underdogishere

World, meet Stormi!



Stormi, meet the world.

Yes, on this day when we celebrate rebirth, after a season of death and despair, we are announcing that Judi has a new beagle puppy, a blue-ticked beagle (different from the usual tricolored beagle) named Stormi. Stormi is a little bundle of charm, nerve, confidence, attitude, temper, and... oh yes... love. She clearly believes she owns the world. Perhaps she does. But she's more than willing to share it with the rest of us. And she loves everyone. You included.

How, you ask, could Judi bring a new beagle into her life so soon after losing her most beloved Princess Sunni? Well, that's a good question. Unfortunately, the answer, while wonderful and uplifting, is too revealing to post here, and so to see it you will have to jump to my other blog that I mentioned a while back. To read that story, click here. You will need to be approved to read that blog (reason explained in the aforementioned post), but if you would like to be approved, all you need to do is ask. Click here and send me a message. That's all you need to do. I will approve you (as long as you're not Certain Someone). I promise.

And here's another picture:



Many more will follow. I promise.

Labels: Dogs, Princess Sunni, Stormi, There's No Need To Fear, Uplifted

In this post I told you how twelve butterflies -- eleven Monarches and an awesome Black Swallowtail -- emerged from their chrysalises and ventured into the world on the day that Princess Sunni began her journey to England -- twelve butterflies for the twelve years of her life. Here are some pictures of those butterflies from that day, including one of a Monarch resting in the hair of the Princess's brother Kyle, and one of a Monarch in Judi's hands (click on any picture for a larger version):









This is the Princess's Black Swallowtail:



There's one more picture of the Black Swallowtail, but it's too painful to post here, and so to see it you will have to jump to my other blog that I mentioned a while back. To see that picture, click here. You will need to be approved to read that blog (reason explained in the aforementioned post), but if you would like to be approved, all you need to do is ask. Click here and send me a message. That's all you need to do. I will approve you (as long as you're not Certain Someone). I promise.

Labels: Butterflies, Princess Sunni, There's No Need To Fear

It's been a busy time on the butterfly front: We've had fifteen Black Swallowtails and six Monarchs emerged from chrysalises this week. We got to watch a lot of them come out! And I have a lot of pictures. I'm going to break them up over several posts. Clicking on any picture should give you a bigger version.

Let's start with one morning's scene inside the Caterpillar Chateau. You can see a newly emerged Monarch and a newly emerged Swallowtail hanging and drying their wings, a Monarch chrysalis (that bright thing on the left), and two Swallowtail chrysalises (the things hanging from the plant stalks near the bottom and right). The right-most Swallowtail chrysalis has turned translucent -- you can see the butterfly inside -- so it's ready to emerge itself shortly:



Two Black Swallowtails on Judi's hands:



Judi holding two Black Swallowtails on one hand (gosh she's strong :):



A Black Swallowtail up close and personal:



Transferring a Black Swallowtail to a cluster of penta flowers, and the butterfly on the flowers:



A Monarch on Judi's hand:



Action photo!



The Monarch on a tibouchina:



Before I get to the other action-packed posts, there was one especially poignant moment during the excitement and, sometimes, chaos of the past week. However, to read about it you will have to jump to my new blog that I mentioned a little while ago. To continue reading about this poignant moment, click here.

You will need to be approved to read that blog (reason explained in the previous post), but if you would like to be approved, all you need to do is ask. Click here and send me a message. That's all you need to do. I will approve you (as long as you're not Certain Someone). I promise.

Labels: Butterflies, There's No Need To Fear

A brand-newly hatched Black Swallowtail caterpillar, just out of the egg (those are the whorls of my fingerprints for size comparison):



They get bigger (you can see an unhatched egg in this picture, too):



They get lots bigger (same finger and thumb):



No kidding: The caterpillar in the third picture is the same -- Black Swallowtail -- as in the first picture.

At the Butterfly Farm in St. Martin, they joke that the caterpillar is the "cruise ship phase" of the butterfly's life, because all they do is eat, eat, eat. However, I can assure you that there is one more thing they do a lot of:

They poop, poop, poop.

