Willpower

Hi, my name is Heather and it has been one week since I last checked my work e-mail.

I've been out of the office since a snowstorm shut down the city on the 19th, and, after a smattering of e-mails to take care of a few things last Monday and Tuesday, I checked out. There's no reason to be checking in, after all. The whole company is on vacation, so no one no where expects work to get done or questions to get answered. This really is a glorious two-week break from work responsibilities. And yet, I've been tempted to check my darn e-mail. As my mouse passed over the bookmark earlier tonight, I almost, almost let go. But I didn't. Though I am able to take time off and not worry about work, I do check in a lot whenever I'm out. I guess I like knowing what's going on. Maybe that means I'm not able to take time off and not worry. Or maybe there's just a time limit to how long I can go without thinking about my job.

This morning, I woke up making a mental list of what I need to do when I go back on the 5th, but I banished those thoughts. No work thinking until Sunday, I told myself. I'm still on vacation.

Time Warp

I only have a couple minutes to post, partly because of this first thing. I'll post about all of our Christmas adventures soon.

I've noticed this phenomenon that affects the passage of time, yet seems to occur only on weekends and vacation days. The morning hours seem long and luxurious while the afternoon hours gobysofastthatohmygodhowisit4:00already?! Have you ever noticed that, too?

And, ugh, while I appreciate that modern grocery store chains are trying to help the hapless parent shopper, the creation of kid-size carts (i.e. weapons to crash into shelves, other shoppers, little sisters) and "car carts" (i.e. an enclosed space where children are virtually guaranteed to push and shove and disagree over who has the better steering wheel) seem to just be creating new and exciting ways for kids to run wild in the grocery store instead of solving the problem. If they were smart, they'd start stocking mini bottles of liquor next to the candy and gum, because some days, mommy needs a treat after shopping, too.

A Wish

Have a Merry Christmas, my friends. Enjoy your loved ones and may the day bring you at least one moment of true joy.

Eavesdropping

The kids have been playing together nicely for the past several hours. I'm wondering if that means a huge spat is imminent.

A little bit ago, they were serving me hot chocolate, milk and pancakes using the dishes and cups Nora received from this past weekend's family gift exchange. Then they were putting Nora's doll down for a nap (and telling me to "shush"). Right now they've moved on to singing Jingle Bells, and from what I can tell, Owen is directing Nora to spin around to the music. Before that, I overheard them counting the days on the advent calendar and celebrating that tomorrow they'll be opening presents. (I told Owen we'd asked Santa to come a day early since we'll be at Grandma and Grandpa's on Christmas, to which he responded "how did you call Santa?")

At times, they can be so loving and helpful toward one another, and I love listening to the two of them interact. Course, at other times, like yesterday on the drive home from Illinois, they were purposefully irritating each other. Siblings....

The Adventures of Christmas Shark and Holiday Caterpillar

The Christmas stockings are hung. The tree is decorated. The garland and evergreen-scented candles and stuffed Santas have come out of hiding. But, it's never too late for a little fun with Halloween costumes, is it?

Owen's "Blog"

I was staring off into space tonight as Owen did his homework -- he was writing four sentences using their newest "wall words." (Oh, and by the way, they're writing sentences in kindergarten! Remember when it was about learning the ABCs and how to tie our shoes?) But anyway, my eyes fell upon Owen's bulletin board. He's had it for a year or so and the displays on it are constantly changing. In fact, they're probably a pretty good reflection of whatever is important to him at the time.

For instance:
Wednesday - This paper is one of a set of seven. Owen changes it every morning.
December - This is one of a set of, you guessed it, 12. At the end of November, both months were on display, because we were "getting ready for December." These also represent Owen's recent cardboard phase when he was seeking out any and every piece of cardboard in the house as possible canvases for art.
2t - This is to represent that it's the 2nd. (Though Owen realized, in the middle of supper, that he hadn't updated it to be the 3rd.) I haven't yet figured out what the t or plus is supposed to mean. Tonight, when Jon suggested going back to using a real calendar, because "do you really want to have to write a new date every day?" Owen replied, "yeah, I do."
Season and weather - They're a bit hard to see in the photo, but the small squares on the right side represent winter and that it's snowing. The squares on the left are the other season and weather options.
The triangle - That's a Brewers pennant, tacked upside-down because "the Brewers aren't on until April."
Cutest costume - At a Halloween party we went to, they had a costume contest and Owen's caterpillar won him the "cutest" category. Don't you think Nora' shark should have won the scariest award? Tee hee.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

Sunday night it snowed. Last night it got COLD and tonight I'm already sick of winter.

