Finally there's One

Monarch chrysalis

I have planted milkweeds in my yard for years. Mostly those plants attract everything except the Monarch butterflies I was hoping for. This year I only saw 3-4. There were less Great Spangled Fritillaries as well. The Tussock moth caterpillars ate great swaths of plant foliage, leaving only lone seed pods on stripped barren stems. Removing the few milkweed beetles seemed to have prevented a milkweed pod armageddon (unlike last year). I didn't see any praying mantises either. 

Oddly, the milkweeds were not swarmed by golden aphids which were overwhelmingly terrible last season. Which meant not a lot of ladybugs. We have had the usual lot of snails, tiny black ants, dragonflies, other flies, and a lot of white cabbage butterflies. In a surge of late summer, the Japanese honeysuckles ensconced in our privets have bloomed again, which is unexpected but much appreciated by all the different bees. 

A few days ago, I noticed a small (3/4") jewel glistening under a broad milkweed leaf at the edge of the driveway. I have two milkweed patches: the main patch has been invaded by the hard to eradicate, extremely invasive mugwort stalks; the second patch is surrounded by jewel weeds and sheltered by privets and a very large red Japanese maple. It's the second patch, partially shaded for most of the day, where I finally saw my first chrysalis. (I think the mugworts have been instrumental in keeping the spotted lantern flies away.) 

Katydid

Directly under it, on the same plant, there was a rather large katydid spanning 5" in length. A quick internet search suggested that the immobile chrysalis could be eaten by protein-hungry, egg-laying katydids, so I put a seed pod bag over it for protection. I'll remove it when the chrysalis starts to turn transparent, an indication that the butterfly is ready to emerge (eclosian). 

Some people bring their cats indoors to pupate, and keep them in a net enclosure, but it is said that those butterflies emerge weak and have no ability to migrate properly. I keep looking to see if there are other chrysalis under the big broad milkweed leaves, but all I've found are lots of little snails, another katydid (the first one got relocated to the other side of the yard), and many juvenile green stinkbugs. Ugh. The latter are apparently also predatory if given the chance. Is that why I've had no monarch cats (caterpillars) lately? I saw two late last summer but they were small and nowhere near big enough to pupate. 

I did make it to the gym for the second time this week, and it hurt a lot. While the pedaling got slightly better, the pull-ups felt even worse with my right leg & foot numb and throbbing before I even got to the Stretch Cage. Not at all promising. Happily, it was a nice day outside so the free weight area was mostly empty. 

I had every intention of just doing 8 reps for all sets of both the Rip Skulls and the Skull Crushers since the right shoulder was clicking and complaining. That'd be 16 total reps first set. And then, the joint warmed up and I added a few reps the next set. And then back to 12 reps for the third and fourth set. Again, my sciatica only really bothered me while I standing with my feet planted to do Standing DB Lateral Raises. Maybe I should try doing those seated next time since I do the DB Alt Curls seated anyway? 

I had the balmy Aerobics Room all to myself and only did the movements that didn't aggravate my leg, glute, foot, calf. I've even resorted to doing modified arm rotations while seated on the mat instead of standing. I don't get the big stretch, but my right shoulder hasn't been happy with big stretches lately. 

Yesterday I figured out how to fire up our ancient PlayStation 3 because it's also a dvd player and I borrowed an old movie from the library system: The Lion in Winter, with Peter O'Toole and Katherine Hepburn, 1968. I have a vague recollection of watching this as a child but needed a refresher since I've got tickets to see a playhouse performance in December. And it's always more enjoyable if you know what the hell is going on. Now that I know how the dvd player works, I'll be able to watch a lot of the discs we've amassed when our kid was a wee tot. Cuz not everything is streamable these days.  

18 September 2026 1:22-3:15

Sciatica Friday

Bright Sunny Warmer SCIATICA

Precor elliptical #1 (2:00)

Program #2

Time: 30 + 5 (5390)

Distance: 2.75

Cal: 300

Precor HR: 195, 143-118

Google Health: 46-131

(Foot numb / calf clenched )

HGPU 14.5 (painful b4 I even start)

Skip right leg lunge stretch

Skull Crushers/RipSkulls (2:13-2:48)

30 lbs x (16; 20; 24; 24) reps (x 4)

S/s with

Standing DB Laterals w/ 10 lbs x 15 reps  

15 x 15 x 3 

S/s wit

Seated DB Alt Curls w/ 10 lbs x 12 (2:20);

15 x 12 x 3 (2:28); (2:38); (2:46)

Balmy Aerobics Room

20 Piriformis/Hip flex (2:50-3:15)

20 Hamstring / 20 nerve flossing

50 crunches x 2

12 Piriformis stretches

Child’s Pose

Cat/Cow stretch 12

Child’s Pose

Fire Hydrants 30 x 2

Air Squats 25 (mild sciatica!)

Seated Arm rotations 20

Neck Stretch / eye yoga