Ladybugs!

When is a ladybug not a bug?                 

Always, they are actually beetles!  (Coccinellidae)  A minor distinction, I know, but an entirely different order of insect.  Bugs have mouth-parts made to suck, and feed on fluids, beetles have biting mouth-parts, and tear their food.  The ladybug's proper name is actually the Ladybird Beetle.

Spring Really Is Coming!

The first Snowdrop

I was out enjoying a rare, sunny afternoon yesterday,     

raking up the last of the leaves and doing some other 

general clean-up when I spotted them!  Snowdrops 

(Galanthus), blooming in my front border!

That is always the first sign of spring, here in Oregon, and a welcome sight they are.  They inspired me to check out the rest of the yard more closely, and I found many more signs that this strange winter is finally coming to an end.

Brandon Wilks - Nationwide Craigslist Scammer - Beware!

This is so heinous I have to tell the world:  

If you have applied for a job thru Craigslist, and it seems this is nationwide, and you get a reply from a Brandon Wilks, RUN, don't walk, and for heaven's sake DON'T click any enclosed links.

It's a scam to get your info and credit card number.  He's currently operating with the return email address of ADEXIMEDIA . com, and if you do a Google search on them

'Socks - How our garden saved our cat'

By Ted Sherman                                                         
Reprinted by permission from Greenprints Magazine
Issue #84, Winter 2010 / 11

     Socks was our family pet, a mostly black tomcat with white legs.  he had to be the biggest cat in the neighborhood and should have ruled the backyards and fences.  But Socks was a coward.  All the other cats, including the females, bullied him badly.  They'd hiss at him and spit at him and, if they caught him, bit pieces from his ears, nose and jaw.  He looked like the neighborhood chewing - uh, punching - bag.

Tax Time...

UGH - I've spent the last two days getting all the papers in order for our new CPA, we meet with him Thursday.

I've always done my own taxes, and last year I did 3 years worth of refund returns for my wonderful lazy husband, in addition to my own!  We got married in Sept. of 2009, so filed separately for that year.