La Luna

The boys and I came home to find this gorgeous Luna moth drying her wings outside the barn door this afternoon. I'd never seen one in nature, before. I am awestruck, words just can't describe the experience, so I attempted to with the camera. She was almost as large as my hand!

She was resting right by her cocoon - you can even see the hole she chewed to get out. Tucked safe and dry under the clapboards of the barn, she had been growing and changing right there for the last couple of weeks, just waiting for the right moment to emerge!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Actias_luna

Evidently these moths don't have mouths, so they don't eat. They only live about one week - just long enough to produce more little baby Luna moths. How tragic and lovely at the same time.

Hauling Hay...errr...Happy Valentine's Day

My loyal mate is a romantic man...and a strong one, too, as luck would have it! For Valentine's Day my friend, Debbie, let us borrow her truck and Lali was initiated into the world of hauling hay. The need for said hay will be discussed in a future post, as it is getting close to 1 in the morning Mississippi time. Every "farm" needs at least one hay requiring creature, does it not?










This is Lali's hauling crew - well, the smallest member of the crew is inside the cab of Debbie's truck fiddling with knobs and things (sorry, Debbie - I think I got everything turned back to normal...) The barn has a wonderful "hay" smell, now - very refreshing!

Where the Wild Things Grow

There is more of this wild onion looking plant growing in the upper pasture than you would believe - smells HEAVENLY when you dig it up. I think you can smell it all the way to the barn! I've dug it up for our friend, Cris, and she's in love, too. Well, I harvested some to make a special meal for Lali - the boys helped. They l-o-v-e digging things up in the pasture. In fact, after we dug up this plant, Galen and I made many test digs looking for worms - I love the country, sigh. Well, I brought these into the house and lovingly cut them up, just waiting to go into that special dish. When Lajos came home he couldn't understand why our whole house REEKED of garlic smell...have I mentioned that Lali is allergic to garlic...gives him lovely GI pain, etc. I never cook with it anymore, so just didn't, ahem, recognize the smell. Well, they DO strongly resemble green onions...even Lali said so ;)! Here ya go, Cris - another bunch for you!

Thomas' Thomas the Train Birthday Party

ALL the boys had a great time at their friend Thomas' 2nd birthday party this month. Ben loved riding in the "comboose" with Apu and Galen. Happy Birthday, Thomas!

Hello, Kitties!

This is an introduction to our other farm animals, the cats! Angelo is our first family kitty - we adopted him from the local cat rescue through Petsmart. He's the best kitty and very patient with the boys - lots of purrs even after they chase him around. He has a blue eye and a green eye like Verdi! He's also a wonderful "roacher." No bug spraying for us, Angelo takes care of it the natural way! Lots of little roach body gifts of love left lying around...
























This is the newest addition to the farm "herd" - Piroska! We also found her through the local cat rescue which places cats through Petsmart. Piroska (peer-osh-ka), or Piri, is a cute little bundle of purrs and is about 8 months old. Finally another girl around the place! She appears to be a dwarf - her legs are thick boned and short, and she is small. Evidently (what did we do before google) "Munchkin cats" were originally bred from feral cats found near Monroe, LA - about 2 hours from here. She has the funniest facial expressions - her whiskers stick straight out!
http://www.the-dwarf-cat-association.com/Munchkin.html






















Angelo isn't quite sure he wanted a sister. Ok, I forgot to ask him... There is some hissing and yowling from Angelo, but Piri is all sweetness and play. Right now she's in the laundry room and he's got "his house." We're letting them get adjusted slowly - cats are so complicated. Lajos says "just like women!" Hopefully we'll have a unified cat family in the near future - no kittens, they're both fixed. Piroska is an old Hungarian name - piros = red. Little Red Riding Hood's name was Piroska.

Cultural Lesson of the Day...

... little boy style. A Verdi opera (please note farm dog's name ;) with the gypsy frosting hoards sweeping onto the scene and making it an altogether more beautiful and colorful place.

Happy Birthday, tomorrow, Dad!

Can I blame the boys for this one? Ok, they may have been given a little nudge...