Category: Animals

COVID Positive

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Not me, oh no, but Joe. It was going around like wildfire at his job the week before he got it.

Monday (7/18) evening he started sneezing and I was like “stay away from me, germy”. He teased me for being paranoid, but the following morning (Tuesday 7/19) around 11 am he texted me from work saying he suddenly didn’t feel well and was coming home. When he got home he took a home test and it was positive. He told his job who told him not to come back to work until the next week. Then he called his doctor who ended up prescribing him Paxlovid.

We set it up so he stayed isolated in his office upstairs with the door closed. Anytime he came out to use the bathroom or I brought him food we’d both wear N95 masks.

The week he was sick (with a slightly sore throat, mild cough, and fatigue) was strange as we had to do our own thing and I was in charge of all the cooking which seemed to take up a lot of time. When he’s at work I usually only have to worry about dinner and on the weekends he’ll often make breakfast and we’ll skip lunch and get take out around 3 pm for an early dinner. I didn’t want to watch any of our shows without him, so I got back into watching Dateline. I’ve been watching it in the afternoons during the week now.

On Sunday (7/24) he tested negative so he came out of hiding and was able to participate in the butterfly release. I had purchased a cup of caterpillars earlier in the month that had quickly formed into chrysalis and while Joe was in insolation they started emerging. I fed them sugar water and orange slices for a few days but released them on Sunday to ensure they had time to do their thing as their lifespan is about two weeks.

Anyway, I’m happy to report our efforts worked and I never ended up catching anything. I’ve still never had COVID (unless I had an asymptomatic case at some point) and I hope to keep it that way. I’m not worried about dying from it but the long-term damage it can do, even in mild cases, is concerning and not entirely understood.

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A funny thing happened the day Joe tested positive. An hour or two later the doorbell rang. I almost didn’t answer, but then I spotted the unmistakable Crumbl cookie pink box through the video doorbell camera, and got very excited as I knew it was my bestie who had sent them.

The message on the side of the box was funny:

I liked all the cookies except for the chocolate chip which I actively disliked. The two all-chocolate ones were my favorites. They may be on the pricey side, but I’d say they are worth it.

Jumping Spider & Moth Buddy

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One thing I’ve been seeing on Tiktok lately is people keeping jumping spiders. They are super cute! We get the really tiny ones in the house frequently, which we’d get in my childhood home too. I nicknamed them zebra spiders growing up, although based on some research they might have actually been called that. Anyway… I’ve never actually seen the larger jumping spiders before. That is, until recently.

Back on June 4th Joe spotted one on his car in the garage. He was shy, so I couldn’t get a photo of him, but he basically looked like this:

How cute is that?!? I wish we’d see them more often!

On July 5th I was out on the patio watering flowers and a moth decided to land on me and hang out. I brushed it off before going inside, or so I thought. I was at the kitchen sink when I felt an itch on my head, and when I brushed at it, I saw the moth fly away. It disappeared so quickly, I had no idea where it went and quickly forgot about it.

The following morning I was grabbing towels from the guest bathroom and the moth was there. I was able to capture it in my hand and let it loose outside.

On the 9th an identical looking moth decided to hang out on the patio door screen for half the day.

Could it be the same one, and if so, why was it so obsessed with me? I love nature.

Spring Nature Fun

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We’ve been trying to maximize our free time the past month by getting out and doing as much in nature as possible before the extreme heat hits (which it did yesterday).

Sunday 05/22 we hit up Armstrong Park & Fountain View Park because it was such a beautiful day out. I neglected to bring my camera to the first park, so I didn’t make the same mistake when we went out later that afternoon.

We went back to Armstrong Park the following Sunday (05/29) with my camera and spotted some cute baby ducks.

Saturday 06/04 we ventured a little further from home to check out a new to us nature center in St. Charles called Hickory Knolls. It was pretty crowded between the native plant sale and all the kid soccer games nearby. We’d love to go back at a quieter time to explore more.

Instead we headed over to Peck Farm Park to walk around and bird watch.

I got a photo of a common yellowthroat, which was exciting since I never knew this bird even existed!

We decided against checking out the butterfly tent this visit since it was overcast and they weren’t terribly active.

