Giants on the Move

It's been a very plentiful year for both Giant and Tiger Swallowtails - this being a Giant.  I didn't take a lot of photos today, but was torn on which to post.  It was between this which is pretty and the one in Extra which is interesting.  I went with pretty.  

The shot in Extra is a bunch of insect nymphs right next to their empty egg casings.  If you look very closely you can see where the tops of the eggs have split.  What I am not entirely sure of is what these are.  I believe they are some type of shield/stink bug but someone on an entomology group said they were burrowing beetle nymph.  I think he was wrong because everything I could find on those species suggests that eggs are laid in soil where this was clearly on a leaf about 4 feet above ground.  I'm hoping they stay put a little longer so that maybe I can see what they look like after the first molt.  My money is on predatory stinkbug.  

Well, we are officially no longer the owners of an RV.  Definitely bittersweet, but we know it was the right decision.  And the new owner is already on his way to Lake George in NY State with his wife in it.  His wife is a cancer warrior, so there is some symmetry to the line of ownership, at least in my mind.  And from a practical standpoint, the buyer has a commercial license to drive big trucks, has done a lot of work on diesel truck engines and has owned RVs before.  So he knows what he's taking on.

In other news, we are also down a car - it looks like the Mercedes has a terminal trans issue.  It's a 2006 and isn't worth that much, so we are going to try to unload it to a mechanic who said he was interested; barring that we'll look to donate it.  We will try to go through the winter with just my car hoping that the chip shortage in new cars sorts itself out.  It's always something, isn't it?

Jax had three walks today plus a trip to Starbucks for a pup cup followed by a trip to a locally owned pet store where they always make a big fuss over him.  We came home with bones and other treats ... and one happy dog.

So that's a wrap for today.  I already had a square of dark with peanut butter and I may just have another of plain dark.

xo
Debbi

And in Monarch news - 4 released today. Two for my mom’s 2 sisters, Pat and Sally; and two for a mom and a dad, one who just passed a few days ago.