Yes, I'm blessed with dirt/dust storms too. Last year I had a 70 mph plus wind rip thru here busting trees and taking the roof and trusses off what I call the lake house by the pond. Some EPA official that had never been to AZ said he was going to fix the dust problem a couple years ago. I expected to see 10's of thousands of water trucks descending on the state and driving all over the desert sprinkling water on the ground everyday but for some unexplained reason it never happened.

I used to pick up my bullfrogs when they were in the pond by scooping them up from underneath. They would stay on my hand out of the water as long as I didn't move my hand around too much. They don't like me reaching for them from the front or back though as I think they see that as a threatening posture. But, if you can get close to them on the side of the pond, maybe while you are bending or crouching down, try the under the water hand slide move and see if they wil left you lift them out of the water. The more you toss food to them the more they like you. I used to feed my frogs lots of crickets and some became quite the beggers. I would keep the crickets in one of those plastic hermit crab cages and set it next to my chair between tossing them out. The frogs would all gather round and some would get impatient and come up and try to grab at them through the plastic cage. When I had six big bullfrogs they could eat 100 crickets in about 10 or 20 minutes. Some of the crickets would make their escape only to come back on their own at various times to be caught.

More reading, always more reading...It turns out that horseshoe crab meat is the preferred bait for eels and whelks. There is something unique about horseshoe crab meat that attracts eels and whelk more effectively than other baits. That is why horseshoe crabs are being harvested commercially. Research is currently underway at the University of Delaware, into finding out what exactly makes horseshoe crab meat special. They want to make an artificial attractant so that other types of bait can be used to fish for eels and whelks, and therefore relieve the pressure on the population of horseshoe crabs.

Jbirdyj - if you want an apple that doesn't mush easy or lose form (good for tarts etc), here we'd use Granny Smith, Cox, Braeburn, Bramley or Pink Lady. We have quite a good variety of apples at shops and supermarkets, and even more at farmers markets. Oh I totally forgot about clotted cream! That stuff is delicious.... but I fear for my waistline and arteries whenever I've had it LOL! Clotted Cream is more commonly found down the south of England - Cornwall, Devon etc, so being in Hertfordshire (nr London), we don't see it about that much, although you could probably find it in specialist stores. I'd send you some.... but don't think it posts well! Hey, if you're anywhere near Kansas City I could personally deliver some! Am visiting again in November! :)