Oh my goodness Connie. Well, this is all so interesting to me. I did some looking around on-line, and found some documentation of Wood Ducks evicting Screech Owls from their nestboxes and also of Screech Owl females incubating Wood Duck eggs! Whoda thunk?? I was surprised to read that the Screech Owls would even choose a box that was so low, but, then I don't know much about the nesting preferences of Owls. I did read that successful Screech Owl pairs will often return to the same nesting site each year, and that isn't good for you if you wanted nesting Wood Ducks. Maybe those darn Crows will leave the Ducks in peace, and they will go on to choose the other box for nesting. It isn't like the Crows need the box for nesting. I am interested in knowing about how this all plays out. Please keep us posted here???~~Angie Here is a link that might be useful: Screech Owl/Wood Duck nesting info

Since you are not new on the scene here, and many of us have seen your home photos over the last few years, I think we would all agree that you are NOT unimaginative. You've toggled between several favorite colors, you make good use of old and new, you have a rare mix of cool stuff, and you like to mix in the unexpected when you can. (Where oh where is that Eiffel tower I'm waiting for?) I think we are all drawn to that which we see.......so if we are seeing lots of mauve with ducks, we just may finally consider a mauve wood hanging shelf and a nice cloth duck sitting atop..........for a couple of weeks. Then, we realize that mauve will never be our style and what we really love is the signature stare of the iguana. Not as cute as a duck, but he has his own charm. What I'm saying, is, I think you are moving on from experimenting and going back to what you've liked all along, in colors and style and texture. Your spaces are going to just naturally coordinate when you do that, because when you stick with the colors and woods and metals and things you really love, they all blend and morph nicely, from one room to the next to some extent. Now, where does one get a chip of MS Thunderhead and how dark is it? Rockport Gray dark or Revere Pewter dark? Red

Lars, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean that at all! I wasn't addressing only the women or lumping the men in with the women. I only meant that the proportion of women plumping for the raw size of rare was unusual to me. The men's responses seemed to be a normal or unremarkable spread. In the linked discussion, I could have said "people", but I said women just because I know about women's cooking behavior, both now and from my grandmother's age, as well as what I've read in old diaries and cooking articles. I don't know enough about men to say, though I have heard lectures about the kinds of implements that women used in the past, while I can't recall anything on the subject about chuckwagon cookies or other male cooks. My only memories of a being in a kitchen with a man making a reduction are by an astronautical engineer who is more precision oriented. I wasn't excluding men, per se, just didn't have any relevant information on how they do things so didn't speak for them. If something should like that should happen again, please chime in! There are some posters whose genders/gender identities aren't known to me, but I promise you I don't mean to marginalize men, and I certainly didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable. This is not a women's group, nor do I regard it as one. I have belonged to a women's group whose mission was to give women roles and authority, as well as a feminine voice, in what was otherwise a very traditional, traditionally male field, but even then men were welcome to participate so long as they didn't try to take over. This is not such a group and the only one I can remember belonging to which was 100% women only was the girl scouts. Neither textiles nor cooking are womens' fields (nursing babies is, though there are some men with acquired (rather than experiential) knowledge on the subject), nor does gender of any kind have much to do with them. While there are some sociological and biological differences in tastes, they're not prominent. That is something that desired meat temperature speaks to, however, which is why I made the remarks at all--it was a beside the way difference that I found interesting and educational.

Lisa, I have Cafe Ole, got it from Burlington Roses last spring. It grew to about 14" by season's end. It is a very nice mini, not exceptionally vigorous, nor is it wimpy...average vigor, maybe a bit more. The generously petaled flower, not too many petals nor too few, has a nice, exhibition hybrid tea form in mini version, not Miniflora sized. I could not detect a memorable fragrance. It is the coffee, with lots of cream in it, color that sells Cafe Ole to me. Sometimes the color looks dingy, dirty in the garden, but in a vase it reigns. The blooms sometimes have beautiful, faint lavender tones. I like Cafe Ole's fully open bloom's looks....moderate quilling only. After all, a rose flower's beauty should continue through, all the way to petal drop, not just look beautiful at exhibition stage, and thereafter look ugly. I dislike excessive quilling, especially on those minis that could use more petals. They look like a cheap, stick on Christmas gift bow you buy by the 2 dozen per bag at the Dollar Store. Cafe Ole is a black spot and spider mite magnet like most of my minis are...so what's new? I spray or I pay with scraggly, weak minis. All this evaluation is after only one year, and the bush started in ground as a rather small liner size little guy. I expect it to do very well, and so far, it is a keeper. Cafe Ole is getting no winter protection like all my other minis who are essentially tip hardy here without it. I expect Cafe Ole to be the same. Now, concerning your recent purchase of Cafe Ole from Rogue Valley Roses.... I think you just got a husky bush there! The foliage looks exactly right for size, and the stems' internode distances look right on target, going by my Cafe Ole. Mine was 1/4 the size of yours. It was just much younger than yours when it was planted, 5" tall with coat hanger thin stems, but healthy and normal for its age. The leaflets on mine are not chubby, but average to a bit slender, just like yours. Mine is defoliated now as it should be, normal. I've had a prolonged cold spell with lows in the mid-teens. My Cafe Ole's thorns are just like yours. I don't find your Cafe Ole very thorny, average for a mini, and Cafe Ole specifically. They are also small thorns, like a mini's should be. If it was a mislabeled rose it would probably have much larger thorns. If you are worried about that husky cane, don't. I have Winter Magics and Jilly Jewel that have 3/4" basal break canes. I can understand your concern about your rose not being genuine. You did purchase it from a top nursery, so any identity problems that may arise will surely be resolved to your satisfaction. I really believe you have a genuine Cafe Ole. I hope you like yours as much as I like mine. Moses