to mention a few. It is my pleasure to be her friend. Bill P.

Chickadees like to excavate their own holes however if you want to put something inside the box for them to take out it would not be sawdust, a few tiny woodchips yes, sawdust no. Plus filling it to the hole would probably discourage anything from nesting there. I have heard that some Dees will not readily nest in a box with a 1 1/8 inch hole. Some start with a 1 1/2 hole and add a reducer once the Dee is committed to the box. Dees do prefer the nestboxes to be by trees vs in the open where Blues boxes usually are. I would worry about squirrels though. Oh and yes raccoons can jump. I have the wobbling stovepipe baffles and they do work for raccoons. Good luck! The Dees by me prefer to excavate old woodpecker holes to my nestboxes, crazy little birds!! Donna

Jujulu, there are all kinds of different island setups, just as there are all kinds of perimeter setups, and each have their pros and cons. The safety issues that are spoken of about island cooktops aren't about who is walking behind you. That's equal no matter which surface the cooktop is on, and has to do with other considerations in kitchen design. One important factor we talk about is putting the stove in a protected position. That is one where people aren't always walking by where they'll get smacked with hot pans, walk into open oven doors, startle the cook, or tug on mommy's shirt when she's holding a hot pan. Your island cooktop is obviously positioned well in your kitchen to be able to protect against the last. In my friend's kitchen, it's positioned where people coming from a couple of different directions could sneak up on the cook, even though the cook has panoramic view of most of the kitchen and the breakfast room. The same dichotomy could happen with a perimeter stove--in one position it could be well protected with the cook aware of the comings and goings, and in another position it could be at the axis of all bad things happening. The bigger dangers with island cooktops, especially gas ones, come from how people gather around. There is often seating or leaning space across from the cooktop, whence a glass of wine can be knocked over into the flames. Or spilled milk can put out the flames and they can reignite with a whoosh. It can seem to work perfectly for years, then a drop of water hits the pan and a big spatter hits a kid right in the face and causes ER trips and scars. All this stuff happens. People try to guard against it. Personally, I wouldn't want to see all the spatter I clean off of my backsplash and counters by the stove to be all over my kitchen and kids, but if it's just crud and not burning, then it's the same issue of cleaning up. I almost never fry, mind you. I get spatter from soups and stews (bubbly things) and sometimes even sautes, and when it hits me, it hurts! You have to have a big enough island that you can protect the pots and burners from interference by people walking on the non-cooking sides. Not people just walking by, but the errant golf clubs, leaping out of arms cats, bags of groceries plopped down near the active stove, etc. Add to that, people tend not to keep the surfaces on islands as clear as they do either side of a perimeter cooktop. That is, they don't give it so much space of honor in an island, and all of a sudden, Junior pushes away the juice which pushes the napkin holder which pushes the pile of junk mail right into the stove. So when you're making your island big enough for the walkers around, you have to make it that much bigger for the sitters down. All this can be done. People who are careful can make anything work. Statistically, people spend very little time actually facing the wall tending the stove while they're cooking, and much more time prepping, which is part of why--excluding the better position for venting and containing spatter--most people like the model of a perimeter stove with a prep area on an island across from it. The island helps protect the position of the stove, while offering the cook an open area to work in. For some people, however, the pivot way of working isn't a good option, or just doesn't fit their druthers. They, like you, prefer to work next to the stove, rather than across from it. There are also people who poke at their cooking food too much, interfering with the cooking, rather than helping it, but I'm not accusing you of that. You obviously prefer your setup, and aren't bothered by whatever smells and dirt you have without a good (or switched on) vent. If you're happy with what you have, we're not judging you for making your choice. All of the preceding is for information and full of "usually" and generalizations. None of it may apply to your own kitchen and cooking style, or you've made other compensations to deal with the issues. All the best for your new kitchen. Edeevee, you give me too much credit. I didn't make the tiles--they're commercially available artisan made. I just arranged them. You can go into any good tile store, or website, and choose beautiful tiles too. If the tile didn't work out and I had to use all green soapstone, this--Erin Adams for Ann Sacks and available as is--would have been my backsplash: Edit: Sorry. That's not in the budget. I just love it so jumped at a chance to post it, and wish I had an excuse to redo my bathroom and use it. :) My friends used grab bag, builder grade, glossy tiles and some ingenuity, to make amazing art tiling. I promise you, their budget was a lot smaller than yours. Some alternatives to the living finish of copper include stainless--and there are some great textured stainless sheets out now, far beyond diamond plate, if you want something with a little punch. Still very economical. You could go sleek with glass. You could even use back painted glass. It would cost a lot more, but you could also cut out as much of the wall behind the stove as possible and install a glass wall instead and use the view as your backsplash and see it behind the hood. Or just a fixed window between the hood and the top of the stove. Or you could search the art departments near you and see if someone is studying tile and wants to trade experience for materials. :) This post was edited by plllog on Sat, Apr 12, 14 at 16:59

Jane, I'm glad that my simple words gave you comfort. The approaching evening might be a difficult time for you -- it often is for those recently (within years) bereaved. And with dusk, those birdies leave for the night -- except, do you ever notice how the cardinals are often the last to call it a day? And in the summer, those hummingbirds also come after dusk as well. Hold on, Jane. Take all the time you need and grieve how you need. Be gentle with yourself on this awful rollercoaster trip. Time does temper the heartache, but before that, it seems to take forever to find release from the crushing loss. (A friend once described the pain of grief as being also physical pain for its intensity.) But, even if someone has a miracle pill, it wouldn't really help hasten what needs to take time, reflection, remembering and tears. But remember that you are not alone in many other ways. Words are inadequate, but it's all many of us can offer. We need to offer as much as you might need to receive. Claire, I meant to tell you how much I loved those turkey shots. Beautiful. I used to have turkeys milling about, but not so much in the past couple of years. I'm curious what they are looking for on the ground (to eat?). Do you put corn or seed out for them? I just love wild turkeys. Seeing them feels like "everything's gonna be just fine" even if the world seems crazy from one week to the next. One late afternoon I got to watch a group of them fly up into a tall oak and settle in. I don't know if they stayed there all night or only until Leno was over. Susan, love those goldfinches, but you're are so yellow only their hairdresser knows for sure.