Thanks! Still behind; I have another web album of photos I've not yet posted. We camped in the yard last night as usual in our screen tent, and apparently the jaguar is back..the dogs suddenly went crazy and we heard the strangest, loudest noises. I went online and found some of what we heard on this link-scroll down to audio clip http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/jaguar.html Besides the wails, grunts, rumbles, it also kept making explosive snorts..like an alarmed deer, except MUCH louder, more explosive, lower down, and dragged on and on until my bones vibrated. It seemed the sound wrapped around the tent, and I didn't know where to point the huge spotlight we keep next to us. DuBois plant to take a tape recorder with us this time, in case it returns. I also plan to download jaguar sounds and play them next to my web cams on the hill to see if we can lure it in for a photo. We've not seen its tracks since this march..guess it has a huge territory. Our neighbor was approached by a half grown black jaguar while hunting on our property in the fall of 2006 so it should nearly mature now. Just this spring, another neighbor a few miles away spotted a black jaguar on his farm, so it's still alive. Photo of suspected jaguar track, click on "full screen" http://picasaweb.google.com/rachelbro3/BigFootTracksScat#5317982295991557506

I like Joe and applaud his creativity. However he does have a, shall we say, few marks on his record that are questionable to many too. I won't go into it but people can do some research and decide if they want to worship him or hate him. I choose to respect the good things he's done but not go overboard in unwarranted praise. He's definitely a "different person" both is good ways and in bad but all in all, he's done a lot of good there. That said, there's a lot of things people don't understand. Again, there's a big difference between jail and prison. People need to educate themselves on the differences before making a lot of the comments out of misinformation. Joe is successful mostly because he's in Maricopa Co, AZ. I seriously doubt he'd be successful in Wisconsin, New York or Washington, DC. I liked the way of the tent cities but they wouldn't work in St. Louis. Joe's point on them is, you're in the middle of the desert - you want to run? RUN! How far do you think you'll get? You think you could leave them essentially unguarded in the suburbs of Lincoln, NE? Now the "chain gangs". There's a lot of misconception on that too. Joe affectionately calls them "chain gangs" but don't kid yourself that it's the 1950s gangs where they're building private projects for the warden, being beaten with whips and pipes and the like. They're simply in CHAINS, (hence the term chain gangs!) out cleaning graffiti, picking up garbage in the ditches and the like. What's wrong with that? If they weren't secured people would scream that their children, pets and wine coolers wouldn't be safe. Also, for good or bad and I'm not entering or encouraging the debate, but Arizona has laws conducive to this type of system. Other states DO require a full library, weights, TV with full cable lineup and the like so they can't take it away. Plus often people only look at the cost savings of the green balogna, and overlook the millions spent defending the lawsuits against Joe and the system which they feel they want to spend but many if not most other places won't spend that money. So when you look at the big picture, I truly doubt Joe could be successful outside of Arizona or at lest in more moderate climates of varying types. I always question people when they throw out "they're HUMAN BEINGS!". Yes. So am I and so are you. What's your point? They DESERVE full cable because they're humans? I don't have cable. When will you give me my cable, additional education, steak & lobster meals, etc? The idea of punishing is to deprive certain things as an incentive to not do that again. But in today's world it's felt that when little Jimmy steals a candy bar, he should be rewarded with more candy since he probably was deprived at home. I also don't understand the chant of "humiliation". People who do that simply don't know what humiliation is. By definition, I cannot "humiliate" you. Only you can feel humiliated. I can only assume that those people feel tha prisoners shouldn't feel shame, remorse or anything for the crimes they committed. And for anyone who thinks a beat cop makes big bucks, ROFL. Why don't you go become a cop then? All this notwithstanding, there are some bad cops. And they should be prosecuted and jailed/imprisoned too in my opinion. But it's certainly irrational to condemn a whole system because one person was mistreated one time. That's not even worth commenting on further. As I said though, the system could certainly use a good healthy infusion of creativity to cut costs and increase effectiveness.

