As soon as we moved into our house 2.5 years ago, I went about creating a butterfly habitat. Within week of planting milkweed, we had our first monarch caterpillars. I researched what other butterflies were native to our area and planted host plants for their eggs and caterpillars. I planted nectar plants to attract the adults and waited. The passionflower quickly drew in the gulf frittaleries, and while I saw tons of swallowtails, none deemed my little nursery sufficient. This year, I was too busy to change or add to my little plot, and the 2 late freezes seemed to have killed off the monarchs that live in Texas year-round, so imagine the surprise when we walked outside and saw 6 huge, fat swallowtail caterpillars on the fennel. Too cool! Ben poked at one and it raised orange horns and sprayed him with a rotten scent. He was very intrigued by their defense mechanism.
On another note - we are still waiting for results on Nate's biopsy and barium swallow. If those are negative (which we expect), then he will be referred to a hematologist to see what they can do about increasing the iron absorption of his blood and red blood cell production. We appreciate all your prayers and concern. Please continue praying that we will be able to find out the cause of his difficulty.
2 comments:
Awesome habitat, and awesome picture!
My dad and I have an iron absorbtion disorder called hemachromatosis. It is the most common genetic disorder amongst caucasians. The body absorbs iron into the organs and stores it there instead of using it properly--it is possible to be anemic and have the disorder.
I will be interested to hear about Nate's diagnosis. Our family fasted for him on Sunday.
I just read your blog. I'm sorry about Nate's problem. What's new there? (Note: if he has hemochromatosis, he already has too much iron. It's also called "iron overload disease". He would NOT want to eat lots of iron, even though he's tired. It won't go where it's needed.) Please let me know, either in the blog or an email, what's up. We love you guys, and care about you.
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