Here he is - Yesterday's "Good Luck Butterfly". And this is the story - Monday morning as the kiddos and I headed out the door to feed critters and do chores, Granddaughter spied this butterfly struggling to escape under the step away from Prairie Dog's tongue and jaws! She said "Whomever can pick up a butterfly, it will bring GOOD LUCK to that person all day!" So, of course I rescued it (I would have done so anyways. We all know Corgis do not need to eat EveRyThInG in their sight!) and put it on this plant for a photo op. 3 hours later I checked on it and it was still there, but as I reached out to it, he decided to flitter way up high into the air and out of our sight! Wouldn't it be wonderful to be able to do that? Someday.....!
We decided it was breakfast time, but as we came towards the house, there was some screaming and swatting into the air - and someone yelled "Jacket Bees!" Here are some pictures of the Jacket Bees...
In actuality, they are Hummingbird Moths. These busy creatures come out several times a day to siphon nectar from the flowers, in this case, from our Butterfly Bush, which is highly scented! Hummingbird Moths do not sting, and this had to be explained to the kiddos. When they spotted them the next time, there was no swatting or "scream-age".
As the day progressed, we decided to go swimming at the old swimming hole, a couple miles drive west of our woodland home. Not many came for a dip, and the heat index was at 100 degrees. Possibly due to the sprinkling of
Good Luck from the Magical Butterfly, both kids came back toting an overabundance of snail shells that we will use for crafts. I cautioned them to make sure they put the shells back if the
'door' was closed on the shell. We did not want to upset any
occupants if they came out to find themselves made into a necklace or glued onto a flower pot, or something else highly unusual in the snail world!!!
Later in the afternoon, we had to call the vet out to help Candy. She got "choke" which can be deadly to horses in this heat. Here is Viv, highly concerned about Candy's having food caught in her throat.
Viv shows how she massaged the throatlatch area to help break up food that was impacted, while we waited for the doc to arrive. If you enlarge the photo you may be able to see the green coming out of Candy's nose - saliva mixed with the food juices that were caught even lower down (near her heart area!) than what we had first thought. The
"Good Luck Butterfly" was with Candy, as the vet was able to clear the obstruction out in record time!
Last but not least, the "Good Luck Butterfly" helped sell our Jeep that we had listed for several days, with no bites until Monday Evening. Many calls, many 'no shows', and people that arrived only to say "...if the AC doesn't work, why dont you FIX IT?" -----they didn't realize it would cost more, and we're selling it because we didn't care if it worked when WE bought it - we were more interested in having the MOTOR run good! One person said she couldn't buy our jeep because it had a sun roof and her husband might someday transport a ladder and would probably stick it through the glass..... Hmmmm. Shouldn't she be looking for a TRUCK if he transports ladders??? It takes all kinds, folks!
Have a great day - we are out to enjoy ours!
Signed:
the ChickenWrangler
