How to make a fairy house AND a happy girl!

"When the first baby laughed for the first time, the laugh broke into a thousand pieces and they all went skipping about, and that was the beginning of fairies."   -James Matthew Barrie

And so it is that we have fairy folk that are in need of some prime real estate!  Miss Piggy has a love affair going with fairies.  And really who can blame her?  They are beautiful, little creatures with wicked smiles and mischievous ways.  Remind you of anyone in particular?  She had begged for fairy houses at Christmas.  She found some in a catalog that were made of felt and were approximately $30 a piece PLUS shipping!  And they were ridiculously small.  Then a friend of mine recently posted about a fairy house kit she had purchased to build with her daughter and it was amazingly cute with the rocks and acorn shells and moss.  I got to thinking, why couldn't I fashion one of these?  I mean hell, I've got a glue gun.  I've got sticks and rocks.  I've got some leftover silk flowers and floral moss from various projects.  So off I went for the perfect form for the main structure.  I debated using old oatmeal boxes that I've saved for projects, but really wasn't interested in painting it or gluing paper around it, so I headed to Jo-Ann fabrics to see what they had.  As it turns out, they had just what I was looking for and they were only $3 (and I had a coupon)!

I gathered all of my tools... forms, matboard, silk flowers, floral wet foam, small tree branches, moss, scissors, nippers, box cutter, glue gun and a small bit of ribbon for embellishment.

 First thing I did was cut out a door and window, then I glued the form onto the matboard.  While that was drying, I took off the lid and decorated the "roof".  I chose to use leaves and small flowers.

 I made sure that the fairy had a nice little bed of leaves to sleep on in her new home.  Luckily fairies are pretty modest when it comes to furnishings as they spend most of their time out and about playing tricks on folks!

 I took sticks, cut them down to size and glued them, as well as some silk leaves, around the house.  Then I glued some ribbon around the edge of the roof.  As it happens, I found the most perfect little bird in some of my art supplies and the Piggy LOVED it!  Now the fairy has a pet!

I thought bluebells would make the perfect doorbell!

Now it was time to make the fairy a garden.  Fairies, according to my daughter, LOVE flowers and they need to have smooth rocks to use as furniture in the garden.  So I made a path out of sticks and I glued some brown and orange leaves (that had obviously fallen from the trees in the fall).  Then I glued a small rectangle of wet foam under the window and proceeded to fill it with colorful flowers so the fairy would have a nice window box!  Piggy decided there needed to be berries there too, since fairies prefer to eat ripe berries.  Next I glued a ton of moss all over the matboard.  And the finishing touch was adding some smooth, black rocks to the garden.  Here is the finished product WITH the happy fairy!  (Feel free to click on the pics to see it in more detail!)

Side-view

Now we have a happy fairy and a happy girl.  She loves it!  From what I understand there are other fairies that will come to live here soon.  So I guess I better tackle the tower next weekend so we have room for everyone!  And in case you were wondering, the cost of this lovely fairy house was just under $12.  Granted I had some of the supplies, but really you could use just about anything.  And the supplies I did buy will make MANY more fairy houses!

Once the tower is done, our next project will be to build some fairy houses in the garden.  I hear it is good luck to have them there!  Maybe they can summon some dragonflies, lacewings and ladybugs!

Who-hooooooos on my chimney??

A wonderful thing happens at my house when the weather starts getting chilly at night, we get OWLS!  The past few nights we've heard their calls in the distance, probably over in the field across from our neighborhood.  They have steadily gotten closer.  On Friday night we were treated to the telltale hoots coming down our chimney.  So, armed with a spotlighter, we all headed out to see what we could see and lo and behold, one of our great horned owls!  It seemed a little smaller than the ones we normally see and quieter too.  I'm thinking it may have been a young one.  But either way, I sent Big Daddy in to retrieve the camera!  Great horned owls are cool!  They are even more cool when they hang out on your chimney, undisturbed by your light and let you take pictures!  Thanks little owl!

A Garden Beauty

I was in a pretty piss-poor mood when I went out to clean my car.  The world was seeming like a pretty ugly place.  Then I happened to look over and see this little lovely hanging out in my bulbine and all of a sudden life seemed a little softer and nicer!  Sometimes it's the little things.

You know I'm a sucker for butterflies!

You have to admit, it's a beauty! It was getting a drink at the pond. The kids and I were mesmerized!

