Thanks for those fantastic pictures! There's nothing more delicious than freshly picked citrus (especially those oranges). You're right though, it is sad to see that orchard going to waste and many of the SoCal suburbian neighborhoods were built on old citrus groves with some of the magnificent trees still standing in peoples' backyards. In some neighborhoods, you can stand by one of the citrus trees and then notice that several trees in adjacent yards are all in a line. Don't worry too much about the lemon tree as I've seen them grow pretty rapidly. I also always liked the nice privacy screen and windbreak provided by those Italian cypress. I hope you did get a chance to cover them tonight! Its pretty cold for SoCal!

I have a garden blog which today profiles my neighbor's rhodie garden. The garden is lovely, has walking trails through it, and is entrancingly fragrant. You can visit it by suffering through the first part of my blog about cabbage maggots (yuck), and getting to the pictures of Larry's rhodies. Jim Here is a link that might be useful: The Trinidad Garden

Thanks everyone ... right now my farm is a disgusting muddy mess! Can't wait until it gets colder this week .. and freezes. Floota - yes, my farm is Mystic Meadows Daylily Farm ... and I often have misty mornings like that. And I just love my pond! Avedon - I'm sure your gardens are lovely too! Please do copy my gazing ball ... I actually have a couple of them around the gardens. mantis - I can't post pictures from work, but I've attached a link to the Pets forum where there are quite a few pics of all my furry kids! Marg - that's a tree peony, I'll have to look for the name at home ... it's amazing in the spring. Here is a link that might be useful: My furballs

Perhaps rodents are moving your sticks and making little piles etc...something from ground level or underneath since it is not anything from above. Joann