R.I.P., Mole. I won't miss you.

He got what was coming to him. For months, I've been tormented by this little guy. Who knew it would take his own curiosity to finally do him in! I found him at the bottom of the pool a few minutes ago.

Okay, that may be a bit harsh. I didn't want him to die. I just wanted him to move on to someone else's yard. In fact, recently, I had just given up and decided to co-habitate with him. All he really wanted to do was eat grubs. How was he supposed to know I wanted him gone? I've spent well over $50 trying to scare him out of the yard. Want to revisit my many pictures and videos of my struggle with him?

Stay tuned for the next episode of What's at the Bottom of Danielle's Pool. First a crab, now a mole. I wonder what will be next.

Astonishing Recycling Facts

I'm no tree hugger, but I recycle all my newspapers, aluminum cans, and bottles. And I've just learned that I need to switch away from cypress mulch. (Thanks Thingfish23)

I'm taking a macroeconomics course right now. It's H-A-R-D. I'm studying a chapter on Negative Externalities. I was astonished to learn some statistics about pollution and recycling. Here it goes:

• Pesticide residues on food pose more health problems than do toxic waste dumps or air pollution.
• Smog: 40% of smog comes from automobiles; 40% comes from consumer products; 15% comes from manufacturing.
• Air pollution on average is now greater indoors than outdoors
• Nearly all US cities have modern sewage control systems...
• A notable exception is NYC, which teams up with NJ to dump their raw sewage 100 miles out to sea
• 50% of US households curbside recycle
• 15% of all US garbage gets recycled; 15% gets incinerated; 70% goes to the landfill
• Japan recycles 40% of their garbage; 33% gets incinerated; 27% goes to the landfill
• Germany recycles 70% of all paper garbage
• The US recycles 42% of all paper garbage and ranks 16th globally in this measure.
• In the US, 2 out of 3 aluminum cans get recycled which is 8 lbs per person

Black Swallowtail Caterpillar

I have a few friends who are butterfly nuts. You're up, friends!...
What is this? I'm pretty sure it's a black swallowtail caterpillar. I have about a dozen all over the parsley. I've been trying to plant butterfly-attracting flowers and shrubs, so to me, a dozen of these guys is a success! But, will they destroy my parsley? Should I allow only a handful to remain? If so, what do I do with the rest of them? Does anyone (from South Florida) want any of these guys shipped to them? I wouldn't want to ship them to a region that they are not native to.

An Evening on the Boat

Well, this is not gardening related, but it was such a great photo that I wanted to share. We went out on our friend's boat Thursday. My husband wants a boat really badly, and any chance we have to get out on the water, we take advantage of. He's had a boat his whole life. With a new house and two "kids" in college (me and his son) funds are tight. We'll see...we have some things in the works...if they work out, we may be able to swing a boat.

Oleander leaves Turning Yellow

Now what's wrong with the oleander? I have a feeling the Scott's guy accidentally sprayed it like he did the hibiscus last year. I'll be on gardenweb checking this out too.

Fungus on Avocado?

I think I have a fungus on my avocado. This took less than a week to occur. I haven't had time to look it up yet. I will be on gardenweb later tonight trying to find out what this is. The leaves are falling off after turning totally brown. The plant is in the same location it's always been and has been receiving the same amount of water. If it were lack of water, it would be turning yellow, then brown.

Florida Land Crabs' Migration

Well, for the past few days, each morning we've had to scoop land crabs out of the pool. I guess their migration habits have been disrupted lately because of the strange weather we've had. After a severe 2-month drought, we were deluged with rain last Friday. Now, the land crabs are appartently on the move. Here's the article from the local paper.

Where in the World is Danielle Copeland?

I was never really gone...just pursuing other things. The gardens are now flourishing again and I have a new camera. Things are looking good.

What else is new?...

I decided to go back to school! I have been in graphic design for nearly 10 years and it's time for a change. I have another year to go, then I'll have a double major in Marketing and Business Administration.

I got my website up and running! I had never gotten into web design until recently. I've really had fun with experimenting with Dreamweaver. www.copelandchristmas.com

We rescheduled our honeymoon! I got married almost 2 years ago, but the honeymoon was cancelled due to a blizzard. We're off to Italy in a few months!

Green Thumb Sunday - Something is eating my citrus

I took this meyer lemon to Lowes today to the citrus guy, Chuck. He has lived here his whole life and grew up around citrus. He says it's definitely a critter of some kind. His hunch was a bird or squirrel. I have never seen any critters around the citrus, but I think he's right. It looks like scratch marks and pole holes. I'd bet it's a bird. Chuck suggested I get Critter Ridder, which I did. I'll let you know how it works.

How to Pinch Coleus

I'm back! I stopped blogging for a while because my camera got smashed by a screaming baby at dinner
And I was also a little bummed because the drought killed a bunch of my plants.

Now I've got a new PowerShot (SD850 iS) and I'm ready to jump back into the garden!

Here's an update on how the coleus is progressing. I pinch the flowers every other day. After I pinch them, I throw them into the planted because soil needs food, so why not give it the flowers?

This planter began life with 3 coleus, 2 dusty millers which you can't even see anymore, and a baby bougainvillea. A month after I planted everything, I came back and planted a basil seeding in the very center of it all.

Next post will be about what's new with me, my life, my garden, and my other hobbies. Thanks to all of you who wrote in while I was "on break." Thingfish, Michelle, Misti...I'm back!!! I'll be reading those posts today.