I'm not usually like this. Usually, I embrace the change of seasons. Usually, the no-holds-barred beauty of white snow on tree limbs against a brilliant blue sky is enough to overcome the inconveniences of cold morning cars, wet boot tracks all over the house and frosty nighttime sheets. Brrr! 

I think I've got Arizona on the brain. Or maybe I AM like this every year and it just takes awhile before I settle back into the routines of winter. Before I remember to start the car a few minutes early, keep towels by the door or find where I stored that oh-so-wonderful electric mattress pad. Or maybe, I just need to get the Christmas decorations up because that's what really eases the transition. Well, that and what I'm enjoying right now -- a cup of Ghirardelli hot cocoa. Double chocolate flavor. Hmmmm.

Picture Day, the Epilogue

Wow, to think that last November I was posting every day. I'm such a slacker.

I was perusing my photobucket account to see if I'd uploaded any images and forgotten to blog about them, and lo and behold, I had!

You may remember a month or so back that I reported about Nora's defiant unwillingness to get her picture taken on picture day. Well, they tried again two days later, and last week, we got to see the results. (And, since our scanner isn't working, these are slightly blurry and dark photos of the actual photos.) This, by the way, is the nice not-happy-with-this face. There were a few outtakes where she looked downright ticked off.


Letting her wear her Brewers hat at least elicited a goofy smile. Though with her hair jutting out that way, she reminds me of Derrick Turnbow.


We also got Owen's new school pictures back. And, other than the fact that they're inexplicably not sharp (seriously, what's up with the soft focus?), he did a great job. He's at the age where the direction, "smile!" often results in a strained, overly enthusiastic smile that causes the tendons in his neck to pop out. Not cute. But, wow, when did he get so grown-up looking? Check out last year's picture (which I know I reacted to with the same sentiment; and I'll surely repeat this sentiment every year for the next 12 years of picture days.)

Halloween 2009

A bit late, but here are some highlights from the costume and trick-or-treating travails of the redheads on 51st Street.

First, the costumes.
Owen decided months ago that he wanted to be a caterpillar, so after I scored his costume for $5 on eBay (woo-hoo), I tried to convince Nora to be a butterfly. 'Cuz wouldn't that be cute and all. But she wanted nothing to do with that idea. No, my adorable 2-year-old daughter wanted to be a shark. So, back to eBay and she got her wish.

Our trick-or-treating was almost a whole week early, but at least it was at night. I borrowed a double stroller, recruited the help of a couple friends as extra eyes and hands, filled a thermal mug with wine and headed out :)

Hey kids, this is supposed to be fun!


Owen knew just what to do--walk as fast as possible to hit as many houses as possible.


They block off a 6-block or so area for the trick or treating, and most of the houses that hand out candy go all out on the decorations. Had to take a picture of this one. I guess John McCain really IS scary in our Democratic-leaning neighborhood.


Nora wasn't sure what to make of the whole thing at first, but once she realized she was collecting a bag of candy, her mood perked up. She'd happily walk up to a couple of houses, then take a break in the stroller and feast on her bounty. After I took this picture, it reminded me of another picture taken after Owen's first trick-or-treat a couple of years ago. Hmmm, eating two suckers at once must be some sort of right of passage or something...

Got My Sticker

Election Day. Woke up this morning EXCITED. Felt a little like that mix of nervous energy and anticipation of a kid on Christmas morning. I love voting. I love Election Day. I don't even mind waiting in line. There's just something about standing there with your fellow neighbors waiting your turn to help decide WHO.

