Butterfly Gifts

Today I brought a flower centerpiece to church. For some reason, I was feeling generous and thought I'd give away some of my prize chrysalides that I've raised from an egg. I had two butterflies emerge this morning, they came along to be part of the centerpiece display. 

We went to church for sacrament meeting and I took this into the Relief Society room, where the butterflies patiently waited during the hour long meeting, and they also hung around during the whole RS class discussion. Before it started, I let people know that I've been fostering monarchs and I brought a few to share, if anyone wanted one. I might have been feeling like sharing the butterfly load because my hands have felt more full lately with taking care of Jerry. Anyway, luckily I had 5 volunteers who happily took the 7 chrysalides I had brought. After class, ladies that wanted to hold the butterflies had time to do that. 

It is really fun and special to hold a butterfly! They are ethereal creatures. 

e·the·re·al - /əˈTHirēəl/ (adjective): "extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for this world."

I was glad to share the fun. Allie is new in our ward so I was especially glad she took one. She texted "I can't believe you were handing out butterflies!" I texted them with follow up care for their chrysalides that kinda sounded like laundering instructions: "Should emerge in 7-10 days, allow to hang for 2 hours until wings are dry, just watch and enjoy!" 

As the kids were finishing up in their classes, Lily came in and shared her butterfly wisdom with some of the youth and primary kids. Lily led the kids outside with the two butterflies we brought, which were both ready to take off. As soon as they caught some wind they flew away. So that was fun. Back at home, I took Jerry out to enjoy time on the flowers that I researched about and bought as a butterfly gift for him at Home Depot on Friday - I bought him some coneflower (not pictured, they're pink and were inside for when he as inside time, we rotate that so the flowers each have a turn in the sun) some Black Eyed Susan (yellow below) purple flowers (Butterfly Bush) and my favorite was Salvia! It smells so nice!

So he was out there enjoying himself, even hanging out with a bee! (You can see the bee on the middle yellow flower) and my heart was happy feeling that all was right in the nature world and that Jerry was able to enjoy what other butterflies do. I knew that these flowers need full sun, so I thought we'll take care of two birds with one stone - Jerry getting some time outside, and flowers getting there sun. I went inside to do whatever, and I go out an hour later, to pick him up in case he had fallen on the ground or something, and I didn't see him on the flowers... I looked around on the grass and found him, but he wasn't trying to walk about... he was dead. Aw man! Poor guy, I think I cooked him! He must have overheated in the sun! I came in holding his little body and confessed my crime to the kids. 

It was a total accident, but it still killed him. Abi and Natalie had just buried Maria earlier that morning while we were at church (they had been home sick with sore throats). Maria had been awaiting a proper burial in the freezer, so Natalie prepared the plot right next to her and helped me bury him. 

I had totally thought Jerry would be with us through Christmas. He was healthy and strong, but... he was also black, and it was in the 90s around 3:30 when I set him out. I'm sorry Jerry, it was my ignorant self's fault. I have since done some googling about butterfly wings and overheating. Seems the wings have living veins in them. Ah, well that makes it sense, since we cut poor Jerry's wings off! So we had doomed him from the start. Jerry, I'm sorry that I lost track of you when you were a caterpillar and that you made your silk pad over that thin desk drawer. We've all learned from this experience. Thank you for what you've taught us this summer. We enjoyed our time with you! Your life was a butterfly gift for our family. RIP Jerry. He now flying high in the heavens with a lovely set of angel butterfly wings.

Ok two other items from this evening - 1) we had a neighborhood walk about. The cookies were tasty cause Maralee  and her daughters are amazing bakers!

And 2) Joseph is back home in Utah after 2 weeks in Guatemala. He passed out cookies and souvenirs to his siblings. 

