My husband took off for my nieces wedding some years back with himself at the wheel. We hit my old "stomping grounds" where I'd lived years ago and I tell him he just took the wrong route and I get told properly and succinctly "You are wrong". So, I shut my eyes tell him good luck and take a nap. Hours later I awaken to a nervous man who is pulling into a one of those state roadside rest stops to look at a map. He admits nothing looks familiar. I am laughing by now. Although we should be heading toward Fort Wayne, Indiana instead.......we are on the outskirts of Cleveland. The wedding is in four hours and the only alternative is to take out on a state route due West, instead of backtracking. On the outskirts of a quiet little burg I ask him to stop because I recognise the silhouettes of something from the past. It is the honeycomb domes of an old brick firing plant. It was as if time had just forgotten this place. No people were about and no fences. It was not a museum nor an historical site. It just was there. I got out and walked around the old kiln like ovens and if I hadn't known better would have said the calendar was maybe 1910. Things were just there like work would start the next day. We got back in the car and proceded to the wedding. Minutes to spare we arrived. To this day nobody I have ever talked to knew this place or the old brick kilns. It was like it never existed. That was an adventure.

You can't beat calling Fish & Game. They're likely to send out the best people in the world to help with all aspects of design from testing soil to plant selection. You still get to control the kind of pond. Many years ago they would even kick in some money, don't know if they still do. We all benefit from better wildlife habitat. Messing around with streams is regulated. I think in every state streams and sometimes the banks are not owned by the owner of the surrounding land. But of course most property owners think they do own the stream. That can create serious legal problems. Who owns the stream normally has to do with the stream size. Rarely there's any list and a judge would have to decide on a case by case basis if needed. Way better imo to have Fish & Game involved at the start than knocking on your door later...and they will. Had a guy dam a small stream on a property next to mine once and Fish & Game was there in less than a week. The guy made a complete mess, must have been 10 yards of concrete, forms buckled, a mess. F&G still worked with him to try and fix it in the easiest way possible instead of just fining him thousands. They're on your side unless you think you have the right to break the law which I'm sure you don't.

WOW doris!! that is so smart!! i would NEVER have thought of that!!! last year when we had so much rain our basement flooded, the terrible thing was that just that spring i put everything from the attick (which it was safe) down to the basement, now i must mention that in the basement its like 5x8x6height. its a very small basement. well in the summer for some reason it flooded here, we are on a slope so we didn't get anything, just the creeks got so bad that they blocked us in town. funny!! . till a month later i went to the basement looking for something and OMGoodness i noticed that it had rings that would have been up to my neck on some of the crates, (thank goodness we were smart enough to get them switched over befor we put them there!! ) we lost alot of things, books from our youth, some of tabors baby books, some of tabors baby blankets, some of tabors baby clothes, some of our (i think my grandma's blanket she made she passed on ages ago) so you get the pic. so we had to clean that thing out big time!! all them crates, and then up went the crates AGAIN!!!! LOL i could NOT get that horrible smell out of the stuff either so they had to go!! wish i had known, but we thought our house was sound for some reason, dont know why??!! no sump pump. that would have been nice!! LOL ~Medo

Depends on which species you are the most interested in seeing. Depending on species and elevation they fly at different times of the season, from as early as February to December. While some species are multiple brooded, many are not and so have a fairly short window of opportunity to see them on the wing. If up on the pine/aspen Kyle/Lee Canyon trails probably from June to August for the most different species, including a few of the rare ones, and there are plenty of wildflowers in bloom. But some species will be missed then as they fly earlier or later in the season than those months, especially in the lower, hotter habitats of the Mojave (like RRCNCA). Also depends on if you will be looking for livestock, which has a longer window but may be months before the adults fly. Some species are easy and can be seen along the roads, but some are very hard to find and require some serious climbing to the higher rock slides and natural spring rock gardens (which are not on any improved trails). My favorite slide/garden is at the head of Lee Canyon. It's a steep two hour climb to get to the garden using only the ski runs and game trails, but well worth the effort. I've studied Euphydryas anicia morandi, Speyeria carolae and Icaricia shasta charlestonensis in the rock garden, then climbed up for Hesperia comma mojavensis and Hesperopsis gracielae on the upper slides in years past. Several other species are usually present at both locations. And the spring water is as sweet and cold as water gets, with several alpine plants to munch on as well. Took this pic of the spot in late July with thumderstorms drenching the area intermittently. The slides at the base of the cliff in center with the rock gardens below them. Leps hilltop on the top of the cliff's as well, but its a heck of a hike around to get up there.