Due to a mix of events that's affecting my schedule today, I was going to try to hit the polls early and be done soon after 7. Since our polling place is only a block away, I peeked at the building at 6:00 and 6:15 and saw little commotion, so I waited to head over there until 6:30. By then, there was a line, and by 6:55, it had really grown. But by 7:15, I had colored in my little arrows, submitted my ballot and collected my "I Voted" sticker.

And now we wait.

Say "Grumpy!"

So, yesterday was picture day at Nora's daycare. They take every kid's picture and then a couple weeks later, we get to see the prints and can buy as much or as little as we want. Although it lacks the control of taking the kids to a photographer ourselves, it also lacks the stress of taking them to a photographer ourselves. Unfortunately, Nora wanted nothing to do with it.

In her last photos from daycare, she had this demure, serious-beyond-her-years look that was the result of her not wanting to smile for the photographer. Yesterday, though, she took her protest to a new level and apparently stood there with her arms crossed and refused to go in front of the camera. I can imagine that her face looked something like this.


She does have a lovely smile though, when she decides to share it.


It's too bad, but hey, I also admire her moxie (even if it's really only a 2-year-old declaring her independence). She's got spunk, that little one.

Happy Oct. 13th!

It's October 13th, which isn't just Columbus Day, it's also the day we began potty training Nora AND the premiere of the new "WhoBob WhatPants" SpongeBob TV special. I'll give you one guess which event Owen has been anticipating by marking off calendar days since the beginning of the month.

This One's Got Fizz

The Brewers won yesterday, staving off elimination for now, and avoiding a sweep. It was obvious from the mood in the stands that the fans who came out felt they played an important role. After losing two in Philadelphia, the Brewers were home, and maybe, just maybe, if we all cheered loud enough, we could propel our team to a victory. Well, it worked -- that and an aging pitcher who threw more than his fair share of balls.

I have never been to a baseball game like that. The crowd was crazy intense. Every pitch, every strike, every hit was a reason to leap to your feet and YELL. In the paper today, I read one fan's description of the crowd, that it was like popping a shaken up beer that sprays everywhere. It was electric. And it started hours before the game. The parking lots were packed with tailgaters. It was a sea of people as almost every vehicle pulled out a grill and some chairs as the occupants sat down to relish the taste of playoff baseball in Milwaukee. My clothes still smell like grill because the smoke was just everywhere.

And so baseball fever continues in the Brew City for one more day. Today I'll be taking the kids to pick pumpkins and apples (I promised Owen that Sunday was "pumpkin day") and then we'll hightail it home to watch the game at noon.

The Final Inning

The tough part about not blogging for over a month is deciding what to write about when you return.

There have been numerous events that have been worthy of note -- a wonderful trip to North Carolina, seeing the Packers' new quarterback in his first win at Lambeau Field, Owen starting "real" kindergarten, Nora's new obsession with Bruce Springsteen and Alicia Keyes. And lots of not-that-worthy-of-note stuff, too, like harvesting my first crop of heirloom tomatoes or successfully making a "diaper cake" for a coworker.

But I'm not going to write about any of that today. No, today is all about the Milwaukee Brewers.

It has been a crazy week to be a fan of the Brew Crew. They went from a disappointing "what could have been" to having a glimmer of a chance...a chance...to make the playoffs. And now it all comes down to the last game today...or maybe tomorrow. I'll turn to sports writer Gary D'Amato for an explanation:

Here are the scenarios:

• The Brewers win and the Mets lose. The Brewers clinch the wild-card berth and face the Philadelphia Phillies in the NL Division Series beginning Wednesday in Philadelphia.

• The Brewers and Mets win, or both teams lose. They finish with identical records, and Milwaukee travels to New York for a winner-take-all game Monday.

• The Mets win and the Brewers lose. You don't want to think about that one.

Egads!

At least the possibilities are clear. For weeks, Brewers fans have been speaking about the playoffs in code -- lots of hand signals and "you know whats" in conversations about October and baseball. But now it's down to today (or tomorrow). And they just need to win.

