Caterpillars, Apples, and Blue Skies

Wow I haven't blogged since December. Sorry folks. I am still getting used to the whirlwind that work is. It is non-stop from the moment I walk in until I force myself to leave as close to 5pm as I can. Yes, it is difficult to get out of there at 5, after skipping lunch and working straight through. It is so busy, so many different things happening, so exhausting.

After December, which was full of vacation days and holidays, I have had to adjust to full work weeks with full staff in office. Mostly this adjustment has been dozing off shortly after dinner, if we actually have dinner.....

Yes, some nights we don't have dinner. Just snack. I had carrots and dip one night for dinner. I found we had lots of carrots and hardly ever ate them, so carrots and dip for dinner. Which is a nice lead in to the state of our refrigerator. Let me just say we could not take the smell any longer. Finding the smell was the tough part. Long story short, a full cleaning of the fridge was necessary. Took everything out, purged, cleaned shelves and drawers, only put back in things we will use. It took probably 3 hours over Friday night and Saturday morning. Who knew kidney beans could stink so bad? 

It felt so good when I was done though. Wow, a sparkling clean fridge, food with no questions attached (how old is this....is this still good...)! And it spurred some motivation to use some things. Like 3 small Grannie Smith apples, slightly old. What do you do with apples that are a bit soft, a bit old, that you wouldn't want to take a bite out of? You MAKE APPLESAUCE of course!

I can't make applesauce without thinking of my dear friend who showed me just how easy it is to make applesauce. You know who you are....after a morning picking apples from the long driveway orchard at her aunt and uncles weekend home we peeled and cut the apples and made the very best applesauce. The best weekend ever, that was. And I think about it every time I am peeling and cutting and cooking and mashing apples for applesauce. 

It was such good applesauce, I ate it all. Hubby didn't get any, he was too busy in the yard. He is still like a kid. Came in and said "quick get your camera I got to show you something!" I, less enthused, said what is it, is it worth going out side just now? He assured me is was, and lo and behold a bug. He ran in to get me to come see a bug. 

Mind you, this is a hefty bug. Caterpillar to be specific. A big fat juicy one. And all I could envision is it squishing and how nasty that would be. I always had to pretend to be excited and loving all the bugs and things my young boys found. I always was a bit creeped out. This one I was full on creeped out. This thing is over 3 inches long and plenty fat. 

So since I work with biologists, hubby made me send the photos to the scientists to see if anyone wanted it, instead of just throwing it in the canal to feed the fishies a nice meal. We had to get a container for it and darned if I didn't feel like a mom trying to please the kids and authenticate their excitement for nature and exploring and finding interesting things. This is no young boy, my hubby of 27+ years. Just a biology geek among his talents. 

 

Ah it is all good though. It is interesting stuff. And I didn't have to touch it. The picture above is his face. I don't think he is smiling, or is he? 

It was exciting, that thing will turn in to a similarly creep Sphinx moth, just as crazy big and scary looking. Recently we read about how these creatures are the only pollinator to the rare Ghost Orchid. A very interesting read here, particularly for the biologists and those interested. Yes I live with a biology geek, have raised a biology geek, and I work with them too because yes, one of my coworkers knows someone who wants this little fellow. So we are trying to keep it alive for him. Big "kids", collecting bugs.  

Now that it is well in to 2021, and several full work weeks behind us, I think we have a routine of sorts. Enough so that we snuck in a nice walk, back to an old route, the Mosquito Road. It is just an old dyke road, now where the MRCU (Mosquito Research and Control Unit) has mosquito traps and studies the little mozzies. More bugs. But during the day, not so bad. 

And great mangrove trees, and butterflies, and oh so blue skies that day. It was lovely, great to be back out moving a bit. A hopeful week, but it is still early in 2021. So not getting our hopes up just yet. Just taking one day at a time. That is all we can do. 

Today is a holiday for me, Ash Wednesday. So I have time to write today. Though I should be writing a paper for the ILM Level 3 course I am taking. But since I just got done becoming a certified Mental Health First Aider (MHFA), I am taking a break from classes, courses, performance reviews, purchase orders, etc. My weeks are so full lately, I am taking on a lot, so a day in the middle of the week is a bit of a luxury and I am staying away from work related things and just writing for me. I am enjoying dark chocolate covered almonds. I may, or may not, cook today. If it feels like work I am not doing it. As I just learned in my MHFA class, self care is necessary to be a good MHFA. We cannot pour from an empty cup. So I am filling my cup.

Don't forget to fill yours too.  If we learned anything from 2020, I hope we learned that we can and do endure, we do make it through, we can come out stronger on the other side. Most important, we must not let our cups get empty.