Woolly Bear

It is always a little surprising when you see a big fuzzy caterpillar strolling around in the spring.  We tend to associate caterpillars with fall; and in most cases that is correct.  However, the Isabella Tiger Moth caterpillar larva (the woolly bear) overwinters in caterpillar form, taking shelter in crevices, logs, deep leaf litter and don't spin their cocoon until springtime.  I found this lovely guy making his way across out driveway.  Since he'd also caught Jax's attention, I quickly scooped him up.  He's been relocated to a safe are of our garden with plenty of good cocooning spots.  But not before we had a quick photo shoot on my hand!

I had one of those horrid nights where I couldn't sleep.  I was still awake when the sun came up, feeling stressed and irritable.  Once Hubs and Jax got up, I finally went upstairs and managed to sleep for about 3 hours.  Feeling much better now, although still operating at a sleep deficit.  

I've scheduled my scan for Friday, shortly after my mammogram, so getting it all done in one day.  Yay, me.  Meanwhile, Dad is meeting with his doctor today to discuss the next steps for getting rid of a rather large kidney stone.  

And somewhere in our house, a smoke detector is chirping.  I only hear out of one ear which means I have no ability to detect where sounds are coming from.  And Hubs is losing his high range so he can't hear the damned thing at all.  It's both frustrating and funny.

Jax is currently napping.  We just had to rounds of "find it" where I hide kibbles in various places around a particular room and then turn him loose to find them.  It's a great scent-work game for dogs and he loves it.  It also wears him out, which is good.  Hopefully we will get out for a walk later if the rain holds off.  It's quite chilly again today.  

This morning before anyone was up, I saw the bluebird female bring some grass into the nest box, so I think they are finally getting serious about nesting.  You can expect lots of bluebird photos in the weeks to come.

Nothing dark yet today but I'm thinking something with nuts...

xo
Debbi