Around OakMeadows

Monarch caterpillars stripping the milkweed leaves.

Sometimes things that you think will be simple and quickly done turn out to be anything but.  My latest example is my attempt to take myself off our auto insurance policy. Since I have not driven in the past 2 years and I consider myself unsafe to drive, I have no need to be insured. When I called  I was told that before I could be taken off the policy, I would need to go to the DPS and surrender my license. So I will need to do that. I also thought that since only my husband would be driving that our premium would go down considerably. Wrong. Since we will be keeping both vehicles and driving the same 17,500 miles per year, the premium will go down by only $24 per six month period. So much for quick and easy.  

The Monarch caterpillars have stripped all the milkweed that overwintered so JMM planted 52 more milkweeds. They are now in the process of chowing down on the new plants. I saw 6 Monarchs in the yard today. I also saw 2 blue jays at the feeder this morning.  Since they weren’t trying to chase each other away, i assume they were a male and female pair. I was sitting on the porch this afternoon soaking in the warm sunshine and noticed a green anole sunning himself too. We both enjoyed the warmth of the beautiful afternoon. 

I finished a very interesting book, 1491: New Revelations about the Americas before Columbus by Charles C. Mann.  It really was a revelation to me in several ways. I thought of both North and South America as mostly uninhabited with scattered settlement here and there; I knew about the Incas and Mayas but I thought of the rest of the Americas as essentially vacant.  Not so at all. I also didn’t realize how long people had been in the Americas and how much they had shaped the landscape.  Just fascinating. 

I have my 42 blocks ready to stitch into strips. Maybe tomorrow.