PrettyTiny Film Company Pic A Week *2019* (#.....52!! Dec. 24)

[Elfy]

The caterpillar seems to like Samantha. Great to see them enjoying the hobby.

[neon_jellyfish]

Oooh, good luck with the monarchs!

[werepuppy]

Oh, wow, I hope your butterflies turn out well!

[Lejays17]

An excellent hobby to have - it looks as if Samantha is very serious in her duties of care of the caterpillars there.

[Alliecat]

Thanks, everyone!  I'm not being scientific about it at all, & have swapped them around between jars so often I even lost count of how many there are.  About 30ish...?  Most are chrysalises now, plus 3 little ones.

That is so cool that you are raising monarchs! I saw one... one... a few days ago, fluttering around our garden pond. As I've mentioned, I have not had any luck getting milkweed to grow. And now it's probably too late in the season to even bother trying.
Ah yes, the K1000. I had a Pentax ME Special Edition back in the film days, which was basically a K1000 with a fancy push-buttons to switch between aperture priority and shutter priority modes.

I think I've heard of the ME.  My good friend who was lost at sea said the K1000 was "the best camera ever made; you could hammer nails with it."  When I told the camera repair guy who cleaned the lens he had given me, he said someone actually once brought a K1000 into his shop & said they'd tried to hammer tent pegs with it  Not sure of the truth of that story, but, it's fun.
You could still scatter milkweed seeds ... although you might have better luck trying to sprout them indoors before planting.  Is it maybe too dry for them...?

I have an aunt who raises monarchs and is very into it... apparently the caterpillars eat (and poop) a lot!

Haha, yes, they do!  It's amazing how much they eat once they're in their final larval stage.  But, it really only takes a few minutes a day to add more leaves and dump the poop  Does she tag them?

Marie helped me bring in the flower baskets as we wait for the remains of Dorian to swing by tomorrow.

[davidd]

Lovely rich, saturated colors! What fascinating blossoms, with the yellow centers!

[neon_jellyfish]

Aww, so sweet! I hope Dorian passes by without causing any damage!

[Lejays17]

Excellent wee helper there. The flowers a really pretty with the yellow centres.

Hope Dorian passes with minimal damage for everyone.

[werepuppy]

Aw, how lovely

[dargosmydaddy]

Does she tag them?

No, I don't think so... is that hard to do? Sounds interesting!

Marie and the flowers look lovely!

[Elfy]

That is beautiful, both flowers and dolls.

[Alliecat]

Thanks, everyone!  I love these flowers.  I'd never heard of "dipladenia" (although I knew of mandevilla) till I came across it in a garden shop.  Now it's a must-find.  Last year I brought them in with hopes of coaxing them through the winter and they just packed up & died  Will try again.  I need more room for indoor plants
The hurricane was just a rainstorm.  Some glads & dahlias got knocked down and the latest power outage appears to have killed a little alarm clock.  We were very lucky compared to the damage elsewhere.

Does she tag them?

No, I don't think so... is that hard to do? Sounds interesting!

Tell her to look up Monarch Watch; she might like to tag for them. I wouldn't call it "hard", but you do have to handle them very carefully.  They're fragile and yet incredibly sturdy considering the length of their migration.  I tagged for 10 years or so in Ontario & then the east coast, for the Urquharts, whose research discovered the Monarchs' overwintering site (actually I think it was a grad student who found it).  One of my butterflies was found in Mexico!  Guinness wouldn't let us have the longest-flight record because they had another that was found in Texas, which they "assumed" had spent the winter in Mexico & then started north again.  Booo -- they could never prove that!

Anyway, on that note, here's a woodland goddess Natalie with one of this week's hatchlings.  Many doll-&-butterfly pix to come, I hope.

[neon_jellyfish]

This is just too beautiful for this sinful world. No, seriously, this is beautiful. The light shining through her wings! And how did you made the butterfly pose so perfectly? Again, beautiful.

[davidd]

What a simply superb butterfly and "woodland goddess" photo!

You have certainly led an interesting, adventurous life, it seems!

[werepuppy]

Oh, that is just gorgeous. The vibes of the woodland goddess are hard to resist