After snapping plenty of photos, we drove over to Fabyan Forest Preserve since it had been years since our last visit. Despite my best efforts, I just couldn’t get any photos of the barn swallows that call this preserve home. They move too much and are too far away for even my longest telephoto lens to capture.

By this point it was threatening to rain, so we decided to get over the Windy Acres Farm to check out the strawberry festival I heard about. The place was a madhouse and there was a huge line to get into the festival grounds so we noped right out of there. I’m glad we did because I later emailed them to ask if you had to pay the $12 fee just to get access to the festival food and was told yes. WTF?!? I understand having to pay to go on rides, but not just to get to the food booths. Sorry, but no. It’s too bad as I wanted to try the strawberry donuts.

Sunday (06/05) we visited Northside Park in Wheaton.

We visit this park often because it has so much wildlife to watch. I was able to get a close-up picture of a killdeer on this particular visit!

They are more prevalent in the area than I originally thought. They are just very good at going about their business undetected because they blend in with the landscape. If you do spot one, they usually run off if you get too close. This one was standing its ground, so I suspect it was a female protecting her camouflaged eggs.

On our way back to the car I captured a few shots of this cute fox squirrel.

This past Saturday (06/11) we took a picnic lunch over to Ray Franzen Bird Sanctuary in Itasca.

We didn’t see any good birds (mostly just red-winged blackbirds which are a dime a dozen), but we did spot this cute baby bunny hiding along the trail.

We also saw a dead squirrel. He looked like he had climbed on a tree branch, laid down, and passed. Poor little thing. I want to go back either early morning or closer to dusk when birds tend to be more active.

I really want to buy a new camera and lens to up my photography game. More on that in my next post…

Robin’s Nest

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A couple of years ago we had a robin’s nest in the small tree out front, and this year we had another one. It was higher up and the momma bird did not like me trying to get pictures. I had to actually stop because she started attacking me, even if I was just walking past the tree (which I have to do to get in/out of the front door) when taking the dog for a walk. Needless to say, I didn’t get as many photos of the baby birds as I would have liked.

The nest was discovered on May 10th

The hatchlings on May 29th

They left the nest sometime in late May, early June

Flora & Fauna

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The weather has been very frustrating so far this spring. It’s either been really cold (like 40s-50s) or super hot (90s). We finally got some more spring like weather recently, so we took full advantage.

Saturday (05/14) we hit up a local place called Murphy’s Farm to buy petunias and a few other flowers for our patio garden.

New Flowers

Their prices were pretty reasonable, so we might go back as we have a few more pots to fill. We also planted zinnias since the butterflies, hummingbirds, and finches love them.

Speaking of hummers, we put out the feeder on May 7th and saw our first hummingbird on the 11th, so that wasn’t a bad wait at all. Unfortunately all the birds visiting this year are very shy so I’ve yet to get a picture of any of them. The second I move, they fly away. I even sat on the patio on the 17th for a half hour completely still with my camera pointed toward the feeder and got absolutely nothing.

Sunday (05/15) we made our semi-annual visit to Lilacia Park to see the lilacs and tulips.

Lilacia Park

Despite the fact that the lilacs were listed as reaching full bloom mere days before our visit, they didn’t look their best and the tulips were on their way out because they only last a few weeks in peak shape. I guess next year we need to get our butts out there twice to see them each on separate days. I am glad we waited until Sunday to visit, however, because the temperature was much cooler than Friday evening which was our original planned date. There were hardly any people in the park at 8 am either, which was nice. We both are crowd adverse, which is why we always try to get to places early.

The highlight of our trip though, was the chipmunk we came across.

Isn’t it adorable??!? I felt so lucky for the opportunity to photograph it because they’re usually quick to run away.

After the park we decided to visit Churchill Woods forest preserve because I heard it’s peak migration season for many birds.

While I wasn’t really able to get any photos, we did hear a huge variety of birds, identified with my Merlin Bird ID app.

Here’s a list of everything we heard (the asterisk means we also saw the bird).

Baltimore Oriole *
Barn Swallow *
Blackpoll Warbler
Blue-gray Gnatcatcher
Blue Jay *
Brown-headed Cowbird
Cedar Waxwing
Downy Woodpecker
Gray Catbird
Great Crested Flycatcher
Indigo Bunting
Northern Flicker
Red-bellied Woodpecker
Red-Winged Blackbird
Rose-breasted Grosbeak
Warbling Vireo