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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