Author Archives: Kristy Nicole

Praying Mantis Named Yorick

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My husband told me he found an enormous praying mantis on our driveway the other day. “It’s about to die,” he said. “It’s barely moving.” He moved it from the driveway to the shelter of the porch. It didn’t move for 24 hours, so he brought it inside to show me the beautiful but dead insect.

“Oh *&#@!,” Carlton eloquently said. The “dead” bug started moving in his hand! We realized that it was moving more due to being in the warm of indoors. But what to do? Keep it? It was surely dying due to old age and the climate combined. We put a plastic box over it and decided to decide after watching a movie.

We came upstairs to Sunny barking at something. The mantis had escaped the container and was on the carpet, flaring its wings at the little beast barking at it. We rushed to help the mantis with her forearms tangled in carpet fibers. I found a spare aquarium (no surprise there) and we protected the mantis from our many predator pets. Carlton made a dish of water for her and I googled what mantises eat. But where to find live bugs this time of year?

Amy’s house after dinner! We’d been at a fundraiser dinner and talked about the mantis on the way home. The best part was that none of the three of us questioned the silliness of caring about feeding a dying wild bug. We gathered carcasses and even a live spider or two into a bag.

We put it all in the aquarium, and while the mantis turned her head to look at us inquisitively, she displayed no interest in food. I even used a chopstick to nudge a live spider under her nose. She looked at it, but made no move at all. She was almost dead. As expected, she died within three days. She didn’t eat or drink anything. She knew it was the right time to go, and she died without being squished by a car or something.

I’ve always had a soft spot for living things, especially sentient ones. When I was a child, my parents bought me Pets in a Jar and I devoured the book. Even bugs I never collected were fascinating. I gained so much respect for caring for them and knowing what they needed (that book even made me think planaria infecting my aquaria were cool).  I still have the book.  My dad and I looked at earthworms in his garden, watching them wriggle in my hands before I set them free.

My subscription to Ranger Rick ensured a steady stream of new creatures and new knowledge.  I loved them all- even slugs, especially spiders- and I still don’t kill spiders in my home.  And not only is all of this true, it’s one of the things I really like about myself.

So alas, poor mantis, we barely knew ye, but we enjoyed meeting you and hopefully you enjoyed having food and water as you shuffled off this mortal coil.

Shakespeare + bugs.  Up next: Britney haiku.

Turkey Bowling

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When I heard the ad for this event, I was a little repulsed.  Seriously, is this necessary?  Eat meat if you want.  Don’t be so disrespectful to creatures who die so you could eat.

I believe that God gave us dominion over the earth and all its creatures. However, with responsibility comes…well, responsibility. If I’m 16 and my parents give me the keys to the car, I have “dominion” over it, but that doesn’t mean that wrecking the gift they gave me is the right thing to do. Similarly, I feel that God gives us many gifts and that we should humbly accept them and treat them with the right amount of respect. Think about earthly gifts given to you by someone you love. You cherish them, right? If it’s a statue or trinket, it’s displayed prominently in your home, and lovingly preserved. If it’s food or concert tickets, you thoroughly enjoy the experience your loved one gave you, savoring every moment.

So why would we treat gifts from God in such a lesser fashion?

Fridge Friday Part II

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OK, the fridge thing is addictive.  I realized that if they had a day of the week for other storage areas, it might strike enough fear in me to make me organize them!  But as it is, my refrigerators are in pretty decent shape.  So now for my other refrigerators.

First is the keg fridge.  I love this refrigerator because it’s unique.  How many people have a three-tap keg fridge for homebrew?  This refrigerator was originally for a store-purchased regular keg.  I purchased the triple-tap and fittings so it could hold three homebrew kegs, and even have a special tap handle for stout.  In this photo you can see only one tap is in use.  Sadly, I realized that this year’s Oktoberfest would be Januaryfest or Februaryfest or may not happen at all.  The two weekends we picked for this year both had multiple conflicts for key guests.  We held out hope until last week, when the Nut Brown tap ran out!  Hard to have a brew party when the beers are gone.  We admitted defeat and put the Red Amber on tap.  Hey, we’ll still have guests to drink beer…just not all at once.  The keg on top of the fridge is the empty; inside is the red amber and the mess of CO2 and beer lines.  The CO2 cylinder is underneath the bar sink.

