Eternal sunshine of my spotless mind

I am slowly losing track of my caterpillars. I think I might have 14 or 15. I'm not sure. I thought I had 15, but I only count 14, but sometimes I lose one, then they show up again for the next head count. Hmmmm.

I missed Buddy chrysalissing on the cover of the lid (he did it when Little One and I went to the mall to go to the pet store to buy another terrarium). And "Eddie" our other cat waiting to chrysalis is now fixed on the under side of the screen I have covering the round container. They're just not helping me out here. I will probably have to relocate them to a more secure location once their shells have hardened.

Head count: 4 chrysalis + 1 almost chrysalis + 9 caterpillars + 1 MIA = 14 +/- 1

Chrysalis log: Don on leaf chrysalis on Wed; Shiny & Tiny on branch, tip of container chrysalis on Thurs; Buddy on lid of dk. blue container chrysalis on Sat.

I probably won't post any more pictures until I can either get one of them changing into the chrysalis OR I get one coming out of the chrysalis.

Posted by Cora at 10:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I went to the local drug store a few days ago to pick up a few things. I now know why these people are going broke. When I went to the register, I had about 10 things, here's what happened. I bought a box of caramacs to send to sis and they rung it up twice. Then they didn't charge me for the box of soda crackers. Then the box of aluminum foil was ringing up at 4.99 when there was a sale sign of 3.49 on the aisle display (the lady at the next checkout apparently grabbed a box of foil too, because we were both waiting for a price check). She then corrected the 3 things while the line behind me was starting to back up. I discovered later on at home she didn't charge me for the case of Dasani water which I told her about at the very beginning of the whole transaction. By then, I was so disgusted with the whole thing, I decided that the water was a free gift for her (and the store's) stupidity AND I was not about to head back out to the store to pay for it when I was already home.

On the wonderfully plus side, I was at Macy's last nite and found a Harajuku lovers bag on sale for only $34! Score!

My mood: loving my weekend!

Posted by Cora at 09:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So I managed to miss it again. Shiny and Tiny decided to chrysalis on me when I was at work. I asked Grandpa to keep an eye on them and sure enough, they're shy about changing their outfits. He missed both of them. One while he was downstairs and the other when he went to pick up Little One from school. Oh, well, I have about a dozen more tries, so we'll see if I can catch one on film.

I am still debating whether I should try to relocate Don to a branch. I've checked several Monarch websites and forums and I should either leave him on his side on the bottom of the container with a branch for him to crawl onto after he comes out of his chrysalis OR I can try to relocate him to a branch and attach him with a hot glue gun (cooled of course and then only attached with the tip which is spun silk). Yikes, too many things that can go wrong. I'm tempted to see if he can hold onto the leaf for a while longer while I decide what to do with him. The good thing is that his chrysalis should be nice and hard by now. So if/when I decide to move him, I shouldn't squish him accidentally.

Shiny or Tiny from the branch. I couldn't get a good shot of the other one hanging on the top of the container. Oh, Little One took this picture (what a great shot!).

Don with his golden flecks. They really do look like little jade jewels.

The next set of buggers getting nice and fat. I'm assuming one of them is Buddy, but don't ask me which one.

My mood: TGIF (tomorrow)

Posted by Cora at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Well, Shiny & Tiny took no time in catching up with Don. They had all but stopped eating and pooping by this afternoon and were crawling around like crazy searching for a place to hang. Unlike lazy Don, they actually found a spot to hang from. As I was watching them, I was wondering how they were able to hang from the side of the container, seeing as they seemed to need to grip onto something in order to climb. Upon closer examination, I discovered that they were bobbing, not because they were dancing, but they were spinning a thin silky trail to grip onto. Very cool.

A view of the silk trail. The flash was necessary to catch the light on the silk. And I have a fairly crappy camera, so the resolution is not that great for close up shots.

Shiny or Tiny doin' it right...

Shiny or Tiny picked the very top of the container. Don't ask me how I'm going to deal with them when they decide to come out of their chrysalis.

I have the feeling that I'm going to miss them transforming into the chrysalis state. By morning they may be encased in their green shell???

Last caterpillar count: 1 chrysalis + 2 caterpillars ready to change, + 9 various sized caterpillars (hopefully) hiding somewhere in the leaves = 12

My mood: anxious and exhausted

Posted by Cora at 11:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

OH, happy day... this morning I thought I was going to write about the death of Don. I found him all curled up at the bottom of the container on a leaf. He wasn't clinging to it, just on his side and heaving and looking kind of sick. The internet sites say that the most humane way to kill a sick caterpillar is to freeze it, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. GOOD thing I'm such a wuss, cause when I came home from dropping off Little One at school, I went to check on Don to see if he was dead yet, and guess what I found...

