How cute! He sure is getting big! "Bruiser" is my son-in-law's nephew. He is built like a Mack truck and is a study in perpetual motion.

My husband said the hawk was in our yard a couple of days earlier with a squirrel. It could just be the cold weather but there are definitely less squirrels in my yard. Just this fall I was wondering about how the squirrel population was increasing. It was sad, actually. While the hawk was devouring the squirrel, just a few feet away, behind a tree, was another squirrel, clinging on very still but at attention. Later, after the hawk flew away with his prize, the squirrel was sniffing around the spot, probably missing a sibling.

That sounds very good. I love the flavor of real vanilla.

It's a whole phylum, Marica, so there are many kinds and they are all awesome! Some are considered beneficial in that they eat mostly grubs that, in turn, feed on rhizomes, bulbs, corms and such. I use them in certain areas of the yard and what I use depends on what I have to control. For instance, I know I have Japanese beetles, certain moths that eat iris rhizomes as well as Asiatic lily bulbs. There are also areas where I do not want ants. Some people use them to keep their lawns perfect but I don't really give a flying eff about my lawn. You have to release them at specific times of the year depending on the life cycle of the pest you want to control. So you have to walk your yard and figure out if there is anything at all that needs controlling. Of course, not all are beneficial. Some nematodes will give you filariasis. Then there's my high school biology teacher whom we used to call Ascaris behind his back. When he found out, he thought it was perfect and wanted to be addressed as Mr. Ascaris from then on (apologies to Dina for going OT). Lots of info online. Pagan