The day begins...

First of all, I took these photos a bit back....and re-sized them but never got around to showing them. I don't know what the above caterpillar becomes...I first thought that maybe a Pearl Crescent, but when googling Pearl Crescent cater pillar, this is not among the images shown. So I have no idea what it is going to become.


I had tried to capture the Pearl Crescent butterfly other times and they were not very cooperative. However, they were enjoying the jewel weed so much that I had not trouble getting near....

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The move went smoothly for Sarah and Jeremy....Neal and his wife came and helped unload, as well as a couple of their friends, plus Jeremy's brother and his wife. Little Lorelei definitely enjoyed the second day better than the first because her little cousin was there, plus other kids.

BUT.....she had only taken a 45 minute nap on Friday, did not get to bed till 10:30 or 11:00, and up at 7:00 Saturday morn. No nap that day, and she did not want to settle down to go to sleep, but when she did she was back up in an hour or two for a while.

We spent the night and came home Sunday evening...I think it was a rough night for Lo that night too, but yesterday she settled down for a nap easily....after Sarah got her her Elmo, her big fuzzy Bee pillow and her hard plastic cow! She wanted Otti Doddie but Sarah felt like that was little bit too much.

I don't think I mentioned that during the past week or two, one day Lorelei would try to get Otto to chase her and she would throw herself in the floor, trying to get him to get her like he did in the videos in the link above. And she was doing that Sunday...she just thinks it is so funny. I don't know if he would ever be protective of her...he just doesn't meet strangers. But a lot of the time, when Lorelei is outside, he lays not too far from her.

I don't know if I have told this or not, but Lorelei loves dirt! She likes to take her shovel and find a dusty place and cover herself and Otto with dirt...and Otto just lets her. Actually, you can do anything to him, and he just doesn't care. You cannot hurt him. That is one of the reasons they were the #1 pet in America at one time... Anyway, after an afternoon of playing in the dirt, their mommy has to hose Otto down, and take Lo inside and give her a bath....

I must say I sure enjoy him...I fell asleep on Sarah's couch Saturday night, and he came and laid right beside me up against the couch. Every now and then he would raise up, maybe lay his face on the edge of the couch and stare at me, and then lay back down and curl up right back against the couch.

I think we have to make a trip to Terre Haute here in a bit...not sure when I will catch up with everyone...I am hoping tonight I get some un-interrupted time to visit my favorite blogs..

From a year ago

Just for the sake of having a photograph, I am showing this one taken one year ago...I guess fall is arriving right on time this year. I notice a tree over on the next street starting to turn...and see splotches of color every now and then. I really am looking forward to the changing colors.

I am running on empty....we spent the day at Sarah's. The trucks are packed, the house is practically empty.....hopefully by this time tomorrow night we will all be asleep at her new house. I didn't do much other than try to keep Lorelei entertained, but had stuff to do when I got home and have just now finally finished.

Jeremy and Sarah have some really great friends....there were three there when we got there this morn and none of them were slackers. They got the house cleaned out in no time. One couple had to leave, but they waited till all the heavy stuff was loaded...which means that almost all of it was done. One guy had come home from Indy with Jeremy last night to drive one of their cars home...he left sometime in the afternoon....and he will be at their new house tomorrow to help unload. One of the guys was there still there when we left....

And they are all kids we like...the instant we meet them. Just hard working, good hearted kids. Oh, and Lorelei likes them all! That should tell you a whole lot right there.

Not sure when I will get to blog again or visit anyone...I have photos scheduled for my other blog...but nothing planned for here. So I will see you in two or three days probably.

Grasshoppers and childhood....

Does anyone else think of childhood when they see grasshoppers? I swear, I don't think there is a time when I see them that I don't think of childhood. First of all, my own childhood. I just remember everywhere I went, the grasshoppers were always jumping every which way in front of and beside me. To walk through a hayfield or tall grass was something else! They were just everywhere, and lots of them...all sizes. I am not sure, but I think we shot them with BB guns also...or maybe it was my brother and my nephew that shot at them....but if they did, then I am sure I was involved in it too but the memory is so vague I just cannot be positive.

And I remember the cats catching them and eating them.

Then I think of my own girls...I don't know of any other kids that did the things we let them do. Like I can remember them catching this one grasshopper and putting him in a quart jar and poking holes in the lid. And they would gather grass for it....I cannot remember how long they kept him, but he doubled in size! And I am pretty sure they set him free before the summer was over.

They also had the Monarch chrysalis and witnessed the butterfly emerge....

When they were young, up around 8 and 10, and along about that age, for two or three summers we kept one of those little wading pools in the back yard. You know, the hard plastic kind like this. You might ask what kids that age would want with one of those pools...well, we brought home tadpoles, Pumpkinseed bluegills, crawdads, and waterboatmen....I guess you would say it was an aquarium of sorts. We watched the bluegills grow, watched tadpoles change to frogs, we even had a crawdad that had a bunch of babies....I think that is the one and only time I witnessed that....and I think they brought the waterboatman home just because they could....that is all I remember them having, but I might be forgetting something.

But all these memories are jogged every time I see grasshoppers.