And he got me another beaded Quetzal bird to hang on my wood thingy. He brought one after his mission, but, like so many things around our home, it mysteriously disappeared sometime ago and no one did it. And I just learned that the bird is on Etsy! I guess I didn't have to wait for Joseph to take a trip down there, but a trip does make it more personal, so thanks Joseph. School at BYU starts tomorrow, so he arrived in just the nick of time. We helped him load up his car with his belongings, which he had moved into the basement when he moved out of his apartment two weeks ago. His car was full, and we some stuff for Mel and Ethan (E - bowling ball and jacket that had been left in the Feista, and a butterfly gift for Mel: three chrysalides (1 for Mel and two for her friend who just got married) and two monarch eggs that Mel found, and he was off. 

Good luck at school tomorrow! Life is busy busy, fun, sad (RIP Jerry) and wonderful. It's a great experience happening, Corey and I are glad we get to share it with all these wonderful kids.

I💗Fall 🍂 & Butterfly Shipment

I rode up the canyon today by myself, but with Corey's encouragement over text. I kept letting him know that I hadn't gotten off my bike to walk at all, and I made it all the way up to Lisa Falls without getting off! Although I did stop a few times to readjust my wheel or turn back my pedal, or pick up some of the fall leaves. IT IS SO GORGEOUS right now. 

I kept having to stop in awe of my surroundings. 

My favorite moment was when I was on my way back down, listening to "The Way It's Always Been" - I was going to skip the techy section, and I did, but then changed my mind, turned around and at "big wheel and the grind" I was jogging my bike back up, moving my feet to the beat at 2:25, and I was back on my bike riding at 2:40 after the build up, and then it got to my favorite part, which also happened to be right when the sun peeked up over the mountain and through the trees at me, and with the green and yellow colors, the river, the sky... it made my heart so full, I stopped and looked up and teared up with emotion.

Not sure why I teared up, but I think it was a combination of awe of God's creations and thankfulness for His kindness to me. I trust that he has the power to save me, I am grateful to be waiting for The Son to come again. I've had my moments at the waters edge waiting for the fog to clear, and I'm grateful for clear skies in my life right now. You can't have a problem free life, but you can have problem free days, as was well said in the talk I listened to on the way up (BYU speeches Finding Strength in the Lord) and fall colors and time in the mountains makes me feel problem free. So it was a great and beautiful morning. A great way to start the day! Right after I got home, I was feeding K or taking care of butterflies. I had 5 black chrysalides this morning and two of them eclosed while I was on my ride, one right after I got back. 

One of them came out an hour or so after I was home, and when I came down it was kinda stuck, so I very carefully tried to help it, and it got out, but then it was crawling all over trying to get itself upright. Exactly what happened with Maria, and her wings got messed up (pic 5) So this guy was freaking out but I had to keep it in upside down time-out, and mostly succeeded - his wings did dry straight and he looks perfect, but he seems anxious I hope he doesn't die early from having a traumatic experience! 

Like I've said before, it's going to be freezing temperatures on Sunday, and I don't want these butterflies to freeze, so I arranged for them to hitch a ride south with a neighbor Jess. I finished making their cage today, and them spent time this afternoon feeding them and placing them one by one into the tulle container. 

I couldn't tell which ones had emerged yesterday from the ones that emerged today, but I just moved them one by one, and tried to feed each one some honey water - the ones that eagerly ate are the ones that were a day older. It was fun, they all are so pretty. I still had the one male from this morning in time out...

He fell a few times. He was so busy moving around trying to escape that I'm worried for him - that he's used up too much of his energy, but since his wings are good, he's going with the rest of him and we'll hope for the best. Jess said they were leaving at 4:30, so I took them over around 4. First I went by Terry's to get her last butterfly, a lovely male she named Omega. 

And then on the right there I had one that still hadn't emerged, so I glued his stick with his chrysalis onto a small metal L wrench and tied him to the inside of a grape container, so that he'd be ok if he emerged. And then took them over! Good bye butterflies! and good luck!

We're hoping they make the trip well and that it isn't/wasn't too much of a hassle. I  know her family is busy with a biking thing, so I texted her that there was no pressure, but I'd love an update on how it went and any pictures she took while after they get back! Her kids came over to see our butterflies emerge and her son was especially interested in the monarchs and caterpillars (4th pic) so I know that they are in good and caring hands. 

