Pity Pets

Genetics control a persons characteristics, hair, height, eye, etc. Simple biology everyone remembers from Bio I and Bio II. What genetics does not control is what I refer to as generational characteristics.  There is current field of study called epigenetics, "a term used to describe inheritance by mechanisms other than through the DNA sequence of a gene" researching traits passed from parent to child that are not genetic.  In trying to better understand this research I stumbled upon this overly detailed, highly intelligent post written by the Britain Society for Cell Biology. Being I took Bio I and II over 20 years ago and this was way more than what was covered or remember from those classes, after attempting to process the information within this article, I came away understanding less than before I started. What I was trying to determine was if a trait tactic employed by a parent passes to the child unknowingly only to be used by the child years later as an adult unwillingly.

For example: Friday of Easter weekend while enjoying out favorite breakfast, the Kid was complaining about the upcoming five hour ride he had to endure. Understanding the Kid is just being a Kid and that while the drive really is five long hours, the ride is relatively easy.  He has his own seat, a pile of books to read, a phone to play on (if he doesn't run his tween mouth), and the final destination is somewhere he wants to go: Great Grandmas. His complaints mostly unregistered on my irritation level, I was sitting there enjoying the moment when one my mothers most annoying tactics appeared. The tiny fiddle, playing his tiny sad song.  BAM!  Out of no where too.  Having not lived at home since I was 20, this tiny fiddle and all of its irritation has not been seen nor heard nor endured in more than 20 years.  Yet there it was.  A tactic so easily used on my fingers, one would think I used it daily. 

But I don't. This irritating act caught me so off guard I started laughing.  The Planner who has been with me longer than without me found it funny too.  For him it was novelty.  For me it was, it was, it was... Words cannot describe.  After the laughs died I had to explain the tiny fiddle and its sad song, where it came from, and how it works.  As a child I would tell myself I would NEVER as an adult use the tiny fiddle.  It was a pity motion.  A poor woe is you motion.  Every time I saw that tiny fiddle, I repeated this mantra.  It must have worked because I can honestly say I have NOT ONCE since leaving home have ever thought of it.  So where did it come from? Epigenetics?  Don't know.  What I do know, is that it is leaving.

Going to Great Grandmas is a treat.  She is a tiny little German who is and always has been frail thin, unlike my large stock German heritage.  At 84, she had lived more life than most.  Born and raised in Texas Hill Country, she spent many years starving as this is a dry brutal land unsuitable to make a living from, yet managed to raise seven kids and is blessed with hordes of grandchildren and great grandchildren who come to visit regularly.  In her spare time when she is not working at the local restaurant or is in town at one of her numerous daily activities, she is managing the house and all of its responsibilities, cutting the grass, feeding her hundreds of hummingbirds, crocheting on one of her various projects for friends, or tending to her fabulous garden.

And while those are just a few of the fabulous things she does, it is her garden that amazes me the most.  I cannot grow a pot plant in a pot and this woman grows Southern Living worthy plants in dry, parched, unforgiving dirt.  Seriously, just look at the ground.  Nothing should grow there, yet it does.  As if it the flowers were genetically modified for that dirt.

For all the beauty found in her garden, it was this little gem stealing the show.  Unlike the tropical milkweed in a bucket at Plan473, Great Grandma has real native Texas Milkweed with monarch caterpillars and ladybugs to boot too.  There were dozens of these fabulous little plants with dozens of little caterpillars happily chomping away.   It was a pity knowing the plant would never transfer to the coastal bend, I left hoping my tropical milkweed would spread and grow and then next year I too would have dozens of milkweeds with dozens of caterpillars who grow into dozens of butterflies.

Growing into butterflies has yet to happen as the only caterpillar that has been seen morphing into the next stage of life was eaten while gone.  Before leaving the Kid and I watched in fascination as the caterpillar was preparing itself for the next stage.  Preparing for the chrysalis stage, the caterpillar finds a safe place and does a type of wiggle dance.  Not having my phone there are not pictures of videos to show, Luckily for you, this is the day of the internet so you can watch one from the USFWS. Watching it jump, and swing, and vibrate we were prepared to watch the stage before our eyes.  But it didn't.  And when we came back it was broken.  Bummer. Both the Kid and I were so let down.  I had a moment of pity as I should have protected the caterpillar from all the mean things in life.  Life is life and death is part of life too.

Later in the week, after another trip to the doctor for the Kid (he developed a rash to an antibiotic and was covered in head to toe rash) I stopped by the local mom and pop feed store for some happiness in fluff form.  Knowing they would have little peppers as it was just Easter, we swung in to review their newest collections.  Boy howdy, did they have a ton.  Some of the most plentiful in multi stages of age were bantams, Rhode Island reds, and Buff Orphingtons.  There were hundreds of little peepers all warm and toasty in their red light cages.  The Kid wanted one of every one.  While admiring the flock, the chicken man said there were some pullets around back if we wanted to see them too.  Pullets that were the same costs as chicks, oh by the way he quickly said.  What, the same cost!  Excuse me sir, you must have made a mistake as pullets are always more expensive.  He said wait till you see them.  Oh good grief, these pullets have been attacked. Some were almost completely featherless.  The Kid fell in love.