In the middle of all of this, I keep thinking of my grandpa -- a lifelong Brewers fan -- and how excited he'd be to have baseball be exciting in late September. I remember when I used to visit Milwaukee in the summers, and on baseball nights, he'd walk around the house carrying a transistor radio so he could listen to the games. And I can recall going to at least a few games with him and my grandma at the old County Stadium. He'd listen to the play-by-play on his headphones and keep a scorecard.

I can't say Milwaukee deserves this any more than the Mets do, but I can say Milwaukee is ready. A sell-out weeknight game against the Pirates on Thursday tells me they're ready. The plethora of Brewers shirts anywhere you go tell me they're ready. The fact that many people will be flipping between the Packers and Brewers this afternoon tells me they're ready.

So try to win one for my grandpa, Brew Crew, and all the grandpas out there who passed down a love for the blue and gold to their grandchildren. We're ready.

A Bird in Hand...

Today I held a hummingbird. This is a young black-chinned male hummingbird, or maybe it was a female, I forget. I do know that I'd just watched it and about 2 dozen others get banded.


Tomorrow is a morning of visiting bird feeders in various canyons, and then it's my travel home day. I expect to get back around 1 a.m. (knock on wood given my recent airport lack of luck).

And, a correction to yesterday's post. The hummingbird in the picture actually is a broad-billed (though that makes a boring title compared to a magnificent). It's one of only two hummingbirds in the U.S. with red bills; the other is the rare to the U.S. violet-crowned, which I also saw today...and got a very blurry photo. You can just barely see it's namesake purple head.

Magnificent!

It's 10:45 here and we've only just gotten back to the hotel for the night (we were out watching BATS of all things), so I'll just quickly post my favorite photo from today.

This is a magnificent hummingbird, one of the larger species (as in, weighs more than 1 oz., and is only found in the Southwest). Beautiful birds; aptly named.

Though the quality isn't what I would have hoped -- the sunlight I needed to light up his feathers also burned out the top of his head -- I did "stalk" this feeder for a good 20 minutes trying to get a good shot of him as he whizzed from feeder to feeder. I'm just pleased his green and blue feathers showed up (he also has purple on top of his head that you can't see).

Saguaro Oasis

First, a footnote to Monday night's post. As it turns out, those aren't ordinary TREES covering the hills I saw from the air. They were most likely shrubby palo verdes and lots of saguaro cactus. Apparently, the Tuscon Range (one of four mountain ranges that surround the city) is known for its saguaro forests. It's so cool to see those strikingly columnar cacti sticking up along the surface of the hills and along the top ridge.



My two best bird photos of the day were a perched female hummingbird (not sure what species), and then a white-winged dove on a nest. Saw a few hummingbird species for the first time, including a Costa's that eluded my camera...all my pictures turned out blurry. It was fun to see the western travelers ooh and ahh at the cardinals we saw.





It was hot, but not as bad as I imagined it could be. And now we're heading south into higher elevations so it'll only get cooler. Today, we're off to Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita mountains. Then we drive to Nogales, a town on the Mexican-US border, for the night.

Village of the dark spring at the foot of the mountain

Arrived in Tucson today. It is so much more beautiful than I expected. I'm not exactly sure what I thought it would be like, but certainly my expectations involved HOT, DRY and DESERT. Not MOUNTAINS, TREES and BREEZY.

Flying into Tucson, I could see clusters of houses cuddled near huge wooded hills that often cropped up one at a time, not in long ridges. From the air, the hills (mountains?) were tan and green, giving them a different look than the packed forests on mountains elsewhere. I felt like we were flying over a huge topographic map because the shape of the earth below was just so apparent.

So, I was already liking this place when I stepped out of the airport.

As I waited for my ride to the hotel, the warm sun and light breeze combined in that blissful summer sort of way, and I could see the low-slung mountains off in the distance, surrounding the city. And I thought, I can see why people live here.