Yeah! I'm not the killer of cute caterpillars, but a butterfly whisperer! Hahaha. Since it's my first time doing this, I was surprised that it took only an hour (or less) for him to transform. And more surprisingly, I thought he was dead because he wasn't hanging from up high (like all the sites said!), he was curled up on a leaf at the bottom of the container.

And if you look closely under Don on the right side, there's a new caterpillar crawling about. I don't even know how many I have now...

My mood: soaring on butterfly wings (in about 2 weeks?)

Posted by Cora at 08:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Our 5 caterpillars are now 10 caterpillars. How did this happen??? We apparently had 7 caterpillars the whole weekend and we didn't even know it. I went to the crown flower bush today to get some more grub for the hungry little buggers and I found 2 more! When I got home I found out that I had 3, not 2. I might have even more tomorrow, who knows? I'm not looking for them, but they stow away on the leaves and end up at home. I have the need to protect them from the birds, so I keep them (plus I have no where to dump them in the yard, we have nothing they'll eat).

There are now too many and I can't keep track of who the smaller ones are. Don, Shiny & Tiny are still the biggest, so we have no problem identifying them (except we still can't tell Shiny & Tiny apart). The little ones keep getting in the way of the monsters so we needed to relocate the 3 bigger caterpillars to their own container. I guess it's like older dogs and puppies. The puppies wanna make trouble and the older ones just want to be left alone.

I have made 5 observations over the last few days:

1. I have come to find watching caterpillars eat just fascinating. People might think it's about as exciting as watching paint dry, but I am just mesmerized by it. I find myself stopping by the containers (to make sure no one's escaped) and I end up staring at them for quite a bit of time.

2. Caterpillars poop A LOT! I have to empty out the poop 3-5 times a day. They're worse than panda bears. Fortunately caterpillar poop is much smaller and less smelly (I assume).

3. Caterpillars eat a lot (which would account for the excessive poopage).

4. Caterpillars move around a lot. Tiny Mrs. Pteranodon tried to escape the other day, I found her lurking around the top of the container. I think I need to keep them outside during the day so that I make sure that if someone escapes they won't be inside the house and possibly squished.

5. Being a caterpillar rancher is hard work.

This is the picture of the original Fab 5 (before it doubled to 10)

We bought a terrarium this weekend, but needed to add a separate cottage for the "seniors." I put in a stick just in case anyone felt like crysalissing.

My mood: headachy, I think I might be getting sick again (oh, no!)

Posted by Cora at 10:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

It was inevitable that the Little One would want to play soccer. He was too young to play this past season, so we signed up for the U5 (under 5) soccer clinic. It's basically a bunch of drills to teach kids how to play soccer so that they can then feel more confident when the soccer season starts in the fall. I also think it's a shorter session so that parents can figure out if their kids like soccer and want to play in the regular season. He, of course, loves it. Great, that combined with martial arts will complicate life in the fall, especially since I work until 5 and most practices and classes start before I get off work. I hate to think that he can't participate in both because of my schedule. Guess we'll just have to see if Grandpa is willing to chauffeur him around for a few extra afternoons (thanks Grandpa!!!). He'll probably have to drop one of them when his school schedule gets tougher. It's hard to decide which I prefer, especially since he looks cute in both uniforms!

My mood: not really looking forward to being a "soccer mom"

Posted by Cora at 10:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

New members acquired. We now have Buddy (a.k.a. Shemp) and Mrs. Pteranodon (a.k.a. Teeny-Tiny). I discovered that the caterpillars are named after characters from the PBS show Dinosaur Train. A-ha! I have a few cuttings from the crown flower tree outside so we have a fresh supply of leaves. Don apparently molted during school on Friday. I found a fresh molted skin piece where Don used to be. He's now eating voraciously and Shiny & Tiny are now taking their turn to molt off their old skins.

Buddy is the 4th member of the group.

Introducing Mrs. Pteranodon, she really is teeny-tiny!

Don decided to check out the new leaf that was in the tank. He's a hungry little caterpillar!

My mood: feeling like a caterpillar

Posted by Cora at 11:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

They have been officially named:

Shiny: Moe or Curly (can't tell them apart)
Tiny: Moe or Curly (can't tell them apart)
Don: Larry

There was much concern that once Shiny and Tiny changed leaves, we would no longer be able to tell them apart. I was told that a fourth caterpillar needs to be acquired because his name is supposed to be Buddy. I will call him Shemp. ??? I think the names are from a show he watches on PBS Kids?

