Campanula, it sounds to me you suffer the same "affliction" I do, every year after Christmas going into the New Year, it's like a wet blanket covers everything, nothing is right, the weather's miserable. Right now my backyard sounds like yours but you are missing one thing: a toilet in the middle of the back yard. We had our toilet replaced a few weeks ago, and guess where it is, right in the middle of the back yard. I will never understand my DH; he just doesn't get it! C'mon, let's get it out to the curb where the city will pick it up! Hurry, hurry! So, tomorrow, I will get that **xxx thing out of there and get rid of it. He's lucky that I love him to death, he's so good to me in all ways. The only cure I can think of this is to make reservations far in advance to the Bahamas the day after Christmas for about a month of R&R, then come home to reality. Take care, I'm thinking of you. ogrose

I'm on two acres in semi-rural central Massachusetts, bordering conservation land (wetlands). This is the first time I've thought about itemizing what I've seen in my four years, here. It's a long list, and I'm sure it's just a fraction! We have a pond, and keep half the property meadow. (Maybe, by some standards, the whole thing is a meadow....) I've been putting up birdhouses, lately. We see (in rough order of how interesting...) great blue herons, red tail hawks, egrets, a large flock of cedar waxwings, redwing blackbirds, barn sparrows (how do they know it's a barn?), downy/hairy/piliated/red-breasted woodpeckers, orioles, juncos, nuthatches, and the usual finches, bluejays, cardinals, yadda yadda yadda. A wood duck down the road, and I wish he'd visit. Spring peepers (I can't wait for them to come back!), leopard frogs, other various frogs and toads, garter/ribbon/maybe milk snakes, 4-toed salamanders. Turtles nearby, but not at my pond. In the pond, various snails, leeches, more frogs, infinite insects (especially mosquitoes). In the orchard, every pest an apple tree has ever known. Mice, groundhogs, rabbits, grey squirrels, flying squirrels, chipmunks. Coyotes, foxes, deer. Neighbors have seen a bear and reportedly minks, but not me. Beavers have us surrounded, but they are not my own yard. Some lovely spiders, and some plain ones too. Lots of paper wasps and various bees. More mosquitoes. In fact, mostly, we have mosquitoes. And worms. --Jonathan

Hello I am new to keeping stickies and just found this site after a search. I got seven tiny stickies last year for my 3yr old concrete pond that has naturalised nicely. Then I got worried after that bad winter we had as my pond is only about 10' diameter and about a foot deep. It froze pretty much solid but there are biggish rocks that must have prevented all the water from freezing as I kept the waterfall running all the time. Fantastic icicles! I have since seen two survivors one about two inches the other about one and a half. Can anyone tell me what my chances of getting a new batch are or should I source some more?

The pond does not appear to have shallow parts, but birds can use the stream leading to the waterfall. I had used the identical fiberglass product for a short while when I had my rock-and-water garden. It has a small shallow header pool/bowl with a gradual slope at the top end for small garden birds to wade in. Bigger garden birds just jump in to bathe. Also popular drinking spot not just for birds, but also for squirrels, bees, beetles, etc.