Thanks everybody! I swear the first thing I thought of after the 'code officer' left was running here to the WS forum cuz I just KNEW you all would 'get it' !!! And you have, and I really appreciate the understanding thoughts & comments too! I agree about the fact that whomever this was would have been WELCOMED if they had just come to me directly.. I've only been in this house about 3 mos, but it is the house I grew up in from my teens til my early 20's. So I do know alot of people on my particular street. I really don't think it is one of them, we have alot of walkers from the other roads in the subdivision that pass by our house. My guess is on one of them. I have decided I'm going to go w/ the lattice fence idea for a short term solution. I have other bigger, GRANDER ideas further on down the road, but for now I think it'll work. I've just got to fig out a way to anchor the lattice pieces w/out having to go out and purchase rebar.. I'm thinking maybe bamboo stakes or something... I'll post a pic over the wkend if I get it finished up. I've already moved a good bit of them from where they were. I am still waiting on the code officer to call me back however, just to make SURE this will be a solution that'll work. I can't imagine they can say what I can or can't do in a fenced in back yard.. but in this day & age.. who knows!? For those that asked too, I don't live in a HOA subdivision, it's a rather old subdivision for the area, but I am within the city limits and it's THEIR codes that I've got to fig out how to abide by :D I am almost tempted to do the planted toilet in the front lawn he mentioned.. he did say since it had plants that it was not in violation of codes.. heck maybe I'll do a whole row of toilets w/ plastic covers to WS in.. *chuckling. OK maybe I'm gettin' carried away.. but there is a part of me that wants my smart sASSy revenge! :D THANKS so much everyone! I'll let you all know the outcome! ~Wendy

Well, I beg to disagree. I have many acres (about 30) of pines and spruces and I see roots in contact with each other literally millions of times, often even wound around each other, both above ground, and not too infrequently below ground when I am digging (something I do in my groves occasionally), and a very small percentage of these are grafted together. On the surface where obviously the vast majority of my observations are, I see grafts often, but as a percentage of the total I see in contact, it is very small. The risk of a graft as a percentage of roots in contact is very low from my observations. However, if two small roots are in contact, and then they grow in diameter, and the soil on either side is not loose enough for the roots to push away from each other as they grow in diameter, then there will be sufficient pressure for there to be a graft. Sometimes the pressure comes from the roots being very tightly strung across each other, and the pressure from that is what enables the graft. But often I see roots tightly strung across each other, so much so that when I cut one it literally snaps away, with no graft. Often the pressure from one leaves an indentation in the other, with no graft formed, at least not yet. These observations of actual roots in contact is, I think, reflected in the number of my pine and spruce trees that actually are grafted together. I have cut down literally thousands pines and spruces in my groves through the years. These trees were originally planted 6 X 6 and they are now about 45 years old, 80 feet tall, and an average of 18 inches in diameter. Average spacing now is something like 18 feet. Of those I have cut down, I would say the percentage of stumps that have lived because of a graft is maybe 15% or less. Now if the grafts happened as easily and spontaneously as you suggest, there would certainly be a much, much larger number that would have formed a root graft with one or more of the 6 or 8 trees that would be close enough to make a graft relatively easy, and a somewhat larger number would be involved if just one simple root contact would result in a graft. If we were to systematically dig up the roots of some sample trees, I have no doubt that we would find hundreds and hundreds of places where the roots of one tree are in contact with those of another tree. So here I am in this topic warning of the possibility of a root graft, and to some in this forum seeming to exaggerate an issue, and then I find you going far beyond what I would ever suggest is the likelihood of these kinds of grafts developing. I grant that in the case here there is a theoretical chance of a graft between these pines 100 feet away from each other, but to me it is only that--a theoretical chance--hardly a real one in my mind. A root 50 feet from one of these pines, unless it were an unusually large and old one, meeting a root from a similar pine 50 feet on the other side, and then these roots that far away from the parent tree growing enough in diameter after meeting to create enough pressure to graft, even if the soil were not one that would give way a bit to the expanding roots, is a chance poorer than I would have on a lotto ticket! Well, these differences of opinion are what makes these forums fun for us participants, and fun for others to read! --Spruce

Bob, Great Shot, glad to see some of your finches are already molting to their summer breeding plumage, that means spring is coming,,,Hurrah!! Fortunately we got a nice sunny 35degF day today so I was able to get a shot from my bedroom window showing my whole feeder setup. The first shot is looking east from my bedroom window. In this shot you can see my seed hopper and suet feeders on the Maple tree, which is 60ft from my camera position. This location is working very well because many of the birds roost in the Maple tree during the day. Although you can barely see it in the photo about 20ft to the right of the Hopper there is a 65ft high pine tree that affords great cover for the smaller birds. Ten feet to the left of the Maple tree there is a small Butternut tree that is a favorite roosting place for the Morning Doves. I generally see upwards of 35 doves in that tree each morning. Another 15 ft to the left is a second 60ft Pine tree and behind the feeder sight you can see an 18 acres open meadow. You can see the woods are the far side of the meadow. That woods extends for about a square mile and it is mostly old stand hardwoods. Across the road to the left of this photo is another 300 acre hardwood stand, some new growth near the road, but old stand hardwoods from about 100 feet off the road. In the foreground to the left you can see my old garment hanger with the Niger & mixed seed tubes. On the left end on top you can see the plastic bucket lid that I use for a platform feeder. From my vantage point I generally use a 300mm lens to shoot birds on the hopper, suet feeder or on the ground below the hopper, while I use a 200mm to shoot close ups of the birds on the garment rack feeders. As you can see, all the birds at my feeders seem to play nice and I see very little competition.

We switched to feeding safflower, thistle and upside down suet feeders along with fruit, jelly and nectar, after our first year living in the country. We moved from the city to a rural area in Wisconsin and decided to put nest boxes out for bluebirds and wrens, our first year we had mostly HS but we also had one set of bluebirds and one set of tree swallows. Before the little ones had a chance to fledge the HS killed them and nested on top of them, we were sick over this. I removed all the nest boxes and started researching on how to keep the non-native and rough birds away. The switch to the foods we place out on our property was the biggest part of not attracting the non-natives and rougher birds. When the HS try to take over the nest boxes in the spring I shoot them, it is the best way to keep them out of the box, plus it gets rid of another non-native invasive bird. I tried removing their nests at first but they are persistent and do not give up until you get rid of them. We now get one or two nesting pair of bluebirds and usually four to five nesting pair of tree swallows and a pair of nesting wrens(all have fledged within the last week and a half) the few starlings that come in the yard to feed on bugs in the grass do not stick around long ( they get shot as well). This is not intended to offend any bird lovers ( we are bird lovers at our house ) it is only to tell how we deal with the invasive non-native birds that are taking over the territory of our native song birds.