OMG!!

Here's what I saw in the monarch ranch when I got up at 4:45 this morning.......9, count 'em, 9 chrysalis have turned black because there's a monarch butterfly in there ready to emerge!

And here are the 9 beautiful new monarch butterflies that greeted me when I got home from work this afternoon!

I will be using my last 9 monarch tags when I release these butterflies this afternoon, for a total of 50 monarch butterflies tagged and released this summer! This is a new personal best for me and more than doubles my totals from the previous 2 seasons of operating a monarch ranch. I'm already planning to purchase a larger enclosure and expanding my monarch ranching operations for next summer. 75 sounds like a really good number, don't you think? (tags can only be purchased in lots of 25)

Sadly, this concludes another season of monarch ranching. It will be strange to not have monarchs sitting on the kitchen counter anymore, since they've been taking up so much of my time at home for the past couple months. But, it gives me something to plan for and look forward to for next summer. I'm already collecting milkweed seeds from plants in my backyard to start new seedlings next spring and figuring out where and how to expand milkweed plantings to encourage and accomodate more monarch activity in the backyard.

I strongly encourage any of you who are interested to try monarch ranching. I think you'll find it a fun and rewarding activity for a minimal $$ investment. I'll even send you seeds if you want to try growing your own milkweed plants! "Try it, you'll like it!"

Milestone Friday

I achieved a couple of milestones today. The 2 full birdseed bins shown below (100 lbs each) represent the first milestone: I finally broke the 1 ton barrier for birdseed purchases in 2009! My local birdseed supplier is having his annual sale, so I stopped on my way home from work and purchased 300 lbs (bringing my total birdseed purchases to a whopping 2200 lbs!)

You know how in my profile I say that I'm "forced to work to support my birdfeeding habit?" Well, this is what I'm referring to. I've saved all my receipts from the beginning of the year and recorded how many pounds I purchase at a time (never less than 50!) because I wanted to have a record of how serious this addiction really is. I probably won't total the $$$ I've spent (ignorance is bliss!), and I'm thinking there are probably other hobbies I could be spending way more money on, right?

Here's the other milestone -- my final "Pay It Forward" project (the Modern Quilt Wrap) is complete except for weaving in a few long yarn tails on the back side. I know I've been knitting on this project for at least a year and a half and I can say with genuine sincerity that I'm glad it's finally done because I was getting really tired of it! I know my recipient (Mama Pea) will be thrilled to find this package in her mailbox sometime next week!

Any milestones in your life lately that you want to report on?