Tag: Butterflies

Thank You & Cuteness Overload

On By SuzIn As blogged by Suz22 Comments

Thank you all for your well wishes, prayers and all that Jazz regarding our Nathan. He completed The Crucible challenge uninjured. He was able to make a phone call on Sunday and of course, who did he call? NOT ME. He called Lolo and they spoke for over an hour. He’s doing well and I know she was so happy to hear his voice. Still, we will not see his face until August.

He did send me a text though, so I still love him.

I will be mostly MIA this week. The Coach and I traveled to our GA place and will be working on some projects and visiting with his Dad who is coming up for the first time.

Spring is IN the air. The trees and flowers are budding and blooming. Guess what else is happening? Butterflies! I’m a bit obsessed with the Tiger Swallowtail. Mostly because I don’t have them in Florida, but also because I’m obsessed with butterflies in general. Am I telling you something you don’t know? HELL NO. But I love that these guys are all waking up from their winters nap just to tell me hello.

Can you visually take any cuteness? I’m just warning you because if you can’t, this will hurt your eyeballs.

This is how they rolled for the first part of our drive. If I weren’t driving, I would have died from the cuteness, but when you’re driving, dying from cuteness is frowned upon.

Speaking of driving: Good Lord, the traffic. I’ve never seen it so bad. Apparently people ARE traveling for Easter/Spring break, but they are driving. It took an extra 2 hours this time. My body was so stressed/tense when I finally arrived to our house. Thank goodness Wine was all the help I needed to de-stress myself.

Callie is absolutely in love with little beds. I never knew. Here I was buying these HUGE and expensive XL beds for her and all she really wants is to curl up like she’s a damn chihuahua.

They love laying in the sun and took the opportunity to share the last sunny spot as it was dwindling. I died right there looking at them. Luckily, the Coach knows CPR and brought me back to life.

And that’s all I have to say about that.

I hope all my sweet friends had a nice Easter.

XOXO

Bee Well.

Living On The Ledge; Potted Goodness & Nature Orgies.

On By SuzIn As blogged by Suz25 Comments

Since Lillie {the dog who loves to pee in the house} has joined our family, I’m spending even MORE time outside; the other night, we were out back and I was admiring my potted herbs, veggies, and flowers and the fact that she CAN pee outside. I realized I’d not shared the update in this area, and I didn’t want you to think I was keeping secrets.

Ally recently mentioned how much she loves potted flowers, and I was all OH HELL YEAH with her on this topic. Also, I’ve nothing interesting to blog about this week so let’s visit the garden, shall we? I hope you put on your sunscreen because Florida.

This area behind our pool lanai was a dedicated veggie garden for many years. And for many years I would tend to this veggie garden all while cussing like a sailor. That’s not very zen-like is it? I could NOT for the life of me contain the weeds. It was beyond frustrating and I tried everything known to man. Paper, cardboard, praying, digging/pulling & mulch. It basically looked like the Sanford & Son of veggie gardens.

So last summer, we ripped it out, and I was going to throw in the towel altogether. Then I thought maybe I could mulch it thickly in most of the garden, then just use pots for all my veggies; fewer weeds: YES PLEASE.

This is where the Coach intervened and I don’t always like it when he intrudes into my department; but this time he had a good idea. He thought he could build a ‘shelf’ (minus the elf) on top of the area and I could then use it for all my pots.

Wow, the pic up there was May 2020. I can’t believe my salvia was that SMALL. (Maddie, do you see that? It’s five salvia plants!)

I planted butterfly friendly stuff in one end IN the ground(milkweed, salvia, blanket flower, verbena) and then the rest of the area was to be a ledge.

Coach purchased composite decking and had our guys in our manufacturing shop build it to his spec. Brilliant idea. Except it weighs about 500lbs; you should have seen our 3 friends trying to get this from the front of our property to the back of it using manpower and our sissy golf cart. Oh, for shits and giggles, they had to lift it UP and over to line it up over the irrigation poles that were in place. I can’t believe they are still our friends. They were cussing Coach for making something SO large and heavy; sadly, that man does not know how to do anything small.

It will NEVER be moved from where it is.

What am I growing on the ledge? Smiles, tomatoes, peppers, chives, parsley, basil, rosemary, oregano, some various flowers because why not, and for my swallowtails: rue, fennel & dill. Potted plants are so much easier to maintain than weedy ass beds.

This area truly makes me happy. I especially love going out here in the late afternoon when the sun has moved to the front of the house and I don’t feel like I’m melting. The area is always swarming with butterflies and buzzing bees pollinating here, there, everywhere. It’s practically an orgy out there.

Speaking of orgies, these two were getting after it right in front of us. 2021: Modesty has gone out the window.

Luckily Lillie didn’t witness this incident or that would have brought on “the butterflies & the bees” conversation.

Speaking of nature orgies: Happy Hump day.

Raise your hand if you’re a fan of potted nature!

XO

Literal Butterfly Kisses and I’m Creating More Than Food In My Kitchen; Spoiler Alert, It’s Not Edible.

On By SuzIn As blogged by Suz32 Comments

One day this past week, I was releasing some monarchs, and one of them decided to come in for a closeup. I was all, “Oh, ok. Make yourself at home”. I was impressed with myself that I had my phone in my pocket as she sat there gazing into my soul.

Why did I convert this to black and white? I was in a hideous state when this occurred. I’d been working the yard, flush from the heat; honestly, my hair hadn’t been touched by a comb or brush. Or, as my Dad would lovingly say, “You look like you brushed your hair with the leg of a chair.” 

Speaking of butterflies and weirdness. This is the cool thing I wanted you to witness

The monarch caterpillars LOVE to make their chrysalis on the edges of milkweed pots. Had you heard? They’re famous for this. BUT, this was an anomaly; two of them using the same exact spot for their silk. I wondered how this was going to work out with them being ALL UP IN EACH OTHERS BINESS. 

They always create this “J” formation for a good part of a day before going into the chrysalis state. J as in J’AMAZING. 

I could tell that they were going to create their chrysalis around the same time, and I didn’t want to miss it so I brought them into the kitchen. Which, by the way, they said Holy mackerel, nice digs, lady! Even caterpillars know a good kitchen design when they see it. 

Do you want to see something cool? 

HOLD ON TO YOUR SOCKS. 

Are you wearing socks? No. Then what the heck are you holding on to? 

I recorded it in time-lapse because I care about time. And lapses of judgment time. The guy on the right was SO annoyed with the guy on the left; he kept bumping into him with all his life-changing. Life-changing CAN be messy and wiggly. 

By the way, that’s the guy on the left’s skin that I picked up. Cool right? They shed their outer layer. Talk about exfoliation. 

For real, I’ve been at this butterfly thing for many years, and I have two observations: 

  • It is still amazing to watch
  • I still don’t fully understand how it all works. 

Oh, and guy number two made his chrysalis about 30 minutes later while I was in the shower. I should have taken them to the shower with me so I wouldn’t miss it. They might have been equally impressed with our bathroom but also traumatized from seeing me nekkid. I can hear them now: What in the world happened to her chrysalis? Body shamed by a caterpillar; that’s a new low.

Can I top this with anything cooler for next week? Well, there are rumors in the ‘hood that Sasquatch has been spotted riding a unicorn; I’d better check the surveillance cameras.

Until next time.

XO