I was recently diagnosed with EDS. I am 57 but have had similar issues as your GD since a severe bout of mono at age 32. My health has been a rollercoaster since then. (I am currently facing double hip replacements but have not committed to this yet.) It is my belief the viral/bacterial illness can trigger auto-immune illnesses and these are unchartered territory or at least terribly difficult to adequately diagnose. Most treatments focus on symptom abatement; not cures. You need to do your own research on Lyme and the suppression of adequate Lyme treatment. My son was hospitalized for over a week, several months after a supposed mono illness when he was 18. He kept having recurring fevers, illness, similar to your GD; they thought he had lymphoma. Finally did biopsy surgery. He had a team of infectious disease specialists, was in strict isolation, underwent a million tests also and everything was inconclusive. He lost about a year dealing with his illness. He is now 28 and has recurrent gastrointestinal issues and is about 50 # underweight. Cannot gain; dr's think he's fine. He also has the EDS characteristics but no diagnosis. Doesn't like doctors now. I have always had the hypermobility issues as did my mother and siblings although they had no EDS diagnosis. I do not know about any connections between EDS and issues with these mystery illnesses, however I suspect any viral/bacterial illness that affects joint inflammation will be exacerbated by EDS as it is a connective tissue problem. I have read studies where the use of antibiotics actually helps with the vascular type of EDS in mice. Antibiotics are also used successfully in some patients with MS. It is above my pay-grade to make the connections between a genetic syndrome and these mystery illnesses let alone why they are helped by antibiotics. My suspicions lead me to think Lyme may be a big factor for your GD. She may have EDS; probably in fact...doesn't mean she does not have Lyme also, or one of the other many rheumatic, auto-immune illnesses. Could be the perfect storm of several issues. Check out www.roadback.org It will at least help you think past the limitations of what her dr's may be able to tell you. God bless you for looking into this for her and I hope she feels better soon.

Looks like a hen got out of a caged area, or lost. They are no match for wild predators, of course. Poor chicky didn't have a chance in the wild outdoors. Predators must eat. I've been enjoying all the wonderful photos and stories. Jane, Susan and others, I love your hawk photos and, as I only know two or three hawks, I would like you to give the ID, if you know it. Were the above hawks Redtail and then Cooper's? I have had two gangs of wild turkeys, woodchuck (adorable pest, dug next to the foundation, Grrr), and my buddies, the Virginia opossum/s. A few weeks ago there was a black bear sleeping in a roadside maple a few hundred feet uphill from us. For the past few days there has been a "big brown bat" in the house. I suspect he/she got into the house when DH removed the stovepipe to clean it. He did block the flue opening, so maybe "B-cubed" was in the section of wide stovepipe and tumbled out before the stovepipe was taken outside. Two nights ago, I waited until dusk dark, open the front door wide, and waited to see if the B-cubed would exit. Nothing. I hoped that BBB had flown out the opened kitchen window the day before. But, no. Last night DH slept in a chair in the room where B-cubed was last spotted. He heard it moving or landing or flying around. Well, this morning, we looked around the area where it had disappeared and found it clinging to some wainscoting in the shadow of some furniture. We moved it into a little metal cage for now. We tried to let it go outside but of course it was daylight, and cold wind blowing and ruffling its fur. The guy had not eaten or had any fluid for two days or more, so we brought it back into the cage and inside the house and put a little bit a water in her dish and some bread. Maybe we can get some live mealworms at a pet store. I have the cage covered to keep it dark. But here is my dilemma: since the bat arrived the temperatures have gone from 48 to 28°F and I would think the big brown bat should be in hibernation this time of year (?). I want this bat to live, and so I don't want him to succumb to the frigid night weather. I thought that maybe we could drive to where it there is a cow barn of something and let it go at dusk; but that isn't much of a guarantee is it? Any suggestions? Thanks. ed-- for clarity