Let Them Sleep

   I rise before dawn and relish my alone time while I meander the Small Gardens.  It is here that I can revel in the beauty of the new day and give thanks for the peaceful sleep of the night before.  It is also here that I find a lot of my critter friends.  We share a love for the wildness of the overgrown plants and the dewy coolness that the night has brought.  

  This morning found me almost entranced by a single bumblebee that was snuggled down inside calyx of a spent bloom of the mist plant.  The bee had probably sought shelter for the night but had not been warned of the predawn thunderstorm.  My poor friend was waiting for the sun to dry its wings and warm it so it could continue its daily foraging.  I let the little one sleep even though the plant needed deadheading.  Bees are of high importance to anyone who gardens so they are treated kindly.

  It is funny how it never occurs to some folks that things like bees sleep.  Just like us, they need rest and will seek out some cozy spot to bed down for the nighttime hours.  My little bee friend did not choose its napping place wisely as the rains had to be startling.  Perhaps next time, it should shelter beneath the ginger leaves.  Rest on, Little One.  I bid you a good day.

Bees Do Sleep

   The Bayou area is full of surprising finds.  With nearly every hike about the place, something new catches my eye and causes the wheels in the old brain to start whirling round and round.  With each new discovery, there comes a thousand questions.  What?  Where?  Why? When?  And the big one...How? How is usually spread out into a bajillion segments.  It makes life interesting and keeps the brain working.  

  My hikes, as a norm, start before dawn and then wind up when the sun rises above the pines.  That is when the outdoor chores begin.  This morning, Mark went fishing so I wandered about the place.  At one point, I stopped to admire the goldenrod that was in full bloom.  Goldenrod is one of those misjudged plants.  People give it a bad rap thinking it causes their allergies.   I have given up trying to explain that ragweed is the culprit as no one wishes to ever admit they may be wrong.  Oh, well, so be it.  But, I like the goldenrod and wish it would bloom year round instead of just the fall.  It seems that the bumblebees wish it would, too.  Early this morning, a tiny bumblebee was found asleep nestled down in the downy soft blooms.  Obviously, the little bee had been busy last night and decided to sleep the night away in the bloom.  It chose a full cluster that would completely surround it.  This would camouflage it from any predators.  Once it awakes, it does not have far to go before it has breakfast!

  Bees, butterflies and other insects do, indeed, sleep.  Bees and wasps that make hives usually head back inside for the night but solitary bees sleep where they find shelter.  Flowers provide that nicely.  Butterflies choose a thicket and then hang upside down among the leaves.  Just as an added note here, the cutesy butterfly houses are not a good idea.  Butterflies prefer bushes not houses.  While it may look adorable, you are more likely to attract wasps than butterflies.  Red wasps love to build their nests in these things.  (That spoken by the voice of experience.) Yep, I was given a butterfly house.  Yep, every year red wasps have claimed the house.  Nope, nary a butterfly has even looked at the adorable little house. 

  The next time you are out at the crack of dawn, check the insides of flowers.  You may find loads of little friends are using them as their beds.  During rainy times, be sure to look inside of lilies.  The cup shape provides a nice shelter for our insect friends!  Bees DO sleep!  

Butterflies do sleep!

  As a kid, I was taught in grade school that butterflies only lived one day as an adult.  They had to morph, find a mate, eat, lay eggs all in twenty-four hours.  By morning, their lives ended and a new generation took over.  My later years proved this "fact" as fallacy.  Most butterfly species live at least a week and some live up to a year!  There may actually be a "one day wonder" but not according to most butterfly websites.  School taught me a lot of things but, the older I get, the more I find that what I learned was not always fact.

  That said, if butterflies do live longer than one day, they have a lot of time on their hands!  Then came another question...if butterflies live more than twenty-four hours, do they sleep?  Well, yes.  Butterflies do sleep.  In fact, it would be rather ridiculous to think they do not.  At night, butterflies find a safe spot under a leaf or branch or in the midst of a shrub to hang upside down.  There, they do sleep.  In inclement weather, they will find a more sheltered place (thicker shrub or under the eaves of a building if available).  The butterflies will stay hanging in this manner until the morning sunshine warms their bodies allowing them to fly.  As the day begins, the butterflies flutter about the area seeking sustenance from flowers and letting us admire their beauty!

  This small Gulf Fritillary Butterfly was found on my pre-dawn hike around the lower part of the property.  The path led past some weedy spots and I was fortunate enough to spot the beauty.  Since the sun had not risen, the butterfly stayed put and I was able to photograph it quite easily.  This is how butterflies spend the night!  Butterflies do sleep!

No Rest For The Weary

  The past few days have been particularly tiresome.  Our old refrigerator (the Big Ugly as I named it) decided that it was time to go on the blink Sunday night.  This was a most inopportune time as deliveries from our local Home Depot are only made on Fridays.  What was I to do?   Son tinkered with the gigantic white elephant of a frig and finally got it going enough to keep things cool.  Great!  Except for the fact that the fan was not working on its own, all was good.  Every hour or so, one of us had to go to the kitchen, reach down behind the frig and twirl the fan to get it started.  While I was appreciative of any bit of cooling the old frig could give and I did not mind getting out of bed to twirl a fan, it began to get tiresome after the first night.  No sleep makes for a confused brain and achy body.  Normally, I am an early riser.  Watching the sun rise above the pines gives me great joy and a time to meditate before the hustle and bustle of the day begins.  This morning, however, I really...REALLY...wanted to snooze just a bit more.  That bed felt all too comfortable!  Then the unimaginable occurred and I was forced to tumble out of bed regardless of my thoughts of otherwise.

  Caw!  Caw!  CAW! CAW!  Oh, good grief!  Right outside of the open window a crow decided to welcome the day by yelling its fool head off while in the black gum tree.   Ok, so one bird would probably be met by the bazillion blue jays of the neighborhood watch of the critter world and be chased far down the hill...hopefully.  Then the first calling bird was joined by another, then another and yet another until just about every crow in the county was sitting outside my window!  What was up with that???  Well, me, for one.  With all that racket, I just had to check it out.

  By the time I dressed and slipped on my shoes, several more crows were flapping their way to my front yard.  This was ridiculous!  Camera in hand, I slipped out the door to investigate the invasion.  All I could think was "Why are you not here in October for the clue hunt?"  (How perfect would that be??)  I edged my way closer to the crows who had now moved down the hillside to the tall oak tree.  Dozens of the large birds were still causing a ruckus and were now being joined by the blue jays.  The jays were attacking the crows, the crows were yelling and I was standing in drizzling rain pondering the whole situation.  Then, in spite of all that cacophony, I heard a weaker call.  An almost whispering "caw" came from a nearby pine tree.  My attention turned to that bird.  

  Yep!  There was the cause of all the uproar.  A fledgling crow was learning to fly!  Obviously, that old adage about taking a village to raise a child holds true in the crow world.  One baby leaves the nest and it is a countywide event!  That is fine.  I am all for baby birds taking flight.  I am all for adult birds guarding it during its trial run.  I am not all for it happening right outside my window at 5am when I am suffering from an extreme lack of sleep!!!  GO AWAY, SILLY CROWS!  AND TAKE THOSE LOUD-MOUTHED JAYS WITH YOU!!!  Grrr!