As I recall, I had tomatoes ripening in late August, though I didn't sell any until I brought them to market on 9/4 (skipped last market day of August due to death in the family). It was a short season though due to late blight and also picking green tomatoes due to (false alarm) frost advisories a couple of times. I did have some ripen in the basement until mid-November, but most rotted (a lot infected with LB and others bacterial or fungal diseases that didn't show when they were green). I did manage to can quite a few, and frozen a couple gallon bags of slicers (mostly hybrids) and a gallon of cherry toms. I didn't see many tomatoes at market this summer - the guy up the road from me had Juliettes in late July or early Aug, and organic farm in Simsbury had Mountain Fresh at market starting in mid-Aug I think. The Juliettes were selling b/c they were early (relatively speaking), but the vendor who had Mountain Fresh and I weren't selling many in Sept, I don't know if people were just continuing to buy tomatoes at the grocery store, or if they'd found a local greenhouse source but nobody seemed to be excited about local field-grown tomatoes after Labor Day.

Jody tried to call the woman back this morning, but no answer. But, since her husband is in prison, she might not be able to talk to him on the phone any time she wants to....probably has to wait until he calls her. He also talked to the owner of the company who said he was going to tell them that he needs the house off the lot...it is taking up space he could use for another house. Seems to me like he wouldn't have any trouble taking them to court and getting the house back, but I don't imagine any of those houses on the lot are moving very well...altho they did move one off about a month ago and moved another one on. Several of them have been vandalized...windows broken out. I stopped by the house today and counted the broken window panes...there are 9 in all. One window has both top and bottom broken out and the others have just top or bottom. I always tell my little house...."hold on. I'm going to take you home." :)) I told Jody if she says they don't want to take the money...as in wanting more, to let me know and I would go take a bunch of pictures and send to her and she can send to her husband, so they can tell that we aren't telling a lie about how grim the condition of it is. I really can't imagine them not taking our offer. I'm not sure where she lives but from her phone number, it is in the area...may be 40 or 60 miles away, but she could always drive over there and look at it for herself.

Lovebirds can be prolific breeders, so you probably wouldn't have wanted to take in the whole bunch. Hopefully, you have two males or females. If you see them tucking stuff under the back wings, this could indicate that they are females. Don't feel guilty about not being able to handle them. It really takes time for them to get used to you. Plus, they have such spunky personalities that they tend to be like mini tyrannosaurus rex's on the wing! After being bitten numerous times the first year, we finally got used to the idea that we would probably never be able to pet ours. We didn't care because their antics were so interesting, it didn't matter if we could touch them or not! How to get them back into their cage. We would sort of "herd" them with open hands in the general direction of the cage while telling them to "go home". They grew to understand what this meant. The female was so territorial that all I had to do was pretend I was "invading" her space! Had to watch out as I would get a nip if I didn't get out of her way while she was returning to guard her castle! The male took his orders from her. ;) Don't feed them outside of the cage. Let them learn that their cage is their sanctuary and that good things come to them when they go there. I have found millet to be a huge enticement to "go home"! Make sure you give them the fresh stuff early enough in the day. It shouldn't be in the cage more than a couple hours. I give my birds their fresh food in a separate dish so it doesn't grow bacteria on their seeds or pellet mix. Cut it into small pieces so they aren't intimidated. Just enough so they will eat what they are given without too much waste. One exception about larger foods. I used to wash kale leaves and clip them to the inside of the cage. I'd leave as much water on it as possible. I put a shallow dish for them to bathe but they didn't go in. I learned that lovebirds don't like to go INTO water, they usually prefer to sit on the side of the dish and through it up onto their backs. They didn't mind the kale leaves though, and would play and hide behind these! I have always felt that birds that live in trees in the wild, should be exposed to some sort of natural (edible-bird safe) foliage in captivity. It is ok for them to gnaw on the tp rolls and granola boxes. This provides much needed stimulus enhancement. Thats what the zoo's do to keep their animals from getting bored. They hide treats in interesting places so they have a "job" to keep them busy! Unless you have kids or other persons who might be careless about leaving doors open, I wouldn't bother trimming their wings. We used to prop a chair against the door as a reminder so we wouldn't accidently forget the birds were out. Glad your having fun with your new birds! A few links that might be useful: Misc lovebird sites fischerlovebird.top-site-list.com/ About.com/Pet Birds birds.about.com/od/breedsofbirds/p/lovebirds.htm www.parrotalk.net/ Plants to avoid www.flyinggems.com/BirdAdvice/toxicplants.htm CAGE TERRITORIALITY-Why It Develops & What To Do About It www3.upatsix.com/liz/articles/territory.html

thanks,,we'll know in a few days if he's still in remission. this house was to be our forever home,,but now we can't finish it,let alone pay it off,,so we'll sell and move to a more modest farm. we're just praying that we get enough out of it to start over and go forward in good health into retirement. thanks for your good wishes!