Yeah! You shoulda' seen me, trying to work on the irrigation ditch with the Ruger strapped to my back after I saw the tracks!;~) I'm goin' to have to get a book and a mirror. Just to check if I have a "gazorp"! Sounds like something Mel Brooks would say!:~) I never got over 'High Anxiety'! I don't hunt at all and never saw the point. If I was hurting for food...well, yeah! I grew up fishing on the Russian River, and spent a lot of time around Clear Lake, Mendocino and all up and down the coast, but wasn't a hunter. We used to inner tube up and down the river. Those were the days!:~) I guess that the old hippy nudist camp just north of town, is now an upscale resort! If those waters could talk... Well, they'd likely ask for some pot!;~) Can you tell, Ginge, that I'm from Sonoma County!;~) Moved to Cloverdale, when I was two! My brother was born in Ukiah. He still lives in Petaluma and is a cop over in Napa. You couldn't pay me enough to live there now. Everything is gone!!:~( They alway said that the builders would turn it just like San Jose... They were right! The last time I lived there, was out of Sebastopol. A few miles out of town, heading toward Bodega Bay. Great place to grow up in during the '70's. Really nasty little place now. (Cloverdale, I mean!) Actually has been for twenty years. Yeah! I spent three years down in S.Cal, before moving to Sebastopol Then, after my parents moved back overseas in '93, I opted to move back down to Palm Springs again. I have very mixed feeling about the place. Many, many horrible aspects, but could be a lot of serious fun. I really missed trees and real water. The golf courses just didn't cut it. My biggest issue for the longest time, up here, were all of the raccons! Disney lied his butt off! They're not cute little critters. They're nasty, viscous and will really hurt you. It took me forever to erradicate them from my area. They had, eventually, ripped the roof off the chicken house and wipped everthing out. My Boxers won't even look at chickens anymore. They had develped an unfortunate taste for fresh chicken when they were younger. These new LGD girls have a very unhealthy interest in them, but they know that I won't have it! The foxes are mostly tolerated, as long as they don't become too much of a problem. They do a lot of good otherwise, so... As long as they don't push it, I sorta' like them. The weird thing is... They hang around talking to my cats! I'm serious! I've seen the cats and them, just laying around like they're having a good chat! I've went out and they just look at me. It's like I'm interrupting something! I swear, everything is so worthless around here!;~) Loose dogs are not tolerated! Period!! They are shot on sight! We don't believe in shoot, shovel and shutup! They will be shot and hung on the gate! That's if we can't find the owners. Although I generally put up with one of my neghbors old hunting dogs. Not thrilled. but I do try to get along. (Believe it or not!) Our mule, and the donkey as well, absolutely HATE dogs and will chase them down. Good entertainment! Our dogs have learned to keep a lot of distance!:~) X-rated words are the way I generally talk to... Well, everything! I'm so bad...I sound like an Aussie!;~) From the many that I've known, that's saying something! BTW... I picked up more .223 ammo today! Although I hate them, Wally world is good for somethings. The guy selling them to me, said that he's shot three cougars over the last coupla' years. They're really getting to be a dangerous problem. I really love most of the wildlife, but the predators need to keep some distance. I have a small herd of deer that I generally leave alone. They don't eat much and seem to tolerate me being close to them. It's sorta' cool, plus, they give me a heads up as to what's going on. I know that when they're around, it's pretty safe. I'm still armed, though!;~) Jeeze!! Is this reply long enough? Scott

Thanks for looking ! The red flowered shrub is a Knock Out rose. I chop it down to about 1 ft tall each year in Feb, cut out any dead canes, and it goes crazy all summer long. Unfortunately, many of the roses/perennials leaves have holes in them already from some voracious baby caterpillars this year (not the butterfly kind). Grrr. The variegated shrub in the shady area is a Variegated Euonymus (cream and green) I also have a bright yellow and green one on the other side of that path. They were here when we bought the house 3 yrs ago. I keep them trimmed down to a manageable size or they would grow huge. I will post more pics as different areas of the yard come into bloom. These pics are mostly of my big pastel bed, but I have about 4-5 other beds around the front/back yard.

We're supposed to go down to near freezing this weekend,so today,I moved all my Christmas cacti down to the basement for the winter. Of course,this will trigger early blooming of them,but that's always nice! I wish I had a four seasons sun room,so I could see them upstairs all year! BTW,the hostas still look pretty good,considering,but I think that will change after this weekend! Phil

Fast forward 24 hours! It was 43 on the shady side and 50 on the sunny side in the shade today! You can see the line where the house shades the backyard at this time of year. When it quit snowing yesterday the snow was drifted to above the top of the 2-high railroad ties. All gone! The grass got a good wateringÂas did the perennials! Tomorrow the rest of itÂll meltÂand theyÂre saying we could get a little bit more on Wednesday. WeÂll see! For right now my winter sown flats are staying happily cold under a ½" of ice water! DonÂt cry, Digit! YouÂll get yours! UhÂI mean, itÂll get warm where you are too soon! ;-) Skybird