Chrysalid

Unfortunately I have to start with some bad news... Crazy Cat died. He hung himself upside down and proceeded to turn completely black and soggy, like a little bag of ink (ICK)! At first I thought the discoloration was part of the process, but then BIG CAT did this--
This happened within a 24-hour period of time. It just stopped on a branch, attached a piece of silk to itself (if you look closely you can see it), leaned back a little and within 24 hours went from caterpillar to chrysalid! So amazingly cool. Now we play the waiting game! We still have Little Cat cruising around in there, eating ravenously and last night we discovered Puny Cat another teeny, tiny one! I just have caterpillars taking over my house!

And the transformation begins...

Well for two weeks I have been feeding ravenous "parsley worm" caterpillars. Sadly, one of them died, but the other three have successfully denuded 4 parsley transplants!

I have really been hoping that they would just do their thing because I can't afford to keep buying transplants for them! Well, my wish has been granted! Two of the three remaining caterpillars seem to be starting their transformation. Fat Cat, the largest of the three, has climbed up a stalk, leaned back and produced some sort of silk that is holding it into place. It still looks just like a caterpillar though. This isn't the best pic in the world, but it's hard to take them in the enclosure.

But Crazy Cat, the medium caterpillar, has done something weird. It's grabbed ahold of a stalk with one foot and is now hanging upside down. And honestly, it looks kind of gross! I am hoping it didn't just keel over and die! But I thought this with my tomato hornworm a couple of years ago because they look like they are dying when they are turning into a chrysalid. So hopefully this little guy is alright.

You'll notice the orange things coming out of it's head? Those are what produce the nasty stench when you spook them!

Little Cat is still cruising around and eating parsley. I hope he will follow suit soon. Keep your fingers crossed that each of these little guys make a successful transformation into some sort of beautiful swallowtail butterfly! I will post more pics of the different stages.

Hooray! Numero Dos emerges!

This year we had the great honor to play host to 2 luna moth cocoons and two Spicebush Swallowtail butterfly chrysalids. The first butterfly emerged almost a month ago and the two lunas shortly followed suit, but there was one lonely little chrysalid still hanging out in the butterfly enclosure. I have been checking on it daily but nothing. The kids were worried, I was worried, in short we were all beginning to think Little Dos was a DUD. But not being one to give up on life so easily I just let it hang out. I probably would have left it another month before I finally got rid of it, just to make absolutely certain it wasn't going to emerge. Much to our great joy we were greeted by Little Dos this morning when we came downstairs! I was SO relieved! As usual, we packed it up and went to my son's room (which oddly enough is the cleanest room in the house right now, I know, WEIRD) and let the little butterfly out. It was perfectly content to hang out on our fingers, arms, shoulders, etc... and we were thrilled! It was so mellow that I was really able to show and talk to the kids about the different parts, its abdomen, its thorax, its eyes and its proboscis! So cool! And of course, I had to snap a few shots. I only got a few in before my camera croaked though, damn batteries!

Here's the kiddos checking it out...
The Piglet was brave this year!
Monkey Man has always loved them, he is so gentle and so curious, I love it!
We spent about 30 mintues with this lovely little beastie before I decided we needed to let it go to find some food and a mate. There were some tears from the Piggy, she wanted to keep it forever as she loved it SOOOOO much. But I explained that this was a wild animal and the only way it would be truly happy was to be free. I let her unzip the carrier and get it out and it sat on her hand for just a few seconds before it took to the sky, flitting back and forth. We lost sight of it over the house. Good luck little butterfly and thank you for making our day so special!

Ruidoso or Bust! The Petroglyphs

One of my favorite places to visit in the Ruidoso area is the Three Rivers Petroglyph site. This site dates back between 900-1400 AD and was created by the Jornado Mogollon people. It's kind of out in the middle of nowhere, between Carrizozo and Tularosa, it's NOT the easiest hike and generally it's hot as hell! That being said, it is ALWAYS worth it. To me this place is mystical and slightly surreal. Since it is completely off the beaten path, you rarely run into other hikers. I like to hike up the trail, find a secluded spot, close my eyes and just listen. Sometimes it seems like the wind carries whispers! Or maybe it's just the mesquite trees rustling in the wind. Either way, it's one of those places that allows you to forget about the hustle and bustle for awhile and honestly, the petroglyphs themselves are just plain cool!

The great New Mexican landscape, isn't it gorgeous?

Roadrunner feet!

This glyph of a speared bighorn is the most famous and most photographed glyph, so of course, I had to get a picture too!

The circle-dot motif is very prevalent at this site, over 10 percent of the 21400 glyphs are similar to this one. The researchers found this odd as this specific motif is not prevalent at other Jornado Mogollon sites.

This little animal has always been one of my faves. I dig the geometric designs!

