I saw it in my mind when I read your post. Did it have a bunch of white birdhouses on a yellow fence/wall on the front? I bet I have it in the garage in my files...but that is like saying find it on the computer in the next few minutes...I have stacks of saved things...instead of magazines. I did a search on 'birdhouse plaques' and wall birdhouses and Birdhouses to hang on wall and got a lot of pages. And boy did I find some I want to make. Like a TX flag one and an outhouse one and a victorian one. Try some of these links http://www.nenature.com/bird-supplies/birdhouses.htm http://pages.us.com/adsection.php?link=JmJpZGtleXdvcmQ9YmlyZGhvdXNlJmJpZG1hdGNoPWImc291cmNlPUEmcHJvdmtleXdvcmQ9QmlyZCBIb3VzZXM And I found some at Target.com, search birdhouses. I have some on my fence and need to repaint but will take a picture later and post. Anybirdhouse front would be a hint for you. Maybe a picture of your home blow up could be a pattern also.

Yesterday one of my planters was dug up and plants here and there. I tucked them back in muttering unflattering comments about squirrels and watered well thinking that might deter the critters. Awoke this morning to a big pile of soil and plants on the ground. Decided that I would tuck the plants back in and put out the plastic knives. Surprise, there was a mallard duck nest with a bluish egg in the planter! Sorry, squirrels. Disturbed plants got put in another container and duck nest will stay. Thought the mallards were nesting away from our yard this year. This is very late but they are welcome.

How large is the area that you wish to light? HID (metal halide and HPS) can be tricky for starting seeds because they don't evenly illuminate a wide area. Stuff in the middle may fry while stuff at the edges will lean and stretch. The area you wish to light will also determine how much power you need. A 400W HID will be good for at least ten square feet, possibly double that. Small HID lamps tend to be less efficient and it probably isn't worth using less than 250W. Also, older lamps are less efficient and you might be better with a new fluorescent or compact fluorescent. How long do you want to grow them under lights? Do you have any natural light at all? HPS light is the best as a supplemental light, simply because you get the most light for your money/electricity. As the only light, it usually needs extra blue spectrum to produce healthy growth. You could get an enhanced HPS (extra blue from an HPS bulb), add some blue-ish fluorescent tubes, or many people just use metal halides to keep it simple. Fluorescents generally need to be almost in contact with sun-loving seedlings to produce good growth. Good ventilation is also helpful to keep temperatures down and have some moving air around the seedlings. A modern four-tube setup should be well up to the task, older T12s or magnetic ballast lights just might not be intense enough. Look for 48" T8s producing around 3,000 lumens, they will grow good seedlings. Overdriven lamps or T5s will produce even more intense light.

Perhaps, but I was directing those comments at what you had said. As for trails through swamps, they're everywhere. Florida, where I spent most of January, has miles upon miles of such trails, almost all boardwalks. They really do a good job of it down there. But more generally, I see no reason to paint oneself into a corner making unwarranted statements that such and such a plant community type is not one which would have trails. I don't even get where such a thought would be coming from. New Hampshire and Wisconsin would be very similar in terms of tree types. Maine might be an even closer fit. I know there are significant groves of native Thuja o. there, as well as in Vermont. Just a general note for anyone persistent enough to still be reading........Thuja o. is always known as a "swamp tree" because it has the rare ability to handle very high water tables. But in the best areas for its growth-and these tend to be limestone areas-it will happily grow up over hill and dale. Those are the best areas, and although my land is just barely beyond the limestone-near-the-surface belt, it is still strongly in the area where "cedar" does real well. Again, you'd almost have to have been from such an area to have any idea what I'm referring to. These are rare and otherwordly sites, what few remain. The coefficient of conservatism-no, not a political term, lol-but rather a measure of ecological value in the environment has this tree at 9 out of 10. That's very high.