Saying Thanks!

Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone. ~ G.B. Stern



Diane Craver gave me this lovely blog award. Thanks, Diane!

Here are the rules:

1. Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.
2. Pass the award to other blogs.
3. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

Although I don't always comment, I usually make it by several blogs nearly every day (or at least when the update):

Tori
Brandy
Melissa McClone
Allie Boniface
Dru Ann
Jen
Ceri Hebert
Sarita Leon
Keri Mikulski
Maria Zannini
Jennifer Shirk
Wendi Zwaduk
Charity Tahmaseb

And ... gah... so many more I'm probably forgetting some (I feel a little like I won an Academy Award, lol). But, hey -- I love you guys!!

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As you probably know from the posts below, yesterday was busy in Pillar Place: Swallowtail. Sadly, we may have also had a casualty, though we won't know for a week or so.

Carole, the pillar who made her pupa on the netting, had an accident. When we release the butterflies, we carry the entire box outside with us (the last thing we need is for the butterfly to be lose in the house). Yesterday, when we released Able and had set down the box, the wind blew it over. It gave ALL the remaining pupae a good jolt, but Carole had one set of her anchors break, and literally dangled by a thread. They can't hatch like this, not safely, so I made an executive decision.

Handling the pupae is never a good idea, but I had little choice. And, I remembered reading that super glue was originally developed for closing wounds, so I hoped it wouldn't injure the butterfly.

Yep. I used superglue gel (I figured the gel would be less likely to soak through the outside casing) and glued Carole back into place. I had to hold her for several minutes, though, and just manipulating her into place required a large amount of handling. The last time we had any of our pupae fall, the butterfly emerged only partly formed.

It's been a rough season for Pillar Place. Because of the incessant rain, the butterflies haven't been able to eat or breed efficiently. Last year, we raised nearly 30 swallowtails and we left several butterbabies outside (on DD's carrots) to raise themselves. This year, we've been unable to find ANY pillars except the nine we found originally, and this includes looking on my SILs dill plants (where we hit the motherload last year). So, I'm worried, and I deeply value each of our butterflies. They may be nine of only a few hundred that survive this season.

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You Are a Monroe Piercing

You are glamourous, sophisticated, and very classy. You're the type to think carefully before getting any sort piercing or tattoo. You are naturally charming. People find you to be very alluring. Your manners are impeccable, and you always have something witty to say. While you look like you're high maintenance, you have simple tastes. You're a homebody who often rather curl up with a book than go out.

What Piercing Are You?

Yep, that's me: glamorous, sophisticaed and very classy! LOL... seriously though, they have most of it pretty close. And since my only piercings are in my ears and I have NO tats I'd say I'm pretty careful about them.

You?

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And... Miracle Number Two!

This is Able (formerly Abigail -- whose spots indicate that he, too, is a male). We weren't expecting him to hatch since he made his pupa a day after Daniel, but the best laid plans and all that...

He would NOT sit still however, so we couldn't get a perfect picture. He's awfully pretty despite his fidgety behavior. A banner day for butterflies!

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Our First Miracle

Meet Daniel (formerly Diana... his significant yellow spots indicate he is a male). He hatched this morning while DD, Dd and I were out walking. Isn't he gorgeous? Truly a miracle...

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Nothing Much...

Those who think they have not time for bodily exercise will sooner or later have to find time for illness. ~Edward Stanley

DH was home yesterday and feeling quite mellow for a change. We went out for seafood at lunch (about a once a year splurge because everytime the check comes, I almost pass out from the shock) and then looked at treadmills. Yes, I'm still trying to find the best bang for my buck before winter comes and I can't do my walking outside. Nordic Tracks are far junkier than I'd expected -- lots of bells and whistles, but they look like they'd fall apart if you actually used them. The one that impressed me the most was the Sole F80 -- it's quite solid (I jumped up and down on that sucker HARD several times and it barely even shivered, as opposed to the Nordic Track which felt like it was going through a 7.0 earthquake), has good legs underneath (it's a folding treadmill, so I was a little concerned) where Nordic Track had rollers, the deck was solid and heavy (again, Nordic Track felt like it was an aluminum can) and just really felt like the most bang for the buck. Now I get to look around and find the lowest price (going to Craiglist first, lol).

We also discussed the garden and DH said, "Why don't we just look at chain link fencing and use that?" -- shocked the heck out of me. He's always been resistant to fencing it, says it looks icky. So, today we're off to various stores to price out chain link fencing. To be honest, I'll probably still plant flowers around it because it DOES look icky, lol...

When I got home, I finished building an author website and finished a new book video:



And then I was done in.

That was MY day. What were you up to yesterday? Anything interesting? I know Judy had her email account hacked and a letter asking for money was sent to everyone on her address list (which may have included some of you) ... which got me to thinking about beefing up my passwords a little more. Stupid hackers. May the fleas from a thousand camels infest their armpits.

