Pillars Move South

Beautiful and graceful, varied and enchanting, small but approachable, butterflies lead you to the sunny side of life. And everyone deserves a little sunshine. ~Jeffrey Glassberg

I was greatly heartened yesterday when a friend who lives in Massachusetts told me that she had black swallowtail caterpillars all over her fennel. She's a good doobie, and is letting them consume it (and I might have to plant some next year, along with lots of dill). They eat: parsley, fennel, dill, carrot greens, rue and queen anne's lace. Interestingly enough, they will ONLY eat what their eggs are laid on -- i.e., if they hatch on rue, they won't eat dill. This even goes as far as if they are hatched on curly leaf parsley, they won't eat flat leaf parsley!

I can NOT believe we haven't had even ONE pillar this year. Neither can DD, who is incredibly sad and disappointed. Monarch season should start in the next week or two. I hope the trend doesn't continue.

In other news, after spending three long hours at the phone store yesterday (with DD and the dog -- who got pats and dog cookies from the FedEx lady and the mail lady, but interestingly enough NOT from the man who was the representative from a popular dog food company... he barely even glanced at her) I am now the proud but confused owner of a Droid "The Charge" phone.

It's slow learning, though now that I've found the users manual on the phone (silly me... I was trying to use the little print one they provided which has almost NO information) and also found a tutorial on the phone, things should go a little faster. I did manage to get most of my email accounts added (yeah, I have a lot of those) and got onto one of my Facebook accounts (it won't let me add more than once, which makes me sad). I got my weather and local news and did all my contacts... I haven't set up my voice mail yet, or even really played with the fun stuff.

Seriously, though... I'm pretty sure my phone is smarter than I am.

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You Should Take Up Knitting

You are patient and focused. You are good at sticking with projects and following instructions. You follow and play by the rules. It's important to you to do things by the book. You are highly observant. No detail slips past you. You are generous with your time. You believe that the best things in life don't come quickly.

What Crafty Hobby Should You Take Up?

Mostly right, but knitting drives me crazy ...

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I Call Do Over!

There is one kind of robber whom the law does not strike at, and who steals what is most precious to men: time. ~Napoleon I, Maxims, 1815

Yesterday went by in a blur ... and it seems like I got very little accomplished. Days like that drive me a little wonky. DH also came home early and unexpectedly, and I about wet my pants when someone walked into the house -- nearly grabbed for the cleaver (I was starting dinner). He's lucky he survived. *G*

Dru asked if my mom was here yet... not quite. She's stopped over in Kansas City visiting my brother. Actually, this has been a great trip for her, time to reconnect with all her kids. We're spread out all over the country and some of us haven't seen her in a very, very long time. She'll be here this coming weekend at some point. YAY!

We're teaching Dakota to know her right paw from her left paw. It's been fun... she's bored with her old tricks, and so are we, so we thought we'd give this a go (since trying to teach her to spell wasn't working -- she has a paper fetish and kept trying to eat the flash cards).

I'm looking at getting a smart phone -- I really wanted something I could use for internet when I'm somewhere I don't have internet. DH keeps talking about going away for a week or two on an island at the lake for a family vacation, but I can't be gone that long without getting online. After a great deal of research and asking around, I'm settling on a Droid (which I think beats iPhone on several levels -- those were the two I was looking at). I'm greedy, and want to be on the 4G network, so it looks like I'll be getting "The Charge". It has an insane amount of memory (32GB), the battery charge is significantly longer than any other Droid, and the biggest complaint I've seen is the quality of the case (I suspect it was made that way to make it lighter than the other Droids, and it is a LOT lighter -- I held all the models yesterday). I can get a skin for that and not worry...

I admit, I never really thought that much about having a phone that did anything but make phone calls, but the more I played with the test one yesterday, the more excited I got. It has GPS (with traffic reports!), and so much more. And it will hook up to and get up to EIGHT other gadgets online. I don't even HAVE that many gadgets! LOL... Between the three of us we have three computers and two eReaders.

I should have it in the next couple of days. Woot!

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Your Spirit Flower is the Daisy

You value close relationships with friends. You count on your friends as much as they count on you. You are completely unpretentious and carefree. All you care about is whether someone is a good person. You are a natural counselor. You listen well and give out good advice when needed. You love all of life's simple pleasures. You find a lot of joy in a walk outdoors or a day at the park.

What's Your Spirit Flower?

About half right.

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