Sarah- When you posted this message I responded, but now I realize it was just a personal email I sent to you, not a posting on this site. Sorry, this technology stuff confuses me with regularity. I wish I knew more about cob building; I've done lots of research but never actually made anything with it...not yet, anyway. If I were to pursue the subject of cob, is this the proper forum?? I was thinking maybe landscape design would be more appropriate, but I don't know...any suggestions? The best book I've found is by Kiko Denzer. It's full of lots of practical, hands-on information. He has conducted many workshops, with adults and children. It seems like a fantastic building medium, requiring only clay soil, sand, straw and water, well mixed and made into an even mudpie consistency by kneading it with your feet, and then applied one mudball at a time. Sarah, you asked about using your gumbo clay. Yes, I think you could, as long as you choose a time of year you can actually dig it up. From what I've read, you just have to adjust the amount of sand and staw to make an appropriately gooey, sticky mixture. The Denzer book would be a good resource to check out. If there's anyone out there who has already done this, let me know and please direct me to a more appropriate forum if you know of any. Thanks so much. lisa_devon

vieja: Don't worry. When we first installed our pond 6 years ago, toads appeared. I knew they were in the garden but never thought twice about how they reproduced. (Actually, I'm still amazed how fast our first frog showed up!) When I first saw two locked together, I thought how cute. I assumed one was a baby and the mom was giving it a ride on its back. I later discovered the larger toads are the females and the males sit on the back of the female while they are making sweet love. ;o) They only mate in the water - after that they return to land. If you caught it early enough you would see what looks like a long, clear piece of plastic tape that has eggs attached to it. If you find that, you can grab it out of your pond and limit the amount of polywogs (toadpoles?!). But don't be alarmed. We freaked out with our first experience with toads. Our pond was FULL and I mean full of eggs. It looked like we had splattered paint on every rock - we must have had thousands. The fish ate many of them. Others got into the yard and disappeared. I think birds got some. The lawnmower got more. We maybe had a dozen or so adults come back the next year. You won't get hundreds of toads. Toads are great for insect control so it's not a bad thing to have some toads around. The noise I can live without. They sound like a sci-fi movie when they get to screaming. That's called "trilling." From what I read, when they trill it means the males are calling to the females or they are claiming their turf. I can't seem to find a definite answer on why they trill during mating season. The babies are fun to watch. They are very, very small at first. I think it's a piece of dirt until it starts hopping away! My dog is also curious about the ones that he finds on the patio at night, but that's about all. They just basically stare at each other.

If anyone in my Lancaster county, Pa. area has toads or frogs (but no bullfrogs, please!) they would like to give to me for my backyard pond I will come to their place and take them off your hands! I want local frogs and toads not imported! Mine died over the hard winter we had and I am frogless and toadless at the moment and don't wish to introduce foreign species into my back yard! Don't try to fool me with bullfrogs! I DO know the difference!

Basics of Lawn Care After reading numerous books and magazines on lawn care, caring for lawns at seven houses in my life, and reading numerous forums where real people write in to discuss their successes and failures, I have decided to side with the real people and dispense with the book and magazine authors. I don't know what star their planet rotates around but it's not mine. With that in mind, here is the collected wisdom of the Internet savvy homeowners and lawn care professionals summarized in a few words. If you follow the advice here you will have conquered at least 50% of all lawn problems. Once you have these three elements mastered, then you can worry about weeds (if you have any), dog spots, and striping your lawn. But if you are not doing these three things, they will be the first three things suggested for you to correct. 1. Watering Water deeply and infrequently. Deeply means at least an inch in every zone, all at once. Infrequently means monthly during the cool months and no more than weekly during the hottest part of summer. Do not spread this out and water for 10 minutes every day. If your grass looks dry before the month/week is up, water longer next time. If that does not work, then you might have to water more than once per week during the summer's hottest period. Deep watering grows deep, drought resistant roots. Infrequent watering allows the top layer of soil to dry completely which kills off many shallow rooted weeds. You will have to learn to judge when to water your own lawn. If you live in El Paso your watering will be different than if you live in Vermont. Adjust your watering to your type of grass, temperature, humidity, wind, and soil type. It is worth noting that this technique is used successfully by professionals in Phoenix, so...just sayin.' The other factors make a difference. If you normally water 1 inch per week and you get 1/2 inch of rain, then adjust and water only 1/2 inch that week. 2. Mowing Every week mulch mow at the highest setting on your mower. Most grasses are the most dense when mowed tall. However, bermuda, centipede, and bent grasses will become the most dense when they are mowed at the lowest setting on your mower. In fact there are special mowers that can mow these grasses down to 1/16 inch. Dense grass shades out weeds, keeps the soil cooler, and uses less water than thin grass. Tall grass can feed the deep roots you developed in #1 above. Tall grass does not grow faster than short grass nor does it look shaggy sooner. Once all your grass is at the same height, tall grass just looks plush. 3. Fertilizing Fertilize regularly. I fertilize 5 times per year using organic fertilizer. Which fertilizer you use is much less important than numbers 1 and 2 above. Follow the directions on the bag and do not overdo it (unless you use organics in which case you may overdo it without fear of hurting anything). At this point you do not have to worry about weed and feed products - remember at this point you are just trying to grow grass, not perfect it. Besides once you are doing these three things correctly, your weed problems should go away without herbicide.