PM2: Thank you, glad you like the little stories and I'm glad not to have had hamsters - but I did lose a turtle under a washing machine in 1953...RIP. I had the same problem with hungry and curious climbers a few years ago and applied mineral oil to the pole which did create a slippery slope of comedy for two days. Then I felt horrible thinking that if mineral oil does that laxative business to humans (Oh, dear) so I stopped greasing the pole so as not to grease the little guys'..., well, you get the idea. After making several totally ineffective homemade devices to thwart the clever little tykes, I went to the hardware store and bought the Audobon deflector (recommended by Claire) which, two years later, has not been conquered. Pure and simple, it works. With or without a squirrel deflector, all the ground feeders - Republicans, Democrats, Independents alike -benefit from the big wingers swinging and squabbling over everything. Seed ends up on the ground anyway. Let there be peace. Jane Here is a link that might be useful: Ace - Audobon deflector

PM2: There are eagles and vultures in MA, too. I've seen both of them here (turkey vultures and bald eagles). The turkeys definitely connect me with food - if I look closely, I often see a turkey scout in the driveway next door, or across the street, or in a tree. Soon after I put food out they'll come sauntering over to grab a snack. Sometimes I try to outlast them so the smaller ground-feeding birds can eat in peace, but just when I think they've gone to roost and put food out, they come right back. Yet every once in a while they'll disappear for a week or two, which I think is their normal routine in the wild. Feed for a few days or a week in one area then move on to another. I also don't see them much during the breeding season when the big flocks split up and there's food available in the woods. I put mixed seed out so I'm not sure what they prefer, except that they really like nyjer. I had a low-hanging nyjer sock for a while and the turkeys discovered they could peck a hole in the sock and the seed would spill out onto the ground where they could easily slurp it all up. That sock is now encased in a metal feeder. The best thing I've read that they eat is ticks! In fact, I haven't seen any ticks here for a few years, although the other birds could be eating them too. I don't know if everybody is willing to keep a flock of turkeys in their yard for tick control (sort of like keeping goats to eat the poison ivy) but it's an added benefit. I've been thinking about that Ilex "Honey Maid" for a while - do you know if the Ilex "Blue Stallion" will pollinate it? Claire

Hello Harry, You bought that nutmeg from that nursery in Hawaii right? The grower that claims that the original Nutmeg was hermaphroditic? I was just wondering. Do you think it has a chance at recovering? You had mentioned in a previous post that you had two diffrent june plums, one with a large spiny seed and one that had more pulp. The one with more pulp sounds interesting. These trees fruit at a small size right? I am wondering if you grow them from seed if you can get a plant that is true to type. I am just thinking of some new tropicals(besides mango) thatI can add. I really don't have anything unusual except the Caimito. I would like to add something a lil diffrent. Something that wouldn't be to difficult to grow but something that would be rewarding with fruit harvest. I am still thinking of the carambola bell but not quite sure yet. Maybe you can help me more when I get down there to your house. I have 2 nice seed grown quenepa now. I am praying that I end up with a male and female. My S.A. and soursop are growing nicely now. Both are still relatively small but they will make it. I have tons of seedlings of S.A. and not sure what I will do with them all. I will have to throw most out unless someone here wants them. I just hope they are worth the wait. I know grafted trees are much better. If you can think of a fruit that I could grow let me know. Andrew

Taking food photos professionally is not easy. It requires expensive equipment, lots of time, years of training, a good size studio, and lots of cold food. IMHO, for the purpose of showing everyday cooking and to share as many your work as possible with others in this forum, it will require a different strategy. Not that I am the expert, I have found the following works for me well. 1. One high wattage daylight CFL (Amazon.com) which I put on top of my dinning room cabinet aiming at the white ceiling. 2. One large kitchen microwave container on the CFL bulb to diffuse the light. 3. One tripod. 4. One normal digital camera (Coolpix 8400). That's all. Nothing more. After a dish is made and I dump everything on a plate as quickly as I can, I just put it on the dinning table, turn on the light, snap a side view, and use the tripod to snap a top view. What you see is what you get. The whole process takes not too many seconds. Tips? Just one, don't use you flash. If you don't have bright enough light, use the tripod and the camera's self timer. dcarch