And I am a sucker.  I took pity on the poor Kid and the crappy week he was having.  We arrived home from the doctor with a new round of medication creme, an over the counter anti-histamine, and four new peepers.  Not having an clue as to how they were going to integrate into the old flock, the old flock was kicked out the coop, the new flock was moved into a dog kennel so they could see around, and immediately plans were developed for housing quarters.  Quarters had to be something quick and temporary as these flufferbottoms already six weeks in age and would double in size quickly.

Upon inspection of the birds in the box, the Planner (who had been warned of their state of affairs) just shook his head and looked at me with pity.  What! Like you could have resisted the Kid any more than me?  Please.  Besides, their issues are only cosmetic.  They will look better. Later.  Maybe...

Two walls of the coop are the actual run itself.  The third wall uses some of the remaining re-purposed outside decking from the shower project.  Spacing between the slats of the deck boards allowing the chickens to interact with each other but not enough room for escape was judged with the thickness of a 2x4.  The fourth wall was from the winter rye seeder.  This fourth wall was easily removed so water and pellet feeders could be replenished daily. Within less than an hour, a temporary 4x4 coop was built.  From start to finish, an hour.  Never has a project at Plan473 taken this little of time.  Guinness Books this project time line.  If all projects could be completed with this ease and within this time frame, there would be lots more projects completed.

Somewhere over the course of a year and half since last usage, the Gatorade Water bottle was lost.  What made the Gatorade bottle remarkable was the hefty handle system.  If this water bottle is going to have to be used for more than a few weeks, the handle will break as it bends and sags with the weight of just a half gallon.  After corralling and a quick adjustment to the pellet PVC feeder built during the original Chicken Boot, the new peepers were set in their temporary home.

Trying not to feel pity for their state of affairs, I had to be reminded they are just chickens and that this parched, bare housing is short lived.   No chicken swing, no brightly colored exterior color to bring happiness, no fresh grass to scratch.  Poor pitiful existence.  Funny thing about pity, it is a feeling.  Therefore pity only affects the person who feels it, not the person being pitied upon.  Guess the chickens don't feel pity.  No pity party for them.

Doing the Monarch Caterpillar Crunch

Couple of weeks ago I went to the local mom and pop feed store for some chicken nourishment. At the front of their parking curbs were all these beautiful in bloom flowers.  Known for the native plants and needing some new color in my life, I had a quick looky loo.  A plant aficionado I am not but I can read the plant pots. Reading milkweed upon the pot I snatched this beauty up as milkweeds are hard to come by and the butterflies love them.  Especially the monarch butterflies. Caterpillars, which there were gobs of all over every plant in all shapes and sizes, were free of charge.  Excellent! Pretty plant for me, free snacks for chickens.

A quick re-pot into something much more pleasant on the eyes and with more room for plant growth, the new found deck beauty was all set. Other than the coral honeysuckle, all the other plants, both volunteer native and bought native, are all not orange in color.  Oh well, the lantana is orange.  But as it never blooms and looks like death, it is not counted.

A few days later while admiring this new beauty I noticed many leaves had been feasted upon and were invaded with aphids.  Oh, those drated aphids.  They have been plaguing my garden since way back when, a time way before the Kid even.  They leave a sticky mess on the leaves, damage the plant from fresh growth, and worse yet are carries of plant viruses.  The best way to kill them is to smush them between two fingers or invest in an arsenal of ladybugs.  Having no ladybugs to invest in, I smushed until my fingers were stained yellow.

During the attack on aphids, this leaf chomping caterpillar was seen happily chomping on of the flower buds.  All that was left of the bud was the stem!  Upon further inspection, it became visible that many of the buds had been chomped away along with several sections of new leaves.

At this rate, these five chompers would have eaten the entire plant in just a few weeks. Poor plant can't even grow new leaves to compensate for that of which were eaten.  Not to mention, if left to their devices there would not be any pretty flowers either. Not too large in size yet, he and his other party goers were given the boot.  Dang, I just wanted a simple plant for the monarch butterflies to have when then migrated thru. Why does everything in nature have to be so destructive?

Later that evening when reading on how to care for milkweed in preparation to all the fabulous butterflies that would arrive, I discovered something horrifying.  Horrifically horrifying.  Single-handedly, I had killed close to a dozen monarch butterfly caterpillars!  AHH!!! How irresponsible of me not to have know.  The thing I was trying to save, I killed.  Oh, the shame.

