Time and Pillars Wait For No Man

If you want work well done, select a busy man - the other kind has no time. ~Elbert Hubbard

It's been a frustrating few days. DD isn't having school, so I don't get my hour or two in the afternoon to write. I overslept AGAIN this morning -- which makes me mad because I purposely curled up on the couch after I let the dog out at 3 a.m. so the coffee pot would wake me at 4 a.m. -- but I slept through it! Yikes! Up at 5 a.m. again. So I lost an hour this morning.

I haven't written a new word all week -- or edited an old one, and I'm beginning to get the shakes. Today's not looking good for that either. ARGH.

==========================

Pillar Place was its usual self yesterday. Moe refused to cooperate when we finally tried to release him around 12:30 -- I'd seen a monarch (our first up here!) fluttering around our milkweed (laying eggs?? I hope so!) and figured if that butterfly could fly in the overcast, so could Moe.

Clearly, he didn't listen. He would. Not. Fly.

We left him on flowers around my well pump and checked back every hour or so -- for four hours:



Nothing. So we moved him to different flowers and he took a little, very low-flying, test flight back to the well pump. YAY! He needed to be strong enough to fly into the trees because a thunderstorm was coming. So DD lifted him high in the air for encouragement and I flapped at him (yeah, get a good picture of THAT in your head) and this is what he did:



Yup. Nothing. By this time, it was getting late, the storm was less than an hour out, and I knew I couldn't let him stay outside. So this is where Moe spent the night:



I figured it would give him space to fly if he chose, and we could simply open the doors to let him out. Keep your fingers crossed he flies today.

In other Pillar Place news, Eenie and Lily did what appeared to be pre-pupa traveling. Eenie did the purge thing (it's as if they get rid of any excrement left inside in one big dump, prior to pupating), so I knew he was ready. Lily didn't, and still hasn't, but I expect she will today -- she's certainly large enough.

Not to be left out of the fun, Phil traveled around the box with them until I couldn't keep any of them straight anymore. I just shrugged and went to bed.

This morning? I have one pillar on a stick in pupa mode -- he hasn't shed his final skin yet, but should tonight. I assume that's Eenie. Lily is on a stick near her food plant, but still hasn't purged and isn't in the right position to pupate. Phil is back on his dill.

I give Phil a lot of credit -- he is one single-minded dude. This morning, I changed his food plant and when I pulled him out, he was eating. Usually, if the pillar is disturbed when eating, they freeze -- surely a defense against predation. Not Phil. Nope, despite all the moving around I did (I even dropped him once, oops!) he never stopped chow time.

Jill has more than doubled in size, and is really starting to go through food. I need to change her out today, but will wait until DD is up to help. Jill isn't as resilient as Phil.

Tune in tomorrow for more drama.

=======================

I got my galley for "Pregnancy Cravings" today! yay! I just need to find the time to look it over for typos and other boo-boos and then I should have a release date to share with you.

========================

Your Gemstone is Amber

Creative, happy, and logical. You shine in any intellectual endeavor

What Gemstone Are You?