Great pics, All! Claire, I am happy to hear that the Butter Buns have returned to Plymouth! Mine are enjoying the suet but I still seem to have only two. I am also seeing what I think my be a Pine Warbler. I have seen them before but always closer to the end of the PFW season, closer to spring. I have not been able to get a good picture of it yet but I am trying. Oh...I did see a brown creeper yesterday, the first in two years! I was so excited, just wish it had been a count day... Has anyone noticed what time the birds leave your feeders in the afternoon? Right now, the end of January, I know that almost all activity at the feeders will come to an end by *about* 3:00. I will still see cardinals and some doves beyond that point, but not many chickadees, titmouse, finches, juncos, etc. We still have good light, the temps have not yet started to drop but the birds are gone. Have they had enough, are they full? Is it just me? I also notice lots and lots of activity just before a storm. The birds will eat and eat and eat, but the next day there will be very little activity. Very interesting to see. Obviously, the birds are smarter than me. sooey

Ann, my understanding of the zones, from an article I read years ago, is that they really only take into account the lowest probable temperature that one might encounter during the course of the winter. It went on to say that this does'nt mean that it's the lowest POSSIBLE temperature, since we obviously get the occasional night or two when it goes below the "zone low" temp. It also mentions that not every night during winter will go down to the temperature range for the zone (for example here in zone 6, not every night will be between 0 and -10). It would be considered normal for zone 6 to get no more than perhaps 10 - 12 nights during one winter where it will get down to those temperatures, but if those 10 - 15 nights occurred consecutively, that would be considered not normal. And the main problem with the zone approach is that it doesn't take into account how long the temperature remains at these lows, nor how it recovers by day, which really makes all the difference. We've had a very mild winter so far, and if I went strictly by overnight lows, then I'm in zone 8 (!) but the daytime highs here, although very pleasant, are nowhere near as warm as a true zone 8 would be. And a low of 24 for instance here can last many, many hours, while in a true zone 8 it may only last for a couple of hours before dawn, and then the daytime temperature may climb to the 50's or 60's, whereas here the daytime high may slowly climb to the upper 30's. Just and example, but I think you can see what I mean. But, having said all this, I always remember that plants can't read zone maps (!) so if I think something I like has a chance, even if I have to site it, protect and pamper it, then I'll give it a try. Why not? Makes interesting gardening and maybe I'll discover that the books were wrong about a plant's zone rating. That's what happened with Clerodendron trichotomum. I always see it rated for zone 7, but mine has been growing and blooming happily here for over 20 years, and it's at the windy, northwest corner of (but not close to) the house.

You turn your back on them and they suddenly leap out of nowhere! I went out on the deck as the sun was going down to check on a wind toy, and I saw daffodils in the middle of some junipers! I raced out with the camera to catch the last light (not enough light for a good closeup): N. 'Jetfire' and Juniper 'Gray Owls' And on the way back into the house I looked at a bed from a different angle and saw another daffodil near the house foundation! N. 'Lemon Glow' Claire

Teresa: That's a pretty little aster, do you know its name? It looks like a double version of the single aster 'Fanny' that I have and that's blooming now. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The tumbled bluestone pavers are about 2 inches thick and I'm setting them on a 3 inch bed of coarse sand, so I excavate 5 inches, throw in sand, and set the pavers so they're flush with the ground. For the joints I add sand or sand plus gravel or sand plus little stones from the excavation. The heavy pavers are very stable once they're set, but they are heavy, I repeat, heavy! The pallet is a collection of different sizes and shapes so you have to work with what you get and fit them together somehow. The first pallet I bought several years ago was mostly irregular pavers of medium size and I expected the same for this new batch. They just had a partial pallet on view so I didn't see the total content, I was mostly looking to see the quality. I used a different landscape supply company this time (the other one went out of business) and I was surprised that this batch was mostly pavers 12 inch by 18 inch, with a fair share of smaller ones. This made it tricky since I was trying to fill in the earlier path with different shapes. It's easier where I'm heading off into new territory and don't have to match a different set. If you do use tumbled bluestone you probably should ask to see the actual pallet so you know what you're getting. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Piles of pavers of different sizes and shapes, but all of roughly the same thickness. I've already used most of the 12 inch by 18 inch pavers. The finished path under the piles is made from irregular shaped pavers, some old, some new. The finished path here is almost all made of the original pavers - they're a different shape and are nicely weathered. This area in my alley is half done and the stones are all from the new rectangular batch. The ones on the right are set and the ones on the left are laid out waiting for me to get there. It will probably take me several days to finish (did I mention those things are heavy?). This will be a work/storage area. I put a little landing at the bottom of my granite steps (that's a wet footprint on one paver). My original path also got overrun with grass. I had tried to set it with pavers alternating with grass; carefully spaced to match my stride. That didn't work - I mostly ignored the spacing and stepped wherever was most convenient. The grass also kept trying to swallow the pavers. This time I'm filling in all of the original grassy spaces and expanding until I run out of stones or my body quits, whichever comes first. This may be much more information than you wanted, but you did ask. Claire