Next week- bar fridge!

Thoughts on Three Months

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Ainsley is three months old. Time doesn’t fly. For some reason, this has been a very long three months. Maybe it’s because I’ve felt so many emotional highs and lows over the past 90 days; maybe it’s just that I’ve been awake a larger percentage of the time!  But it doesn’t feel extra long because it’s been awful; it has been a lot of fun.  Lately she’s been smiling and cooing a lot and that is very rewarding.

She changes little by little; a new facial expression, a new fat roll, a new skill. My flexible work schedule means that I’m not missing her grow. My wonderful husband makes sure that sometimes I do miss it: he takes over and lets me sleep.

I’m still new enough at this that I miss my freedom.  Every nap is a brief chance to go back to “single” behavior: watching a movie, cleaning the house, blogging, cooking.  As she grows, she’s awake more, and that flexibility to do stuff other than educate her…well, it’s dwindling.  I don’t want to be the kind of parent who absentmindedly carries the baby around without really paying attention to her; on the flip side, I don’t want to coddle her too much and stifle her independence.

Happy three months on this side of the world, little one.  I hope I can be a good mommy.

World Diabetes Day 2007

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If you drove to work (before sunrise) today, you may have thought that the monuments around the city were lighted in blue to support the Colts. But they aren’t. Today marks WDD in a very special way. Buildings across the world are being lighted to show awareness in the face of this pandemic.

Click here to see an interactive map of those monuments that will be lighted.

Diabetes isn’t a sensational disease like avian flu or mad cow disease. But these diseases have affected far fewer people; today, over 246 million people have diabetes. This year’s WDD focuses on the effects on children:

Diabetes has a unique impact on children and their families. The daily life of children is disrupted by the need to monitor blood glucose levels, take medication, and balance the effect of activity and food. Diabetes can interfere with the normal developmental tasks of childhood and adolescence, which include succeeding in school and transitioning to adulthood. To help the child and family cope, and to ensure the best possible physical and emotional health of the child, care should be delivered by a multidisciplinary team with good knowledge of paediatric issues. Support must also be given to caregivers and to school personnel. In this way, children with type 1 or type 2 diabetes can reach adulthood with as little adverse impact as possible on their well-being. For children with diabetes in developing countries the situation at present is bleak.

There are lifesaving medicines to control the disease, but there is no cure. For type 2 diabetes, the type with the largest growth rate, people can make changes to help decrease the risk. If you consume too many calories, eat less. Walk more. Dedicate the first 246 steps of every day to the millions who are affected.

Do something!

Baby Wise Book Review

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Finding new blogs is a really fun treasure hunt. I’ve found a lot of parenting blogs; they range from individual parents posting an online diary to collaborative sites with multiple contributors and sound advice.

The largest group of parenting bloggers are the moms. That’s no surprise- most of the links I follow are from other women’s blogs. One theme I’ve found among new moms is that they are really frustrated with their child’s sleeping and eating patterns. Trust me, I feel your pain. I have two words that may help: Baby Wise.

My sister was a new mom three years ago and she called a friend of hers, frustrated and tired. The friend told her to immediately obtain a copy of the book. From that day forward, my sister’s parenting woes became a lot easier. She had another baby and this one was started with the Baby Wise philosophy. My sister can tell of the enormous difference it made for her second child.

