Mangoes, and 'maters, and mutts, oh my! Hahaha. Florida mimi, my little Maks loves my cherry tomatoes, too. He can carry one around all day long with breaking the skin on it. He just lies to toss it and chase it. And he was fixated for awhile on a low growing Meyer lemon I have in a pot. He was SURE that lemon was his yellow tennis ball, and would come to a screeching halt every time he ran by the pot, so he could stare at it and try to figure out how to get it down. (Of course, Maks is a nut case who also buries his own pee by pushing sand or leaves over it with his nose. I've NEVER seen a dog do THAT!) Trini, I love the image of the bulldog standing on a chair, hoping to get a mango! Silvia, you are so right about dog breeds. I've been fascinated by them for years, because they are all man-made, and with the exception of the really wolf-like breeds (huskies, etc), are all so far from the original design as to be completely amazing. There is no other animal on the planet that has been deliberately bred and modified to such extremes as dogs. And each breed DID have a purpose, from herding & protecting the flocks, to protecting the home, to hunting via running down the game, scenting out the game, digging up the game and retrieving the game. And of course, some were bred purely as companions. Dachshunds were bred to dig out and kill badgers, which are pretty ferocious animals. And their hunting instincts are very strong, even if they are mostly used as companions today. It doesn't matter if they or their immediate ancestors have ever seen a "varmint" before or not. They just KNOW they need to catch it and kill it. That can be a blessing or a curse, depending on what they see as being a varmint. Mine go after my black racers all the time, and it's only been by my immediate intervention a couple of times that the racer lived to slither by another day. Cat person or dog person? Me, I can't live without them BOTH. (Three huge cats 15 to 20 pounds each, and two small dachshunds at 10 and 11 pounds.) Marcia (Kathy, we hijacked your thread a bit...but still, dogs CAN be one good answer to a critter problem)

The critter on the blue background is a beneficial insect. Likely a syrphid fly larvae; They kill aphids. The aults are also called flower flies or hover flies and, because of their markings, resemble bees. You said you " watched adult mealybugs almost 1/4" long crawl out of that mess" If that critter had a shaggy white waxy covering, they were most likely a coccinelid larva- in the same family as ladybugs you see every day. One kind we have around here is Cryptolaemus. The leaf galls are one of those things that nature does. Seldom if ever damaging to the tree's health.

Hey! This is my first time posting in the bird section. Anyway, I thought I would share a couple pictures I took a couple months ago when the weather was colder here in the Midwest. I see at least 16 cardinals but I think there are closer to 20 (the ones that aren’t bright red are harder to see). I’m a beginner when it comes to this stuff. Probably a little over a year ago (or longer) I found myself in Walmart, stopped, and looking at bird seed. Not only did I find it odd that I was looking at bird seed, but it was confirmation I was getting old HAHAHA… Furthermore, I bought the seed. I placed seeds on my back deck rail and would watch the birds in the morning as I drank my coffee. After about a week I found myself getting more and more birds. Then I started feeding them at lunch time. Before long, I told my husband it was time to buy a bird feeder. I bought the cheap ones but they have held up. Long story short, I started with a bag of seed, which lead to one bird feeder, which eventually lead to several feeders. I don’t use them all during the summer months. I’m also starting to look for higher quality feeders. I bought my first droll yankee feeder the other day at Walmart (finch feeder). I was so excited too. I was at Lowes first but didn’t see any finch feeders I liked. Plus, they were all made in China. So I checked out Walmart and was happy to find an American made feeder. I started seeing the yellow finches within about 3 days of putting the feeder out there. Far away view from my back porch... close up (sorry it's blurry)

Lily, I so agree with you ! People will enter my home and just walk by all my beautiful plants…This perturbs me so…Don't they notice such rare beauty? Don't they realize that they are real, not fake? Can't they recognize the skills required to make these plants flourish??? Brutes! lol My hip visitors will immediately vibe with the peaceful mood my plants create and admire my environment. I've just accepted being that I am a weird, eccentric plant nerd who knows the benefits of plants in the home. Actually, I am very cool…some people just don't appreciate it!