Italy - I've been away from the forum for a number of years now but am still actively growing. Al - It's been a rough 5 years or so. Back in 2018 I started my own business selling high quality Adeniums (cultivated by me from seed) to local nurseries. When Covid hit. All the nurseries shut down and business came to an abrupt halt, I had 118 Adeniums ready to go but no one to buy them. I eventually sold some to family and friends, but gave most away (keeping my favorites). More recently, my mom died in May this year of an aggressive form of cancer (no one saw it coming). It's left me wanting to get out of Colorado; and move to someplace where Bougainvillea's grow naturally outdoors. Rob

I am a DIL and live on a farm with three kids, 7 yo, 5 yo and 14 months. I used to work full time and tried to keep up all the house work. I was major league stressed and the kids felt it. You can't enjoy your kids when you are yelling at them to pick up or getting mad because they have made yet another mess! I don't have a really clean house. I keep up on the dishes, laundry, must sweep my large kitchen floor twice a day and vacuum when needed. My DH is NOT neat. He is like having a 4th child and I tell him this all the time. He can be neat when he wants and when he gets tired of something the way it is, will clean or organize. We have a challenge with the kids and their rooms. My 5 yo DS pulls everything out of his drawers when looking for clothes to wear. My 7 yo DD throws her clean/dirty clothes and everything else on the floor and then when told to clean up, shoves it under her bed! I did not have a mother who took care of my toys and clothes. I did, if I wanted them to be around. I do not want to run around keeping everything as it was, meaning keeping track of all their things. If they want it and like it, they should take care of it. We try to teach them about respect of their things. When they are somewhere else, they have respect for others things, just not their own. I have a large veggie garden, 50 rose bushes, 3 horses, chickens, 2 dogs and cats. I can not put all my effort (and do not want to, it does not make me happy) into keeping a spotless house. I don't like dusting. But I do all the yard work, scoop dog poop so the kids can play in a clean yard and take care of all the animals. Not to mention cooking, dishes, kids baths everynight, homework, reading bedtime stories, and then their needs to be time for me!(I have not been horseback riding in over 2 months) :( When we are having company over, like my Dad, who is anal about housework and does it himself, I clean like a mad woman. Although, I don't know why because he probably still thinks it is not clean enough. This is probably how your DIL feels. Life is too short and we all need to have some fun everyday. Don't stress over things that really aren't going to matter in the long run. I would rather have my kids be happy and playing than me running around yelling at them to clean up all the time. Just had to do some venting, this is a hot spot for me as well in my own house. Sorry it is so long.

On another flight the child behind me was almost constantly kicking the back of my seat. His mother did notice and several times and said "Don't kick the back of the seat, its not very nice" the kids response each time was to kick the back of my seat more violently and more frequently for a minute or two. And the mother's response was nothing. Then later at the end of the flight, the flight attendant came by a couple of times and asked the child "Are you done with that glass? I can take it." To which the child petulantly responded "No! I want it!" Which is fine. However the last time the attendant said "You have to give the glass to me now, so I can finish the final sweep of the cabin." Which is a command, not a request. Again the child petulantly responded, "No! I want it!", pulling away as the attendant reached for it. Which is not fine, and in fact refusal to comply with the directions of a flight attendant is a violation of federal law. The attendant explained she needed to finish the final sweep of the cabin before the pilot was allowed to land, the mother tried to talk and coax and wheedle and bargain with the child for about 30 seconds, the child's response was to kick the mother, kick my seat, scream some more, and squirm to prevent the glass from being taken. At that point I undid my seat belt, stood up, reach over the back of the seat, and plucked the glass from the child's hands, and handed it to the flight attendant. She thanked me, and finished the going through the last few rows of the cabin, reported in, and within 30 seconds the pilot started the final parts of the landing process. Meanwhile the mother is ranting at me about touching her kid, (I didn't touch him), defending her complete lack of parenting, and threatening to file a complaint with the airline about me or file assault charges against me. The worst of it though is a burly moron from the row behind her took up her cause, joined in with verbally attacking me, and then even proceeded to follow me through the terminal, asserting he was a lawyer, threatening to file charges on her behalf, and threatening to assault me to see how I liked it. So to answer the original posting, when I stop giving a child "a pass" for their bad behavior, is certainly when the child's behavior is breaking federal law, and (very slightly) endangering everyone around them.

A search for butterfly+species+flight+times yields several detailed flight charts for the U.K. and Armenia (!). Digging further, I did find a link to a chart on the Massachusetts Butterfly Club webpage http://www.naba.org/chapters/nabambc/club-publications.asp#checklist (scroll down to the yellow guide; the flight times chart can be ordered for $1.50 and there is a sample page for free) -------------------------- "...when certain species might make their way up to New England". Monarchs of course migrate and make there way there periodically, but most other New England butterflies are simply native to the region. Certain species have infrequent population explosions and spread out from the center of these events, but the year is hard to predict.