Thanks for the explanation of your zoom, Claire. More information for camera shopping is always appreciated. We have finally had some warmer weather and so I went for a long walk yesterday down by the stream, through our far corn field (not visible from the house) and then through the next farm south which was an ornamental tree & sod farm at one point and is now returning to its roots as a food farm. I had been wondering where "our turkeys" had wandered off to and found evidence of them in several places: Crossing the stream From Jan 31, 2014 and then up to check out the manure piles in the field From Jan 31, 2014 but the real attraction seems to have been the ornamental crabs in the tree fields. There were lots of tracks in this area, but almost none around the other rows of trees. From Jan 31, 2014 Earlier in the week I had taken a quick ski around the corn field by the house and found tracks from fox and coyote as well as this little guy, perhaps a mouse based on the size and tail drag, where his track and the fox coincided. From Jan 31, 2014

They also love to eat Rue, an old medicinal type herb, with lovely blue-green, lacy foliage. Precure Nursery sells it, as well as very nice Fennel and Dill plants. I know they don't spray the Dill and Fennel because they are considered food plants, but they may spray the Rue on occasion. If the Rue is sitting on the tables with the Fennel and Dill, it is relatively safe to say it has not been sprayed. If, however, it is located on a table some distance from the Dill and Fennel, it has been sprayed. I know one summer they had a problem with mealy bugs on the Rue, so they moved it to the Perennial plant section and sprayed them. Someone purchased the Rue plants unsuspectingly, and when the cats consumed the Rue, they died. That said, I highly recommend Precure because they sell a lot of butterfly host and nectar plants. I have purchased other host plants such as Blue Crown Passion Vine (for the Gulf Fritillarys), Pussytoes (Antennaria, for the American Ladies), Pearly Everlasting (American Ladies), and other things. Their herb plants are usually pretty good sized. I have to go there today to get more Rue and Fennel, so I can let you know the status of their Rue if you would like. The thing I like about Rue is that it is also the food plant for the Giant Swallowtails, so you would have 2 different butterflies using them for larval food. The Black Swallowtail is Oklahoma's state butterfly, too! If you want to, you could hand-raise a couple of the caterpillars so your daughter can see the life cycle up close. Just use a plastic container, with airholes punched in the lid, small enough the larvae cannot get thru them. I put a paper towel in the bottom (change daily cuz caterpillars poop a lot), and add fresh Dill leaves in the morning and evening, removing whatever is left of the old. I use the plastic containers and cut out the inside portion of the top, put a paper towel over the container and put the lid back on (you will have just the rim of the lid left) or you can cover the entire container with a paper towel secured with a rubber band. When they reach the last instar of growth, they will began to wander around the container and empty their guts. If your container is tall enough, you can put some sticks or something wooden, stand them up or lean them against the sides, and they will pupate either on these or on the sides, top of container. When the cat has found a place to pupate, it will spin a "harness" and position itself securely against the stick or side of the container where it will remain motionless. Eventually, they shed their skin for the last time and in its place is a chrysalis, either brown or green. Inside its interior is turning to liquid and then reconstituting as a butterfly. In about 7-10 days, you will see the chrysalis begin to darken. Within a day or so, the butterfly will slide out of the chrysalis and hang to dry. The wings are all crumpled up and damp looking. Don't disturb it. The butterfly will begin to pump fluid into the wings, the wings will extend and dry. After a few hours, the butterfly will be ready to fly. This may sound difficult, but it is not at all. I have used containers like large, plastic pretzel containers from Sam's Club, mesh cages purchased from Educational Science online, butter/margarine containers, etc. I cover them with paper towels held in place with rubber bands. The most important things are keeping the containers clean, and providing fresh food daily, twice daily when they get big. You will notice them growing and eating more and more. Congrats on your big, beautiful caterpillars! Susan Here is a link that might be useful: Black Swallowtail Life Cycle

Hank, I do remember the heat wave of 1980 although I was living in Texas at the time. It was the worst summer ever and I know that I will never forget it. I was in college and working full-time, and I had a car with NO air conditioner. (That was the absolute last car I ever bought without an air conditioner!) My dad had a garden that year, as always, and all I remember about it is that he had a HUGE crop of the biggest, tastiest tomatoes we'd ever produced until the red spider mites got the plants in early August. In Fort Worth we went 69 days between June 23 and September 6 with high temperatures over 100 degrees, a record which stands to this day. We also recorded the all-time highest temperature ever officially recorded in the D-FW area on June 26 and June 27---113 degrees. That same year the second highest temperature ever recorded in Texas was recorded in Wichita Falls--119 degrees. In Oklahoma City, y'all had 50 days of triple digit high temperatures and recorded OKC's all-time high temp of 110 degrees--the hottest day on record outside of the Dust Bowl days. The Heat Wave of June-Sept. 1980 did an estimated $20 billion in damages/costs to agriculture and related industries. In addition, an estimated 10,000 deaths during that time-frame were classified as heat-related deaths including those caused by heat-related stress. I worked for an international airline and I remember that people would walk off the air-conditioned aircraft into the UNAIRCONDITIONED jetways, which were said to be in excess of 140 degrees, and they would collapse right there in the jetway. It happened over and over again. We sure kept the police officers, paramedics and firefighters busy that summer with all the medical calls. I also remember that you just couldn't seem to cool off, no matter what you did, because the nights were so incredibly warm too. I have been thinking along the same lines as you that we ought to have good gardening weather next year. For as long as I can remember, we have often had several hot and dry years in a row, but I don't ever remember having two excessively wet years in a row.....well, maybe in the late 1960s, but I was a kid then, so am not sure the memory is accurate. Dawn

I received my box from Deb today. This is what was inside. Thank you very much, Deb. Now I need to get some potted. The flowers the neighbor weed whacked in the highway curb are trying to come back. It looks odd where the blooming Gypsophia ends, though, like the row abruptly stops. I'll be thinking about all of you. Seeds- Orange Cosmos Mammoth Grey Striped Sunflower Sparkler Radish Mimosa Vitex Chaste Tree Unknown colored Cosmos Shasta Daisy "Silver Princess" Pink Oleander Shrub/fragrant (seeds have a poisionous label) Hardcover book- "Scrapbooking with Memory Makers" Tons of ideas, pics. 118 pages package of copper plant markers Roses 1001 Gardening Questions Answered, 131 pages, hardcover Big Crinium bulb! Victoria Principal's book- "30 day plan to look and feel 10 years younger", hardcover. Caladium bulb- "F.M JOYNER" Caladium bulb- "Candidum" More seeds- Lavender '08 munstead Red Kurl Uchiki Kurl Squash Cactus flowered zinnia Lemon Balm Sweet Dumpling Squash 4 O'clocks, yellow Gourd "Straightneck Wrenhouse" Poppy "Peony red" Black diamond heirloom watermelon Zinnia "Cherry & Ivory Swizzle" Scarlet Scarlet Marigold '08 Black eyed Susan vine/Orange Thunbergia Alata "Superstar Orange" Cinnamon Basil Georgia collard greens Marigolds yellow/orange 2 baby cactus 1 Aloe vera pup, rooted 2 cactus pads- outdoor optunia Boston Ivy cutting, very nice!! Thanks again, Deb!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!