That's a beautiful series of photos of your catbirds, Jane. They look like a garden ornament perched atop the shepherd's hook. We have catbirds. Their catlike calls are one of the few birdsongs I recognize. Mr Tunnels! Ha ha! Great name! Claire, your dragon looks wonderful in his new tri-colored metallic coat of scales. In addition to being the summer of the trees here, it also is shaping into another summer of the birds, even more so than last year. The house finches have babies in last year's swallow nest on the outside ledge under the porch roof. I think the female is building a second nest in the nestbox inside the porch while Dad cares for the first batch of babies. The barn swallows meantime are feeding little ones in the original ancestral swallow nest inside the porch. And, oblivious to the nesting birds, the hummingbirds are constant visitors to the nectar feeder hanging from the eaves. All these different birds, and others (goldfinches and occasional Baltimore orioles) perch on the branches of our crabapple tree in the front yard, and they look like brightly colored jewels amidst the pink blossoms. I really need to take some pictures with a better camera. In the barn, a pair of tufted titmice have refurbished their nest from several years ago and are in some stage of rearing little titmice. They are supposed to be cavity dwellers, but I guess their nook up in the eaves is close enough. Their nests are such delicate affairs with moss siding, like filigree. Perhaps the nicest surprise is that I have a pair of tree swallows nesting in my birdhouse, on the sawed-off utility pole out in my "orange garden." I had boarded up the entry hole to the house in frustration during my battle with the English sparrows. Since I hadn't seen an English sparrow in several years, I cautiously unblocked the door, hoping for bluebirds or tree swallows, and my wishes were rewarded. With the birds in residence on the porch, I scheduled the house painting until August or September, explaining to the head painter that his guys could just take down the nests prior to painting because the birds would be gone then. He asked "Do you want us to try to remove the nests so they can be put back up?" I replied, "No... demolition!" His somewhat relieved reply: "Ah demolition! That's a word I understand!" LOL! It made me laugh! These birds are master carpenters. They will rebuild next year from scratch, I've no doubt.

Kind of funny story - a couple of years ago the guy across the street trotted over to show me this mysterious worm he found on his tomato plant. He wondered if it was something very rare because he had never even heard of a worm with horns and perhaps UCONN might be interested in having this specimen and maybe, just maybe, he had discovered something that could be beneficial to some plants here in tobacco valley and he could breed them and make money! He said there were many of them on his three patio tomato plants. "Whatta ya think, Jane? Should I put it in a jar?" I asked to see it in my gloved hand and as this guy was envisioning $50 bills, the silly worm reared it's head with horns and mouth seeking something to bite. I dropped it on the driveway and with a flash of my right foot, the mysterious money-making dream shrank into a bite-less green blob as my neighbor went into one of the most shocked and crestfallen expressions I'd seen in a while. I told him he had lost the horn worm lottery and to go home and squish all the others. I have a feeling that my reputation as a nice neighbor lady turned into tough old broad that day in the driveway. Squish 'em, Pixie, Squish 'em - unless you're going into the horn worm raising business. Jane (aka Hard Hearted Hannah)

Hi Dee. My daughter is part of the Children's Cast with Jose Mateo Ballet Theatre. This is her 4th year. She was a mouse her first 2 years. She is now on her second year as a polichinelle - the little ones who run out from under Mother Gingers skirt. She is especially excited this year since she is the "naughty" Poli - which means she gets to do cartwheels instead of returning to the skirt. This year I was asked to be a Cast Leader - which means I'm 1 of 3 trying to coordinate all the children. With 60 kids per show, 200 kids total, and 25 shows this year, it has been a ton of work. You are right how it overtakes your life. We start listening to the score the first weekend in September - audition weekend. And we watch Battle of the nutcrackers on Ovation every year (they just put the Maryinski 2006 version on demand last night - guess what I watched!). I try to get her to one of the Jose Mateo performances every year. And we usually go watch one other production of nutcracker every year. Though I will admit I'm happy to watch Swan Lake once January hits! My DD is only 9, so I have many more years of this ahead of me!

Larry, I bet they all grow and you'll be trying to figure out what to do with 600 onions. Paula, Ten bunches? Trying to set a record, huh? : ) I am only planting 7 bunches. My onions arrived either Monday or Tuesday but since the ground is so wet from this week's rain, I haven't planted them yet. Sunday is supposed to be a pretty nice day, so I hope to plant them on Sunday afternoon if not before. With clay soil, it pays to wait a few days for it to dry out some. It was drizzling when I woke up. I don't know why it always has to rain the week that the onions are due to be planted, but it does. Dawn