Hi Stacy, As far as your pump goes, it depends on what you want in your pond. If you want a good-sized waterfall, 800 gallons an hour isn't bad, in my opinion. I have ponds and a stream that currently total about 500 gallons, and I have a waterfall pump that is capable of recirculating the water at a rate of about 3,000 gph. I got a bigger one because I felt that I would like to expand my pond someday (which I just started doing about 3 days ago). Anyway, it has worked just fine with my smaller pond system -- I just plumbed the line so that it had a valve on it, and I can use the valve to control the amount of water that is recirculated (I have choked down to about half of its capacity -- the manufacturers said that using a valave to limit the pumping volume of the pump -- within reason -- will not harm it). Like I said in another post, make your pond as big as you your imagination will allow for, without breaking your budget -- most folks find that as soon as they are finished building their pond, they immediately wish they had made it bigger.

I do sentinal beach combing, write down and keep track of everything that washes up on the beach. Years ago I went to Florida for the seabean convention, yes, it's real, every October in Coco beach. One of the attendees works cleaning the beach. She had found a "brick". Threw it in the dumpster at the park. Well, when we found out we all HAD to go and look. So we loaded up in 3 cars, drove across town, PAID to get into the park and proceeded to pull everything out of the dumpster she had thrown in. We were looking at bottles, big chunks of something we tried to break open by dashing it against the parking lot, the "brick", which was a very well-wrapped package of very high grade marijuana. It was pretty stinky and rotten. But did that stop us? Oh no, we all had to smell it, touch it. So here we are, a bunch of old farts in a parking lot, professors, lawyers, nurses, throwing around stuff that had washed up on the beach and playing with a couple of pounds of rotted marijuana. The people at the hotel had a good time watching us but luckily noone called the police. I do not know how we would have explained that one!! Honestly officer, we're out here in the pitch dark digging through a dumpster with a couple of pounds of marijuana because we're at a seabean convention!!! Do you think they would have thrown us in jail or just the nut ward? I gotta make reservations for next year, that's a fun convention. Tally HO!

Oh no, butter tarts and butter horns are nothing alike. A butter tart is a small tart with a filling made of brown sugar, butter, egg and has raisins in it. I like to put walnuts in mine as well. A butter horn is a pastry with an icing and walnut top. Butter tarts are very Canadian. I like the recipe from Crisco best. The longer you cook them, the more they cook. I like them a little runny, so I under bake them. The muffin doesn't have a filling at all, and isn't nearly as sweet as the butter tarts. But then, I didn't drizzle maple syrup or corn syrup on the tops when I took them out of the oven. Here is a link that might be useful: images of Butter Tarts

I must take issue with Tiffany’s comments. Outdoor cats are not a scourge on the land. They are outdoors because WE put them out there. Why do they get put out? Let me count the ways: 1. WE are too lazy to care for them after we get them. Food, vet bills, litter, toys, OUR attention…….WE decide it’s all too much. WE are too lazy to even surrender them to a rescue…….omg, the gas for driving them there! So WE just put them out. 2. WE don’t take the time or spend the money to get their them their vaccinations AND most importantly, WE DON’T SPAY OR NEUTER THEM. WE DON’t want to spend the money or some men have sick notions about removing the testicles from a male cat or dog btw, because they personalize it.(of course neutered male cats and dogs will live longer healthier lives because they don’t roam or fight as much AND they have a lower occurrance of testicular cancer which of course they DIE from). Or without proper vaccinations, they get sick and often get disposed of. I don’t mean creamated, I mean thrown in a dumpster to die. 3. So when unspayed female cat sneaks out of the house or WE let her out for a few hours so she can experience her wild nature……..then WE get surprised that she is PG and WE don’t want kitties…….again, instead of taking her to a rescue, WE open the door and let her go…….forever. She can fend for herself, right? WRONG! Indoor domesticated cats have been fed by US so when put out, they must revert to a somewhat wild state to survive, if they do. 4. As a result of number 3, all the kitties are born outside and then they know nothing except what their mother teaches them. If you knew anything about cats, you would understand that cats do not kill for sport, but out of hunger. What looks like playing with their food is actually killing the prey. Pouncing, shaking throwing it the air is all about subduing prey so they are then ableto eat it. This is also how an outdoor mother teaches her kittens to hunt so they can survive outdoors. Birds are a minor part of their diet. They kill far more mice and rats than birds. Really I could go on and on about why there are free roaming cats, but I agree with functionthenlook. Tall buildings with nighttime lights and habitat loss are the top killers of birds. Now if you want to help cut down on the free roaming cat issue in your area, you can do Trap-Neuter-Return. TNR is the only effective and humane way of reducing the free roaming cat population. I have done it in my neighborhood for years. By neutering cats, you stop the reproduction cycle. Many cities have ordinances to pay for the services. Some vets are willing to offer services for free or a nominal feewe. Over time, numbers reduce. Here’s where you can learn more if you want to help rather than complain and make opinionated remarks. Best friends animal society , one of the best organizations in the country working round the clock to end all unnecessary killings by 2025. Also on the front lines when disaster hits and animals are involved. Think Hurricane Katrina. Alley cat allies Faunalytics Fix Nation Indy Feral and many, many others if you look. debra