One thing I've seen in my yard is that if you can drape a massively huge plastic tarp up and over bushes and small trees and extend the tarp out in all directions across the ground it will concentrate the heat coming up from the ground. It may not be enough to keep things above freezing but it does seem to help. It is also a lot easier to just drag and drape than to wrap and manage each and every plant in the flower bed. I also rig up a temporary hoop house with pvc pipe and plastic sheeting from the home improvement store and set a small kerosene heater in it. Kerosene is an easy fuel to work with, costs about $3.50 per gallon around here (NC). My small heater will run for around 13 hours on one gallon. The trouble is finding a small kerosene heater, everyone sells the large ones which over heat and burn a lot of fuel.

We had a rain shower yesterday afternoon, and the temp.went down to 83 degrees, nice. I noticed an increase in number of hummers enjoying the shower. I still have one male guarding a feeder all day. I have several females, getting fatter, feeding from the other feeders. One female stays perched on my Jewel Box window feeder, chasing the others away. I am happy I was patient with the JB feeder,and I don't know why it took so long for a hummer to try it. I have a couple of one port feeders at the windows and they like it also, but there is no perch on it, so they hover and feed. My g.children are really involved and are enjoying watching and learning about the hummers. One is named "Joe,the Bully," and the female is named "Sugar!" Grandkids and hummers are awesome!

Here about 25 miles south of Waco we saw our first hummingbird last week (about March 25). We put out a feeder and saw a red-throated yesterday, March 30. Time to get out the other feeders! Our salvia is in bloom, and he/she was sipping on it, also the Mexican honeysuckle. Our flame acanthus is showing a lot of green, at the base and on branches, too. It is a young plant, so I won't cut it back severely. Do what you wish, J.D. If you want it bushy, cut back the upper branches. If you want a more open effect, leave them and see what shows new growth. It is hard to make a mistake with flame acanthus!

I have a 7 y/o DD, too. But she has three brothers, two older (14 and 11) and one younger 5). When DD has friends over to play they are often fascinated by the older brothers and their friends who might be here, especially my 11 y/o. I subbed in a 2nd grade class last week. My 11 y/o came to the room to meet me at the end of the day. The 3-4 girls still in the room were instantly little flirts! I didn't know they had it in them, but they wanted to be right next to DS, snuggled up to let him read stories to them, show him their "cheerleading" routine. I told people about it later, it was a phenomenon I had never seen before. And I have talked about this phase of girlhood with other moms of young girls. My DD is one of the minority who is not at all boy crazy. The thing she has in common with the other girls in that group is that they all have older brothers (older seems to make a difference). Between DD's brothers and their friends who are here all the time, DD has an immunity or something. LOL. Boys are not a new mystery to her, they are an extremely annoying fact of life. She doesn't see them as cute and charming, she sees them at their worst. She just can't seem to convince her friends that boys are really just mean and stinky and generally "not all that." The other thing I've talked about with other moms is how annoying it is when adults notice a pretty little girl and only comment on that trait. I try really hard not to do that, especially in front of the girl. Some of us make a point, when we hear someone say our daughters are pretty, to say "Thank you. You should see how well she writes." Or reads, or play soccer, or piano, or how kind and caring she is, or how funny she is, etc. Especially in front of our daughters. There is too much around young girls that reinforces the idea that their value in life is in getting the attention of boys. I think with the private parts exposure, you should just calmly tell your DD that should never happen again. That the boy was not funny when he did that, it was rude behavior. I might also ask her how it made her feel, pick up on the "weird" part of what she might say and say that's whey it's rude, it makes other people feel weird. I also really think I'd tell the boy's parents. Not in an accusatory way, but b/c I think they should know. Maybe it's something they've dealt with before with him, and they need to know it's still happening. Even as if it's the first time he's done it, they need to know so they can have a conversation with him. Not b/c I want him punished or to make a big deal of it, but for 100 reasons, I just think I would give another parent a "heads up" on that kind of behavior. I absolutely agree it's probably innocent and within the range of normal, but a parent should still be informed. If a kid has fun with the response he/she gets from showing private parts, he/she might be encouraged to try it again and maybe take it farther next time. As for the dancing, I think the next time I had my DD in the car alone I'd start a conversation about dancing. How she likes to dance, why she likes to dance that way, and how sometimes in life what's OK for adults is not OK for kids. From dancing and clothes to certain drinks and certain words. Then when I saw her dancing that way again, I'd remind her "we talked about that, that's a grown up dance, not a kid's dance." I'll confide, I think little girls are encouraged, in subtle ways and sometimes not so subtle, by our culture to behave much older. From their clothes, to music, to toys even. It's not right that 6 y/o girls are encouraged to emmulate a 16 y/o young woman. I cringe at the latest Barbie commercials for products that come with pretend credit cards for pretend shopping sprees. I even say outloud w/my kids in the room "That is so wrong!" Maybe I'm a little freaky, but I am picky about the dolls I let DD have. I think she should play with dolls that that look and act like little girls. Not ones who wear make-up, mini-skirts, high heels, and shop and have boyfriends. I choose books for her about girls who are fun, strong, and smart, and make sure she learns about real women to look up to for their accomplishments. I have no tolerance for relatives or family friends who tease any of my kids about having a boyfriend or girlfriend. I remember how that felt as a young kid and teen. It's embarrassing and feels invasive. My mother would never do that, but I have some aunts and adult cousins who think it's funny. As soon as I hear it I just say "Come on, that's not nice." and to my kids "You do not have to answer that." And change the subject to something my kids are happy and proud to talk about, like the latest "A" in school or score in sports. Oh, and you're so right about the job being harder in a new way as the kids get older. It was physically exhausting when they were little, with feeding, cleaning up, diapers, etc. Now, it's emotionally and intellectually exhausting, trying to stay ahead of the next hurdle. I tell people I think the job of parenting changes when your kids reach an age which you remember being. Make sense? I remember small things that happened when I was 7, 11 and especially 14 and how those small things stuck with me, for better or worse. So I am conscious of how my choices and responses will stick with my kid who are that age now.