When you are really attuned to nature,you can see so many things..big and little. I feed the raccoons so know they eat first,right when the sun goes down and then they make a tour of the property. Last night they took their coffee can full of cat food with them and dropped it right by the bird feeder when they climbed up to get the sunflower seeds. Greedy little buggers. We have big old toad who by day stays in one of the 12 terra cotta flower pots of geraniums lining my stairs. Trouble is,I forget about him from time to time and water his head. We have a wren who is nesting somewhere in our garage but I haven't a clue where the nest is. I always lock up the garage at night so the raccoons will stay out of there. My greenhouse is attached to the garage and right as rain every morning Ms. wren is in there yelling at me to let her out which of course I do. Ever try to argue with a wren? It's a lost cause. I could go on forever about the 2 red tailed hawks who are in our yard every day,the red fox who darts through the woods but is pretty elusive, and the roughly 25 wild turkeys who tromp through here every morning around 7. I am so used to all the critter noises that when I hear a new one my ears always perk up. A family whose property borders on the same woods as ours has started raising alpacas and they make the funniest little noises. Kind of neat.

hey everybody...first off, thanks for all your responses, including your condolences. We will be ok, in time. Secondly, if any of you are wondering why it's taken me so long to respond, it's because for some reason my computer friend here does not seem to want to open any threads I have posted on and keeps popping up an irritating little "operation aborted" box. I am guessing it has something to do with the anti-spam/anti-cookie program we run occasionally, but I am not sure. Anyway, some days opening my treasured forums site slows to a crawl and I don't always have the time/patience for it. Now, back to the topic at hand. I did order some pepper spray, but the company I worked with advised me to not go with the bear formula but instead order a police-issue type because the bear formulation is way too much for a human and could in fact be a lethal dose. I could just see her trying it out when we were gone and having it drift back in her own face...eeeks. I was WAY put off by the cost: which came up to 84$ and change for an 8 oz canister and two purse sized ones. I could have gotten three gallons of GAS for that much money!! :) I will just keep that bit of info to myself, and besides, she is pleased with the whole plan overall, and that is worth a million dollars to me anyway. I am willing to bet that she never once has to use the stuff, but knowing she has it and that it does have stopping power will be a huge confidence booster. I wish I could explain her personality in words that don't make it sound as if I am disdainful or disrespectful...her siblings have told me that she was raised "the baby" and as a result led a pretty sheltered life but that's all over now and it will be really really hard for her. Her son and I need to be as supportive as we can without becoming her security net.

Yeah - second supplier is Saudi Arabia... ... that model of the democracy that some people want to encourage in the Middle East. Fifteen of the nineteen guys who flew those planes into those towers came from there. Not Iran. Not Iraq. Cetainly not from North Korea. Those last three constituting a certain "Axis of Evil" that we heard about a while ago. ole joyful

I live in MN, too. Have had a powder-coated aluminum (I believe) set on my screened in porch for 15 years and no noticeable rust yet. I do keep a plastic table cloth, weighted with cast iron trivets on top of the glass. Each year the tablecloth takes a beating so I get a fresh new one for the spring and summer! I do move the patio furniture a few feet in, away from the screens since we don't use the patio at all in the winter. Here is a link that might be useful: 15 year old patio furniture