And with that officially handed over, we are now done! Phew! Now I'm just be waiting for word on these 11+1, and then I'll do my official count! It's been a very successful monarch year!

Baby Skunk

Yesterday I got more sleep than I needed. So I wasn't very tired last night. So I decided to stay up and blog. I stayed up until 4:30 am then got a few hours of sleep, then woke up and blogged again. Didn't get in my morning workout at all, but it's a big win (What's Important Now) to catch up on the blog, so that's ok. I finished April and most of May, yay, so I'm happy about hat. I need to figure out a way to not get behind again. So, here's a story from this past weekend. On Friday, after a busy and fun week, we just kinda took it easy at home. I wasn't sure what we would do for activity (we ended up going to Park City to swim in the evening) but I thought we might not do anything. It was a relaxed morning. Little kids woke up and were happy to be at home with their toys, so we went in the basement. Abi and I soon found we were in the mood to clean, and were making great strides until, as I put away some dvds... I came upon a baby skunk in the one basement window well. And then all our productivity was shot as we figured out what to do with a skunk. This was new territory.

The skunk was super cute. But what do we do? I can't get it out, can I? It will spray me, won't it? The kids have been playing down here a little bit the past few days, but I haven't been down in the basement at all this week... how long has this little guy been here?! This window well is our only one that doesn't have a cover on it. It is directly below the kitchen nook, and so there is just a really narrow entrance to the window well, so I guess whoever ordered the well covers years ago didn't bother with going that one, cause it was so narrow that no kid or soccer ball would be able to fall into it anyway. But this little baby skunk did. The poor thing could have been down there for a couple of days. I thought it looked a little weak, not that I have a lot of experience assessing skunks and their health. It was kinda shaky as it walked around looking like it was trying to find a way out.

So, we put a foam pad down so it could try to crawl up it. I have since learned that they are not climbers. We put some apples down, but then googled their diet and apples weren't on it. I didn't have any bugs or worms on hand, haha, so we put down some nuts (walnuts), roots (carrots) and fungi (mushrooms). Then I googled for the local animal control and called them. I asked what they recommend? She said someone would come out to check it out. There were 3 people that came. They got her a lot quicker than I was expecting, so the skunk hadn't had much of a chance to eat or try to climb up the pad. They said it looked pretty small and it's chances for survival without it's mom were small. They said the options were to:

1. Leave it and see what happens (if it was able to crawl out) or it would struggle and slowly starve to death.
2. Leave it and it wouldn't be able to get out and they'd have to come back later to euthanize it.
3. Catch it alive and take it and euthanize it after (which is what they would do if they caught it) but that left a chance that it would get startled and scared and spray our window well.
4. Euthanize it right there in the well. It would die quickly and painlessly and then they'd get it out.

So, from their professional opinion, he was a gonna be a gonner either way. So with a sad heart I decided for option 4. I told them that my kids would be sad so I was going to tell them they were just tranquilizing it and would take it away to release it. Well, that worked until the kids all noticed how they put it in a black plastic bag after wards and tied a knot in it. "Why would they do that?!?!" "How is he going to be able to breath?!" Ummm, they also noticed Abi red faced and quite sad as I had told her the truth as we watched from the basement. Then I told them all the hard fact that they had to euthanize it. "What is that?" They killed it. (Sounds so harsh). Abi was pretty ticked. She said they aren't animal rescue, they are animal murderers. As we drove up to Park City, Sophi had a moment to continue to ponder and said to me "I can't believe you'd rather kill the skunk than get sprayed..." Ok, guilt received. Ugh, poor little guy. Not that we've had great success with abandoned baby animals in the past - see baby quail from 2009, and baby birds from 2017. Yeah, we were only averaging 30% mortality. And that's not counting our monarchs, I'm not sure if they'd raise or lower our numbers. So I've been thinking of the little skunk all weekend. The kids have too. Lily started to pen a book about it - All she's done so far is the cover.

