Tinan..According to that list, most house plants are toxic. lol. I have 4 birds, (free-flying when I'm home, which is most of the time,) 2 dogs, (the younger enjoys nibbling greens,) Iguana, and had a 17-yr-old cat, until he went to feline heaven..he died of old age. Birds are more sensitive to plants/chemicals than cats or dogs, which is one reason I pretty much steer clear of chemicals, including cleaning supplies. Except for a few plants, I have many from the list you posted...No problems, Thank God. Plants I won't keep are Dumbcanes, Oleander, and Poinsettas. Even though they claim Poins are non-toxic, it's a Euphorbia, and Euphorbias seep white sap when branch is snapped. Some people are allergic to the sap. On the other hand, I have almost 100 Euphorbias. Make sense? A newsman, 'think channel 5 news,' ate a Poin leaf to prove the plant harmless after a universery did a study and said the Poin wouldn't hurt a fly..I wonder how he felt 15 mins after the news ended. Was he sitting or leaning over a toilet bowel? lol. Playing devil's advocate. My friend's cat had five kittens, pure white long-hair. A woman adopted all five. 2-3 wks later, she called my friend, told her the kittens died. She claimed, she had Poins in the room they were staying, and discovered they have been nibbling on her Poins. Same friend had a Cockatiel/bird. Hedera Helix/English Ivy is supposed to be fatal, will kill a bird if ingested. Her tiel flew on her Hedera, and ate the entire plant..It was in an 8" pot. She was worried, but her tiel was fine. She had him at least 6 yrs after his fiesta. She adopted him out when she moved, and he's still around. He's around 16-yrs-old. So, if a bird can survive some plants listed as toxic, it makes one wonder if plants are as harmful as they say. If you buy a large plant, there are ways to keep your kitty away. Organic sprays and methods. One problem is cats like using plants with canes, 'like Corn Plant.' They'll kneed the heck out of the trunk/s. Good luck...Toni

Hi Y'all! Yikes! I can't believe I haven't been back on this thread in so long. I don't know why either...too busy babying tiny tomato seedings (now mostly about 10" tall) by carrying them out to the screened-in porch every morning and then back inside at night! So, Steffie, I am glad you enjoyed the show. So sorry to hear about your fence. We had the same fierce windstorm over that particular weekend and I was out with the fire dept. all weekend, so couldn't do much at home...not that the wind would have allowed me to do anything, any way. We had gusts to 60 m.p.h., power lines down, grass fires, etc. It was just a bad weekend. The more recent weekend that just ended was an improvement, but kinda cold. Sticker in their yards? Like grassburs? We have a minor problem with that, but I am in such a rural area that I don't fret over it much. I use corn gluten as a pe-emergent and it seems to help. Steffie, our last average frost date is about the same as yours in Seminole County and I am way down south in Love County near the Red River. And, yes, I think horse flies count. If they are out and about, can spring be far behind? Oh, tree frogs! We have them here also and they do love hanging on the windows. I love seeing them around. Are your ants fire ants? Spinosad or Citrex are good organic controls, but do not completely eliminate them. Copperheads and rattlesnakes, Susan....well, welcome to my world!!!!!! The only thing good about those snakes is that they scare me to death and I run into the house to get away from them!!! This is good because it forces me to stay inside in the air conditioning for a little while and have a cool drink. Otherwise, I tend to stay outside too long in the heat and make myself ill. :) Last year was actually our best snake year ever (as in hardly encountering them at all). I had a bad problem with poisonous snakes for a week or two after we had 9.25" of rain in one day in April. Then, about July when it was REALLY HOT, they popped up everywhere again. Then, nothing for the rest of the summer or fall. Our electric co-op guys and county road maintenance & mowing guys said they saw the fewest snakes last year ever....and we all thought that was great! Susan, you know how much I love native plants and I'm glad to see you found a good mail order source for them. I have Ironweed on the edge of my veg. garden....it came up on its own and I was glad to see it. Also have hibiscus coccinea and button bush (which grows naturally on the edge of my swamp) and I have been intending to plant spicebush and Aristilochias too. I planted some of the white-flowered swamp hibiscus on the edge of my large pond and am anxious to see if they survived last summer....as the entire pond dried up and the plants were too far away from the house (about 400 feet) for me to water them. I do think they have naturalized, though, as there were some near the lagoon last year and I didn't plant them! Susan, when I was tied up with the wildfires last year and was hardly on gardenweb at all, did you experience health problems? I was surprised when I saw you mention that walking and standing a great deal are now a problem for you. I'm so sorry to hear that. I hope you are OK and have prospects for improvement!!!! I am a lazy butterfly gardener, and you know it is because I have 14.5 acres of native habitat for them and I do get lazy and neglect planting stuff around the house for the butterflies and moths. You are, however, inspiring me and I am going to rework and improve the neglected butterfly bed I planted when we first moved here. There are so many things to do, and so little time! And, I am a spoiled stay-at-home wife and mom and you'd think that being home all day would leave me with lots of gardening time! Actually, it does give me lots of time to garden, BUT...with a property as large as ours, I could be outside 24/7 and still never finish my to-do list. We have moths and a few butterflies around already, but haven't seen any craneflies yet! Headed out to the garden now! Dawn

First of all, you will get used to the noise. I'd visit Mom in FL whose house was a half mile away from the train tracks and the first day, I'd hear every train, but after that, hardly ever. Second, I think you need to get to know your neighbors...sounds like they are friendly types which is a good thing. I grew up in the country surrounded by lots and lots of land and few children because there were few houses. When I married and moved to an acre lot, it was terrible for awhile....all the traffic, the kids, the dogs, the mowers... Then I got to know my neighbors. And trust me, the chain saw isn't so loud when it's good neighbor Tim doing the sawing and you don't mind asking John if he could not mow on Saturday as you're planning on a memorial service for your Dad with lots of people coming.... And neighbors can be a great help, like when your snow blower breaks or when you need someone to feed the cat. I know our neighbor was glad for us when the house next to her's caught fire and the firemen wouldn't let her go home that night, so she spent the night with us. Every lifestyle has it's plusses and minuses. Change your perspective, seek the good, and then see where you're at. You may be surprised. BTW, we are now back home on 11 acres, but the area is so much more built up than when I was a kid. Even on our 11 acres though, I know when Bill is sawing or Jimmy is running his back hoe or when Norma is out mowing, or when Jessica's kids are playing with their dog. It's comforting.

I listened to Osterholm discuss the hospitalization statistics. I think it was because one of his listeners posed a similar question. It's not like anyone is trying to manipulate us. It's just that capturing hospital Covid data by "for" or "with" isn't being done. Sometimes it's not clear which it is - for example if someone is hospitalized for cardiac symptoms and is found to have Covid - do they have the cardiac problem because of Covid? Or pulmonary disease - has a problem arisen because of a case of Covid the person didn't know they had? He also pointed out that either way, if someone tests positive there's still an extra burden for the hospital because of the need to isolate these patients and for those caring for them to take additional precautions. So I would surmise there isn't enough benefit to expend the additional effort to try to separate this data, particularly in hospitals that are so overburdened as it is. If patients have Covid, whether they knew it or not, they have to be monitored and cared for as Covid patients. I think number of Covid patients in ICU gives somewhat of a read on how seriously ill they are and if that number is trending down it's a good sign even though the hospital may still be overwhelmed caring for less serious cases.