Well they're all off to Kindergarten today for show and tell. Let's hope they live through the day and make it home or they'll be lots of crying this weekend!

My mood: TGIF! hi-ho-hi-ho it's off to work I go... well, I'm already here, but now I'll start working.

Posted by Cora at 08:12 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

At work, there's a crown flower plant behind the library. I have a friend who goes there to pick caterpillars and then "raises" them into butterflies. Sounds easy enough, so today I went outside and proceeded to locate 3 lovely specimens. Tomorrow Little One will be taking them on a field trip to school for show-n-tell. I thought about having them live at school (if the teacher does a unit on butterflies), but with our luck, they'll emerge as butterflies with no kids around. We'll see how it goes...

The bigger of the 3, he's about an inch long and not very active. I think he might molt soon.

The 2 babies are about 1/2 inch long. They're hungry little buggers.

Don't ask me what he's doing...

My mood: happy I have something to write about...

Posted by Cora at 10:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thanks for the Lego people. They're his new favorite toys. We decided to recreate the cover of the box just for you...

Posted by Cora at 09:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We took a walk up Makapuu to see if the whales were out, but they weren't. I heard that the other weekend, there were lots of whales. Today there were none to be seen. A clear view of Maui and a very cool hike were the highlights of our trip.

Here's some shots:

The past few times we've been up here the weather has been cloudy, so the pictures are a little dreary. I still love the view.

We decided to hike up to the bunkers, ususally we stop at the end of the paved road.

A view of the Waimanalo side of Makapuu

My mood: exhausted

Posted by Cora at 09:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My friends and I have a long-standing tradition that we've done every year since college. It's our goals envelope. First it started out as a diet envelope, then turned into diet and life goals. Every year, around this time, we drag out the envelopes and open them and laugh about the goals that we made the previous year, most of which we have not done. It's nice to have wonderful ambition at the beginning of every year. So far I don't think I've completed any list of goals. Most of them are soon forgotten as soon as the envelope goes into it's usual spot on my bookshelf gathering dust until the following year. This weekend we'll open them up again and come up with a list of things that would be great to do if we only had the time, money, or willpower. SIGH. After the weekend, if I can manage to remember, I will post my list. Maybe if I send it out there into the cyberverse I will be motivated to try to do some of the things on my list (hahahahaha). At least, I will have them listed somewhere that I might remember to look at them.

My mood: tired, but grateful for the weekend and upcoming holiday!

Posted by Cora at 10:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Been slacking in the blogging dept. Too much other crap to do and stupid FB is taking up lots of my precious time.

Watched Julie & Julia the other nite w/the gals. I have to say that the acting of Meryl and Stanley (I love stanley) were fabulous! Didn't care for Amy Adams and whoever the husband was. I didn't love the story. It was just okay. What person does a FOOD blog and doesn't post pictures??? I dunno what the rules are of Salon, but I'm sure if I were blogging about food I made, I would post pictures! The lobster scene was hilarious. Defintely worth 2 hours of my life to watch, but I'll never watch it again.

Now if I can only get myself to sit down and watch Star Trek. All my Star Trek fans (not fanatics) loved it, so I want to see if it lives up to its reputation.

My mood: tired, but proud momma. my son is the Februrary "Student of the Month" at his Martial Arts school (for Tiger Cubs)!

Posted by Cora at 11:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Have you ever not gotten a joke, then all of a sudden the lightbulb goes off in your head and it makes total sense and then you feel really, really STUPID for not getting it?

Well... Here's the "joke"

Do you get it?

I got this shirt for Christmas AT LEAST FOUR YEARS AGO, maybe more... from my good friend Marya. For years, I thought this was such a strange shirt. Why would kids who read eat seeds? DUH! Okay, in my defense I was focusing on the SEEDS. The other morning as I was walking upstairs, a very huge lightbulb went off inside my vast and vacant head. OH! Now I get it!

My mood: finally seeing the light, at least I can laugh at myself and I say "better late, than never?"

Posted by Cora at 06:57 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Beautiful night in Hawaii nei. Notice the full moon in the background.

Small kine fireworks at Mussonville.

We almost made it to the new year! Only 20 minutes to go...

Oh, I hear firetrucks in the distance... although, I sort of wish for a ban on fireworks, I just can't image new year's eve without them. Wonder what the Obama's think of the firework show? I keep missing them. Trini called me from the mall to tell me that they were there watching Avatar. Shucks, missed them again...

Wishing everyone a safe, healthy and joyous new year!

My mood: on the verge of an asthma attack from all the smoke

Posted by Cora at 12:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)