Update: PEPPERS I think I caught the bacterial leaf spot on the sweet and hot bannana, pimento, hab, chile, tabasco, cyanne peppers quickly enough to get a crop. I had enough hot bannana and jalepenos to can 4 pints last Saturday. That was the first picking just to get them off the plants to help the new growth. They are blooming and setting peppers pretty well right now and I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the copper is working. I'm backing off to two weeks between treatments and at half the rate unless the BLS really picks up again. The bell and Big Bertha peppers are probably shot, still stunted and still can't shake the BLS to any extent. Not setting fruit. Only time will tell now and maybe the hot weather in the weeks to come will help. TOMATOES Tomatos still have every disease in the book. I've started eating fried green tomatoes and canning green tomato relish thinking that nothing will make it to ripeness. I've got some very large green maters but the vines and foliage appear to be headed for a dirt nap and may not have enough left to support them to getting ripe. Stink bugs are crawling around. Aphids are finally dying, they've eaten themselves to death. My ladybugs never showed up even though they 'say' they were sent on 6/27. Learned a lesson on that one. ZUCS AND SQUASH The SVB's have taken 20% of the plants, suprised they haven't taken more. I've killed 5 of the moths in the past 3 weeks which means they probably layed a gazillion eggs before I got to them. Powdery mildew is in check for now. Removing leaves and spraying has again helped. I've developed a taste for patty pan squash and they are prolific producers. CUCS Stink bugs are running rampant. I'm gonna hit the plants with some insecticidal soap today. All in all I might get enough cucs to can if they will make it another 4-5 weeks. EGGPLANTS Now that there is some hot weather they've started putting out very well. The ichibons are gonna be the first eaters as usual with the regular ones to follow. OKRA The Clemson Spineless is really slow cause I screwed up and planted them in the wrong place, another experiment gone bad. Not enough sun. The Chinese Running Okra is vining it's way to finally start producing. Takes forever but the tasted is worth it. FERTILIZER I finally broke down and used Miracle Gro. Had to get some stuff to the roots quickly in hopes that part of the problems have been nutrition. I thought I had enough stuff composted in the soil this year but girlfriend finally talked me into trying the blue stuff. It appears to at least have temporarily picked up the growing and lessened the yellow leaves. Heading to the ag ext office for a soil test kit next week. Haven't had one since 2004 and I have a feeling sumpin isn't quite right. BRUSSEL SPROUTS Cabbage worms and harlequin bugs finally did them in. No amount of spraying could keep them out. That's all for now. If anyone knows a plant biologist or anb insect freak, they are welcome to come over to the house. I've got a whole college course on diseases and pests over here.

I live out in the country on 14 acres of mostly forested land and we have barn owls and bats. They seem to peacefully co-exist and I've never seen the owls bother the bats or vice versa. What we do have is two owls that fly together and hunt together. They have been here the entire time we've owned this property--about 8 years now. One is a barn owl and the other is a screech owl. The barn owl always flies from one location to the other. Seconds later the screech owl follows and lands near him/her. The barn owl will hoot. The screech owl will screech. We call them (obviously) Hooty and Screechy. They are ALWAYS together. I don't know if the way they have teamed up together is "normal" or not, but I think it is cute!

Vonyon, I listened to the recordings of the barn owl and then the screech owl. I'm certain it was not the barn owl. The first time I heard the sound (which was the summer before last) it sounded like the "a" call. I went in immediately and listened to various owl calls to decide if it was an owl and which one. Then, on Halloween (last year), I was outside and I heard sound "B". Around the same time I heard some voices of kids on another street, so I thought it was some kind of recording that they had; however, I heard it again sometime after that and checked out the owl calls again and determined it was the screech owl.

Good for you for saving the bees. They are the most wonderful little things in the world, and we would not exist with out their pollination. I have had a backyard hive for 22 years. I love them.