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Your Aura is Blue

Spiritual and calm, you tend to live a quiet but enriching life. You are very giving of yourself. And it's hard for you to let go of relationships. The purpose of your life: showing love to other people Famous blues include: Angelina Jolie, the Dali Lama, Oprah Careers for you to try: Psychic, Peace Corps Volunteer, Counselor

What Color Is Your Aura?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.... **snort**... um, not even close. Dear heavens.

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I <3 Eureka

The kind of humor I like is the thing that makes me laugh for five seconds and think for ten minutes. ~William Davis

Woo Hoo! Eureka was back last night and I watched it this a.m. (under orders from Judy who said she'd bust if she couldn't talk about it). I LOVE Eureka.





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Started working on my new veggie garden plans yesterday... dug out about 12 inches from the front in order to plant various deer resistant plants. I was sweaty and exhausted and only got about half done.

I did find the usual pests in the dirt: wire worms, grubs, cutworms. And... I saw and killed a squash borer moth. Unfortunately, I'm sure it wasn't the only one which means... my squash plants are probably toast. I'm going to start looking for eggs -- something that will become a daily ritual -- because you can't catch the larvae on these. Immediately upon hatching, they bore into the stalk of the plant and begin to feed, eventually killing the entire plant.

I have never lived somewhere with as many pests (both four- and six-legged) as here. Most of the bugs that exist here do NOT exist west of the Mississippi. Is it any wonder I want to move? *sigh*

Today, I hope to finish digging up around the garden and then tomorrow I plant on moving the plants I have. Monday will be spent buying a few new plants: day lilies, coreopsis, and perhaps some herbs. I have chives, rosemary and marjoram but may spring for some sage and thyme to go with.

BTW -- in case you think I've forgotten to say anything... we still have no butterflies in Pillar Place: Swallowtail. My luck, they will all be overwinterers.

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I did do some writing yesterday. I had to run an errand for my DH to get the seat stitched in his new-to-us car. While I sat in the waiting area, I wrote nearly 1000 words on one of my stories. It was good. Fun. I'd been thinking about the conflict and the characters over the past several days and had to go back and weave in a little different characterization for the heroine and then moved forward from there.

I love to write. I really need to make time to do it every single day.

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On the Bright Side

In the long run the pessimist may be proved right, but the optimist has a better time on the trip. ~Daniel L. Reardon

I spent some time in my gardens yesterday, really taking a look at what had been done, what deer resistant plants I might already have that I can move around and what I have that hasn't been touched.

I may take a page out of Maria Zannini's book and plant irises and other deer resistant plants around my vegetable garden (I have foxglove, jacob's ladder and more that I can use -- it's all fairly tall, and if I plant things like chives and oregano at the base it might work).

So, despite the chipmunks doing this:




And the deer doing this:





I still have:








And I even have my very own haunted house spiderweb maker:



So, who am I to wallow and complain?

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Wildlife Scores Again

When you have done your best for a flower, and it fails, you have some reason to be aggrieved. ~Frank Swinnerton

DD went outside to harvest pea pods yesterday and came in sobbing like her dog had been run over. Turned out, once I calmed her down enough to talk, that deer had eaten her yellow heritage tomato plants down to the ground. I decided to go see if she was exaggerating.

She wasn't.

And not only had they eaten her two plants, but the topped ALL our tomatoes -- took off a good 12 - 18" off every single plant (except my heritage plants which were significantly smaller than my DD's and apparently beneath notice). They also helped themselves to our green beans and about half the baby apples on our tree.

To top it off, they also grazed in my front yard, and ate the tops (ergo the buds and flowers) off of my snapdragons, liatris and columbine (this is supposedly deer resistant, but apparently MY deer didn't read the memo as they ate it nearly to the ground).

Normally I use a fertilizer called Milorganite to keep deer away. I sprinkle it everywhere and it STINKS. It's actually made from human waste and I've found it works better than anything else including various predator urines... or it would if it hadn't been raining constantly. See... we've had rain again for two solid days (and you remember the 23 days of rain in June, right), so everything I put down is washed away. And short of living outside to shoo them off, there really is little else I can do. I can't put a twelve foot fence all the way around my property.

AND... I've discovered it's not voles but chipmunks that are digging up all the bulbs in my gardens.

It's discouraging, to say the least. We won't talk about how the squirrels are able to eat on my squirrel resistant feeder... no, we won't do that.

I spent time yesterday considering a plan of attack. If the blasted rain would stop, milorganite in the veggie garden would work, but to be honest, I don't think DD's tomatoes will bounce back in time to produce fruit, and that breaks my heart.

I've researched various deer resistant flowers and bulbs, and will be completely redoing the garden in the front. Again. It's the garden the voles decimated last year. And, actually, I'll be paring down what gardens I have and planting grass, which breaks my heart.

But short of killing every living creature in my yard (who would only be replaced by more anyway -- even if I belived that was an option) there's really not much else I can do.

*sigh*

There is something to be said about city living. At least you don't have to battle the wildlife.

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