My sliding glass door faces north :( Do you think I should get my house turned around?

S&B, if you feel the need too, go for it. My glass door faces the southwest.

Dawn

Mornin', Dawn. You gotta love wintering a decent-sized collection without a greenhouse that fits them all. My dining room is currently un-navigable, because there are 2 BIG southwest-facing windows there, and that's where everyone green hangs out for the winter. I am planning a greenhouse for next spring! All your plants look healthy and happy, though, and that's great!

Kate

I wish I could house my plants in a GH for the winter. No can do though. It would cost a fortune to do that. So, until I win the lottery, I'm stuck keeping them inside. What you are see here is nothing. I have another window that is full of plants and a huge table filled with about 80 C&S on it.

Dawn

Nice view Dawn.. Looks like the grass outside is still green though.. :-)
Bill in SC

Thanks Bill, I'm enjoying the green grass, soon enough It will be covered with snow...yuk! I insisted that we put a glass door in like that cause the view is nice to look at. On a almost dailey basis there are deer, turkey, raccoons, and occassionally a pack of coyotes. I almost forgot about the black bear we had this summer and some snapping turtles also.

Dawn

WOW Dawn, you get to see all your lovely plants, and then as a bonus you get to see all of those critters outside too!
You must live in a great spot.

CP

CPC, I like where we live. I just wish our winters weren't so long and cold. I forgot to mention that about 8 years ago DH and I were coming home from a night out and as we were pulling into the driveway we saw a bobcat in our yard. That is a rare sight. Sometimes the wildlife is found inside our house. I have had birds, a snake, bats,a frog/toad, and a rabbit to name some. The snake was a cool find. Dh wouldn't let me keep it though. I'll see if
I can find the pics of the snake.

Dawn

Here is the pics of the snake. The bat decided that sleeping under the sliding glass door was a good idea.

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Enjoy,
Dawn

Awwww...the bat is a cutie. We've had indoor bats, too, in the upper reaches of our garage roof, and lots of gopher snakes inside during the summer. We get deer in our yard, plus skunks (in summer), raccoons, coyotes, etc. I kind of like all the wildlife. The snakes are a bit startling sometimes...what kind was your little snake?

Kate

WOW, beautilful pics there, I think bobcats are amazing animals, I remember seeing one at the Melbourne zoo once, (when I was a kid I wanted a pet one!).
Now that we live back in the city, we don't get to see the wildlife like we had on our property in the country, it's probably the thing I miss most - (apart from the space).

CP

Kate, My dog Jett one time took a direct blast from a skunk once.I let him out too pee and when he came in and walked past me I smelled skunk. I screamed to Dh and we put in in the shower and used a solution my mom gave me and worked like a charm. There was no skunk smell. The DEC released mountain lions not to far from us. That would be neat to see....from a distance. The snake I think is just a run-of-the-mill garden snake.DH doesn't like snakes....but I do.

CP, The bobcat was neat too see. They are so far and few of them around here. I guess we were very lucky to have seen him. I wish I was able to get a pic though. CP, what kind of wildlife would you see in your yard?

Dawn

Neat pics Dawn! We had a small brown bat get into our house once. It's funny how some folks freak out and grab a tennis racket. All we did was open doors and out he went! I grew up in the country and I enjoy and respect wildlife. It's good to know there are likeminded folks out there too.
Amy

Dawn, we would to get the following animals in our back paddock... barred wallabies, bandicoots, potoroos, (bandicoots and potoroos are amall marsupials like mini wallabies) brushtail and ringtail possums, blue tongue lizards, blacksnakes, kookaburras (large members of the kingfisher family) boobook owls, little falcons, tawny frogmouth (they're a shy bird related to owls), lots of frogs, but no tassie devils!

CP

CP, Lizards are so cool. I envy ppl like DVL who have them all over. Hawks and owls are on my top most favorite list. Coyotes are cool but I no longer trust them. We were ambushed by a pack of 4 one night down in the gully where we would go to fish and have a bonfire for the night. It was my husband, neighbor Bill, my kids and my dogs Jett and Bandit. Bandit was my 100lb. german shepherd. Jett and Bandit were able to keep the 4 at bay til one of them jumped my husband. My husband broke its neck and Billy was able to break the other ones neck. Bandit killed one and Jett severly injured the other. All that within 5 minutes. Never so scared in my life. We imediately took the dogs to the vet to be checked out. Jerry and Billy only had a few scratches, nothing serious......amazingly. What a drama that was. Needless to say, everytime we go to the gully now Jerry and Billy will bring their pistol, loaded and ready.

Dawn

Wow, that musta been a wild experience Dawn! It's amazing they would attack with the fire and your dogs there! Yes, the pistol is a good idea!! :-)
CP: Man, that sounds like an interesting array of animals you guys have there!
Bill in SC

We don't know why they attack like that. They weren't full grown yet. They were tested for rabies and were negitive. Coyotes aren't known for acttacking like that. The only thing we can think of is that we were invading their territory and they felt threaten by that and acted on that. The attack happened away from the fire. Jerry and Billy were further down the creek trying to bring a snapper. The dogs started going nuts and that is when the coyotes attacked.

Dawn

WOW what an ordeal... I'm glad we don't have to worry about things like that... we don't have dingoes here (Australias wild dog), there's never any fear of being savaged by a wallaby or rogue possum, and devils and quolls just leave you alone (they'd probably steal your fish though).

CP

CP, normally we don't have to worry about things like that. We have been going down to the gully since forever and never had a problem to this day. We'll hear coyotes off in the distance but that was it. We have wrote that off as being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I'm just glad they weren't full grown. The 3 dead ones were males.The injured one took off so we don't know the sex on that one, but probably a male. We never did find it. We followed the blood trail for mile and a half.

Dawn