Sad story about my pigeons . . . or pigeon. You may remember the story: Theresa had "run off" with Wild Tony after Old Tony disappeared, probably as a victim to a hawk. It was obvious that Tony & Theresa were in a "continuous" laying mode last Summer. It was also obvious that wherever their nest was (probably at the bar), it was not being populated by baby pigeons. But, they kept trying. After a couple weeks of showing up together, they'd go back into the 1st-one-and-then-the-other schedule as one or the other was occupied by setting on a nest. A few weeks would pass, and then they'd be back, as a couple, for meals. Then the process would start again. As Autumn came to a close, they just "suddenly" failed to come again. Theresa was really beyond her abilities pretending to be a wild pigeon. As a Birmingham Roller, she was only about 75% of a wild pigeon's size. If you decide to get pigeons, Michelle, this breed is a good choice. They are likely to be available in your area, come in a variety of colors, and you and DH can sit out on the patio and enjoy the aerial acrobatics!! I guess wild pigeons can become tame. Wild Tony was sorta tame but it was Theresa's attachment to home that kept him around. He was willing to show up for a handout under the stress of brooding babies but I suspect, if Theresa was lost last Fall, Tony may still be hanging out on derelict buildings and feeding off the grain cars down on the tracks - living "on the wild side." d'S'

It rained here in Highland, UT too. I was outside watching the most interesting lightning show last Thursday. No thunder, no wind but near constant lightning behind the clouds. When I brought my wife outside, the wind showed up. Within another 15-20 minutes, it really started coming down. So much, in fact, that it came through one of our basement windows. We sucked up over 10 gallons of water from our basement rug late Friday night after it was discovered. First time that's happened to us in just over two years we've been here. Hopefully it was just due to the window being open a crack, but I guess it still would have accumulated in the window well. This year is our first attempt at growing eggplant. One is approaching the bud stage, I believe. The other is still sort of miniature looking. These were indoor starts that I transplanted into the garden covered by 2 quart clear juice bottles with the bottoms cut off. While I was mowing the lawn Saturday, I noticed a nice cluster of deer scat. Is that the technical term? Anyway, it explains what was eating the new growth on our cherry tree planted earlier this year and the wax bean plants (sort of experimental, never tried them, not sure what we'll eventually do with them, sort of like the acorn squash, which seems to be almost as vigorous a grower as the pumpkin, but not as productive). Speaking of pumpkin, in our first year, we've got one slightly larger than a gallon milk jug, and a second quickly catching up. There are a couple others that are still developing, but although they are past the blossom, I noticed a couple ping-pong ball sized pumpkins appear to be thinning themselves out. At this point, I'm wondering if I should figure out which plants they are coming from and pulling/cutting all of the others out. The melons (watermelon, cantelope, and honeydew) are probably a little crowded. Last year the vine to the only promising watermelon suddenly died and the melon rotted. We had a couple very small cantelope, and the honeydew all died off. This year I've seen maybe a half-dozen honeydew start to form, two watermelon about the size of a miniature football with a couple others still developing, and one or two cantelope. Since I haven't had the heart to thin back the plants, should I now be thinning out the melons to one or two per vine so they can achieve a decent size?

best would be to get rid of the garden soil and use potting mix. you need something lighter for a container, soil compacts and that means less oxygen for the roots which means stunted growth. also, potting mic will hold water better. you can make your own potting mix if you want.

Most of my girlfriends are teachers and I think all of the above ideas are fantastic and would be greatly appreciated. Every year at this time ~ and at Christmas~ I get to see and hear about "the gifts" they get. While they never expect parents to give them anything, a practical or fun gift (like the movie theater gift certificate) are always very appreciated. As many other moms here may be wondering the same thing about what to get their kids' teachers, I'd just like to add one more thing . . . What NOT to get a teacher (per my girl friends): ** PLEASE, no "teacher" anything! No cups, glasses, paperweights,windchimes, sun-catchers, ornaments, etc. that say something about teachers on them, More than a one over the course of several years teaching becomes only a group of dust-catchers. My bestfriend, who retired this past week after 25+ years of teaching, had a huge box in her garage of those kinds of things that she just couldn't use . . . because she already had a couple of each in her classroom! ** Another try-not-to-give gift is a knickknack. They get so many; let your gift be different and practical or fun and your teacher will be so appreciative. A couple more suggestions of gfts they might appreciate: * At my DD's high school they like to give the teachers giftcards to the Starbucks right around the corner from their school. Is that "practical"? All I know is that the teachers I LOVE them ;^D * if you know that they like to garden . . . and have a place they CAN garden, a gift certificate to a local garden center. * a gift certificate to a home improvement center like Lowes or HD. To all the great teachers on this board . . . a BIG THANK YOU for making a difference!! Have a great ~ and restful~ summer! Lynn