I had 4 gsts eclose since yesterday afternoon, last two eclosed early this morning around 2am. I kept waking up to check on the last 2 that I knew were about to eclose, so I could make sure they were up and hanging and had not fallen. Around 2 am, when i checked, the last two had eclosed, and it appeared they had both just eclosed a few minutes prior to me checking. One of them kept falling, so I unzipped the reptarium and kept helping it back up because when it would fall it would just lay there on floor of reptarium, meanwhile, one of the two that had eclosed that afternoon, was flying all around the reptarium and knocked the one who was having trouble holding on to hang and dry wings, down more than once, but eventually, the newly emerged butterfly, climbed up the side of the reptarium and hung vertically, i tried to coax him up with a stick so he would be hanging upside down rather than vertically, but he would not. So I looked and saw that his wings were not touching anything and were not crumpled so I thought he would be okay if I left him like that, since he refused to move and seemed to be determined to stay in position he was in. This morning when I woke up (and I checked on him all through the rest of the night to make sure he was still up and his wings were not crumpled, and they were not) all of the others were ready to go, but this one was flapping his wings wildly and kept falling or flying side to side, like he could not fly up any higher, i looked closer and the little ""tail" part on one of his wings, was missing and I saw it on the floor of reptarium, he also has what looks like a tear or piece missing on another part of the same wing, like a small "v" shaped piece is missing toward bottom of wing, his wings do not look crumpled or deformed other than those two little pieces, I noticed that when he crawls, the same wing looks like it sometimes bends upwards, this is the left lower wing. I took them all outside this morning around 8, and unzipped the reptarium and the other 3 flew out and were ready to go, the other one, just crawled around but never flew out, so I cut some lantana and put it in the cage with him and put him back inside, thinking maybe he just isn't ready yet. He was still "flying" around the reptarium and sitting still and flapping his wings really fast, so I am hoping he will be able to fly, and maybe he just wasn't ready this morning, I am going to check on him at lunch to see if he wants to be released. I have seen pictures on here of gsts with tattered wings that are still able to fly and this one's wings don't look anywhere near as bad as some of the pics, so surely these two little tears will not prevent him from ever being able to fly!

I thought about you all last night. And Helen, I was up about the same time you were. The TV weather picture was a sea of red and boy, was there water coming down! I had just shy of 3 inches in the rain gauge. My car trunk in the garage is covered with plants ready to go out, and I had even planted a darling little Supersweet 100 tomato a couple days ago. I knew better-- She got covered with some loose straw and a pot over her this evening. Surely our drought has been broken. I wondered this AM if I should be boiling water, as the last time we had that much water, it was after the tornado. But I thought maybe Folger's would take care of everything, and apparently there wasn't an order out after all. Not one tulip bloom was shattered, nor were any dogwood blooms knocked off, so all we had was rain. The thunder and lightning was terrible, though. "Our" storm pushed off east and made some big trouble today. So sorry. And I'm real sorry I didn't mow earlier! Sunny

How old is your gal? I am guessing that she must be up there in age since she has had a daytime caregiver for 10 years. This sounds like my 90 year-old father. I have been caring for him full-time for three years and have come to the conclusion that we cannot protect the elderly from every single thing. My dad goes to bed 1-1:30am and is up around 7:30am. I take an hour or more to unwind after he retires so I am getting to bed late but I am here 24/7. I used to keep a baby monitor in my room so I could hear when he gets up (since he has been prone to falling) but had to remove that after a couple of months because I couldn't rest well. He does talk and make a fair amount of noise until he drifts off. If she sleeps for 6 hours and gets up at 3am I would suggest that you begin by attempting to set back her bedtime in 15-30 minute increments. If she goes to bed at 9pm then engage her in conversation, a card game, reading out loud or watching a 30 minute program. Tell her that you are concerned that you are still asleep for hours when she gets up. If that falls on deaf ears then can she check in with you before she goes to get her coffee and sit? Perhaps you could put the monitor in the area where her chair is and keep the receiving end next to your bed. At least you have a better chance of hearing something if she falls or calls your name. My dad eats at the wooden tv tray next to his "all day" chair and has spilled hot soup on himself (plus other hot food) and I just deal with it. I have had several of his doctors back me up but some folks are just going to do what they want. At least your gal uses her walker. My dad is "nicely" antagonistic to his and I am constantly reminding him to use it even though he states he is getting better ... which he is not. If you have access to her primary care physician and/or any of her other healthcare providers then I would place a call to them and let them know what you are dealing with. If there is written info that you have called then there will be less of a possibility for the doctor being unhappy. I am sure that most know how the elderly can be. How about you put her soup in a smaller cereal bowl (or desert bowl) and place that inside a larger one so most of the spilling may be contained without landing in her lap. Robyn

Sweeby is right, it may have come out wrong. she may not understand how germs spread and that she can get sick, maybe she just took it as 'stay away from me' and got her feelings hurt. She'll get over it, like tired says, she's young & they forget as long as you don't make a big deal. You don't have to listen to kkny, her last sentence worries ME. She has a problem with SM having a relationship with SK's, so she thinks your DH should be able to handle it all by himself and you are stepping over boundaries.... especially if your SD is closer to you, which is quite normal for a little girl to be closer to a female, than a male at her age. IMHO.