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butterflymomok

It's Saturday

butterflymomok
11 years ago

Today, Hubby and I celebrate 39 years of wedded life. Hard to believe it's been that long. Of course, at times, it seems FOREVER! LOL

This morning, I do a presentation on raising butterflies, particularly how to raise them. I'll be including plastic containers, tomato cages, and paper sacks. It's fun to share. This will be at our local native plants nursery which has been in business a little over a year. It's a young couple with a lot of ambition and energy! I was glad to see them start as I stopped selling at the Farmer's Mkt.

I've got Monarch cats - 3rd generation to raise this year; Black Swallowtail eggs, cats, and chrysalises; Red Admiral cats, Am Painted Lady nests; Goatweed Leafwing, Gulf Frit, Var Frit, and Common Checkered Skipper pupas/chrysalises. The presentation is designed for kids, but there'll be grownups, too.

Life is good. Still have my cast for 2 more weeks. I have a pink camouflage cast--they don't make one with butterflies. Been out a lot and sighted a lot of county records, YAY. Love getting out, but don't enjoy the ticks and chiggers.

Oh, yes, Larry said I could let you know he is doing well. He's pretty much given up on the leps, and I doubt he'll ever be back on BFF.

Sandy

Comments (4)

  • imabirdnut
    11 years ago

    Congratulations on your 39TH!!! That is AWESOME!!! We are about to celebrate our 30th this September. It does seem like forever...LOL!

    Hope you have lots of students today! What a great way to encourage others & help our beautiful BFs!
    Glad Larry is doing well...it is really hard when your partner is down...mine has been on & off for 7 years! But is also doing better now...thankfully!

  • wifey2mikey
    11 years ago

    I saw that post on facebook from the "Store" and wondered if you were the one giving the class. :-)

    Congratulations on your anniversary! That's a lot of years! We'll be celebrating 24 years in June.

    So far this year I have released four black swallowtails that overwintere and three that I captured and raised. I have five early instar cats in an enclosure now. I've released three variegated fritillaries (I released the third this morning) and have several others in chrysalides and one caterpillar still. And a couple of gulf frits. I found one monarch cat that I caught yesterday morning after losing most all of the hatchlings to predators (tiny baby praying mantids all over my milkweed.)

    The wasps have been seriously patroling all of my host plants and I finally broke down this morning and built my own wasp traps to try to eliminate a few of them. :-/ I hate to do it (for fear of actually attracting more of the buggers but I gotta try something.)

    ~Laura

  • MissSherry
    11 years ago

    Tell Larry we still miss him, but I know he hardly ever saw any leps, so he really didn't have anything to post about.

    Not to try and outdo you, Sandy - 39 years is a big accomplishment these days! - but my hubby and I will celebrate our 46th this July. We took my mother to the Grand Hotel in Point Clear, AL last week for her 84th birthday and Mother's Day - the Grand is where we spent our honeymoon, so it was sort of an anniversary for us, too. They showed us our signature on the Honeymoon Registry book from 1966. Only stayed one night, would have enjoyed more. Our adjoining rooms were on the second floor with a balcony that was almost in a live oak tree right on Mobile Bay, and the pelicans, laughing gulls and other water birds circled around practically right in our faces - the birds and the breeze were heavenly!

    You've got a good variety of butterflies there - I'm jealous of the leafwing! I'll have to check out the local goatweed for cats, since none is growing on my property.

    Good luck on your presentation!

    Sherry

  • butterflymomok
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    The presentation went well. There wasn't enough room for everyone, so people were standing. I passed around a couple of Pipevine cats for the kids to hold. These were ready to pupate. The kids loved it. And I shared all the other criters. Had a Black Swallowtail egg so they could see the size. I found a Black Swallowtail ready to pupate this morning and shared it too. I got a hug afterwards from a very cute little girl!

    Sherry, Mike and I were 25 when we got married, so we have lots of friends our age who've been married longer than us. Our daughter and SIL were also 25 when they got married. And, come to think about it, my mom was 25 and my dad was 30. They didn't get married until they came back from WWII. But Mike's parents were 29 and 39! Mike was born when his mom was 42 and his dad was 52. We both come from a line of pokey people! We've got a 33 year old son who's still single.

    Sandy