Now, tomorrow will be my first true test of this "dry heat" thing, but today it was in the 90s, and I can say that, in the shade, it certainly felt more like the 70s. And the thing about Tucscon is that there is shade everywhere -- mostly manmade roofs, as the palm trees offer little protection (the ones in the hotel courtyard have these fruit that look like clusters of huge green grapes. Must take picture later to find out what they are). Tomorrow, we'll be out in the sun, visiting the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum

I'm off to eat dinner, so I'll sign off with this other thought. Note to self: next time visiting Arizona, bring own chocolate. After my initial disappointment that the outdoor vending machine had only chips and fruity snacks, I realized that it's likely just too hot here to stock chocolate without air-conditioning. And so my chocolate craving continues.

Don't Forget the Jelly

Ever wonder if life would be easier as a jellyfish? Just float and glow. Float and glow. Simple.

Off to Arizona tomorrow. Tucson area. Work-related trip that I hope to be able to post pictures of along the way, but we'll see how well I figure out the technology I'm toting (borrowed laptop from work).

The above photo is from our trip to the Discovery World aquarium last week. Very cool aquarium.

Monarchs - The Last Chapter

I'm tardy in posting this final update. It has been almost a week since the last of our monarchs flew the coop.

Friday, Aug. 1
Came home from work to find that our two "lost" caterpillars were now a pair of monarch butterflies. They stuck to their place by the window, perhaps looking forlornly at the flowers on the other side of the glass. I coaxed them out by getting them to perch on my finger. The kids watched, but weren't interested in touching them.


Saturday, Aug. 2
I knew the reappearance of those two lost ones meant the other two from that first batch would soon be stage their own coming out ceremony. And sure enough, the next morning, both chrysalises had become clear -- the telltale sign that the butterflies are soon to emerge. When I snapped this first photo, it was 8:15. When I checked again at 9:35, the butterflies had already hatched and were mostly dry. Here I discovered something else I didn't know. I knew that the butterflies have to dry for a bit before they can fly, but I didn't realize how wet they actually are when they come out of the chrysalis. They literally drip-dried and left a pool of orange-tinged liquid beneath their perches.


Monday, Aug. 4
That evening, I noticed I could see the beginnings of the monarchs' wing markings through the chrysalises, and knew that the second batch was going to hatch soon. I made a final attempt to reattach the two chrysalises that had accidentally gotten knocked down from their spot on the lid, but the glue just wasn't drying fast enough to hold them in place, so I left them on the floor of the container, put in a couple sticks for the butterflies to crawl onto and hoped for the best.


Tuesday, Aug. 5
Admittedly, we slept in the next morning, so it was 8:30 before I got out to the porch to check the butterflies but I was surprised to find not chrysalises but butterflies in the container. I'd really hoped to be able to see one emerge, but they were too quick for me!
Since we were heading for the beach, I decided to wait until we got home to let them out -- that way I knew they'd be dry. I noticed that one of the butterflies that hatched on the ground was fine, but the other one was having trouble getting onto a perch to dry. This was due in no small part of one of the other monarchs that kept flying at it and knocking it down. Two males perhaps and a territory issue? I'll have to consult the butterfly expert at work about it sometime.

When we got back and were set to release them, I took the kids out onto the porch to help. The first two butterflies took off almost as soon as I opened the container. But the last two were sticking around. And Owen even agreed to hold one. He has been a little shy about it ever since one of the swallowtails from last month kinda flew at his face unexpectedly.


First was little Bent Wing, which seemed to be having some trouble flying, but I hoped some air and nectar would do it good.


And then there was this guy, which stuck around for quite awhile. I placed it on a globe thistle in our front yard and snapped a few photos. Then Owen wanted to move it to "his" zinnias in the back yard, and the butterfly surprisingly obliged. It definitely preferred the zinnia and its proboscis came out to feed as soon as I placed it on the flower. I had to snap a lot of photos to get a few with its wings open, because it would only pulse them open for a second at a time. And if my memory serves me, this one is a male monarch, recognizable by the two black dots on the lower wings, which the females don't have.




