I have another one... new today: The day you are going to show off your pond and skippy filter to another ponder, you have a massive thunder/hailstorm that smashes lovely flowers and your stream developes a leak so the pond is about 8" down.

I love your fairy pond. I am not able to see the faces in your pics because everything but the outline is black. I do believe the orbs are spirits. I don't know if you have ever watched the Ghost Whisperer that is on Friday nights starring Jennifer Love Hewitt. I had the woman psychic whom the story is based on, Maryann Winkowski, at my house to send several spirits into the light. There were three of them who wouldn't leave my dog alone. My dog hated the new house since the day we moved in. He was sick all the time and refused to go upstairs. Whenever I was upstairs he would lay at the bottom of them and whine. He wouldn't even look up the stairs. Before her visit, she did a phone interview with me and described the layout of my upstairs to a "t". She told me there was a room at the top of the stairs where there were blankets piled on a shelf, and she could see wrapping paper and two window fans. OMG, she was describing my closet. She said that is where the spirits were staying. That would explain why it sounded like someone banged on the door everytime I walked by. I had some weird things happen before she arrived. I had bought four koi during the winter and kept them in a rubbermaid tub in the basement. When I took a pic of them there were five fish in the pic. Almost every pic I took in or out of the house contained orbs. One pic I took had a bright white column of light in my upstairs computer room. She told me I actually had a portal in that room where spirits crossing over could access the light. She told me she would remove it if I wanted her to. I told her I didn't care how many spirits went through my house to get to the light as long as they didn't bother me. Once she crossed the three spirits over my dog was fine. He wasn't sick anymore and was so happy he could go upstairs with me. As a matter of fact he lived upstairs after Maryann's visit. Here are the pics of the fish I took. In the first one you can see three of the four fish. This is the pic of the fifth fish. In the upper right hand corner you will notice the four fish I bought. In the lower left hand corner you will see the fifth fish. Maryann couldn't explain it. She said if I wanted her to, she would send the pic and negative to Quantico to have it certified that it was not an altered photo. This picture was taken after Maryann's visit. I was trying to capture a picture of a hummingbird at my feeder. You can imagine my surprise when I saw this picture of a ghost creature looking in my window (middle right side of the picture). Here is a link to Maryann's website. You can click on the picture link under "Your Input" and see pictures of actual orbs and spirits. My pic of the creature looking in my window is on her website also. Jenny

ItÂs been three weeks now and the snapper is doing fine. I have seen him several times moving around under the ice. When the pond is not frozen, he seems to be under some submerged plants out in the middle. The water quality is good, and my painted turtles in the front pond have survived several winters. I was able to account for all my fish last week. I also saw a frog at the bottom, so the snapper has not been eating everything. I have a large industrial net that can hold the turtle if I am lucky enough to get him. He seems to go to the same areas of the pond when it is iced over and I am hoping he starts to go there when it is thawed. I have a large tub with a lid that I have cut holes into. Once I have the turtle in the tub, there is a lake about 20 miles away that will be his new home. I have had many suggestions about baiting a hook or getting a trap, but I really donÂt want to risk harming the turtle, I just want him out of my pond.

BKay, my most favorite is clematis florida sieboldiana, but that died and I have my name on a waiting list to replace it. Then of course I have jackmanii, which has lasted for years. It is in the container near Our Lady of Grace and blooms amidst the passion vines. I discovered a great source online for all sorts of clematis, and I created a whiskey barrel with 4 varieties which have yet to bloom. Until they bloom I won't go to the trouble of noting their names....but for you I could look for my order...although if they are not outstanding you probably would not be interested in knowing. I've meant to also share a bit of local information with the Hosta Forum. It seems that growing hostas in Mobile is not exactly an unheard-of thing. My friends who have a nursery background grow them, and they tell me a neighbor of theirs has quite a few. These are all IN THE GROUND, and come back every year. Plus MY two neighbors, who have about two each--which they think sould be split every year or so. I try to head that conversation off at the pass, as it were...because I have no desire to split anything. I will, however, find them other hostas, and as my garden gets more crowded, PERHAPS give some of my duplicates...unless it be the Squash Casserole family, or some of my beloved fragrants....you can never be too thin nor have too many hostas! However, I am moving pots around at this time, since the time has come to take out the two aged pecan trees which keep dropping limbs on my garden, and I know sooner or later one will take ME out with it. After the rains of the last few days, most leaves are fallen and the place is a MESS, but just the right time while the garden is in distress to wreak havoc with the trees. Then I can complete my remodel efforts by replacing the old wooden gates that the cement trucks and the dumpster essentially destroyed, and heal all the old compacted lawn issues. By next spring I expect to have all signs of change, all overgrowth of the shrubbery, back under control. Yesterday was a significant day here. It maked the end of exactly ONE year since the remodel began. Essentially, it has been complete for a while. BUT, the carpenter called yesterday and asked if he could come today to add a shelf around the dining room, up high, which will house the LED rope lights for my romantic dimmable lighting for dining or watching TV. Yeah, I hung the TV on the wall of the dining room, and made it swivel so I could watch/listen while I cooked. The window seat is a most welcome addition, since I sure do not like to sit in a dining chair to watch TV. I gave away the big (to me 42 inches is big) TV and this one 32 inch is great in a 12 foot square dining room. My DH began the remodel saying he did not like a bar, but since the first night we've eaten there instead of at the table....so I made the table smaller and no complaints. Turns out he LOVES the bar. He also built me a garden bench which has quite a humorous story attached to its design and execution, and well worth the telling at another time. I failed to get the picture of its metamorphosis from his interpretations of what I said until it was actually complete....and it involved 5 90 lb bags of cement and holes three feet deep for a two-legged bench. Sigh....engineers can be so DIFFERENT from us "creative types."