Luckily for me about a week later there was lots of evidence of caterpillars again.  Where did they come from as monarchs are not currently on migration?  Apparently, they lay their eggs within the plant where ever they are grown and the plants travel with caterpillar eggs to their new destinations. With this new found knowledge I took great appreciation in watching the workings of these leave chompers.  My goodness.  They literally just eat from the moment they are hatched to the moment they chrysalis.  Amazing.  Have to say I am a little jealous as there are plenty of days where I would just love to eat and eat.

And not just absently eat.  They eat with a methodical neatness at a high rate of speed.  The above video is 16X the normal speed filmed. What took 5:22 minutes to record and watch in rapt fascination is now just a 1:20 minute clip.  If humans ate that quickly we would be compared with pigs in a pen.  Oink, slurp, snort.

Upon watching a caterpillar devour this bud, I looked for new signs of eating at every possible moment.  Most times the signs were seen but not the action.  Having noticed this fresh dropping, I soon discovered the doer. Man on man did I strike it rich too.  He was a monster and he was still eating.  Quickly grabbing a comfortable seat, I took to recording.

Over a series of video and just over 20 minutes, I watched a leaf disappear before my eyes.  Winds in the 30mph gusts did not deter the affair.  Humans within a 5 foot space did not deter the affair.  It was an absolutely incredible moment.  My only regret is that my video recording skills are less than BBC documentary level. Learning to cut and splice videos for smooth transitions is a learned skill and probably requires more power than my free video maker can accomplish.  But hey, you get the picture, right?

Life for this leaf started out this morning as a leaf the length of my index finger (3").  By the time the leaf chomper had his fill, the leaf left was a tidbit.  A speck. A pinch.

Seriously, I don't know how even to describe something this small in terms of leave.  It is just the stem and a bit.

And while I am trying to best photograph this chomped remains, I can see through the leaves the caterpillar on his next found feast. Chomp, chomp.

Spring Has Officially Bug-an

Spring officially began on Wednesday, March 20, two weeks ago today.  However, spring at Plan473 has been in bloom for over a month.  A month into springy goodness, there are now more vibrant flowers in more vibrant colors. Blue is my most favorite color and blue flowers are hard to come by. This tiny specimum is the size of a nickel and sadly only appears for the day.

Did you know that while there are blue plants/flowers in nature, blue in animals is rare?  In fact this common misconception of blue in nature is so wide spread there are gobs of articles/videos trying to educate about true blue.

In nature, the most common pigment are carotenoids in orange, red, and yellow. Of which there are plenty of flowers in bloom.  Some are planted like the milkweed (orange), the hibiscus and bottlebrush (red), and the esperanza (yellow).  Remaining are free range self propagated with names unknown. 

With warmer spring days (finally!) comes the bugs.  Insects.  Bugs.  Insects.  They are not one in the same as all bugs are indeed insects but not all insects are bugs.  Ask a Biologist, a fabulous web page from the University of Arizona, states the differences lie in their mouth parts. True bugs are classified as having a rigid proboscis unable to be rolled up.  However, as science is ever evolving as our knowledge is increased, bug people and taxonomy people are forever changing the representation.  Being neither a bug person or a taxonomist, for the sake of this post they are all bugs.

According to the Smithsonian Bug Info there are about 10 quintillion insects alive at any one time. Do you know how many zeros a quintillion has?  19!  Plan473 clearly does not have the tiniest fraction of a quintillion insects, but the number of bugs are on the rise everyday. 

Like the vast majority of the flowers they inhabit, the bug/insects are unnamed.  With exception to a few nasties, the bugs don't bug me.  Even the nasties that bug me are only because of what they represent.  For example, roaches.  Nasty buggers, the lot of them.  Wood roaches are these huge over size rolly polly with no wings, no buggy antenna.  Yet, they creep me out.  Unlike their america cousins, these come out morning, noon, and night.  Unlike their cousin counterparts, they tend to stay outside and have never once been seen in the house.  Wood roaches are whatever.  American roaches, may they die a painful death. 

Other insects/bugs are more desirable.  Bees. Bees are insects everybody should love, protect, and cherish. Without bees, pollination would cease.  Without bees, there would be no fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds, and in some cases flowers. Without bees there would be no honey.  A world without honey is not a world worth living in.  Don't believe me, then check out the Honeypedia website.  Bumble bees love the hibiscus and the esperanza flowers.  Watching a big ol fat bumble bee land and walk into a delicate esperanza flower is fun.  The bee weighs so much sometimes the flower drops and the bee falls out. Seriously, bumble bees are the size of bite size carrots!

