Sus, Oh but I've always thought that you had a lot of enthusiasm, so I don't think I have you beat there. You're nice to say that though. ;) I know what you mean about biting off more than you can chew. I do that a lot. Well, most of the time actually. I have projects galore that are sitting around waiting to get done. That's great that you're getting into birding too. I've been into that for probably close to 25 years and really enjoy watching the birds out at the feeders. I have bluebird boxes up for the bluebirds and have gourds on shepherd's hooks for the tree swallows. I also get wrens nesting here and other kinds of birds and lots at the feeders. I love birds and of course also butterflies. I'll have to email you sometime about birding. You mentioned sparrows, and I have some things to say about them and some other things. Maybe none of it would be new to you but I'll at least mention some things then. Isn't that odd how you have PVS one year and none the next two! Actually, that has fascinated me about different kinds of butterflies; I'll see them here and then not again for awhile. Well, I hope that you get PVS in 2010! Oh yes, I agree with your about those being like hyperactive kids. If you take the lid off the container, you'd better keep your eye on it because those critters move fast. I had one crawling on the table one day when I just walked away from the container for a short time thinking the cats would stay put. I might be imagining things, but they almost seem to sense when I take the lid off and want to hightail it out of there. Yeah, I raise a lot of Monarchs if you call hundreds a lot. The most I raised was I think in 2007 when I released about 520. This year was 350. It's a ton of work and I want to try to come up with a better way of doing it. You sure get to see a variety of butterflies there. I wish I would get to raise some more kinds. I only saw a Red Admiral here very briefly several years ago. Wouldn't you know it, I didn't have false nettle then. I actually thought I had it here because I have plants coming up here that resemble it but isn't that (don't know what though). So I planted some last year but didn't see any Red Admirals. I'm hoping that I will eventually though. I saw a Common Buckeye here for maybe a minute in 2008 but didn't get a picture of it (dead battery). I planted Verbena hastata in hopes of getting them to lay eggs but didn't see any at all this year. The one I saw last year was nectaring on the Verbena bonariensis. Unlike you, I've never seen any Tawny Emperors here, but I didn't have any hackberry trees here until this past spring/summer. They're not much more than a foot tall, but a Question Mark managed to find them and I raised a few of those cats. I think I've had American Lady cats here every year since I planted some pussytoes that some very nice person got for me. It's kind of hard to cut those leaves off to bring inside and raise the cats in here, so I think I'm going to make an enclosure with some boards and screen (any other suggestions are welcome) and put it over the plants. It will only cover a small portion of the bed. I was thinking I could move all the cats to that area and then move the enclosure as the food supply dwindles. I really don't know if it's a good idea or not, but every year I worry when I don't see the cats on the plants anymore. I think they mostly hide during the day and come out at night though, so I always hope that nothing gets them, but I'd rather be more sure of that with a covering to protect them from wasps and birds, etc. Of course, with as tight as those plants are, I don't imagine that it would be too easy for me to try to find all of the spiders that are on them to remove them. I don't have any overwintering BSTs like I did the past few years because the three that I raised eclosed in the spring/summer. I still have the GSTs here from last year when they overwintered. I think if they don't eclose in 2010, I'll probably take them out of the containers and give them up for dead. Only one of them eclosed out of about 40. I only have 5 out there (in another building, no heat) overwintering from this year. GSTs are discouraging for me to raise because a lot of them die. I feed them rue, but eventually I'd like to try raising them on wafer ash (I just started a couple from seed). I also have gas plants, but they are very small. I hope that my Wild Indigo Duskywings are okay that I have out there bunking with the GSTs. I fed them Baptisia australis and Lupinus perennis, which they are still on but not moving (as far as I know anyway). I've never raised any kind of cats before that overwinter (I mean that the actual cats and not the chrysalids overwinter), so it's making me kind of nervous wondering how in the world they'll be okay in the spring. I don't understand why they don't freeze and die. If they are alive, I hope that they quell their appetites until after my plants have some growth on them. You're absolutely right...every year brings a surprise and I'm so looking forward to this coming year to see what kinds of butterflies and cats I get!!! My head is always so full of plans! You've helped me and I really appreciate it! Cathy

Seriously, Honestly? I go to the Gallery and spend hours and hours going over all the latest pictures that Oceanna posted. Today, a little over 3 hours at the Gallery (Gee, thanks Oceanna! *wink*). Got nothing, zippo, nada done. Way too many ideas doing Funny Car crashes in my grey matter for me to make a firm decision on my projects so might as well go look-see everyone elses projects. Actually, truth be told there is no name for my 'style'. Believe me, I've searched. No way to describe it online so that I can get a decent search going. Because there is no name for my style, I come to a point where I get stuck ----- (the fact that my ideas have to be done on a miniscule budget makes it all that more difficult.) Kitchen not finished --- going on 15 months. Backyard/Garden Decor not done --- going on 7 months. Family Room not done --- going on 20 months. Sunroom not done --- going on 28 months. Master Bedroom not done -- going on 9 months. (Won't count the Master bath because in all fairness, we just started it. But I'm sure I'll come to a grinding halt there, too.) Why? Because I'm stuck, can't make a decision and stick to it because I can't find ideas for what I see in my mind's eye. I know there's got to be inspiration out there for what I'm trying to create but so far, haven't found it. I get ideas, tips and opinions from all the talented folks here and put them into play and all starts looking good but to head to the finish line? Nope. Isn't happening. So, I go to all the neato new photos on the Gallery side, thanks to Oceanna, kill a ton of time and not get a thing accomplished. Then I feel guilty for not accomplishing anything and I start the whole process over again. Amity, who is heading over to the gallery, again. lol

I think the idea of a frame or base wallhanging that can be altered with the seasons is a neat idea. Although I think I'll be starting with a Spring theme, the idea that's floating around in my head is to do a doorhanging in a landscape scene with some little patches of mesh overlay so I can slip Scrabble letters into it, arranged in phrases. Because it would be changeable, I could change the phrase as needed. "Happy Valentines Day", "I'm in the garden", "Welcome, McNeeses", "Happy Trails to You", "Rain rain go away", "Happy Birthday, Jim!" whatever. Fun, right? I've been collecting Scrabble letter tiles for years so I'll have enough letters if I ever get to this particular project! I'll use the blank tiles to add punctuation (Sharpies write on anything). Does anyone need a Q? Kate

There's a lot of hairsplitting going on here. We all know what a re-gift is and what it isn't. Let's not pretend that re-gifting is anything but CONVENIENT. I'm not sure that I have ever received a re-gift and really I wouldn't care if I did. In fact, I'm happy to receive any gift at all and would never turn my nose up at a gift no matter what it might be or where it came from. But I draw the line at GIVING a re-gift because my conscience just wouldn't let me. As I said before, for me, a gift is about the process of giving but most importantly the thought. I just couldn't RE-WRAP a gift and pretend that I was thinking of that person when picking out their very special gift. It's simply DISINGENOUS. Now, if a one-in-a-million chance happens that I received a red scarf as a gift and I just knew that that red scarf was going to save the life of a colicy baby - well I might just rethink my policy on re-gifting . . . A gift is more than it's simplistic definition of "the transfer of something without the expectation of receiving something in return." and we ALL know it.