Limping Butterfly, Creeping Deer

Yes, my life is like a Chinese art film sometimes. Without all the cool martial arts and flying through the air.... Or the beautiful clothes.... Or the Oscar nominations...

There's been a wounded, monarch butterfly clinging to a dried wreath we have hanging up on the side entrance door for a few days now. It hasn't moved in a while and I kept checking to see if it's dead, but it always moves a bit if I get too close. My husband noticed it first and saw that its wings had gotten wet and one was damaged, probably during all the heavy rain we got on Saturday. Anyway, it hasn't budged in a while and I was feeling badly for it and thought perhaps I should try and feed it. I got a 1/2 teaspoon and filled the reservoir with a pinch of sugar and some water and picked up the butterfly with its face pointed toward the sugar-water mixture. It was one of the coolest things I'd ever seen. It moved its little head downward and its long probiscus uncurled, then dipped into the water, drinking with gusto. Yes, I could see it drinking with gusto. The thing must have been starving and that really seemed to help him bounce back. After a while of feeding him I kept trying to place him back on the wreath but he wouldn't get off of my finger. Ironic since I spent so many hours as a child trying to get these things to land on my finger. I was finally able to send him off and he flew as far as the garbage/recycling shed. Guess I'll have to go check on him later and see if there's anything else I can do...

Later this morning I spotted a grazing deer up on the hill. I had the video camera on the kitchen counter, right near the window but remembered that the battery needed recharging and I tried to plug it in and almost got it in time when David hit the window with his hand, scaring the deer back up the path. One of these days I'll get it on film. Then I will tell my story...