So that brings the summer of the butterflies to a close. All told, we released eight monarchs and four black swallowtails, which is not that many compared to the "Butterfly Lady" down the street who gave me those first swallowtail eggs, but it was plenty for this working mom. The whole life cycle took place in just under 4 weeks, from July 10 when we saw the monarch laying the eggs, to Aug. 5 when the adult butterflies emerged. Twelve of those days were spent as caterpillars and 8 in the chrysalis.

It definitely was a fun learning experience, for the kids AND me.

Sand, Sun and Goats

The last two days have been fun...in the sun.

Yesterday was the beach. They've really cleaned it up this year. The sand was nice, the water warmish and no fish stink :) AND great tacos at the snack shop. A hit all around.


Today we went to State Fair. Nora was old enough for some of the rides (though we had to ignore the height requirements since she still was 2 inches too short...no one was checking), so they had fun doing that together. Owen just loves doing stuff with his little sister. He really didn't want to go on any rides without her.


A new feature this year: Petting Zoo! I was apprehensive at first, but they both liked attempting to feed the goats (and camels!). Some of those poor goats just wanted to rest, though. They'd had their fill of dry pellet food. A couple of them did try to sample the straps on our stroller. My favorite part were the three or four turtles that were lurking around.




And since this IS vacation, we've also done our fair share of just plain layin' around...(Or is it lying? Heck, I don't care. I'm not at work, don't need to be grammatical)

Marquee Day

Two posts in one day?! I definitely must be on vacation.

We went to see Wall-E today. All four of us. It was Nora's first movie, and the first time in 5 years that Jon and I have been in a movie theater together without having someone back at the house to watch the kids. I feel like a whole new world has (re)opened up to us. They'll be kid movies, yes, but to have the freedom to spur-of-the-moment go see a movie again...it's something I think we've BOTH been looking forward to for awhile now. I'll even put up with an occasional Alvin and the Chipmunks.

Happy birthday, honey!

Take Me Home

It was only a month or so ago that I first heard the term "staycation." It was in the editor's letter of some women's interest pub -- forget which one -- talking about how more people are spending their vacation time in or near their hometowns instead of spending the $$$ to travel.

So now we're part of a trend, complete with a made-up, conglomerative moniker.

Instead of spending the money to rent some condo near a lake for our vacation this week, we decided to just stay home. We'll do some water activities (including taking our kids to Milwaukee's Bradford Beach for the first time), go to State Fair, check out the local water park that only costs $8, take naps, go out for dinners, maybe catch a movie...and best of all, NO PACKING. Which, of course, is probably the best part for me.

Besides, though Owen loved our trip last year to the Waterpark Capital of Wisconsin, as evidenced by the photo above, he's clearly fine with smaller-scale pools.

And Nora won't know the difference.

Painted in Pastels

I saw the most amazing sunset tonight.

The kids and I were driving home from T-ball when I glanced to the west and did a double take. The sky was mostly dark blue in that threatening to storm way, but then there was this grand skinny streak of pink running up from the sun, splitting the dark blue sky in half. I've never seen anything like it.

Course, even better than the sunset itself was that as we drove over a bridge that afforded a better view, I spotted a vehicle pulled over to the side, also admiring the sunset. THAT'S the kind of stuff that retains my faith in humanity. We can all appreciate a sunset.

Monarchs-Week 2

Turns out, I don't blog near enough to keep up with those fast-changing caterpillars. What were eggs a little over 2 weeks ago are now chrysalises. I myself wouldn't believe the changes that could happen over only 2 weeks if I hadn't been keeping track of the dates.

Wed., July 23
A tragedy in the other caterpillar brood! Overnight, the quartet of caterpillars in my other box (they are about a week ahead of the ones in these posts) were reduced to two. I can only assume that they crawled out the small opening and are hanging in chrysalises somewhere on my enclosed porch. I'd expect in the next week or so to rediscover them when they reappear as adult monarchs.

