Kathy Williams

Alas, I did not save it. However, I have a good plan for next year, and thanks to reader David Williams, a possible strategy to keeping birds away from my ripening tomatoes.

I have been picking them before they get fully ripe, but they're not as sweet as I would like. David (I feel like we're on a first-name basis since he wrote to me in long hand) said he identified with my problems. "We must bring home a dozen flee-hoppers with every eggplant; mockingbirds and jays love berries and ripe peaches."

But he subscribes to a novel approach with a truly entertaining tale attached. He even sent me a diagram: Hang DVD discs in your bushes and trees. Poke a hole near the edge and attach with a short length of string so they don't get tangled. The super shiny side of the discs evidently scare away the birds. Just one mockingbird has ventured toward his plants.

The tale he told came from last month's National Geographic. A village in Africa was having trouble with elephants. They had tried building fences and ditches to keep the pachyderms out of their areas. So they tried DVD discs and the elephants bothered the village no more.

Perhaps David was being modest and was the consultant on the African project as he has used the DVD deterrent for two years.

But he did add, "On reflection, I've had no elephant problems since I started this." Then he urged me, "Now, start getting ready for your fall garden!"

I'm happy to have a way to recycle all the old CD and DVDs I have half used and are otherwise useless. I wonder if the discs will work against skunks?

Happy birthday Thursday to Linda Howard, Jeanette Cranfill, Bobbie Marine, Melvin Plumlee, Stephanie Louis, Robbie Aycock Coleman and Alice Fay Jones, all of Sherman; Bill Byers and Cecil Rhodes Jr., all of Denison; Kay Riley Poole of Cabot, Ark.; Linda Hudson of Compton, Calif.; Alvin Gaines of Oklahoma City.

Happy anniversary Thursday to Frank and Joy Terrell of Sherman, 56 years; Gary and Sheba Terrell of Denison, 34 years.