All birds, besides a few urban birds, are or will soon be declining. Along with just about every other living thing on the planet. For every increase of one person there is X amount of living things that will die. Someone mentioned the decrease in a bird population, such as an Indigo Bunting, although their local habitat was still intact. You have to remember that those types of birds have to migrate down to Central America and back, 2 one way trips a year. If there is a loss of habitat or food anywhere along that path, it could be very bad for them. Although, people are against hunting, the truth is that agriculture kills more animals than a hunter would kill in a lifetime. I'm not going to condone deer hunting one way or another, this is just an example: Say a hunter walks into the woods and kills a deer, nothing else was disturbed. He will get 50 to 100 pounds of food, only one animal killed. To get that much food through agriculture, one would have to devastate the land, cut down all the trees and use pesticides or some other means that would rob the "pests" of food. Eventually, the use of fertilizers, which run into the water supply and kill even more animals by doing that. I bring this up because it is what many migratory birds are encountering along the journey. All animals need every ounce of energy we can muster up to help them.

"Wow OAA9898 you called me a lier and a retard in one post LOL.Sure its just one case and I said they make them better today then they did back then.But it is a true story.I guess you just do not believe everything you read.Just every thing Consumer Distorts and JD powers writes?Still its a fact you do not see 20 year old Rice burners on the road.Thats a fact.Maybe up on blocks.Even this retard can see that." Actually they did make them good, even back then. Why do you think the imports were so popular? American cars in the '70s were gas hogs of substandard quality. All cars built back then were of abysmal quality in comparison to todays cars. I'm not suggesting imports were perfect at all; however, every car in the 70s had rust problems. The problem with imports back then was that very few mechanics would touch them, so dealer maintenance was necessary and expensive (and therefore often left undone). Guess what happens if you don't change the timing belt on an interference engine? It snaps and the pistons hit the valves, and well, you can guess the rest. If your car has over a 100,000 miles on it, and the engine is ruined due to a snapped timing belt (due to poor maintenance) you could put a couple thousand dollars into an eight or nine year old car, or cut your losses. What choice do you think a lot of consumers made? BTW, in 1985, Honda and Toyota sales were growing but were far from being at the volume of domestic cars sold at the time. Of course you see more domestics; thats simply due to the fact that more domestics were sold. Japanese car companies concentrated their sales in markets were demand was the highest, like on the West coast. You live in Illinois, the demand for gasoline was and is much higher in California, and probably always will be; therefore, there was a greater demand for fuel-efficient vehicles. Hence, more Hondas and Toyotas were sold there as opposed to where you and I live, the Midwest. Despite what you may believe, everything is not the same everywhere, johndeere. And thanks to competition cars today are far better then they would be without Japanese Imports. Thanks, Japan. Don't knock Consumer Reports. Unlike J.D. Power & Associates, they are one of the only non-for-profit consumer advocacy groups left in the country. They accept no advertisements, corporate donations, and don't allow their name to be advertised by manufacturers. Say what you will, that they're biased towards foreign cars, or other garbage like that - but it will be completely unfounded.

Hi, I filled it in too, under healthy frogs! Just spent the afternoon in the pond getting rid of yellow globby things (the barley straw is covered in it, but maybe in time it will work?). No ill or dead amphibians about--just no amphibians around the pond. See froglets on occasion. I think this is due to the snakes which like water, so they have hopped to someplace else in the garden. Pity as usually this time of year I don't see a lot of frogs but do see the toads snoozing in a sun spot in the pond. any ideas about catching and moving snakes? I like snakes, but I am very very fond of my amphibians!! I guess though that during breeding season snakes are still hibernating so not a danger? Miss my frogs! and the dragonflies--gradually finding exuvia of the big guys about, enough to take into work to freak people out, and about to send one to a friend who likes such things. But only seeing a common darter about, and loads of damselflies. The exuvia look like the big emperor ones (the ones with wingspans that rival Phelps), but none about. happy ponding, chip

mendopete: The wall and apple core are for those that feel like I do that worms do not need grit. Worms may need or just not care or do better with egg shell in any form but they do not need it for grit. Or any grit. I'm not sure where you are on that. Maybe we need more walls. :-) I cringe every time I read a new poster talk about toxic castings. I cringe every time I read a new poster talk about vermicomposting worms needing grit. I do not think I will have much company on this one. It is imbeded in vermicomposting lore right between kitchen scraps drip worm tea and castings being toxic. However, I was surprised how much company I had on the castings being non toxic topic. chuckiebtoo: I can't say I disagree with any of that post. I think I agree with all of it. I too was going to report back when I had more first hand knowledge from the other side of the stony green lawn. I don't need "some sources" because they would probably be boring. You all here are more fun. I think if Mary knew we were tossing this about so much she would be surprised and rethink her use of the word toxic to more like you and others here have written. I was hoping some of our foreign correspondents would chime in on the matter. It is always good to get opinions from multiple different sources. :-) And I just love the accents and cultural references. Ooh la la! Vive la difference! "Her famous book, “Worms Eat My Garbage,” has been translated into Korean, French, German and Japanese." This topic should be of interest to many vermicomposters who have read her books around the world. mendopete again: "Does this mean the castings are toxic? If I add castings to my garden, am I using worm pesticide? All worm bins need some maintenance at some point. Is this what Mary meant?" #Like. I'm twittering with delight. LOL. I hear ya Harry57. It does say something about the power of Mary's book if 14 years after her death 8 people are passionately debating a single word she wrote in a book first written 17 years ago. That is quite a worm woman! "No one in this country has done more for the self-image of worms than Mary Appelhof, the undisputed and nationally recognized, "Worm Woman." Green Living Magazine Here is a link that might be useful: Wormmania! This post was edited by equinoxequinox on Mon, Jan 26, 15 at 19:28