A Mr. Magoo Kind Of Morning
How does one go about raising butterflies? In many of the comments from yesterday raising butterflies was mentioned. Did I take that too literally?
If not, someone tell me how that is done please, because it sounds so very interesting.
I’m walking around much like Mr. Magoo, a cartoon from my childhood, this morning. Charlie kept me up half the night wanting to go out. If I don’t get up right away he barks until I do.
If you’re too young to recall Mr. Magoo, he was an elderly retiree who got into a series of comical situations as a result of his extreme near-sightedness, compounded by his stubborn refusal to admit the problem.
I can’t for the life of me sleep during the day so I wonder if I could take on sleep walking to catch up on sleep? Maybe I could sleep walk Charlie to the patio door and stand there dreaming of being in my bed.
I was thinking last night: Charlie has slept at the foot of my bed for nearly 14 years now. I’ve tried to get him to sleep up close to me.
But he returns to the foot of the bed as though he isn’t comfortable with being so close. I think it is just his habit and I don’t take it personally.
I’ve also tried to get Ivy to sleep with us, but she won’t have any of it. She loves to be petted, but she is not a snuggly cat that will get up next to you and purr with contentment. In fact, I have only heard her purr a few times.
Either Ivy doesn’t purr much or she purrs so softly I can’t hear it.
Right now she is at the top of her cat tower about to take her morning nap.
She has taken to running off with my cotton swabs. Never bothered them all this time and now she takes them out and scatters them about the apartment. I shall have to put them in a drawer.
Last night she got the foot-long toy she received in her KitNipBox last week in between the bedroom door and the floor. I don’t know how she managed that, for I never shut that door.
I found her pawing at it, trying to figure out how to excise it from its entrapment. I reached down and rescued it for her.
We’ve already played a game of fetch this morning, where she goes running down the hall toward the toy and stops short of the wall, sliding the rest of the way.
Then she brings the toy back to me, looking for all the world like she’s caught a prize and is walking the walk of a stalker that has successfully seized its prey.
I had a cup of coffee but it didn’t help to wake me up all that much. Today will have to be a slow day. One in which I move around with clear intention instead of racing around like the devil is on my tail.
I’ve noticed that Kendra is just like me. Walking around quickly from task to task as though she must hurry whether she needs to or not.
Charlie, please let your mom sleep tonight.
I am envisioning something from my childhood. When I would take a quilt and cover a table and hide underneath it. The darkened little spot seemed so safe. All was right with the world.
I’ve always liked small spaces. Not small like an elevator, which can sometimes feel claustrophobic. But small as in a hidey hole that is all mine and no one is allowed inside without my allowing them.
I finished “The Accidentals” book last night. It was riveting and I hated to see the last page end the story.
This author, Minrose Gwin, is one of my favorites.
Hi. There are butterfly growing kits on amazon.com and other places too. Not sure how successful they are because I haven’t used one. Zinnias are among the flowers that butterflies like. If you do a search for flowers butterflies like you can find a lot of lists. Right now the only thing blooming in my yard that is attracting butterflies is a buddleia, or butterfly bush, one called Black Knight. I have some zinnias that haven’t bloomed yet because I planted them late. Oh, something that butterflies like is a wet rock that they can sip water off of as they stand on the rock or next to it. So maybe you could put a rock in your bird bath that can is positioned so it is just above the water’s surface and water can splash onto it and keep it wet. I used to do that but don’t have a bird bath set up at the moment. I need to get it set back up somewhere. You had a photo of a type of swallowtail butterfly recently and I just now thought of a time that my husband and I were hiking near a creek and there were several swallowtails with touches of bright blue on their wings, flitting over the rocks on the bank and landing for a few moments to sip up some water. It was such a lovely sight.
Brenda,
Have you tried CBD with Charlie? I have a 12 y/o Yorkie mix whose had chronic allergies his whole life. I’ve had many a sleepless night and know how exhausting it can be.
I recently visited a local compounding pharmacy (I’m in Austin) and was recommended a CBD just for pets called ONE FARM. Since my guy is only 5 lbs, I have to give him a super small dose, but I have noticed that he does sleep after he takes it. You may have to play around with the dosing a bit, as sometimes he needs more than the previous time before he settles down.
Hope this helps. I’m from Tulsa and love your blog…maybe I’ll get back there some day. Used to love going to the Rose Garden and sketching all the beauty there. Please take good care of yourself!
Is there a way to send you pictures privately?
Yes, via email.
Take him to the park on a leash and let him get a little bit if walking around and new smells and sights and tire him out. Try to keep him awake more during the day so he’s tired at night. If he’s not wanting out to go pee all day then he doesn’t need to go out several times a night just because he barks.
Lack of continual sleep can be very dangerous for your health. I wish there was something the vet could do to help Charlie sleep during the night.
