Interesting People
April 25, 2010
Bentsen Grove here in Mission, Texas is getting more vacant every week with Winter Texans leaving for their homes in the north. But there are some people that are moving into the park. While technically this is a 55 and older park there has been an Army Sargent that has moved his fifth wheel here within the last month. He is less than 55 but I have a feeling that he will be seen so seldom that few people will notice. The new resident that will be noticed and has already been noticed is the lady that has moved into a home right across the street from us. A friend of mine had owned that home and bought the house that is just to the south of me. So my neighbor that was across the street is now my next door neighbor and I have a new neighbor across the street. People in this park sometimes move around a lot. I can say without question that the new neighbor lady is a plus to our street and the resort.
THREE MONARCH BUTTERFLY EGGS ON MILKWEED LEAVES
She is the only person that I have ever known that raises and cares for butterflies from the time they are eggs to the time that they have become full grown butterflies. On her front porch she has several caterpillar castles in which the various stages of some Monarch butterflies are kept. There have been several tiny eggs that have hatched. The eggs are white to the unaided eye but under a magnifying lens there are lines that can be seen. I am not sure if the lines are color on the eggshell or part of the coloration of the caterpillar that is growing inside. They are about a millimeter in diameter I would guess. That means that 25 or more of them laid in a line would reach an inch in length. That size estimate is mostly a guess. When the eggs hatch the caterpillar is so small that it is difficult to see. It seems that they double in size every day or so. So to begin with there is not a lot of change but after a few days the size change is dramatic. As tiny as they are they really can move quite rapidly if they want. They are also genuine eating machines. They eat milkweed. Back in Kansas I could identify a milkweed but here they look very different than the ones I remember. In Kansas I pulled and cut down thousands of milkweed from all over the farm. Here I have actually planted one and I hope it grows so that I can provide some food for the caterpillars. Their black and yellow stripes are very pretty. This is probably the first time in my life I called a caterpillar that was not a woolly worm pretty.
THE CATERPILLAR OF THE MONARCH BUTTERFLY ON A MILKWEED LEAF
When a caterpillar reaches a certain stage it changes into a chrysalis where it will metamorphose into a butterfly. The chrysalis of the Monarch is a light green color with several gold spots on it and a string of gold beads around the upper portion. It is the most colorful chrysalis that I have ever seen. Except in a butterfly pavilion where they has several hundred chrysalis I don't think I have seen any color except some sort of brown. Just before the Monarch comes out the chrysalis turns black. So perhaps I have only seen chrysalis that were about to change.
One Monday morning when I had lead a session of the Computer Club meeting the lady brought over a chrysalis that was about to open. I would have stayed to watch and take picture and maybe video if duty had not called. Erma was able to see the whole “birth” of a female Monarch Butterfly. She did get some pictures and a bit of video. When I came home the butterfly was fully formed and almost ready to make its first flight. It was very interesting to see her stretching her wings and getting the strength for flight. She would hang upside down and exercise her wings just like an athlete running in place might do. A short time later we took the castle outside but she did not seem to be ready to fly. Maybe she was reluctant because there was a bit of a breeze. A male Monarch that had just been born also was put into the same castle with the female and they stayed at our house for about an hour. When the wind died down a bit we took them outside. It was not long before they took flight. The male went first followed shortly by the female. When they decided to fly they were gone in seconds. A couple days later I saw a Monarch flying near our motorhome and I wondered if it was one that we had released. The chance that it actually was one we released is small but it was nice to think it could be.
THE MONARCH CHRYSALIS WITH ITS GOLD SPOTS AND GOLD BEADED BAND
If someone had ever asked me if I would consider writing a POTR that had a subject as limited as this one has been I probably would have said, "No, I don't think so." While this has been about four different individual in actuality it could have been a single one. I have had the opportunity to see several different caterpillar growing and there have been several chrysalis that are hanging in the caterpillar castles. It will be fun to see them change in the next week or so.
We are still in Bentsen Grove in Mission, Texas. We are staying longer this year than would be normal. But perhaps this the new normal, I cannot say with any assurance. At any rate we have been telling people that we would be here until the middle of May. That gives us something to say without being too specific. Being unplanned is nothing unusual for us. We have gone on vacations where we got to the end of our street and then wondered if we should go left or right. The important thing was to get away from home for a week or two. Our plans for the summer are also pretty much unplanned. This year is my 50th class reunion from high school and I have promised to go to that. The school I graduated from closed four years after I graduated. Then for some years it was used as a manufacturing plant. It was torn down a few years thereafter. So there is nothing where I went to school except an open field with some storage sheds on it. I have been to one school reunion since I left and thought that the 50th year might be special to me. It will be interesting to see if any other graduate from my 1960 graduation class show up. When I was there for my 47th I was the only one from the 1960 class. There was only six in my graduating class so the reunion will be for all classes that ever went to the school.
THIS IS THE FEMALE MONARCH BUTTERFLY JUST SECONDS BEFORE IT TOOK FLIGHT
About a month ago the Bentsen Grove Resort line dancing class put on an evening performance on stage for the park residents. It was the first time that the class had done that kind of performing. I had set up my video camera to video the performance. Since I was supposed to be on stage dancing I had a friend do the actual video operating. He also used my digital camera to take a lot of still pictures. For being the first time that was done by any of us things turned out very well. I was able to produce a DVD for the dancers that wanted one. That was a learning experience in itself. I have a lot more respect for those people that make films and videos. I think it is probably common place to gain respect for others accomplishments as we get more understanding of the work that is required. With time I hope to be able to learn more and become better at the shooting videos and creating DVDs.
Last fall a friend of mine did not have access to the Internet so he came to ask if he could use my computer to go harvest his crops in Farmville. To do WHAT? It was a game so I watched him play the game in Facebook and it looked very interesting. For several months I did not start the game but I would hear about it from him. I finally took a look one day and started playing. Since then Erma has joined the game also. It is a lot of fun and it can take as much time to keep up with as we decide to devote to it. What I really need is one more thing requiring some of my time. But I have to say it is fun to play. Wanna be a neighbor to Erma and to me? You might find the game as interesting as the two of us do. But then some say, "Friends do not let friends get addicted to Farmville."
Till later this is Doug of
Peace On The Road
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