I love to grow rhodadendrons, azaelas and hostas in the shade.

Here's some trees and bushes around the house during a recent ice storm.

I like collecting rocks from all our trips and cycling excursions.  I recently built a rock garden in the back yard to display these treasures that I've collected from all over the country.

I enjoy the critters in our backyard -- birds, butterflies, squirrels, chipmunks, garden snakes, and occasionally a possum or raccoon.  This box turtle returns every summer to feast on the strawberries and low-hanging tomatoes in my garden.

In 1999 we cut down about 20 large pine trees in our yard (including five dead trees that had been struck by lightning).  In the left-hand picture above find the white spot in the large tree to the left of our house.  That's the tree-climber getting ready to cut the top out of that tree.  The other pictures show the logging operation it took to get the huge tree trunks out of our yard after they were cut down.

In May/June 2001 we added a spa to the backyard.