Looks like an immature Mississippi Kite to me. The bright white supercillary line with rich brown streaking are clinchers. Plus, this bird has the "cute rounded head and small beak" of a kite rather than the blockier head and more pronounced beak of a buteo hawk. BN

It was a Coopers Hawk. I have a CD with bird sounds of PA and I was not sure it was going to help, but listened away as I cleaned my house, and there it was! The sound was unmistakable! I looked it up in the books, and even though I was not able to see the markings that day, I say the silouette for like 5 minutes, and it matched the one in the book perfectly! I am really going to get into ID's by sound, sometimes it takes more than just appearance, it is sound, environment, behavior, then it all comes together. :o)

It's an epiphyllum, probably an epiphyllum hybrid (which typically contain other, similar genera, including Disocactus, Pseudorhipsalis and Selenicereus). These are commonly referred to as 'orchid cactus', but they are neither a true cactus nor an orchid :-) They are a semi-tropical succulent related to cactus that produces large, very showy flowers. They do produce an edible fruit (NOT a dragon fruit) but these are scarce on indoor plants. They are epiphytes, meaning they take advantage of other, larger plants - like trees - as a support system, like most tropical orchids do, and do not require soil in their native habitat. For home gardeners, they grow perfectly well in a good quality, fast draining potting mix. Unless you live in a semi-tropical climate or certainly a frost free zone (Z 10 or higher), these are not hardy outdoor. And they are pendant in habit, with those long branching structures cascading over the side of a container to often a significant length. One normally grows them in some sort of hanging basket structure or on a tall plant stand to show off the plant and its long branches to best effect. btw, the flowers form at the tips of these flattened leaves/branches so any pruning should be done cautiously. There are scads of websites on epis and if you do a bit of searching, they will provide all the growing info you need (rather than my repeating it all here!!). I find they are very easy to grow and will reward you with some gorgeous - if short-lived - flowers. I've got one setting flower buds now after being moved back indoors from its summer holiday location. Here's just one example of an epiphyllum website but do not stop with just one!! And be sure to check out any that show photo galleries of the blossoms - they are incredible!!

The discussion would be completely different if the machine wasn't still running except for an intermittent 'cut out' problem. It's life beyond this year is in question as well as every year beyond the next year after that. If anything this is an example of just how hard my job can be 'sometimes' and yet you guys come in here and fight me for it every day. Everything is a joke to you Ray? I just find it funny what people like to fight over. I view it as getting a customer by actually fixing something. That leads to it breaking again. The same thing can and does happen to new equipment all the time. Being able to fix things is a skill. I mentioned the 8 track tape. Who here has a record collection. Who here knows what a record is? The record went away because of long rewind times? ha, ha, ha.