mellielong said:I never get them to open their wings like that. So jealous!

Pretty sure I had nothing to do with it, opportunistic shot : ))

jmorth said:

Question Mark near the bar

Are those special Butterfly starting trays?

I was just doing my nightly check on the critters and I realized I forgot something! I found an egg on the Rue and it's a little hard to tell because it's already turning gray, but I think it's a Giant ST egg. I put it in the container with the other egg I found on the Wild Lime. That one is pretty dark gray and I'm over here tapping my foot impatiently like, "Hatch already!"

Wanted to let those in FL, East coast and other areas likely to get hit with the hurricanes, TDs, etc ... and associated rain and wind, I am thinking about you and hope for the best.

Thank you David. Hopefully it will just be a "big blow", an inconvenience and nothing more. I hope there is no loss of life.

Right, Ann. If it doesn't strengthen beyond TS strength it probably won't cause much besides some flooding with all the extra rain.

Holy cow, @jmorth I need my sunglasses to look at those neon colors in your pretty pictures. Wouldja ease up on the Photoshop-ing just a bit, maybe? Beautiful, but - they look like cartoons or something.

Well - while living in Massachusetts of all places - I lived thru a hurricane in '85 (forget which one - but it was a big one). It hopped over Long Island and came right up our coast. At one of its highest points, I was standing with my step son at a door and looking at 100 foot Pine trees bending over at about 45 degrees. Snap - pop. We watched one nearly 2 feet in diameter get snapped like a toothpick. Of course for us there, NorEasterns in Winter were far worse. That's another story...if interested and you are unfamiliar confer The Perfect Storm book or movie.

@dyzzypyxxy Sorry, I don't use photoshop. I use Picasa. Some get sharpened and then cropped. It serves my somewhat diminished eyesight well.

DavidLMO said:Well - while living in Massachusetts of all places - I lived thru a hurricane in '85 (forget which one - but it was a big one). It hopped over Long Island and came right up our coast. At one of its highest points, I was standing with my step son at a door and looking at 100 foot Pine trees bending over at about 45 degrees. Snap - pop. We watched one nearly 2 feet in diameter get snapped like a toothpick. Of course for us there, NorEasterns in Winter were far worse. That's another story...if interested and you are unfamiliar confer The Perfect Storm book or movie.

Pine trees are notorious for twisting & snapping. No way I want a big pine near enough to my house to fall on it! Yikes!

DavidLMO said:Well - while living in Massachusetts of all places - I lived thru a hurricane in '85 (forget which one - but it was a big one). It hopped over Long Island and came right up our coast. At one of its highest points, I was standing with my step son at a door and looking at 100 foot Pine trees bending over at about 45 degrees. Snap - pop. We watched one nearly 2 feet in diameter get snapped like a toothpick. Of course for us there, NorEasterns in Winter were far worse. That's another story...if interested and you are unfamiliar confer The Perfect Storm book or movie.

The Perfect Storm was an excellent movie!

Oh, sorry about your eyesight, J. I didn't realize you were bumping up those colors so you could see them better.

I never noticed Jack's photos looking anything but real to me. So you're not "overdoing" it like some people I've seen. Still a very natural look.

Tropical storms are great for napping, but those darn caterpillars made me get out there and feed them! The ground feels like a sponge, and our living room ceiling is dripping water in two places. Dad's out there with the ladder right now. Mom just went out the door to the lanai - I bet she has to "supervise".

And it's my birthday!!! And I bet I'm still way younger than most of you! I'm 37, by the way. My brother turned 40 last Saturday. My poor parents still have us living in their house. They love us that much!

Happy Birthday Melanie
I'm old enough to be your young mother

Yep, my son is going to turn 37 in December and my daughter turned 33 last Saturday. So I'm certainly old enough to be your mother. We were bad parents and moved to Florida when our kids were in college. Both married with houses, mortgages and 2 kids of their own each, now. We loved them so much we abandoned them to their own devices . .

Happy Birthday, Melanie.

Happy Birthday Melanie!!!!

Well have a nice day Malanie ,, OH No !!! Another year older Depending on where your at with that , it may not always be what everyone usually thinks

Black swallowtail today ..

mellielong said:
And it's my birthday!!! And I bet I'm still way younger than most of you! I'm 37, by the way. My brother turned 40 last Saturday. My poor parents still have us living in their house. They love us that much!

All right missy! Rub it in, go ahead & just rub it in! You're feeling pretty spunky aren't you? Well, we're all old enough to spank you!

Yep, I could be your mom too. I get to do a milestone in Dec. with the big Six Oh.

Yep, Melanie, even though you're a year older, it looks like you're still young enough to be a daughter to most of us around here.

I ran across these images from August of 2012 and figured they're pretty enough to show now, since I don't think I did back then.

Happy Birthday Melanie .... from someone old enough to be your grand father.