From the other day:
An eastern swallowtail.
And a blurry red admiral, taken from a distance. I’ve never seen a red admiral on the property. I had to google to figure out what kind of butterfly it was. Very striking! Thank you for visiting!
The news that the monarch butterfly is on the endangered species list is heartbreaking. We do our part here by letting all of our milkweed plants stay in place, wherever they pop up. Currently, they’re hiding a lot of the flowers in the big garden bed, but that’s the way it is. I’d rather provide a habitat for monarchs.
The fact that the honey bees are back in the catalpa is good news. I realize that the eco system on our property doesn’t reflect the rest of the country and the planet, but I take heart when, right here on our patch of acreage, a caterpillar transforms into a monarch butterfly and honey bees fly in and out of their nest in the catalpa.
Speaking of the catalpa, we had a storm last night with unbelievably high winds. While Don was outside, a limb from the catalpa fell to the ground. It’s a smaller limb. Nevertheless, my heart breaks a little when any tree limb falls.
We’re supposed to get more rain today. I welcome it. The ground and trees and plants and animals sorely need it.
The phone call from my sister yesterday was to let me know that Little Z tested positive for Covid. He was exposed earlier in the week at camp and started to feel poorly on Saturday after a morning at the beach. But he tested negative. By Sunday morning, he was feeling miserable and Mere tested him again. Positive. So she’ll have to stay home this week to be with Z. He’s been vaccinated, of course.
Poor little guy! At the age of eleven, he’s not quite so little anymore.
Stay safe.
Happy Monday.
Hopefully your nephew will have a mild case of covid – don’t know if they prescribe antivirals for kids, but I do think that helped me a lot. AND hopefully Mom doesn’t get it! So hard when kids are sick.
We have what we think is a perfect place for milkweeds but have not been able to get them started there – the blooms have such a sweet smell!
ceci
The scent is heavenly!
Thanks, Ceci.
Stay safe.
Your butterfly pictures are beautiful! I was very sad when I read that the Monarch butterfly was on the endangered list. Sad what is happening to our world…
It’s tragic.
Thanks so much, Barrie.
Stay safe.
will be praying for little z to feel better soon and your sister to stay well and strong!
not good news about monarchs. thanks for doing what you can to help them and the bees.
glad you had some rain last night, but sorry you lost a tree limb.
life sometimes …
my days are off somehow. i haven’t been keeping good track off the day or the date and a couple times recently, i was awake nearly the entire night … last night until 5:15 am … so am dragging myself around early today and (much as i would like and to sleep better again) cannot take a nap! :l
heading over to visit with members of my family, take a walk and have a good day.
hope you all have a good day, too. stay safe!
kathy
The only good part about a sleepless night is that I usually conk out and have a deep sleep the next night. Hoping for that for you.
Stay safe, Kathy.
I read about Little Z on Meredith’s blog. I hope he feels better soon and Meredith can stay healthy. She always has so much on her plate already!
She does. Though she’ll not have to work this week as she has to stay home with Z. So a bit of a break…
Stay safe, Ellen.
Beautiful pictures!
We had an oak limb fall last week. It fell right on Woody’’s car and totaled it. We are going car shopping tomorrow and I am not looking forward to it.
Lots of Covid around here. Stay safe.
Eileen
Oh darn it! I’m so sorry, Eileen! What a drag. We live in fear of that happening/
Stay safe, dear cousin.
Hope your nephew has a speedy recovery. It is amazing that this virus hangs on and on. We have become complacent, and I suppose it is a human characteristic. We had been living with it for years. I worry for our country, our president. I never thought that the dangers would come from our fellow Americans’. Today I am going to hunker down before the big rainstorm and take slower pace. No news, no cell phone, no more computer….no background noise…. music or appliance noises. Just nature on my back porch. Be well and stay safe. We have to rebuild our emotional and physical strength back.
Sounds like a good plant, Maria!
Stay safe.
I’ve seen no monarch butterflies this year. In fact, I’ve seen very few butterflies at all. Last year was a horrible year for gypsy moths and this year quite a few people had their property sprayed. They use something called Bt. It is a bacillus instead of a chemical pesticide. It won’t harm humans, animals, or birds they say. It has to be ingested by the caterpillars when they eat the leaves. They use crop dusters trying to get it on the tree canopy. You know some of it must land on the milkweed in more open areas though.
We didn’t spray and certainly still had an abundance of gypsy moths again, although not as many as last year. I think it must have impacted butterflies also.
Prayers for little Z and Mere.
Take care
Spraying harms bugs and butterflies, however. Sad.
Stay safe, Marilyn.