A standing stone, so majestic!

Obligatory "She-rah, Princess of Power" pose next to my FAVORITE glyph!


If you are ever in the Ruidoso or Capitan area, you really should check this place out. It is insanely cheap, something like $2 per car, they have very well-maintained picnic areas and restrooms, so seriously, pack a picnic and get out there! It is a great little voyage into NM history! Helpful hint, if you are doing this anytime between May and September, GO IN THE MORNING! It gets HOT! Be aware, I'm not kidding when I say it's in the middle of nowhere, do not screw around with your gas tank. Stop in Tularosa or Carrizozo (depending on which route you take) and top off the tank. Also when you're up on the hill checking out the petroglyphs, look to the southwest and you can see White Sands in the distance!

Tiny garden visitor

While out watering my beautiful black-eyed peas I came across a most welcome visitor... the tiniest little lizard I ever saw! It was maybe 2 inches long, if that, and no wider than a blade of grass. I observed it for a bit, mesmerized by its awesome cuteness, then I tried to catch it so I could show it to the kids and maybe take a pic, but it was TOO wily and entirely TOO fast for a clumsy, slow human! I am so pleased to have this little lizard lurking in the jungle of my peas and okra and it is welcome to consume as many of those pesky little bugs as it pleases! Bon appetit, Lizard Little and feel free to invite some more of your relatives to live in my garden!

Morning visitor

I just saw a little hummingbird visiting my salvia and turk's cap! I don't see hummingbirds around here too often, so it was a pleasant surprise!

Of love and marriage...

I had the absolute joy of watching two of my dearest friends join in marriage this past weekend. It was a touching ceremony, full of love and tears and great emotion, joining two remarkable people and two wonderful families. You couldn't imagine two people more in love and it showed! I am honored that my little family was able to share in their special day! I smiled, thinking of their future and reflecting on my past.

Almost 15 years ago, I took vows very similar to those they took. I don't remember being quite as emotional, I think I was just too young to REALLY appreciate the significance of those vows and the promise I made to love this man forever. I loved him of course, but it was still that silly 23 year-old, infatuated love. Love that hated to be apart for a moment, love that had to know where he was always, love that longed for that glance from across the room, love that burned. And that is a wonderful kind of love, the way every true love should start, but then, if you're lucky, it grows into something so much more. A love of comfort, a love of friendship and respect, a love that aches in your heart when you see your husband comfort his crying son or scoop up his elated baby girl after a long day at work, a love that feels safe and secure, a love that is HOME. This is the kind of love I hope for my friends, for this is the love that lasts forever!

So, while I'm sitting here, reminiscing over my past and looking forward to a bright future for my friends, I get a news pop-up stating that the California Supreme Court has upheld the ban on same-sex marriage. Sadly, I'm not surprised, but I am disappointed. I am grateful that they saw fit to allow the 18,000 couples that lawfully married before the prop was passed to stay married, BUT... it is still a sad day for the state of California and for the many, many gays and lesbians and the people that love them across the country. Love cannot be mandated, you love who you love and so long as that love exists between two consenting adults, it should not matter whether they are straight, gay, transgendered or whatever! Why is it that I am allowed to marry the person I love, but my mother is not? Would the sanctity of MY marriage be compromised if she did marry her girlfriend? No, in fact, I think I would feel more secure in my marriage knowing that it was a right afforded to ALL Americans regardless of sexual orientation. I'm so tired of all this "holier than thou" shit I could die. This country saw fit to adopt a principle that separated church from state, so put your money where your mouth is. Same-sex marriage is questionable based on a religious ideology. Well if we've separated church from state, why are we even having this discussion?

I am trying to keep positive. I am hoping that in the near future our government will see that marriage is a contract between two adults, regardless of sex. I am hoping that soon my mother and many of my friends will be allowed the same rights that I enjoy sheerly because of my heterosexuality. I want my mother and my friends to feel the same joy and connection as I did 15 years ago and as my friends did 2 nights ago. I want this country to get its head out of its ass and realize that FAMILY has many faces, and HOME is different and special for everyone! Now is the time for equal marriage rights.

Once there was a moth...

As many of you read in an earlier post, we had the great fortune to share some time with two Spicebush Swallowtail butterflies and a Luna Moth. We were then left with one lonely cocoon, counting the days. Much to my great surprise, we found our beautiful Polyphemus moth (named after the Greek myth of Polyphemus the Cyclops) one Saturday afternoon after our garage sale! We must have just missed its emergence as it was still damp and its wings were very limp. So we left it alone for several hours, planning to enjoy time with it in the evening before letting it loose after dark.