Neither of my cats will snuggle either. They both love to be petted and will lay on our laps sometimes, or even better, on our chest/tummies if one of us is lying down. But if you try to hold them in any way, they hate it. My beloved Zippo loved to snuggle. You could hold him and hug him any time, and he’d sleep in our arms like a baby. I miss that kitty so much.
My library has the Minrose Gwin novels, so I’m going to call and “order” them and pick them up.
Be very careful with the q-tips. When our cat was less than a year old he had to have surgery. He had swallowed a sting about 2 feet long, the middle was wrapped around the base of his tongue. He had to have surgery to remove it and they also found the remains of 5 q-tips he had eaten. He lost a good bit of his intestine and the vet said it would probably shorten his life. He is 17 this year and still tries to eat things, felt is the worse but any fabric he will try.
Our dog always sleeps at the foot of the bed looking out toward the hallway. I think they are protecting us. In the warm weather Kaia will jump off the bed to be cooler. Charlie and Ivy are your entertainment. My sleep is awful, hope you get a good nights sleep tonight.
I have a friend who raises butterflies (Monarchs). It is fascinating but not an easy undertaking. You can easily find instructions on the internet. Good luck!
Check out itsallaboutpurple blog. Debbie has been raising monarchs for quite some time and has several posts showing what they do. It’s quite interesting. If you read some of her older posts, you will see how they home them before releasing them etc.
I don’t know if this is a possibility for Charlie, but we give our elder pup melatonin. He’s a little bean just like your Charlie, and though he doesn’t have a cough, he has developed allergies in his latter years, which we dealt with by changing his diet, leading to less ear infections, less licking his paws to death or being generally uncomfortable. But a month or so back he started jumping on and off the bed at night, sometimes wanting to go out, sometimes not, just sort of restless. Since the melatonin, however, he has less restless or wakeful periods at night. It’s worth a try, if it won’t interfere with other measures you’re taking for your wee dear one.
I already give him Melatonin and have for a long time and I even increased it.
My husband builds birdhouses and recently while looking at some plans he came across a butterfly house which he made for me.It is exactly like a birdhouse but instead of a hole in front for the birds there are 3 long vertical slots on the front. We have it hanging near our butterfly bush but to be honest I have never seen any activity as of today, but I keep hoping. Maybe one of your other readers has one and can provide some more information on whether and when I might!
Have a good one, sleep well!
Hopefully Charlie will let you get some sleep tonight I have a German shepherd but she’s an outside dog too big and too much fur for me I have allergies I do occasionally hear her barking if I haven’t turned my air purifier on she barks at the deer we have in our yard one night a deer was out back and was mesmerized by our outdoor light we waited for the deer to leave but she stood there at least 15 min it was awesome I love animals so does my hubby we are fascinated with them hope you get a nap in today 😊
My cat likes to jump on the bed around 3:30 a.m. to wake me up. She won’t stop bothering me until I get up and feed her. I don’t know if she’s hungry or bored. I feed her 1 packet of Delectables Cat Stew Treats to distract her so that I can go back to sleep. One time I trained her to let me sleep through the night. It took about 10 long days, but I did it. Then my son got a job as a delivery driver and had to wake up before dawn. I started waking up at that time too and my cat got used to that.
I don’t know very much about butterflies, but many years ago I planted parsley. The caterpillars LOVED them! Soon there were lots of cocoons in that area . I like butterflies so I just let the caterpillars have them.
We got our cat from the Humane Society and we had her several years before she started to purr. Most of the time she purrs so soft that I can’t hear it but when I put my hand on her, then I can feel the vibration.
Our pets keep us entertained, that’s for sure.
Sorry you are not sleeping well. Ivy and Charlie have their routines and habits just like us. I guess we are all creatures of habit. Have a good start to the new week.
One of our dogs is like Charlie and prefers to be at the foot of the bed, NOT a cuddler or laptop. Her sister is not a lapdog or cuddler either, BUT she does want to sleep right up next to me…until she gets hot and moves ;-). She is quite the little heater!! She is up often during the night due to senior-pup health issues. Disjointed sleep is tough.
Reading about you and Ivy playing fetch brings back warm memories of me playing fetch with a cat I had. Prior to her, I had no idea cats liked to play fetch.
Hi Brenda,
Last year for the first time, I raised monarch butterflies from small larval instars (the stages between each of their 5 molts) where they eat milkweed like crazy, to their transforming into a beautiful jade colored chrysalis with gold spots (this happens in about one minute!) to finally emerging as a beautiful butterfly that will flutter away within the hour.
Like caring for anything, it is work, but so worth it to see the miracle of their development. I have milkweek growing around my yard so I get my larvae from the plants. In the wild, Monarch’s have about a 10% chance of survival.
If you aren’t able to raise Monarchs, consider planting milkweed which helps protect their habitat, as this is the only plant on which they lay eggs and which the larvae eat.
Oh Magoo, you’ve done it again! I loved Mr. Magoo especially Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol. I try to watch it every year & still cry in the same scenes.