On the road again

We are on the road to New Mexico for the big Balloon Festival which starts the 4th. Tonight we are in Guthrie, OK. We decided to put the Monarch chrysalis out on our dogwood tree, so Ken tied the boards which they were attached to with dental floss to the lower branches. The neighbor was wondering what we were doing and she sounded excited to see what happens to them. We had one emerge at 8 am and we just tied it's stick to a branch too. Then just before we left this one emerged. There are 5 left, hope they make it. Here's Ken tying them up.
Unfortunately we hit about 20 on the drive out, we saw most in Kansas and the farther west we got the fewer we saw. So we figure we must be in their fly way back home.
The poor cats weren't very happy to be in their carriers and back in the RV. I could just read their explatives, but after alittle tuna tonight they feel somewhat better about it.

Get together

We had lunch with Ken's brother Don, wife Ruby, granddaughter Andria, friend Doug and Noel Waterson, Julie Waterson hasn't been feeling well the last couple of days. Ken, Don and Noel all worked at Ford, so lots of Ford talk.

Something you don't see everyday!

Something you don't see everyday!

It's not Ken but what's below him, two mantis mating!

Fall is their mating season.

Surprises

We have had a couple of fun surprises in the last 24 hours. My god daughter called last night and announced her engagement to her long time boyfriend and today a business card in the door announcing that the Watersons are in town. Noel was in fact getting his car fixed so Ken went and picked him up and brought him by to visit for a while. They will be in town for more then a week doing their Dr's appointments, they are our full time RV friends.
We also had 4 Monarchs emerge, 3 male and 1 female, so 7 are left. We went for a short walk at Watkins and I got these photos of caterpillars. What does it mean when most of the Wooleys are black? The smooth caterpillar is the Giant Swallowtail in our garden and it's about 3" long now.
It is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all. Laura Igeles Wilder

First Day of Fall

For man, autumn is a time of harvest,

of gathering together.

For nature, it is a time of sowing,

of scattering abroad.

Edwin Way Teale

Plaza Art Fair

Another beautiful day, perfect to walk around the Plaza Art Fair. Lots of different art, music and food to enjoy. I tried my first mojito today and it was very good. We just brought home ideas and a couple of free tote bags. We came home and released 4 monarchs, all males today. We have 3 caterpillars left and they are roaming about looking for a spot to make their chrysalis. So we will have 12 monarchs left to release.

...it is always the simple that produces the marvelous. Amelia E Barr

A beautiful day!!

What a perfect day, light breeze and 80 degrees and sun shining!! We've been busy with this and that and spending a little time with the Carlow's. We picked them up from the airport Sunday, they had a really nice time on their cruise to Nova Scotia and now they are getting ready to drive to CA. These little guys were my rainy day projects, as well as the crocheted afghan (still working on). I have several pieces of mohair left for another rainy day, I forgot how much fun they were to make.
Today, with the help of Bob Carlow, Ken took the recliner out of the RV. I didn't think it would fit through the door but it did. Ken hated to move it out every time we wanted to sit in it and then move it back when we put the slide back in as it is heavy and awkward to move. The space it was in is perfect to keep the cats litter box in. We'll put in a small table chair and see how we like that.
Boo says we've should've have brought it in a long time ago! We've released 4 females and 2 male Monarchs so far. This poor Monarch was on our butterfly bush this afternoon, and she could still fly with that wing. The last couple of days we have been noticing all the Monarchs heading south, it would be fun to find one of their roosting trees around here.

By all these lovely tokens

September days are here

With summers best of weather

And autumn's best of cheer. Unknown