If would try to identify that big frog. If he's a bullfrog, your son might want to return him to the river, because he'll eat anything he can fit into his mouth -- including the salamander. I've seen pictures of them with adult birds in their mouths. Pretty amazing creatures.

Having lost almost our entire non-citrus fruit crop and most of the vegetable garden to the ground squirrels this year, I am not as wildlife friendly as you are. The deer stay outside the fence so they cannot do much harm. I throw deadfall citrus and rose or grape prunings over the fence for them. I'm really not a fan of feeding wildlife but my heart was moved to pity. I'm seeing fewer gopher mounds these days. Someone told me that the ground squirrels are pretty fierce and drive them off. That surprises me. I thought the gophers were the fiercer of the two species. A couple of weeks ago a mountain lion went rogue and attacked a child a couple of miles from my house. The boy recovered fully, and they got the mountain lion, with DNA confirmation that it was the right one. Normally mountain lions, bobcats, and coyotes leave people along. I welcome them, so long as they do. The rattlesnakes I'm not so crazy about. Our dog was bit a couple of years ago. She did recover, but was very sick and it was touch and go. With the drought, they are coming in closer chasing the rodent population. My wildlife support is limited to planting shrub and tree species that support birds and beneficial insects, and mostly planting them in the ungardened area outside the fence. It was a bare, weedy, steep hillside before I began a couple of years ago, disced yearly for fire abatement as required by law. With enough years and enough rainfall, I hope to transform it. And unfortunately I must now rely on the use of RoundUp to control the weeds until the trees are big enough to do the job for me. That was a difficult decision, but the hill cannot be disced anymore with all the small trees and shrubs. Ultimately these plants will have to get by on natural rainfall, but I am giving them a couple years of watering to get them started. We got somewhere between a quarter and a half an inch of rain the other day, cause for celebration. Rosefolly

I find it depends on the bulb size, Lizalily, although, the more room you can give them for root growth, the better... within reason, of course... I've had to stuff a few larger bulbs into pots that are a bit too small for them, but it's all I had available at the time... I think the norm would be a pot that allows about 2 inches between the bulb and the pot wall, all the way around. I have some of my smaller bulbs planted in 4" pots that are rather short and squat... and my really big ones in 8" or 10" pots... those are taller, of course... most of what I'd consider to be medium sized bulbs are in 6" pots. The Lovely Garden klister I planted as a whole is in a larger pot... I'd say it's probably about a 12" or better sized pot... when I shop for clay pots, I try to get a large variety of sizes... and I prefer the inexpensive plastic drip saucers to the clay ones, only because you can more easily bottom water using them... they're a bit deeper than the clay. I don't know why I didn't think of poking holes or making slits in plastic pots before! It could be done quite easily using anything sharp and heated, such as an ice pick or even a butter knife if it were heated enough. An old wood burning tool, that you don't mind ruining a tip of, would work, too. You could even get fancy and create different shaped holes or slits... if you could find something metal that could be heated, and was in the shape of a heart or star or anything, really... you could have some really cute, and cheap, orchid pots! Lizalily, I have found lots of clay pots at secondhand stores, flea markets, garage sales, Salvation Army and Goodwill stores... but even if you buy them at your local garden center, they're relatively inexpensive... I have found that they cost more at Walmart than at the garden center! I pay an average of .69 cents for a 6" pot and .89 cents for an 8" pot... the larger the pot, the more costly, of course, but unglazed clay is fairly cheap. You might even be able to find them wholesale online for less... I've never checked because I think shipping could be more than I'd want to pay, plus they're rather fragile...

Thanks! The Hooded Warbler male pulling on the cocoon happened just as I was getting up to shut down my camera and try somewhere else after an hour of waiting..typical! Two days ago when there was a break in the storms we drove up on Poppy Mnt at sunset and got a few pics from the car as we drove around 6-9-09, Poppy Mnt barn, adult male Barn Swallow, 6:15 p.m. Time for a stretch.. From 6-5-09, birds Then to the right.. From 6-5-09, birds ..flex those shoulders.. From 6-5-09, birds Much better! From 6-5-09, birds We drove to an access rd that overlooked a steep gully and saw several Yellow-billed Cuckoos flying around but they didn't come close enough for good photos. However, someone did 6-9-09, Poppy Mnt, male Red-eyed Vireo, 6:48 p.m. From 6-5-09, birds From 6-5-09, birds