My friend who lives in the woods told me today that she has a box turtle who keeps coming back to her trailer to eat dog food and ask for a drink of water. Her chihuahua seems to enjoy his company! Tammy, one time I backed over one with my car on the driveway. I am "marked" for life by that event, it was so traumatic. I just wish the powers that be in Washington would have as much kinship for Iraqui children and Lousiana families as we do for turtles and frogs. Maybe someday, when we are no longer on this earth plane, we will understand the intricacies of the human heart. I love this quotation: "What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty or democracy?" At some point, a leader must emerge in the western world who echoes the humanity of Gandhi. peace, claire in sanford Wonderful meeting you and your family too!

wishforspring, I think they are pretty cool and I love to listen to them. The brown empty shell is shaped like the cicada and has a crack in the top where the adult molted from. We have the annual cicadas, but it is much louder when we get the 13 or 17 year cicadas. Check out the cool video of the molting process at the link below. Here is an explanation of the life cycle of cicadas from The University of Michigan Museum of Zoology. "All but a few cicada species have multiple-year life cycles, most commonly 2-8 years (de Boer and Duffels 1996). In most cicada species, adults can be found every year because the population is not developmentally synchronized; these are often called "annual" cicada species. In contrast, populations of the periodical cicada species are synchronized, so that almost all of them mature into adults in the same year. The fact that periodical cicadas remain locked together in time is made even more amazing by their extremely long life-cycles of 13 or 17 years". (http://insects.ummz.lsa.umich.edu/fauna/michigan_cicadas/periodical/index.html) Hi Jean, and thanks. Apple Tart has been such a treat for me this year. I finally feel like I have found a long bloomer for my garden. I am going to have to check out the purple Crape Myrtle. Most of mine are in the pink range, but I would love to have a purple one. Vickie Here is a link that might be useful: Video of 17-year Cicada Life Cycle

Another great day Wayne! ShaggyBill on another forum summed it up best! You're killing us! Myself I was very excited to find our first snake on property last evening. It was a very reddish redbellied snake about 6 inches long. Also a few ground skinks and one coal skink. For what is supposed to be a very common snake we only find about a dozen a year on property and maybe one or two elsewhere. They are usually found very early in the Spring and late Fall with very few in between. They also run about two to one in favor of the red or brown phase. Have often wondered if that is the norm or just this location.

After seeing several people finding snakes this week I decided to check out the area where I had found my first timber ever on April 9th of this year. It is in Ray county and am real glad I stopped by today. The grass and brush was much thicker than before. I was wearing short pants and tennis shoes so wasn't able to flip as many rocks as I wanted to. Plus I had my sons with me so they mostly watched. We first found a partial timber shed and then a 68 inch black rat snake on the move. After that we found about a 30 inch timber under a rock. It turned out to be a great day! Totals, 2 timbers 2 copperheads 4 black rat snakes 4 ring-necks 1 western worm snake 1 garter snake The best find of the day was spotted by my 12 year old. We had walked up on a partially fallen down barn that had some lumber in piles around it. He spotted about 2 inches of a black tail and yelled out timber. I actually had to get a little closer to see about 3 or 4 very small rattles. Was very surprised to see about a 40 inch timber under the top board. Thought it was going to be much smaller. It was a great way for him to find his first timber. Another great day herping! Seems like sometimes you find the most when you least expect to!