Preying (or Praying) Mantis

Found this young lady hanging around inside the new barn while I was shifting some more furniture and sweeping the floor yesterday.

Now normally, red blooded males of any species go cold when they come upon a female preying mantis. After all, they don’t treat their male lovers too well. They don’t even wait for their lovers to finish. Nonetheless, this young lady was hanging on a back wall and I knew a good meal would be hard for her to come by, so I convinced her to climb on the stick and take a ride to some tall grass, where she would have lots of this year’s bumper crop of grasshoppers to feast upon, and maybe give some of her lovers a break. Bros before . . . .

Anyway, this was the first preying mantis I have seen since my arrival in NoCo, and the fact that I found her in the new barn, led me to investigate the spiritual synchronicity.

It’s all good.

And as a confirmation, no sooner had I set her gently on the high grass by the rabbit warren, that my magical handyman Jesu texted out of the blue to say he would be by that afternoon to complete painting the barn pocket doors. As promised, he arrived shortly afterwards and did a fine job.

I’m still deciding if I want to paint over it with brighter colors and the cross beams a different color, (I’ll take suggestions) but for now this is fine. Claire and Honey now understand that the new barn is the best place to eat, given that there are less flies and hornets competing for their fruits and veggies. And they don’t have to travel too far for the post meal siesta.

However, Honey still gives me a warning look before entering to join Claire inside.

Plus it really is 20 degrees cooler in the shade, and they do have the open window cross ventilation and the overhead fan.

I used the mule meal time wisely and went back to the house and cleaned the fridge that I used to use to store the fruits and veggies in the basement.

Which over the 7 years has gotten pretty grimey. But after some good old fashion Bronx elbow grease, I got it looking spanking new.

See what 45 years of marriage has taught me?

I decided I’m going to leave the bookshelf with my grandfather’s (Tom Burke) old book collection and some of my more prized books like the leather bound LOTR and Hobbit I bought on my Honeymoon (in the original Atlantis) and a lot of my spiritual books, in the new barn.

I’m also going to keep a large comfy armchair and a great reading lamp there as well.

That way, if I need to escape from the Main House I can find some quality reading time back there with Claire and Honey. I’ll also have a coffee maker on the desk area of the prep cabinets. I’ll find some place in the barn fridge to keep some milk.

Maybe I’ll keep a set of The Claire Saga there as well. I can read that to Claire and Honey. Claire never gets tired of listening to her story.

I also moved the interior trough into the new barn, after giving it a good scrubbing. The water will stay cleaner and cooler there.

I placed the order for the 5 rolls of 4’x10′ rubber matting Saturday – expensive as fuck and delivery at the end of the month – which will go to make the soft flooring over the concrete and beneath the wood shavings for the sleeping stallish section. Now I just need to pick up those 6×6 border beams next weekend. With any luck I’ll be finished before August.

Claire came into the barn while I was doing some late afternoon prep. You could tell she was impressed with herself, given that she usually only gets her head into the basement door when I used to prep there.

Much more accommodating than peeking through the basement back door.

And this morning when I went out to feed them under the Hunter’s Moon,

They happily chowed down in the new barn.

So, when you add in the Farrier visit, overall I had a busy weekend here at Casa Claire. And that’s a good thing. Kept me from having to focus on the craziness going on in the rest of the country.

Well, Monday is again upon us, so I have to get moving.

Already cuddled the kitties, made my rounds, and did some fruit & veggie shopping when I dropped Lisa off at work (another per diem favor). I take my blessings where I can find them.

Hopefully you fine, five readers are busy at your jobs making our world a better place. But pace yourself. You have next weekend to look forward to.

And no matter what else we get up to, let us make today a great one.