Good afternoon.... Greetings from Seattle...oops, I mean Boston. [g] The weather, instead of being aggravating, has become a daily joke. The silver lining is that no watering and no air conditioning at least. ..... This has been the longest thread! Nice to see a little more activity today. Kathy, that software looks pretty useful for $20. So does this mean that you have decided to take out the cement? I was looking at that photo of your side yard and envisioning what a great place for a very functional work area with seating area surrounded by tons of containers a la Deanne and veggie containers a la Woody, and no weeding. :-) You could even artistically paint stepping stones across it in the same configuration. Marie, your Waldorf salad sounded wonderful. I was reminded of Chelone's hilarious chipmunk adventure when a chipmunk showed up at the base of the bird feeder helping himself to fallen seed on Sunday. I rarely see one. Then this morning looking out the kitchen window, I did a double take. Inside a globe shaped squirrel proof bird feeder, that has a metal cage around the inner tube of seed, I see the chipmunk! He is so cute and looking very well fed. He made several trips back and forth to the feeder this afternoon, stuffing his face. I would hate to think what problems in the garden he could accomplish if he is feeding a family. I have no idea what to do about him, with no cats or dogs at our house. Then I had a second encounter with animals. DD stayed over last night and I drove her to the train this morning and on the way home, a cat followed by 5 tiny kittens crossed the street in front of the car. I slowed down and watched them and they went into a driveway. The mother cat was out in the open and looking back at me watching me. She stood across the driveway from the kittens who had all run under a car in the driveway and were watching me and the mom. It was so strange. I can't imagine if someone owns the cat/kittens that they would just let them roam free. Also found myself wondering about the kittens behavior. I would have thought they would have stuck like glue to the Mom. There is an empty lot next to the house where they were running around and I wonder if they were ferral cats or belonged to the owner of the driveway they were in. Woody...your rose swag is looking great for it's first year! Anita...I love your Bowle's Golden grass. It is one of my favorites and I keep looking for one and haven't found one yet. Cindy, what great news, that Chloe is recovering! It's been a long haul for the both of you. Did you ever find out what caused the problem she had in the first place? Julie, you are amazing! lol Norma, any photos of Jasmine, Rebel and the newest addition? V....we are still in this cool, overcast weather and I am bracing myself for when it finally quits, the heat will probably be brutal. Sorry to hear your garden is suffering. Hi Denise! :-) I enjoy your longer posts, I hope you will stop throwing them away...lol. Very pretty Phlomis. I'm waiting for final photos of your new outdoor tub area. Like Denise, I am missing Deanne's posts, and more photos from Eden too. Marie, not sure I am following you, is that a photo of Ivy on the top with a photo of Reed second? I could easily say it was the same child. DS was a sweetie! Such a happy boy! Another long one from me..... pm2

I am not sure what did that, but this year I have more lily pads and flowers then ever. I don't have any fish in there this year just the tads and the frogs. I have actually been very happy with the pond this year. The water is clear and just about no green algae. The pump died last year and I had figured that without a new one the pond was going to be a mess this year. But it is the complete opposite the pond has never had this little algae I haven't needed to scoop are clean at all this year :) I think this is in part the plants I put in maturing and thanks to the frogs and the birds I have some underwater plants that are sucking up the nutrients, and probably a big part is the cooler weather we have had this year. I would love it if I could get away with this again next year but not holding my breath.

Apparently I'm in good company with my butterfly bed that's stuffed with all their favorites and my oversize collection of bird feeders in the crabapple tree. I designed the butterfly bed specifically to attract them and so far am happy with the end result. There's still lots of space to fill in but it's getting there gradually. My folks planted with wildlife in mind before me so there are dogwoods, mock orange, lilacs & others to attract birds. There's a 40 ft. x 30 ft. area of white hydrangea growing on the southern boundary the birds use as a sanctuary. They stop off in the lilac bush on their way to/from the birdfeeders & birdbath. I've counted as many as 25 junkos in the mock orange during snowstorms, all puffed out like little gray tennis balls. Every year wrens nest in each of the three birdhouses hanging in the crabapple tree. One morning this summer I noticed my motion sensor light had come on. When I peaked through the curtains out the front window, there was a red fox stretching as tall as he could trying to raise his chin over the edge to get a drink from the birdbath. I felt so guilty, I washed out a big bowl & set it on the ground beside the birdbath for him. I kept it filled the rest of the season. No rain fell here from June-October so the critters were thirsty along with all my plants. The foxes took over a former rabbit & woodchuck burrow, made it bigger & raised 3 pups down behind my 80 ft. row of blueberry bushes. Yes, they ate all the blueberries this year. Like I said, there was a really bad drought here in southern New England. I took a few pictures through the window screen when they came out to play in the early mornings: A few lucky shots of robins enjoying the ancient plastic birdbath under the crabapple tree: I think the Cooper's hawks that nest down in the woods at the back help keep the rodent & bunny populations under control but the chipmunks can be a problem. Esme the snake makes her rounds of the flowerbeds and takes care of whatever varmints use the hosta leaves to hide under from the hawks.

Swan Lake is about 87 miles by road Northwest of Columbia. Diamondback Water Snakes are present at Swan Lake, but strangely I haven't seen any yet that I could positively ID as such there, although some of my "Blotched Water Snakes" at a distance could perhaps be Diamondbacks for all I know. I know further west at Squaw Creek NWR, Diamondbacks seem to be by far the dominant nerodia. I have always been intrigued by which nerodia fills a niche, since at Mingo NWR, Broad-Bandeds are abundant but at Snake Road they are absent. However, Snake Road has Mississippi Greens in decent numbers, and Yellowbellies rule there among Nerodia. As for bobcats, I imagine wild areas in the South Central Ozarks around dawn and dusk would be the best places, but its hard to argue with a place where I have actually seen one.