The 13 Thursday Pit Stop
1. Monarch Butterflies Make a Pit Stop on their way to Mexico: I had been waiting all month for a sighting of more than one or two fleeting monarchs. It finally happened on a country road when I pulled over to take a picture of a favorite old barn and noticed dozens of monarchs feasting on goldenrod and wild asters alongside a creek across the street.
2. Because there was an old abandoned trailer amidst the wildflowers, I called the place Monarch Motel. The butterflies only checked in for one night. The next day I went back but they were gone.
3. Talk about the pits: I have poison ivy, am fighting a urinary tract infection (my first in 40 years), and my husband Joe accidentally stepped on my netbook and now I can’t turn it on. I had to drive to Roanoke in bare feet this week because there was 2 inches of water on the floor from a leak. The week before that I hit a deer.
4. Reporting to Joe that the patch of poison ivy I have is either wildly or mildly itchy taught me something about the properties of the letters W and M.
5. Last week I was a guest speaker at a high school/freshman college composition class to talk about being a local writer. Walking through the halls carrying a stack of books, scrapbooks, magazines, and journals (my archeological timeline of prompts) in front of me, made me feel like a teenager again.
6. I just learned that the band Lynyrd Skynyrd was named by lead singer Ronnie Van Zant in a mock tribute to his high school physical education teacher Leonard Skinner, who was notorious for strictly enforcing school policy against boys having long hair. Skinner died this month.
7. Can you imagine being married to Brad Pitt and being introduced to others as “the Pitts.”
8. If you image google the word pit you’ll see pictures of Brad, pit bulls, mosh pits, holes in the ground, a band called Passion Pit, and THIS.
9. I just learned while doing a research for a story on Appalachian music that Doc Watson’s first name is Arthel.
10. The word STRESS has the word REST right in it and DESSERTS spelled backwards is STRESSED (which I would feel if I was served #9: Pit Viper Ice cream).
11. Apparently atheists and agnostics know more about religion than the religious. See HERE.
12. “Crazy people get on TV. Normal people make dinner.” Jon Stewart on Oprah
13. A couple of monarchs hanging out at the monarch motel HERE.
More playing 13 Thursday HERE.
September 30th, 2010 10:51 am
That looks like some sort of wild aster… I was going to say fleabane but I haven’t seen them on these flowers before. I do hope they got further south and a bit west before all this rain came in.
September 30th, 2010 11:05 am
It is a wild aster. There were both white and purple in this spot.
September 30th, 2010 11:39 am
boy, you ARE having a rough week! Beautiful picture, tho and interesting info about Van Sant…I didn’t know that!
Thanks for your comment on the T13 page…this spinal stuff was more painful than the cancer, I SWEAR! Gettin’ better tho, slowly but surely.
September 30th, 2010 12:49 pm
Beautiful photos and so many interesting, wonderful tidbits!
I laughed so hard at your comment about jazz on my last week’s T13: “makes me feel like I’m having a nervous breakdown” That is a perfect description!
Hope you’re feeling better real soon. Happy Thursday!
September 30th, 2010 3:38 pm
Yup, The Lovely Bones is on the Top 100 Frequently Banned/Challenged books for 2000 – 2009. I know! I was amazed, too! Thanks so much for stopping by my blog! I love your list and your beautiful pictures!
September 30th, 2010 4:28 pm
That sounds like a bad week to me. Hope the poison ivy goes away soon. That stuff is horrid.
September 30th, 2010 5:00 pm
Love the list! Having a computer stepped on definitely wouldn’t be fun! I’ve never had one stepped on yet, but I’ve had all sorts of other things happen, including spilt water and coffee. I did a thursday 13 list too, it’s here: http://lifes-adventures.net Cheers!
September 30th, 2010 5:53 pm
Fabulous list!
September 30th, 2010 5:54 pm
The Gentleman’s name was Leonard SKINNER. the Band changed the vowels to “y” and added the d to his last name so they wouldn’t get sued. They ended up being friends with Mr. Skinner.
September 30th, 2010 6:06 pm
I fixed the spelling on Skinner.
September 30th, 2010 7:19 pm
How many butterflies were there when you saw them? I went to butterfly place and they explained that they only live for such a shot period of time……it is hard to believe after hearing this that they can travel such a distance.
September 30th, 2010 7:36 pm
I would love to see a huge amount of Monarchs on their way wherever—I never have. Just one now and again…They are such BEAUTIFUL Butterfly’s…..I love DESSERTS and STRESSED…lol….But you have to do too much re-arranging to get REST from STRESS….!
When I went to the link about PITTS..It said VOX is goine, or something like that. I couldn’t figure out what that had to do with anything…..
A RICH Thuirsday Thirteen, as always, Colleen.
September 30th, 2010 7:45 pm
You only fixed the first one!!! LOL
September 30th, 2010 8:43 pm
I must have a mental block! Done! (I hope.)
Naomi, it was a carton of pit viper icecream from Japan. Right up there with soy sauce and and octopus ice creams.
September 30th, 2010 10:32 pm
You spelled Van Zandt wrong !!!! JUST KIDDING!!!!!!!! DON’T change it!!!!
October 1st, 2010 8:02 am
Thanks for stopping by. Work was crazy yesterday, so I didn’t get a chance to visit like I wanted to. I love the “random thoughts” TTs.
And… I learned something new 🙂
My business partner loves monarchs as well and spreads milkweed seeds far and wide. If you have the room and are interested, let me know and I’ll hook y’all up.
October 1st, 2010 9:13 am
You never disappoint. Here you are battling all kinds of stuff and your post is still funny, interesting and nostalgic! We had just a few monarchs here as well. We just got 10 inches of rain in 24 hours so it will be interesting to see what survived when the sun breaks through this afternoon.
October 1st, 2010 1:42 pm
You are really having a heck of a time this week. I hope you are feeling better.
October 7th, 2010 4:30 am
omg, colleen! what a week or 2 you had. hope you have turned the corner and all is well in your life again!