The Day Before Monday

May those who love us love us,
and those who do not love us,
may God turn their hearts,
and if He cannot turn their hearts
may He turn their ankles
that we may know them by their limping.
~Irish Prayer

That has nothing to do with anything, I just thought it was funny :-)

So, it's hot here. I'm not complaining, really -- I swore I wouldn't complain when summer finally arrived after our month of rain in June. And, to be honest it really isn't the heat that's getting me down, it's the humidity. Yesterday it was only in the 80s, but with the 917% humidity (okay, I might be exaggerating a little...) it made it tough to get out and do anything. Even the dog didn't want to walk in it. Much.

Once I got over the guilties about not working outside in my garden (which is more weeds than garden) I decided to write. I wrote a couple thousand words yesterday, which was awesome... but I seem to have lost my funny bone, which was not. Since most of what I have in process right now is along the lines of a rom/com (except my fantasy), my inability to think funny thoughts made life a little difficult, and I'm going to have to do some pretty major editing on what I wrote because of it. Still, I've been frustrated at not writing, so was determined to do some.

I'm determined to do some today as well. I WILL get something completed and ready for submission by August 31st. THAT is my goal... y'all want to help hold me to it? *G*

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In Pillar Place: Monarch, we hatched another butterbaby -- Jane is now a wiggly-squirmer instead of an egg. So... we have Jane, Lenape, Maria and Nancy thus far. And, despite looking for more eggs on our walk yesterday, we found none (which worries me). AND, we still have no swallowtail babies on our rue or carrots (which also worries me).

Dru asked if the monarch baby always eats its egg. Yes! I don't know for certain why, but wonder if it provides nutrients it can't get from milkweed (protein?). They also eat their skin after they shed it -- and I can't help but wonder if it's for the same reason.

Monarch tidbit: One problem for Monarchs in North America is the black swallow-wort plant. Monarchs lay their eggs on these plants since they produce stimuli similar to milkweed. Once the eggs hatch, the caterpillars are poisoned by the toxicity of this invasive plant. If you see these non-native species in your area, destroy them as they are invasive and deadly not only to butterflies, but to the native plants.

By the way, Monarchwatch.org encourages the creation of "Monarch Waystations". These are amazingly easy to create, beautiful and help with the conservation of not just Monarchs, but butterflies in general. They even offer seed kits and a neat plaque to put in your garden -- it's a great project for you to encourage your schools and libraries to do if you don't have room to do it yourself. You can find information on it here.

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