I thought I would check in before leaving for the weekend. Yesterday was a day from hell. I am asking you again for prayers and support for my family. What I am going to tell you is almost impossible to believe. It concerns two of my nephews. One is ninth grade, the other away at college, finishing up his senior year. Last week my brother and his wife received a call from the ninth grader's school, saying that he had suffered an "episode" and recommended taking him to the doctor. To make a long story short, he had gotten extremely stressed out at school (he is always on the honors list) and just cracked. They described it as a manic episode. He is seeing several doctors and has gotten better, went back to school yesterday. When talking to my mother yesterday morning, she said she had started receiving some very bizarre emails from our other nephew, who is away at college. She didn't want to bother my brother, because of everything they had been going through with the younger son. I asked her to forward them to me, and gosh almighty, they were more than bizarre, really out of it, almost suicidal. So I told her I was going to track down my brother and/or his wife at their work and let them know. To make a long story short, this nephew has also suffered some sort of manic breakdown - they tested him and did not find drugs or alcohol in his system and will be committing him to a mental hospital for evaluation. My brother is with him, as my sister-in-law had to stay home with the other son. I was hesitant to post this on a forum, but I believe in prayer and that it can help heal, and my poor brother and his family need it in the worst way. They are just stunned and in shock. They are the last family you would think something like this would happen to. Very stable environment, very supportive of their children. Thank you for letting me share.

I have been mopping and mopping the floors. Half for me and half for him :) I have scooted over to the computer to rest for me. Sue

My grandmother used salt in another way. She was the dutiful wife of a sweet minister who, without consulting her, purchased and planted many various fruit trees in their back yard. Two were in the way of the wash line, or maybe the story was they were berry trees and the birds would stain the wash. Anyhow, she wanted them gone but did not have the heart to point out to her sweet husband the bad planning. So every time she went into the back yard, she put several handfuls of salt into her apron pocket and liberally sprinkeled the root zone of these two trees with salt. Before long, they died of some unexplainable blight, and grandma had her wash line to her liking.

Since it was a "balmy" 22 degrees yesterday, I trudged out to inspect the bird feeders. DH tries to keep the path to the feeder tree open with the snowblower. He tops up the feeders for me when it's really cold. Still the trays were dirty and caked with ice. Some of the ports were clogged in the one feeder. I cleaned everything and then topped off all the feeders. Since the snow has gotten so deep, and the tree branches are hanging low because of the snow weight, I switched out most of the hanging hooks for shorter ones. The caged suet feeder, normally six feet above "ground" was only 18" above the snow. I replaced it's 5' hook with an 18" one. Now the feeders are higher again; I can see everything from my living room window "perch"; and I know all the feeders are clean and free flowing. I brought in two of the squirrel baffles. When they're scraped and cleaned of the "birdie dirdie" I'll swap them out and clean the other two. They don't always "baffle" the squirrels, but they keep the feeders and seed amazingly clean, which means healthier birds. When the weather is this bad I make sure the squirrels can get to some of the goodies, too. I'm in full-winter-mode bird feeding. I have a suet feeder, a peanut feeder, and a mesh-wire black oil sunflower seed (BOSS) feeder on the post close to the house. I have one suet feeder on the tree, and a caged suet feeder hung from the tree. I have a hanging tray feeder, ported tube feeder, and another mesh feeder, all for BOSS, in the tree. I also have one "upside down" thistle feeder for the delight of the American goldfinches and the pine warblers. The birds are happy, happy, happy. Why three suet feeders in a 25' area? Woodpeckers won't "share". By putting out the three feeders I always have several woodpeckers along with the white-breasted and red-breasted nuthatches either on the suet, or waiting their turns in the tree. They really aren't eating any more suet than normal, but there are more birds around.