I was completely amazed at the sheer size of this thing! Not only did it have a huge wing span but it was fat as a town rat! And although it fluttered like crazy and crawled all over the floor, the bed, the windowsill, the boy, me and anything else it could climb on, it never flew! I just chalked it up to still being new and not yet comfortable with it's moth status!

We hung the moth outside in the maple tree with it's enclosure open so it could leave at it's leisure. We wished it a fond farewell and good luck in finding a mate. Little did we know what we were getting into! The next morning I sent the Monkey Man out to retrieve the empty enclosure and was informed that the moth was still in it! At first I thought it was possibly dead and I immediately began to question if we had handled it too much and I was so worried! I emailed my friend Mr. Ohlke in Canada to find out what the hell. He told me if I had a female, she likely would not fly away but stay there and emit pheromones to attract a mate to her as she would probably be too fat to fly. Well, as I mentioned before, this thing was fat as a rat! He also stated if it were female, she would have thin antennae, which ours did. So, the Monkey Man named her "Polly" and so began "The Great Polyphemus Adventure of 2009"!

Here is the Monkey Man admiring his beautiful Miss Polly! We still couldn't get the Piggy to hold it, oh well, maybe next year!

So as it turns out, silkmoths have an approximate life span of 7-10 days in which time they find a mate, do their business and lay the eggs of the next generation. The clock was tickin'! I waited patiently for fellow co-op members to call with news of a male arrival. The first male was brought to me, his name was "Peter", I think, but he didn't fair well. I don't know if he heat stroked or had some reaction to the transportation but I believed him to be dead within the first 24 hours. So the search began again. Luckily another fine male specimen emerged and I transported him home successfully and "Wally" was introduced to our Polly. I was informed by my friends that it seemed as though I was running a house of ill-repute for lusty moths, or a mothel! HeeHee!

The male was going berserk at this time, I assume sensing the female.

Then I dumped him into her enclosure and I officially had a mothel! Wally is at the top, showing Polly what a handsome beast he is!

After 3 nights, I decided to let Wally free to pursue other options. I managed to get a great shot of him in all of his splendor before he flew off into the night! Is he not a most magnificent creature?!?

But alas, my poor girl was in sad shape by then, on her 6th or 7th day, she had been laying eggs all over the place and her wings were falling off and cracking, it was a sad sight to see. She would never be fit for the wild. So I kept her until she finally died on day 14 and I placed her under my germander bush. Now we wait and see if any of the eggs were fertilized, then I'll go from a moth bordello to a caterpillar nursery!

And on a side note... that first male that died, well, he surprised us all! I kept him as he was in perfect condition, wings outspread and beautiful and my intent was to lay him with Polly under the germander bush. But as it turned out, several days later my mom-in-law picked him up to show the Piggy and she laid him on his back and rubbed his feelers. At which time, he started to wiggle his abdomen and legs and freaked everybody out! Now he was never quite the same, he never flew and never moved much, so I just considered him my "special needs" moth and let him live his 7-10 day life in peace. And, yes, he was re-named "Lazurus" for obvious reasons by his original family! ;)

A luna moth sailed quietly through the night...

And the cricket enjoyed the stillness. --Eric Carle

I was greeted Saturday afternoon with a most wonderful surprise, our luna moth had emerged! This was the first time I had ever seen one up close and I can't even begin to tell you how unbelievably beautiful this thing was! Soft green wings, a soft fuzzy body, feather-like antennae and the sweetest eyes! I was immediately, totally and completely in love with her! The Monkey Man was entirely amazed and in love as well. He held her and stared at her and just couldn't get enough of her!

To be honest, I didn't even realize she had emerged at first, the green of her wings had her so well camoflauged against the background of the butterfly enclosure, it was the cocoon that I noticed. It had these little tufts of white silk sticking out that it didn't have before.

I couldn't believe that something so big had come out of an opening so small! We dissected the cocoon and found the remnants of the chrysalid inside. SO COOL!

We took her up to the Monkey Man's room for observation. She was very docile and mellow and didn't seem to mind being handled at all. She was SO soft and fuzzy!

We just couldn't help but be completely enamored by this little being. The Piggy refused to hold her, but the Monkey Man was all over it!

She had the most amazing face! Big black eyes and feathery antennae, like a sweet little flying teddy bear! And by all means, click on the photo to enlarge it, you too will be taken in by the sweetness of that face!

