please consider joining the Picture Post Network (
http://picturepost.unh.edu) for monitoring. You can register your site (it's all free!) and install an 8-sided platform or create something comparable that lets you take repeat digital photographs of the entire 360 landscape and the sky. I am a member of the Picture Post team and have a post in my own backyard (
http://picturepost.unh.edu/post.jsp?postId=428). We post projects and information from our community (
http://picturepost.unh.edu/community.jsp) and will have a forum soon! We also connect with other monitoring projects, such as Project Budburst and the National Phenology Network. I am happy to answer any questions.