good morning sweetannie, yes, it does sound like paradise to me too - and I would be honored if I were your neighbor to come over and work for free and learn all I could Sigh, that is not to be. You know what is said about Paradise; "they took paradise and put up a parking lot." Of course your neighbors have a right to manage their property, but there may be regulations in your area on impact to surrounding land, check into that. I bought my little semi-rural plot in a teeny-tiny town a year and a half ago. It is sloped, and right at the highest edge are 4 evergreens. They are planted too close to each other... but they were mine, I wouldn't dream of cutting down 4 mature trees unless there were a pressing and logical reason. Well, two had quite a few brown tips and within a year ALL FOUR were dead as the proverbial doornail. I had an expert in to look at them, no - not borers - somebody has poisoned them. He said "someone has poisoned them, likely with copper." I look to the houses on higher ground and try to figure who may have wanted them gone, and who should PAY FOR THEIR REMOVAL, and there are no answers. I've tried posting them as free wood on CraigsList, posted on local bulletin boards, called tree services, etc. I haven't even 1/100th of the land you have, but as I said - it's MINE and I love it desperately already. I have my tiny meadow out back which slopes from my four huge dead brown trees gently down to the house. I've seeded with Crimson Clover, cone flower, and fifteen other wildflowers and I'd seeing tiny results. The neighbors, of course, seem to hate it. They were used to parking two cars on the top edge of it. Pfui. The only one who actually said anything is the house directly across the alley from me. Four dead trees stand between he and I. Ever since he (lightly) complained I have looked at him and wondered, how much did four tall trees and a neglected patch of meadow annoy him? Hmmm? GH-

Finally no more little skippers. There were still clouds of them even a couple of weeks ago--it's been very warm. Only asters (numerous species) and a shade-loving goldenrod are still in bloom. I had been noting the occasional monarch--presumably migrating--right up to this past weekend, when the rains finally came. Saw them on a recent trip to upstate NY too. Predominant bird right now is bluejay--never saw so many in my yard before. Hope they don't chase away the cardinals, chickadees, titmice, and other normal winter residents. Tons of berries and fruits of all descriptions, as well as seeds, all over the place--crabapples, acorns, dogwood berries, late raspberries, pokeweed berries, coneflower and rudbeckia seeds, grass seed, native bittersweet. There's so much food around that I've been noticing dogwood berries remaining on trees or falling to the ground all over the neighborhood--unheard of. Lots of evidence that chipmunks are using our brush pile--acorn shells all around, our dog is intensely interested in sniffing there. Rabbits not as evident as earlier in the season. I hope at least some became meals for hawks, because when their numbers increase too much my young shrubs can't get through the winter. The color on the poison ivy is particularly gorgeous right now (I don't have any, although I wouldn't remove it if it popped up in an out-of-the way corner). I bet some people admire it but have no idea what it is (what it is is one of the best wildlife food plants that exist). I'd much rather see poison ivy climbing a tree than English ivy (yes, I know many of you will vigorously object to those last couple of sentences). Also my spicebush is a lovely yellow. This is the first year that rabbits didn't eat it down to the ground over the winter, and it looks lovely, planted in a small island with coralberry, ninebark, ferns, and a dogwood that's turning only a muddy brown-red this year. The virginia creeper's color isn't particularly nice this year, and most trees even upstate just looked kind of grey, after a very hot and dry season. The trees and shrubs in my miniwoodland are all still green. A good fall for fruit but a poor one for color.

Cathy, As a follow-up to my earlier post about the mountain lion recently killed here in southern CT, I thought I'd post the final outcome of the cat's mystery. Seems this cat was well traveled. I'm sad he was hit & killed. From NBC Connecticut... "The mountain lion killed on Route 15 in Milford last month traveled about 1,800 miles to get here. It came from Black Hills of South Dakota and traveled through Minnesota and Wisconsin before eventually ending up in southern Connecticut. This is the longest journey recorded for a land mammal and nearly double the distance ever recorded for a mountain lion, according to state Department of Energy & Environmental Protection." /tricia Here is a link that might be useful: Mountain Lion Mystery Solved

Well, I would set up mole traps then. Not with the goal of eliminating them, just tamping down the numbers. We do that with chipmunks. We kill some every year but we haven't eliminated them. When the populations of prey get high compared to the predators, prey populations will come down naturally through disease and predation, unless you have a problem with your predator population. We had a lovely woods across the street with great horned owls nesting. Two years ago they logged all the big trees out of there, so now we will obviously have more problems with moles . . . when numbers are super high, that's when your system is out of whack. I would stop aiming for elimination and go more for lessening of the numbers. You might feel better about your successes then. I have the same problems with squirrels and woodchucks. We have to go to all kinds of lengths to keep them out of stuff, because it is not easy to trap and kill them in our suburban environment, and we also don't want to leave poisons around . . . Just fyi, my good friend did his doctoral research on earthworms. They are not native to the US, so I wouldn't feel too bad about tamping down their numbers in any way I could as well. Perhaps switching more of your yard to natural woodsy or prairie type of landscaping might help. Highly fertilized lawns harbor all kinds of pests just by the nature of how they have to be managed . . . lots of nutrients and water to keep them looking like an unnatural green carpet . . .