Hi every one! Can you believe it? I still cannot believe my luck and I was there!!! Again while on my way to work this morning there was someone white and *quite* chunky looking flying across the road. I pulled over, backed up a bit, and admired a stunningly beautiful snowy Owl perched on top of a utility pole. This one was much larger than the first Owl I had seen and was more heavily barred. The barring seemed darker / black. I believe this Owl was a female as her face, nape of the neck and center of the breast were white. From what I was able to research that does describe the female snowy. Maybe this was an immature but I did not find much description of them. Any way ... I am 113% sure this was another Snowy Owl! What a wonderful start to the day! As my luck would have it, I did not have my camera in the car for the past week. Had the camera been there then for sure the Owl would NOT! LOL! So that was a great start to the day. I was 20 minutes late to work but work is just soooo over-rated. LOL! The rest of the day was downhill but who cares? I saw another Snowy Owl! The Owl was about 1 mile south of the earlier sighting on Rt. 83 in N. Ridgeville again. C3D and 2 Snowy sightings this year!

Hedy -- is the elecampane (inula orientalis) the same thing as inula helenium? I think I got a pot of that from you last year, which I promptly planted at the butterfly garden at Flanders. I just heard an herb person speaking about inula today, and am thinking I want one for ME this time, so would love it if you have some. Tina - I would love the butterfly bush. I was so sad to lose my Dark Knight this year. No idea what happened. Just suddenly dead! I think one cannot have too many butterfly bushes! ;) I have alpine strawberries (the really little, intensely flavored ones) if anyone wants those. Unlimited quantities. :) Also a ton of monarda Jacob Cline (I think ... ), garlic chives, obedient plant, tovara.. in the fall, I will have astilbes (they are new this spring and I don't know the colors until they bloom as they were a gift (all 27 of them!) from a friend. Everything is looking SOOOO good right now! Amazing what a little rain will do!

Oh, yes!!! I've got a Yellow-naped Amazon, Mr. Coqui, and he is the King of the Universe (just ask him, he'll tell you!) He'll also tell you when it's breakfast time, when it's dinner time, when it's time to come out to play, when the coffee machine beeps it's swan song, tell the dogs to stop barking, tell the dogs to stop when they're playing too roughly, etc. He's a riot, and a much loved member of the family, but he does take a lot of work and attention (as do my two dogs and two cats - really, I joke about having to work just to buy pet food and toys and then spend the rest my time feeding and playing with them!) Finches are a good bird to start with if you're interested in birds, because they are very self-sufficient as long as they've got room to fly, nest and amuse themselves. A flight cage is ideal. I've had birds most of my adult life, and highly second the suggestion to find a bird store locally and talk with them - it's not a high income profession, so the people that own bird stores do it for love of the species and have a wealth of knowledge and advice.

Great photo. When we were visiting the in-laws the other night, we were sitting out the back deck just on nightfall when first 3, then 4, then 5, came down and sat on the back fence and started diving to the ground getting insects. Great to watch but it got too dark, too soon.