I feel so lucky that the children and I were able to spent a hour or so with such a fantastic little creature! We finally decided it was time to let her go, so we took her out front. She immediately started crawling up the side of our house. I figured she might have needed to rest after being handled. No sooner had she started climbing up the wall, a large gecko appeared. The Monkey Man flipped out! He was none to happy at the prospect of watching a "survival of the fittest" moment in such an up close and personal way! I ran to get a stick and a flashlight, in hopes of dissuading the gecko from making a meal out of our newly emerged moth. By the time I came back, the gecko was busy dealing with a territory dispute with another gecko and our luna moth had sailed quietly into the night! It is comforting to know such a beautiful thing is gracing my night sky! Good luck little luna, we hope you have a wonderful life and find another luna soon!

Butterfly, butterfly, fly away home!

Much to our great joy, we welcomed Spicebush Swallowtail Numero Uno into the world on Monday! Being a sneaky little thing, it emerged right here in the same room with me in a period of about 30 minutes! I walked by it after making tea and came to blog a bit and a half an hour later when I was walking back into the kitchen to put my cup in the sink, there it was!

What an amazing little face!

I called the kiddos and we took it upstairs to the Monkey Man's room so we could observe it for a bit. It was still very sluggish and allowed us to handle it with care. What an absolutely beautiful little being, so delicate and sweet! It's little feet tickled our skin! It stretched its wings and practiced flying for a bit, then sat in the windowsill, soaking up some sunshine. The Monkey Man adored it, holding it and looking at it from every angle. The Piggy on the other hand was interested in looking at from afar, but had NO desire to hold it. In fact, I could only coax her into getting about a foot away from it! It's strange to me how fearful she is of bugs, mostly since NO ONE in this house has an issue with bugs. We catch them, we handle them, we just LOVE bugs! But she is, and I respect that and let her explore to her comfort level.

Mesmerized...


We kept it for the rest of the day and over night, giving it oranges and sugar water to feed on, then we packed it up on Tuesday and took it to our local nursery and let it go amid all the beautiful spring flowers! As soon as we opened the car door and got the enclosure out, that butterfly started going crazy in the enclosure and we certainly didn't have to tell it twice once the flap was opened. It was out like a flash and gone in an instant, almost like it disappeared into thin air! We sent it off with love and with hopes that it has a good little butterfly life! We were so lucky to have been a part of its re-birth into the world!

Easter, Easter, Bunny Keester!

What do you call a line of rabbits walking backwards?
---A receding HAREline! Hee!Hee!

Sorry, I couldn't resist, it was the best bunny joke I've heard this season! So anyway... we were pretty worried that our Easter Egg Hunt was going to get rained out. The forecasters spread doom and gloom for days, but as it turns out we had a light shower Sunday morning followed by clear blue skies and unlimited sunshine! A perfect recipe for a wonderful afternoon with the family!


As usual, that sneaky Easter Bunny did his thing while we were hustling and bustling, trying to get showered and dolled up to take some spring photos. We grabbed the camera and headed out the front door to find baskets of goodies on the porch and a yard full of colorful eggs! The kids went nuts! They were running all over the yard like a pair of crazed squirrels trying to find acorns! The Monkey Man quickly realized that there were 3 types of eggs, ones that made "shaky-shaky" sounds had confetti, ones that went "thunk thunk" had candy, and ones that went "jingle jingle" had coins! Needless to say, if they didn't jingle, he didn't bother! But that was alright because the Piggy was much more interested in the "thunk thunk" eggs with the chocolate! Mama's girl fer sure!

After hunting and looting and stuffing their faces with Peeps and Butterfinger eggs (SO GOOD by the way!) it was time to break out the cascarones, literally! Last year the Piggy wasn't a big fan of confetti eggs, I was hoping she would be more open-minded this year! I was preparing for the utter mayhem that usually accompanies confetti egg fights, but was taken by surprise when my two decided to carefully crack the eggs and just sprinkle confetti on each other! Then they would gently remove the shells from each other's hair. They looked like a pair of monkeys grooming each other!


Shake it off Monkey!

The confetti actually stained her head! She still has pink spots on her scalp after 2 washes!

The remnants of a Happy Easter!



Here I am, surveying the aftermath, soaking up the luxurious sun and feeling utterly content in my little part of the world! How could I not be? I had a fantastic day with my family, watching my children revel in the simple things in life like sunshine, light breezes, blue skies, confetti eggs, sugar covered marshmallows and loads of hugs and kisses! I'm hoping each and every one of you also had a glorious day! In closing, I would like to thank my Big Daddy for some of the great shots in this entry! He doesn't get to shoot very often, but when he does, it's AWESOME!