But as they make their way from the critter in the first picture to the monster in the third, and then eventually to this, they are subject to predation. Lots of things around here want to eat them -- lizards, tree frogs, and birds, to name a few. So...

...this post is concluded in my new blog and I mentioned a little while ago. You can read it simply by clicking here. You will need to be approved to read that blog (reason explained in the previous post), but if you would like to be approved, all you need to do is ask. Click here and send me a message. That's all you need to do. I will approve you (as long as you're not Certain Someone). I promise.

Labels: Butterflies, There's No Need To Fear

I mentioned in a post a few days ago that I've started a new blog, and that new posts that mention Judi or Princess Sunni would be posted there, instead of here. I've just published a new post there, titled Fay and the Butterfly Gardens. You can read it simply by clicking here. You will need to be approved to read that blog (reason explained in the previous post), but if you would like to be approved, all you need to do is ask. Click here and send me a message. That's all you need to do. I will approve you (as long as you're not Certain Someone). I promise.

Labels: Butterflies, Hurricanes, There's No Need To Fear

I mentioned in a post a couple of days ago that I've started a new blog, and that new posts that mention Judi or Princess Sunni would be posted there, instead of here. I've just published a new post there, titled Mid-life Crisis. You can read it simply by clicking here. You will need to be approved to read that blog (reason explained in the previous post), but if you would like to be approved, all you need to do is ask. Click here and send me a message. That's all you need to do. I will approve you (as long as you're not Certain Someone). I promise.

Labels: Musing, There's No Need To Fear

I enjoy writing posts to this blog (as few readers as I have, you know I don't do it for the fame :), but sometimes things don't work out the way they should. And I'm sorry to report that there is a Certain Someone who has used information I've posted about Judi and Princess Sunni to cause Judi harm.

Judi and I have talked about this, and we agree that we can't give Certain Someone more ammunition to hurt her. At the same time, Judi doesn't want to close my blog to surfers of the Internet's Tubes, or cut off any loyal readers who are interested in news about her and/or Sunni. So this is what we've decided:

I will not post about Judi or Sunni on this blog any more. Instead, I've started a new blog, There's No Need to Fear (get it?:), and that's where I'll be posting about these two special ladies. It's at:

http://theresnoneedtofear.blogspot.com

However... the new blog won't be public. It will only to open to approved readers. But if you want to be approved to read (be the first approved reader on your block!:), all you have to do is ask. Just click here and send me a message. Everyone who asks will be approved (except, of course, Certain Someone).

But (I hear you say), yet another blog that I have to check? No. You will not have to check the new blog. Any time I post there, I'll also post a notice and a link here, on this blog, so if you're a regular reader here you'll just be able to click-n'-read (registered trademark pending:) there.

Judi and I are sincerely very sorry to inconvenience you like this, but our hand has been forced by. Again, if you want to continue to read about Judi or Sunni, please click-n'-ask (another registered trademark pending:) Everyone who asks will be approved. I promise.

New, Improved Blogroll!

On another blog-related subject, I've cleaned up the blogroll over on the right. I removed four blogs that have been deleted or suspended by their writers (I'm sorry to see you go, Amy, and you, too, Spencer), and also the link the Wen's blog, since she's made it password-protected and I don't have access. And I've added four new blogs that I read and enjoy:

• Carolyn writes about being mom to Thanh, adopted from Vietnam, at The Three of Us.


• Alan Vanneman has written three new Nero Wolfe pastiches that you can read for free (New Nero Wolfe! For free!) at his blog. And you can read an epic about a cockroach, too.


• Holly is candid and self-reflective in an insightful way (not an easy task) on her blog, Holly-Traveling.


• And I'm afraid I'm not sure of name of the young lady who posts at The Aviary, but she's both a libraian and an avid Nero Wofle fan, and when you've got that combination going for you, the world's your oyster.

Check any of them out, if my description makes you think it might be your cup of tea. Green tea, of course. Shaken, iced. Venti. Two pumps. You know where.

Labels: There's No Need To Fear