FYI If you send a self-addressed, stamped envelope to the Live Monarch Foundation, they will send you milkweed seeds native to your area for free. Live Monarch Foundation
P.O. Box 1339
Blairsville, GA 30514
This info taken from their site: MonarchFoundation.com
Hoping little Z is up and at ’em soon!
thanks for sharing this information, chris!
I will do a bit of research about when and where to plant milkweed, then request some seeds to plant in the park a block from me. will see if my landlord is willing to let me plant some by the building, too (he’s a good guy so think he will be happy about that).
hope you are well and safe, having a good day.
kathy
I hope my readers see this, Chris.
We have an abundance of milkweed, so we’re all set.
Thanks so much.
Stay safe.
I hope Little Z is doing ok. Covid is such a way of life right now and not sure if it will change anytime soon. Our numbers are back up just as the kids are starting back to school soon. I’m continuing my careful lifestyle. I did not know that about the Monarch Butterfly and it makes me so sad.
It’s heartbreaking. That’s the butterfly I saw everywhere when I was a kid.
Stay safe, Linda.
I read Mere’s blog about Little Z and hope his illness is easy and recovery full and complete. I know what you mean about milkweed. I have a couple growing in the worst spots… but they’re still there and will stay. Your butterfly visitors are perfect! The monarch situation breaks my heart.
I can’t think about for too long or I start to cry.
Stay safe, Jeanie.
Last year we had an abundance of butterflies, & this year I haven’t seen any. Lots of bees in our yard loving the Russian Sage & Bee Balm, so that makes me happy.
I guess we are all, sooner or later, going to get Covid. If only in 2020 that idiot had simply said “we all need to mask up & stay home for a while” , life cd have been so very very different.
If only Chris!
I haven’t seen any butterflies either. At least we’ve been getting some beneficial rains! Enjoy your day! ;)
Yes, today was definitely a diamond, wasn’t it? Windows open, and a beautiful breeze. Let’s hope the rest of the week follows! Finally able to enjoy the gardens. These are the days to remember in January/ February!!!!!!
Yes, lots and lots of bees here as well. The honey bees were swarming this afternoon…
Yes, instead of trying to cover it up or make light of it, millions of people who are now dead might be alive today.
Stay safe, Chris.
No butterflies here either. I was saddened to hear about the monarch’s. I am also saddened to hear about Little Z. I wish him a speedy recovery.
Quiet day here. Temps in the glorious 70’s. Enjoy the rain….I hope it cools you down! ;)
We’re still hot and humid, unfortunately. In the eighties but incredibly uncomfortable.
Stay safe, Donnamae.
I wish Z a quick recovery. Hopefully Meredith doesn’t get sick too.
She’s been exposed to it several times and hasn’t been sick, but we’ll see.
Stay safe, Kay.
Best/healing wishes for Z.
Monarchs in Southern Calif, where I live, THRIVE in eucalyptus trees but I live in a stupid town which keeps cutting down our rows of eucalypts, so many of them now 150 years old with tremendous trunks and so pretty/majestic, often used as windbreaks in other/former eras for orchards; of course we’re losing orchards to supposedly-more-lucrative row crops now, and I guess the farmers would rather not have the trees blocking sun for the low-growing vegetable crops which aren’t vulnerable to wind like an orange tree or a lemon tree. (Or something. I can’t get an explanation.) The monarchs WILL roost in our Calif oak trees, but they much prefer a eucalypt.
My husband and I came home in late morning today, after being out quite early, to find that our mow & blow guy was absent but had instead sent some substitute guys in his place; and while I know this temporary ‘team’ was trying to do their best and probably to please him, too, they overdid it on our yard and took down our entire meadow patch, when so much of it yet had NOT gone to seed, so it was still a colorful haven indeed for both birds AND butterflies and bees. It felt like when you go into the hairdresser for a hairdo trim and she lops off six inches before you can blink your eye. I’m mourning for our coneflowers when I see yours in today’s beautiful photos.
Oh, that wind; I’m sure you didn’t like it. I’m dreading a return to the Santa Ana winds that will (or usually do) start up here badly in the Fall. See? That’s what I hear about the eucalyptus, of how they can be prone to losing big branches thru age or in the winds, damaging a farmer’s outbuildings … or like in one case I’m thinking of where we’ve been losing eucalyptus to the chainsaw, the trees were there lining a dirt barranca for years before there was ever housing built in that location; but there was an isolated case of a eucalyptus tree, or part of a tree, falling on an apartment building’s roof, so then goes the whole row of trees, although the trees came first.
Man, am I grumpy; for the first time in years, I’m on a formal diet/weight-loss plan thru a university medical center, quite restricted in what I can eat, and it’s not easy; I’m hungry! It makes me into a growl-y big bear.
Sad about the trees. Why do people do that?
Stay safe, Vicki.