I'm back again, giving serious test to Mary's comment about absent idyllers being welcomed back. I'm so happy that this group is always here waiting for me. Marian, I second your comment about liking all of the people here despite many differences. If you and I lived in the same town, chances are great we would never get to know each other. But I enjoy your different perspective and your stories from your life, even if you do think it's not very exciting. Perspective is a funny thing. I had dinner with a group of women last week, and one of them is one of the best-known dairy farmers in the state. She has done tons of work in support of ag in our state, not to mention those 260 dairy cows that need to be milked every once in a while. But she looked at me and another woman who works in the perennial business and told us we had such wonderful jobs that helped make people happy. Hmm, feed the world or make people happy? Isn't it funny how "the grass is always greener"? Honey, I liked the therapist's comment about eggs in the hardware store. Martie, I was talking plants with a customer the other day and she mentioned an herb that she can only get at Logee's - had I ever heard of Logee's? Well, of course, because Martie has raved about it! So have you grown Greek columnar basil? And are you still pushing dibbles in your neighborhood? LOL! Shh! I have four coleus cuttings that are out and out thriving! Funny thing is that I filled three pots with potting soil, stuck the cuttings and then put them all together on my kitchen counter. Two pots (same coleus) did great and the other pot (different variety) shriveled and died. But the two pots are still doing well. This evening, I switched hats and would have done Clik and Clak proud as I diagnosed a car problem over the phone. DD's car has sprung a leak in the cooling system. The complication is that she is supposed to drive home Friday night. DH thinks she should put in some StopLeak and come on home, but I think that there are too many miles of nothing between here and there. There are several exits on the interstate that don't even have gas stations within a couple of miles, and I don't want to worry about her getting stranded. So she will take the car in tomorrow and see how fast it can be fixed. She can get other transportation home, but then she wouldn't have a car to drive over break. Well, that wouldn't be the end of the world! Honey, smart move to call the police. In our old neighborhood, a couple of guys were going door to door ringing bells, and when someone answered they had a goofy reason why they were at the door. Finally someone called the police, and these two were caught trying to break in to a home where no one answered. We were on vacation at the time, and came home to find our sliding patio door slightly off kilter. It was the kind that you could lift off the track from the outside, but we had put screws in the track to prevent that. Those screws did their job! Mary, the teacup and longhouse are simply awesome! Glad to hear we will be discussing Michael Pollan's book. I'm looking forward to revisiting it and discussing it with this crew. I'm in the middle of his latest book, "The Omnivore's Dilemna", right now. Chelone, you talked about becoming a more adventuresome eater. I have always hated olives. Just 11 days ago in Napa, I had this little epiphany and discovered I love little balck olives. Like, I ate every single one I could get my hands on! Anyone hiding any olives around here? Okay, time to let the West Coast crew take over as I head to bed with a warm dog and a good book. V.

I know just how you feel - mad and sad. Many years ago, my MIL decided it would be good for my boys to raise chickens from her baby chicks...and guess whose chickens they ended up being? My problem wasn't fox or coyotes, but raccoons were the villains for me. One big old coon killed 3 chickens in my yard before I managed to dispatch him with my shotgun. I sometimes think about a flock for bug patrol, but I just don't feel up to fending off the wildlife - and we have much more of it here than we did where I lived at the time I had my last poultry. Chickens need a lot of babysitting.

Oh how sweet!!! I would love to see the pics of your babies. My heart's desire has always been to live far enough out of the city to be able to have chickens.......and a goat. :) Not sure it will ever happen so I love to hear about others who can! I did hear that ducks and geese do bond with the first person that they see upon hatching and consider it their 'mother'. Not sure about chickens though. gg

I had 2 Great Danes and another large dog and those herons and egrets were not in the least bit scared they would fly from the trees right into the pool and the dogs were chasing around the pool and barking. None of my Great Danes have ever been swimmers in fact if they fall in they go straight down I nearly lost a couple of them because of that. If it were a water dog that would get in the pool that would probably deter them.