You think that's good, well just look at the backside -

We were all impressed with the backside of the front cover! As Wes said "That must have taken her forever...." Yes, I saw her working on this - it took her a long time! Kids are so funny when they write books. They will get a stack of paper, come up with a title and do a cover, and that's usually as far as they get, which I find to be humorous.

So, I've watched a good chunk of skunk videos on Youtube videos with Abi today - and look at this - these guys were able to get 6 skunk out and only got a little bit sprayed.

Another guy grabbed it by the tail, no spray, little guy left peacefully.

This guys got a family out in a bucket. If I had a whole family in our window, I definitely wouldn't want them all euthanized.

I asked my friends on facebook what they would have done. Two of them who live in the valley here had live traps. Hopefully there wont be a next time, but should I have caught it and just let it go in the woods next to our house? Although if that would be like leaving a little kitten out in the wild without it's mom, that would probably have been bad and he would have died that way.

A little more skunk info: Peta says skunks are really peaceful and gentle. Unfortunately, none of the wildlife rehabilitators close to us here in Utah will take skunks. It appears some people believe skunks are great pets. (here's a video about the Skunk Fest. Who knew there was a Skunk fest?) But, sorry kids, it's illegal to keep skunks as pets in most states, including Utah. Plus, this lady, who seems to really know her skunk stuff, says absolutely NO taking wild skunks in as pets. So that's all the skunk research I've done the past few days. And I think I'll move on with my life now. Again, I'm sorry little skunk. Hope you are happy in skunk heaven.

A Covenant Land

Happy 4th of July! Our community had a breakfast and parade today. The 8 am breakfast time was helping in us getting kids to bed last night. At 8 this morning, MALSNOD were all ready to go and they rode their bikes over. Soph and Natalie dressed as opposite twins, tights and shirts donated by me. They decorated their bikes on Saturday night over at Sophi's friends house. 

Mel brought along some paints, and she and Lily offered free face painting. CJEP headed over around 9, after Corey got back from a bike ride. And then Katharine and I walked over last after she was finished having breakfast at home. Standing in line for our breakfast - 

Peter enjoying his pancakes and eggs - 

I went to check out the face painting station. 

They do pretty good work! 

Owen and Daniel are airbenders! With Owen's friend Zander.

I walked from home with Katharine in the baby wrap and I carried 4 chairs for us to sit on during the parade. I would have only brought 2, but I knew Corey would offer his chair to a kid if they asked, so I had to bring a few extras. It worked out great - Joseph, Ethan, Corey and I were able to sit and watch. Sophi and Natalie rode their bikes in the parade, and Abi watched the little boys gather candy.

I barely was able to catch a pic of Sophi and Natalie in the parade - 

Wes helped Abi keep an eye on Peter. After the parade, we stayed and visited for a bit.

Owen shared an insight he had: "There are two days we get candy: July, and Halloween."

Then it was time for the carnival. The little kids wanted to go. We asked who of the older kids could help. Eth, you want to go to the parade? "That does not sound fun to me... I guess I'm getting old..." Abi took Owen and Daniel to the carnival, JE&W headed home with two chairs, S&N were already at the carnival (that's where the parade ended), and I walked home with P&K. Corey went to the parade to watch kids. 

Mel and Lily took their painting booth to the carnival and continued their work throughout the afternoon. 

Corey and Joseph went to pick them up a little bit later and invited Davi over and we cooked some ribs that Corey got for lunch, making the 4th complete with a bbq, even though I cooked them in the oven. 

And the kids ate candy, watched Avatar the Last Airbender, and were basically lazy all day. Corey and Joseph, Mel, Ethan, and Davi, went on a bike ride in Corner Canyon (in the 90+ degree heat of the day!) 

Then tonight all left here at 8:30 to go watch the fireworks at Holladay Park. Joseph bought some ice cream drumsticks to share and they had fun and I got to stay home with this sweet face

A few thoughts on freedom- Yesterday we watched Amazing Grace. That is a great movie and an amazing story. William Wilberforce is a man I want to learn more about. I pray that there are great men like him and George Washington in the world today, because we surely need them as much as the slaves needed Wilberforce and as much as the United States needed Washington. And after we watched it, I read a little bit of Timothy Ballard's book "The Pilgrim Hypothesis" (pages 186-190) to the kids. 

