Around OakMeadows

 

A beautiful sunrise

I am watching (again) Simon Schama’s History of Britain. What an excellent series!  We have it on a a set of DVDs. Tonight’s DVD starts with Skara Brae, on to Iron Age Britain, the Romans coming and going, Anglo Saxons, and the Vikings. So interesting.

Today I tracked down and actually talked to the manager of our Neverending Bathroom Remodel. I brooked no nonsense and pinned him down to starting the Redo December 6. They need to take out and replace the tile on the shower walls and floor, install the grab bar and towel racks, and paint. Now considering that it took them 4 months to get it wrong, I’m not optimistic as to how long getting it right will take. To be continued…

Gradually, I am adjusting to the time change. Like most everyone, I wish we could just stay on one time and not switch back and forth between Standard and Daylight Savings time. The cats are not pleased with any change in their morning feeding time. Such is life.

Still lots of butterflies in the garden. Lots of Gulf Fritillaries.

I’ve been ruminating on Goals for 2022. However, since 2020 and 2021 were so disrupted that much was put on hold, I think my Goals for 2022 will be mostly a combination of undone goals from 2020 and 2021. We shall see. 

That’s about all for today.

Butterfly List for November

 

Mexican Blue Wing

OakMeadows Butterfly List - October-November

These are not in any order but all have been seen in our butterfly beds. 

Monarchs

Queens

Gulf Fritillaries 

Longtailed Skippers 

Fiery Skippers

Common Buckeyes 

Funereal Duskywings 

Dusky-Blue Groundstreak 

American Snout

American Lady

Red Admiral

Gray Hairstreak

Great Purple Hairstreak 

Cloudless Sulphur 

Little Sulphurs 

Pearl Crescents 

Mexican Blue Wing (This was the first time I’d ever seen one. I was at the NBC in Mission, TX.)

Giant Swallowtail 

Hackberry Emperor 

White Peacock

Autumn Butterflies

 Autumn butterflies have been spectacular this year. We have had a couple of cold/cool fronts that have pushed the Monarchs our way. 

Not my photo because he was too small and too fast for me to get a photo.

Around OakMeadows

 

My sweet Angie

I think that my sweet Angie picked up an intestinal virus when we boarded her overnight at Camp Bow Wow while we went to the National Butterfly Center. Within 2 days she was throwing up and had diarrhea. So off to the vet we went for metronidazole, kaopectate, and an anti-nauseant.  JMM is the official animal medication administrator and with the help of Greenie Pill Pockets for pills and an oral syringe for liquids, he does an admirable job of it. And best of all Angie is recovering nicely, no diarrhea, no vomiting. I’ve put her on Hill’s Prescription I/D dog food and she loves it. 

My insomnia has gotten really bad. (Last night I was awake from 11pm until after 3am.) So I finally agreed to a sleep study. My Family Medicine doctor sent a referral and now I am waiting for clearance from my insurance. In the meantime, she has me taking trazodone at bedtime but I don’t see that it is helping at all.  I’m not looking forward to the overnight sleep study but I really need to be able to get more uninterrupted sleep. To be continued.

We went to our daughter’s house for burgers & fries (made by our son-in-law).  Then we settled in to watch Dune.  SciFi is not my favorite and I had trouble following the dialogue but I thought it was well done. ⭐️⭐️⭐️

We are so enjoying all the butterflies on the blooming crucita. We worried that the Freezepocalypse last February had killed all the crucita and milkweed. Fortunately, enough of the milkweed came back to attract the Monarchs and the crucita simply exploded, taking over the world if it could. Butterfly List and photos to follow.

That’s about all the news from OakMeadows.

For Those Who Would Govern ~ Joy Harjo

 For Those Who Would Govern ~ 

First question: Can you first govern yourself?

Second question: What is the state of your own household?

Third question: Do you have a proven record of community service and compassionate acts?

Fourth question: Do you know the history and laws of your principalities?

Fifth question: Do you follow sound principles? Look for fresh vision to lift all the inhabitants of the land including animals, plants, elements, all who share this earth?

Sixth question: Are you owned by lawyers, bankers, insurance agents, lobbyists, or other politicians, anyone else who would unfairly profit from your decisions?

Seventh question: Do you have the authority by the original keepers of the lands, those who obey natural law and are in thee service of the lands on which you stand?

To Be of Use ~ Marge Piercy

 

To Be of Use ~ Marge Piercy 

The people I love the best

jump into work head first

without dallying in the shallows

and swim off with sure strokes almost out of sight.

They seem to become natives of that element,

the black sleek heads of seals

bouncing like half-submerges balls.

I love people who harness themselves, an ox to a heavy cart,

who pull like water buffalo, with massive patience,

who strain in the mud and the muck to move things forward,

who do what has to be done, again and again.

I want to be with people who submerge

in the task, who go into the fields to harvest

and work in a row and pass the bags along,

who are not parlor generals and field deserters 

but move in a common rhythm

when the food must come in or the fire be put out.

The work of the world is common as mud.

Botched, it smears the hands, crumbles to dust. 

But the thing worth doing well done

has a shape that satisfies, clean and evident,

Greek amphoras for wine or oil,

Hopi vases that held corn, are put in museums

but you know they were made to be used.

The pitcher cries for water to carry

and a person for work that is real.

April Update on Plans for 2021

 

Plans for 2021

Items marked with 🌸 were completed in April.

1. Repair LadyBuggy (Electric Golf Cart)

2. Replace cat flap

3. New bed and dresser🍀

4. Freezer❤️

5. Back porch furniture

6. Paint Fence

7. Paint Back Door

8. Windows Cleaned❄️

9. 12 new recipes

     Black Bean Soup & Jalapeño Cornbread ❄️

     Primavera Stuffed Chicken Breasts 🌸

     Baked Fish en Papilotte 🌸

     Pork Chops with Snap Peas and Feta Cheese🌸

10. Read 24 books 

     A Promised Land by Barack Obama❄️

    The Guest List by Lisa Foley❄️

    Saving Freedom by Joe Scarborough ❄️

    The Jane Austin Society by Natalie Jenner❤️

    Seeing Trees by Nancy Hugo❤️

    Saving Freedom by Joe Scarborough ❤️

    The Plague Cycle by Charles Kenny🍀

    How to Avoid A Climate Disaster by Bill Gates 🍀

    Breath from Salt by Bijapur Trivedi🍀

    The Paris Library by Janet S. Charles🌸

    The Most Perfect Thing by Tim Birkhead🌸

    The Consequences of Fear by Jacqueline Winspear🌸

11. Houston Botanical Gardens

      Mercer Botanical Gardens

      National Butterfly Center

      Houston Arboretum 

      Memorial Park Eastern Glades

      MFAH🍀