Then there are the tolerated insects.  Bumble bees and honey bee emit warm fuzzy feelings.  Yella Jackets and Red Wasps lend to swatting with a shoe feeling.  Lend being the key word.  To date not a single yella jacket nor red wasp has been killed, intentionally.  And they are constantly within killing range as they both love the lush bottlebrush. Love and share the wealth, not love and horde on the flowers within the walk path so as to be bothered every time a human walks by. The Kid is baffled daily at our insistance that he may not kill the wasps.  Every insect serves it purpose and yella jackets and red wasps have a purpose too. Live and let live.  If they become aggressive, then they will be relocated to the bottom of the next closet shoe. 

Insects that are loved by all so much so that there are people who travel from location to location to admire in their native surroundings are butterflies/moths.  Butterflies are not moths and moths are not butterflies.  Butterfly antenna are club shaped with a bulb end.  Moth antennae are feathery or saw edged in shape. The Library of Congress gives detailed differences by wings, anatomy, behavior, and reproduction.  Butterfly or moth, they are both beautiful in their own right. Spring is prime season for monarch butterflies and monarch butterflies love native flowers. Monarch butterflies are just one of the dozen butterflies/moths presents at Plan473 this year.  Nothing knowing what classification the many other fall into, I can only distinguish by size and color.  There has already been a small yellow b/m the size of a quarter,  a white moth with black dot an 1-1.5" in length, a butterfly similar in coloring to a monarch but smaller, a white moth the size of a quarter with one black spot on each wing, and swallowtail butterfly with blue tip wings to name a few.

Nuisance insects are those that cause no real damage but can be plaque worthy are ants.  Plan473 has tiny black ants, sugar ants, the much hated fire ants, carpenter ants, and ants with and without wings.  Tiny black ant are only ever seen on flowers such as the yellow one above.  The are the size of sugar ants but jet black.  Sugar ants are known to come inside when the weather dries out and will get into everything.  None biting, they are a mess to deal with.  Fire ants on the other hand are truly the only insect that will be killed without qualms.  Not native and completely destructive, these biting b******* will bite without instigation and will continue to bit until you squash their stupid heads. Carpenter ants are harmless for the most part but become a nuisance during hummingbird season as they will raid the feeder and die in a sugar induce coma inside clogging the feeder for the hummers. Ants are a take and leave it situation. 

Insects like plants come in an array of colors too.  What plants the insects like I guess depends upon the insect and the plant.  The above picture of the coral bean flower with its toxic seeds.  It is said that hummingbirds love coral bean flowers. Never have seen a hummerbird at the color bean flower nor an insect for that matter.  I have seen the chickens eat the entire plant when it is young and tender several times.  They have yet to die.

 Another plague worthy insect Plan473 has in abundance already are grasshoppers. Currently they are small and dead grass colored but if the past years hold true by summers end they will be bright green and the size of quarters.  Worse, they could be the tan-green 2 inch long buggers.  Indifferent to grasshoppers as a whole, the large stick sized flying for a quarter mile grasshoppers creep me out a little.  The light tan grass colored grasshoppers tend to stick to the grass but have been known to be found this purple green vine along with spiders and little black ants.  Insects love this little vine.

Insects are a much needed part of nature.  Some come and go without any evidence.  Others not so much.  Even when not in plague proportions, insects can reek havoc on plants.  This native ground cover was fine at first.  When the leaves expanded to full width, the insect damage was visible.  This insect bugged in and out and was never once seen. Yet another unnamable plant, I can tell you this about it.  The flower is the size of a half dollar, smells slightly sweet with a sick bitter undertone, is an insect magnet as bees, ants, and butterflies/moths have been seen upon its leaves, and prefers the understory rather than the full sun. Interesting is the insect only bothered with the leaves. Reminds me of stinkbug marks on tomatoes.  Hmm, haven't seen stinkbugs. Gonna have to keep an eye out for them.

Honeybees are just one of the few insects of which there is never enough of in nature.  Ladybugs are another.  Ladybugs are excellent aphid controllers.  Ladybugs are also great pollinators. There are both native and non native species.  As with all non native species, they push out the native and are not as beneficial to the nature environment as native species. Real native ladybugs were seen several days on this white wispy flower, new this spring.  In fact, this was the only plant on the whole property.  Unusual in coloring, it was stark white on a tall stalk with small feather leaves at the bottom.  Very pretty and lovely with bright red ladybugs.

The only other white flower is the of the olive tree on the deck.  Whereas the pretty white flower above stayed for several days, the olive tree flower is here and done within a day.  Still alive and on the plant for days, it is only bright white for one day. Another surprising note about the olive tree it is lack of insects.  Does the flower not smell? Does the stamen not produce food? Being native and non toxic, why the lack of insects? It is really bugging me about its lack of bugs.

Spring in South Texas has yet to let me down in coloring plant/flowers/insects/bugs.  Even with the cooler weather the show has been spectacular.  With April already in full bloom, summer heat is just around the corner.  Summer heat with its summer biting bugs.  Buggers.  So for now, I will continue to enjoy the nice cool wet spring.