"Jefferson's ability to persuade the Frenchman [to sell the Louisiana Territory] would largely come down to the happenings in Hispaniola. If Napoleon, by some miracle, could be stopped there, perhaps he would lose motivation for North America. After all, of the two lands, the only wealth generating one at that time was the island. For the French dictator, the only immediate an obvious benefit of the American territory (mostly just wilderness) was its potential role as a means to support and protect his commercial enterprises at Hispaniola.

"Few today recognize what was at stake during this tense time in the Caribbean. Would the sacred lands of the Gardner of Eden, even Adam-ondi-Ahman, and the New Jerusalem, where so much was to happen soon concerning the restoration, end up in hands of a foreign dictator? Or would Thomas Jefferson prevail and bringing those lands into the protective arms of the United States, the nation that Savior spoke of as the place where latter-day Americans "should be established... and set up as free people by the power of the Father... that covenant of the Father may be fulfilled which he hath covenant ed with his people, O house of Israel" (3 Nephi 21:4)? 

"Who knew that while the African prince and former slave Toussaint Louverture stood his his ground on a Caribbean island, waiting for one of the most powerful forces on the planet to attack them, so much weighed in the balance? We know history and Henry Adams (grandson and great-grand-son to two American presidents) understood very well the situation: "Before Bonaparte could reach Louisiana, he was obliged to crush the power of Toussaint," he wrote. "If he and his blacks should still come easy to their fate, the wave of French empire would roll onto Louisiana and sweep far of the Mississippi; if Saint Domingo should resist, and succeeding resistance... America would be left to pursue her democratic destiny in peace." 

"Jefferson come in the meantime, refuse to comply with the French trade embargo placed upon Toussaint and rejected any idea prohibit in American merchants from supplying the Indian revolution. Beyond that, all America could do was pray. 

"Toussaint knew he could never expect to win a front-on confrontation with the powerful French, so instead, he led his armies into the thick, forested mountains of the island, where the French would have to come to them and confront the terrifying prospect of guerilla warfare. The French found little success. And then, as could be expected in a conflict over promised lands, Mother Nature took over. And she took over in the form of Yellow Fever - Toussaint's most powerful ally. Nearly half of the first wave of French soldiers immediately died from the disease. 

"But even with those odds, the French were eventually able to capture Toussaint and send him to rot and die in a prison in France, which opened the way for other Haitian leaders who, unfortunately, in the name of revolution, committed horrible and unnecessary atrocities against innocent colonial civilians. Nevertheless, in the end, Toussaint's martyrdom only raised the morale of  his freedom-fighting countrymen, who now dug in harder against the French. His people would forever remember the words he spoke as the French carried him away in chains: "In overthrowing me," he yelled, "you have cut down in Sant Domingue only the trunk of the tree of liberty; it will spring up again from the roots, for they are numerous and they are deep." 

"His words proved prophetic as the French continued losing ground on the island. Desperate, the French command issued genocidal orders: all men and women, including teenagers (everyone twelve years old and older), must be murdered. They even brought three hundred starving bloodhounds and let them loose on the island to help with the mass murder. But the islanders could not be subdued. They would pay any price to remain free from slavery. 

"After more than forty thousand French soldiers perished, and the former slaves continued to fight back, gaining more and more ground against the invaders, the French finally quit and went home. Needless to say, their great plans to move on to North America were foiled. 

"On January 1, 1804, the island freedom fighters officially established their new independent nation, which they named Haiti, a word from the island's indigenous language, which means "land of the high mountains." Haiti became the first and only nation in history to be formed and led by former slaves after they successfully revolted against their masters, one of the very first nations on the planet to officially abolish slaver, and the second in the Western Hemisphere (after the United States) to achieve independence from the monarchs and dictators of the Old World. The Haitian revolution inspired abolitionist movements in other parts of the world..."

