Adellabedella, I love mammatus clouds and think they are the coolest-looking thing. We see them a lot down here along the Red River on severe T-storm type days. If I am in the garden and see them magically 'appearing' in the sky, I drop what I am doing and flip my fire radio over to the NOAA weather channel to listen to it for a while. If I see rapid T-storm development off to our west, south or southwest plus mammatus clouds, I go inside to check the NWS website and the radar. When you watch the weather closely, you soon learn which clouds are a cause for concern and which are not. Sometimes my storm spotter DH comes outside looks at the clouds and tries to drag my inside the house or at least voices his concern that I "should" come inside. Carol, I am sure they got all that rain. I watched their storms on radar all night long. After I attempted to go to sleep, the weather radio went off every 15 minutes for one of the storms out west. All I could think of was that I'd surely be celebrating the great rainfall if I lived there! They've been so dry for so long. And, no, our weather radio isn't set for that county because it is so far west, but it is set for counties closer to it, like Montague County in TX, and Jefferson, Carter and Garvin Counties in OK. A lot of the storms that were hitting Cotton County were eventually brushing parts of the counties we do have programmed into the radio, so the thing kept going off. I didn't sleep much and was tempted to turn the darn thing off but would never do that for safety reasons, of course. George, I'm glad you got rain. Y'all sure did need it. That's a bit too close for a funnel cloud though! Dawn

Hi all, Was wondering why after 3 pair of bluebirds have graced my feeders for about a month they seemed to have dissappeared! I am so sad! Also have ordered live meal worms in hopes they were nesting in nearby..the weather was not affecting them, although it is still very cold here in Northeastern CT. Could the bigger birds have scared them away ( I took down that feeder ) had too many starlings.. or could they be nesting?? Its been 3 days and not sight of them...they have nothing natural to eat yet that I'm aware of. Also I read from an Audabon file that feeding live meals all year round can give them gout!! Can anyone shed some light?

Yes....you are right. I worry about them just like they were my babies...LOL. Carolina Wrens are the sweetest, and cutest of birds. The babies are adorable with their big yellow bills wide open whenever we open the door to go on the deck. This is the third year in a row they have built in this pot. It is on a plant stand in a corner between my screened in deck and the outside deck. It is positioned where it is under the eave, and I always plant a dragon wing begonia in the pot so they have a lot of coverage. I guess it is an ideal place for nesting. They always build the nest on the screened in side, so we have a birds eye view of the nest...no pun intended...LOL. They are not afraid of us at all, and after 3 years, we are the best of friends. I had a grackle nest this year too, and they made a nasty mess, unlike my little wrens, who are very clean. I have also had three broods of mockingbirds in my holly bush. Not sure if they were from the same birds, or different, but there were babies in there from late April up until just a week or so ago. I am very protective of my little wrens, and am worried sick about them until they fledge. I will miss them if they ever decide to find a new home.

Very good information, chas045. Thanks. I have always suggested everyone to get a generator. Weather problems will be with us for the next century. You need to power up your heating system in the winter. Pipes bursting in the winter can cost you thousands. You need to run your water pump if you have a well. You need to keep your refrigerator going. It's good to have lights, computer, phones and internet. I am not advocating this, because it is illegal. Back-feeding with a generator is the cheapest way to go to power up half of your house. However, I always find it difficult to understand with the main technical reason that back-feeding can kill a lineman. A professional lineman takes all kinds of precaution when he is working. If you don't turnoff your main breaker, you simply cannot start your generator. Your generator will be attempting to power up your entire neighborhood and all the street lights. Repeat: Don't do it, just use a heavy duty extension cord. It is not that painful to use an extension cord for a few days. A 1,000 watt generator is about $200. How big a generator do you need? Incandescent light about 100 watts CFL light, 25 watts Computer about 100 watts Phone charger, 1 watt Small electric fan, 50 watts Microwave, 600 to 1,250 watts Toaster oven, about 1,800 watts Refrigerator, Freezer, depending on size, from 800 watts Attic fan, 350 watts Forced air heating system fan, 500 watts Refrigerator, 20 cf, 800 watts TV, 250 watts Air conditioner, about 1 watt/BTU rating Hair dryer, up to 1,850 watts Electric oven, forget about it. Takes too much power. Electric water heater, 2,500 watts to 4,500 watts. Three other important things to keep in mind, besides capacity of a generator. 1. full-load running time 2. Noise level - quiet generators are more expensive. But you don't want your neighbors complaining. 60 dbs is very quiet. You will get lots of complains at about 80 dbs. 3. weight - A good 2,000 watt generator can be light enough to go camping with, others can be very heavy to transport. dcarch