In the smaller box, the caterpillars have grown amazingly quickly. The first photo is from my last post and was taken on 7/18, so the lower photo shows their growth in just 5 days. If I'd been diligent in taking photos each day, I'm sure I'd have been able to pinpoint the exact day they seemed to triple in size, but I think it was just yesterday, since I noticed some shedded skin on the bottom of the box this morning. Based on my last butterfly-raising experience, once that happens, they just start eating (and pooping) voraciously.


They ate A LOT this week. I'd put in 2-3 milkweed leaves every morning, and they'd be eaten down to only the stems by evening.

Sun., July 27
Came home from camping to discover the caterpillars all attached to the lid of their box. This is different from the method the swallowtail caterpillars used -- they hung by silk threads from sticks, looking like little rock climbers. The monarchs apparently create a sticky substance that attaches them to a horizontal surface.


Mon., July 28 Morning
This morning, one is going into its chrysalis. Notice the bit of shmutz near the top? That's the caterpillar's skin. They don't create the chrysalis as an outer shell; it's actually inside them and is revealed when they shed the caterpillar skin. This is a little factoid I only recently learned, and I continue to be both amazed and grossed out by it.


Mon., July 28 Evening
By the time we all got home from daycare and work today, all four had entered their chrysalises. They are so tiny, about the length of the fingernail on your index finger. I've always thought the gold-flecked monarch chrysalis is one of the most beautiful things in nature. And seeing them up close in my own home, I also realize how fragile they seem, and how simply perfect.



So, not much left to do now but wait for the monarchs to emerge. I found one more egg on a leaf I'd plucked for food a couple days ago, so I'll probably raise that one, too. But then I think that will bring the caterpillar experiment to a close for this summer. Too much travel next month to be raising these hungry little suckers.

Monarch 101

This past Sunday, Owen and I were in the front yard when I spotted a monarch flitting around and laying its eggs on our milkweed. It was cool to watch its method. It would lay one on the underside of a leaf, then take off and fly around the yard a bit, then return to the same plant or one right next to it and lay another one. Almost like it was trying to throw off any predators that might be on its trail.

So, I thought I'd take this opportunity to really document some butterfly development, since I regretted that I didn't keep better track of the timeline on our swallowtails.

Day One - Sunday 7/13. Eggs
This is a monarch egg. You can find them if you look on the underside of milkweed leaves. They'll only lay their eggs on plants in the milkweed family because that's what the caterpillars eat. (And it also makes the resulting caterpillars and butterflies taste bad, which later serves as a form of protection from would-be predators). Other butterflies choose different plants (swallowtails on dill and parsley, for instance). The eggs look slightly elongated, not totally round.
This is the first time I wished for a macro lens. I could only get so close with our equipment. I included the second photo to give a sense of scale.





Day Four - Wednesday 7/16. They hatch
The eggs hatched today. The resulting caterpillars are so tiny, that it took awhile for me to locate all four. And now the eating begins.



Day Six - Friday 7/18.
Already, it's apparent that the caterpillars are growing. It's possible to recognize the colors of their stripes now, and see their antennae-like protrusions. I've also noticed that they prefer to eat on the underside of the leaves. If I rearrange them so they're exposed, they always end up on the underside by the next time I check.



More to come in the days ahead!

Back from the Shawangunk Mountains

So, yesterday morning, this was my view...



I woke up early before the meeting I was attending in NY to take a quick hike up to the "Sky Top" trail where, apparently, on a clear day (which it wasn't), you can see six states from the tower that sits atop the ridge.

Oh, and that castle-like building down there...that's where I was staying. Amazing place. The setting and the few hours of free time I managed to squeeze over the course of my 24-hour stay even made the 10 hours of flying, 3 trips through security (including two bag searches because I misread the liquid carry-on rules), the 3 hours of delays that resulted in a missed connection and an unexpected overnight stay in Atlanta, and oh, the 2.5 hours of sleep I got last night as a result of that whole shenanigan...well, that view and the beauty of that place made it all worth it.

There were no TVs or radios in the rooms, but there were balconies and porches equipped with rocking chairs to enjoy the views absolutely everywhere. And really, who would expect to come back from a work meeting with 160+ pictures of the scenery?