So I just remember, when I first read this book, feeling very grateful for these people in Haiti who fought for their freedom. They contributed in creating the free country I live in. I never knew this story before, but now that I do, I need to remember and be so thankful that they gave their lives for the freedom I enjoy. They played a part and are responsible, along with the Founding Fathers and patriots of the US Revolution, for creating the wonderful United States of America. It is a covenant land, and the covenant, with it's blessings and curses, remains upon it. I pray we will be righteous and serve Jesus Christ, that he may bless us! 

Book of Mormon, Ether 2:12

Butterfly Garden

Well, we are ready to get ourselves some monarchs next year.  We are trying to plant our very own butterfly garden by dropping hundreds of milkweed seeds all over the dirt.

We've kept our eyes on the different patches of milkweed that we've spied around the town, and I noticed some of their pods bursting with their seeds last week, so I pulled over and was rummaging through the bushes trying to tear the pods off.  We had like 12 pods.  12 pods = a lot o seeds.  The seeds look so cool inside, I was in silent awe of their symmetry and pattern, like fish scales, really neat:

And we plucked off the seeds and were left with a bunch of fluffy cotton all over the kitchen.  I can see why the caterpillars make silk from eating this plant.

It was like a soft and quite mess of fairies floating around - easy to vacuum, impossible to sweep.

 We left a few pods to dry and fluff out on their own, they looked like pretty white pine cones, really cool.

 or fluffy ice cream cones if you put them upside down.

We blew them all over the dirt and sprayed them with the hose.  Hope they take root and we get lots of butterflies visiting our yard next year!  :)

Reading, Writing and Fuzzies

Owen is loving kindergarten. He comes home and writes his name and writes the alphabet and writes his number "22" - it's like a whole world of learning, writing, and drawing, has finally clicked and opened up to him and he's loving it. Today before school, he took a calendar off the wall and was pointing to Sept 22 and said "That's me!" Yep! You're #22! That's right! He's also been using his leap frog magnet backpack to draw words and practice letters. He's had this toy backpack for over a year but now he's discovered what it is for! This is his drawing of a dragon, and a little self portrait there in front of him holding a sword. So cute

He's pointing to the dragon's claws - "He had pokies."

Today I took a few photos as I walked him to the bus. He is using one of Joseph's old backpacks, which (since it is for a high school kid) almost goes down past Owen's knees.

It kinda looked like a turtle shell! It was super cute to see him skip up the street.

Today we also harvested our milkweed seeds. I've been excited about milkweed since 2012. We finally have lots of milkweed in our yard, but I am so sad that we didn't have any monarchs this year. I hope they are ok! I'm sure the fires in California have caused much damage to people, animal, plants, and insects. It's sad to think the monarch numbers are down so low. I have kinda stopped looking for eggs, maybe I'll look again a few times, cause there's still a chance! There's still hope. Ok, I'll go look and will pray and I'll keep planting milkweed and hope that they help the cycle somehow. I had like 8 pods - 3 from our yard and I grabbed 5 from some plants on the way to the bus. I took the seeds and then let the kids play with the fuzz.

We get snow in winter (real snow), spring (from out cottonwood trees), and in fall!

Blowing the snowflakes and fairies.

Snow ball fight!

Today was a rare treat after Owen left for school, cause both Peter and Daniel took a nap! I was kid free for like an hour! Owen left for school at 12:20 (bus comes at 12:34) then I came back and put Peter to bed. And around 2:00 Daniel put himself down for a nap on the couch. 

He got up early this morning, so I am glad he took a nap, or he would have gotten really cranky around dinner time. I'd like him to wake up early every morning so that I can have this hour of quiet, but Daniel usually sleeps in until 10. So we'll see if we can get our whole family on a good schedule. We've read scriptures earlier at night, which has been making us head to bed as soon as it's dark. We've had kids in bed by 10 two nights in a row! That's pretty amazing. They are all doing great. Tonight Owen shared his desk with Peter, which was so cute to see. 

I love these three little boys. 

Owen teaching Peter the ABCs

How wonderful that we did have a repeat of Monday's "good day!" My heart is full and thankful for the little joys and quiet moments of this blessed life.