I love the foxes and we don't see them very often because they are rather shy and tend to remain in the heavy cover of the woods. Tish, Let me tell you about wildlife. We specifically chose to move way out here to the boondocks of southern Oklahoma (from Fort Worth, Texas,) in 1999, because we wanted to live in a remote, rural area with lots of wildlife. All I can say is that you need to be careful what you wish for. Got wildlife? Oh, yes, we do. Since moving here, we see the following on a regular basis: coyotes, deer, rabbits, possums, armadilloes, skunks, ferrets, foxes, bobcats, ring-tailed cats, raccoons, field mice and voles (cats keep them under control on the acre or two closest to the house), gophers, moles, snakes, lizards, skinks, newts, birds of all kinds, bees, butterflies, bats, dragonflies and damselflies, clearwing hummingbird moths and sphix moths, and so many more than I could ever list. Some of my favorites are the rabbits, glass lizards, dragonflies, hummingbirds, all the other birds, the moths, the deer (most of the time) and the bats. Some of my least favorites are the venomous snakes and the skeeters and chiggers. Oh, and the skunks. Rarely, but once every couple of years or so, we have encounters with the tawny-coated mountain lions and the black panthers. When that happens, it scares me to death. I had a nearby mountain lion roar at me in the darkness one night, and I almost dropped dead of fright right there on the spot. A neighbor who lives about a mile up the road heard the thing roar and came to check on us. My son had an even closer encounter with a black panther in our driveway one night. Scarey. And, even though we have never had to run for our lives to get away from feral pigs, some of our neighbors have. We HAVE had feral pigs living at the back of our property, but they haven't come closer to the house than a few hundred feet. And then there are the white-tail deer, with whom we have a love-hate relationship. Ninety percent of the time, we love them. The ten percent of the time that I find them in the garden devouring whatever crop sounds good to them at the moment, that's the time I don't love them. The next door neighbor whose property is west of us feeds them all winter, then fights to keep them out of his garden the rest of the year. So do we. I can't bear to see them get skinny and starving in the winter. Sometimes in the winter and early spring, we have 6 or 8 out behind the barn eating the deer corn. In the spring, though, I try to run them off.....unless a doe brings her fawn or fawns up to the house to show them off, which they sometimes do. Then, I ooh and ahh over the pretty babies, tell the does to wait, and I get a bucket or two of henscratch (we don't keep deer corn handy in the warm months) and pour it on the ground for the does. While the does eat, they leave the babies on the edge of the woods near my garden, almost as if they expect me to "babysit". It happens about every other year or so and is always a "magical moment". I wouldn't say our little herd of deer are "tame" but they certainly are comfortable around us. (But I am careful to never get too close to them or let them get too close to me.) And, it is only our does who are relaxed and comfortable around us....the occasional buck who is passing through isn't nearly as friendly. My all-time favorite, most incredibly wonderful wildlife experience was a pair of bald eagles in the summer of 2004. I would see them sitting on top of a big old metal pole barn used for hay storage at an old farm where no one lived any longer, although cattle were on the land. That place is about a mile and a half from our place, and I would see the eagles while walking the dogs or jogging. I saw them several times. It was awesome. Twice they flew right over our house, and the friend of ours (who, tragically, died of cancer the following year) who was building our garage/barn saw them too. It was one of those great moments where you see something so special that you can't believe you're seeing it. Since then, there have been other bald and golden eagles overwintering in the area. It IS always special to see them, but nothing is quite as special as that summer to me. The bobcats can be a problem for our pets, so we chase them off when they appear. Last year one of the bobcats got in the habit of sitting in my veggie garden. And, when a human appeared, he really didn't want to leave either. My son chased him off several times by running at him, waving his arms and yelling. The darn thing kept coming back. Finally, DS fired a gun into the ground behind the bobcat, and that cat finally understood he wasn't welcome in the garden. So, if you WANT wildlife, we've got it.....but sometimes more than we really want, need or can feed! Dawn

Well, looks like I need Victoria advice from Jessy and Ann. :) I am headed there next summer, for the start of another epic bicycle tour. Jessy, where did you stay? I will fly to Seattle, and then see about how to get up to Canada. Haven't done all the research yet. I need to figure out, where to ship my bike, as flying it is getting kind of spensive. Then I will tramp to the same little most northern town in the US, and cross over on my bike. Eventually I will ride my bike south, along the Pacific coast. But my must see place is Butchart Gardens, which is why I will start the trip earlier than the others, that will ride the same route. Moni

It has a very nice blend of flavors, Glenda. Nothing is too over-powering. We're having the leftovers tonight.

Luncheon forks in my mother's set of silver were the same as the salad forks. I just ordered double salad forks for my set to have enough salad and dessert forks. And then the china sets had luncheon plates too, which were larger than the salad plates but considerably smaller than the dinner plates. I do love old table services of silver and china. I especially love the finer Limoges as it reminds me of all the things my grandmother inherited from her family. Lovely shaped pitchers, pickle dishes, and sets of china. When we washed the dishes and I held a tea cup in my hand to dry, it was as if I were holding an egg shell in my hand. You could see the outline of your hand through the plate or cup if you held the plate up to the light and put your hand behind the plate.