As a result, I bought my own copy of Baby Wise and read it cover to cover about four times before Ainsley was born. In the early days, when I was often emotional and tired, I read sections of it while she slept or nursed. I can attest that it works! My baby has slept well from the very start. Don’t let me fool you…it’s been rocky, but it has worked. After the first couple of weeks, Ainsley moved to a 2 to 2 1/2 hour schedule for feedings. After 5 weeks, it was every 2 1/2 to 3 hours, with one 4 to 5 hour stretch every night. Since the age of 9 weeks, she has a very predictable schedule of 8 hours of nighttime sleep and feedings every 3 hours during the day. (again, I say “predictable,” but of course it isn’t 100% perfect.)

I had read that some parents think BW expects parents to ignore their child’s cries. Not true! The book states over and over that hunger is always a legitimate reason to feed earlier than scheduled. It emphasizes a need for family and for nurturing. It’s not a book about how to love your child, it’s about how to give the gift of peaceful sleep to your baby. For a few days, I slept in a bed in her room, next to her crib. I learned her fussy cry and comforted her to sleep; I learned her hungry cry and fed her. When it was time for me to sleep in another room, she didn’t have to be moved so it didn’t disrupt her.

Because of the Baby Wise routine of feeding-waketime-naptime, Ainsley learned how to go to sleep, not be nursed to sleep. This has liberated me and has also meant that Ainsley is happy in the arms of other caretakers. She’s been put to bed by three different grandparents, her aunt, and especially her dad. She has been able to enjoy the love and comfort of not just Mommy, but also all of those other people who love her.

The best thing that BW did for me was to give me the confidence to assess the situation. Food is not the only thing Ainsley needs when she cries- sometimes she needs a new diaper or just some cuddling. Sometimes, she just wants to fuss for 5 minutes before she drifts to sleep!

Baby Wise worked so well for me that I recommend it to anyone who’s frustrated over their infant’s sleep (or lack thereof).

Realization of Banality

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As NaBloPoMo marches forward, I am guessing lots of blogs are starting to have one-liner posts that say “this is hard” or other fluff.

I felt like I was running out of what to say, too.  Then I realized that I can be chatty with the best and worst of them.  But there are no topics I want to fling into cyberspace for everyone to see.

While I do have my bad days, I try to keep the whining to a minimum on my blog.  Yes, blogs are basically serialized whining, but I do try to be more positive than negative.  I just don’t see a need to fling negativity into the world.  I also do have some need for privacy.  I noticed with amusement the other day that there are topics I won’t discuss with people in person but that I feel comfortable declaring to anyone seeing my link on NaBlo.  There are yet other topics that I don’t really ever discuss.

But I’m running out of interesting, positive stuff.  I will be back to my regular posts soon, but for now I have writer’s block.  Little Ainsley was up very late last night and that doesn’t mean she slept late today!  So I’m sleep-deprived and not very creative.

OK, it’s time to stop writing.  I have begun about five sentences that were so boring I deleted them.

Good night.

Bristleworm and Snail Friends

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Arrow points to the bristlewormWhile watching the reef aquarium with A tonight, I watched as the enormous turbo snail padded along the front glass.  He’s grown a lot since he was added to the tank; he’s at least 2.5 inches across.  Then I noticed- there is a small bristle worm living in his shell!  I tried to take a picture that would really show the two, but my stupid camera would not focus on the right spot and by the time I went to read the owner’s manual, the snail had shuffled off elsewhere.  Too bad, or I would have found a cutsie interspecies picture page and posted it.

Hopefully the tank’s not too infested; bristleworms can either be harmless or can grow to be a giant nuisance.  Speaking of infestations, my tank is so full of Aiptasia that I’m considering giving up on keeping any other sessile animals.  The remedies I have tried are either ineffective or they require injecting each anemone.  Anyone with an infestation can tell you that it would take hours to inject all 300+ of them, and who knows if it will work, or just release stinging cells into the water and poison the tank.

Buying a copperband butterfly (Chelmon rostratus) to eat them just seems irresponsible, as the butterflies often die soon after their natural food is gone.  I recently read that the seagrass filefish (Acreichthys tomentosus) is hardier, plus they are such unusual fish.  I can’t find anyone who sells them though.

Does anyone have any bright ideas?