Adventures of Melissa Wood ~~ Pet Sitter, Traveler, Nature & Animal Lover, Photographer

Well I’m getting sick of sorting and packing.  Trying to figure out what little bit can come with me to my new house and what I need to store.  It’s frustrating and time consuming.  One pile comes with; this pile goes to storage.  Everytime I do that, I have to think about how I’m going to stuff it all into a 10X10 space and then wonder if in the next 6 months, I’m going to need anything I’m storing!  Yikes…..back to it.

Well had to take a break from all this packing.  Today, went to Guadalupe River State Park in Spring Branch, Tx and then went onto Wildseed Farms in Fredericksburg, Texas. 

It was a gorgeous day…..the river was beautiful at Guadalupe Park:

Guadalupe River State Park

Carolina Chickadee

Then went onto Wildseed Farms in Fredericksburg.  That place was PACKED today…gorgeous weather outside and beautiful plants and gardens to see.  One of my favorite things about this place is the Butterfly Garden area that they have.  It’s literally filled hundreds of different species of butterflies and since I’m a butterfly nut, I had to take tons of pictures!  My favorite in the Butterfly Garden is the Mexican Bluewing.  I have never seen one of those before and it was simply exquisite.  The purples and blue!  Too beautiful for words.  On the grounds of the Wildseed Farms, I took the picture of the White-Lined Sphinx Moth….aka “the Hummingbird Moth”….if you’ve never had the pleasure of seeing one, you might find them on cool evenings at dusk.  Surprisingly this one was out feeding on flowers in the middle of the day, but most of the times when I’ve seen them, it’s in the evening time trying to get that last bit of nectar.  They are just like hummingbirds in that their wings move extremely fast and are often confused as being birds but in fact are a moth. 

Common Buckeye

Giant Swallowtail

Mexican Bluewing

Orange Tiger Longwing

Orange Tiger Longwing

Pipevine Swallowtail

White-Lined Sphinx Moth (Hummingbird Moth)

Yellow Swallowtail

Zebra Longwing

Well I can’t believe it’s already been a month since I gave notice at my apartment.  Time is flying by.  I’m starting to sort, give away things, sell things and pack.  It’s quite an undertaking.  It has made me even more aware of the “stuff” that we humans tend to accumulate.  And I only have a 1 bedroom apartment!

I think this time with all my “stuff” in storage will be good.  Will force me to be even more frugal than I am already.  Truly, do we really NEED more clothing?  Is that new blouse, in addition to the 45 we already have, going to be the end-all-be-all of blouses?  I’m such a simple person and I’m finding as I’m getting older that I just don’t have the need for the big house, the fancy car(s), the manicured lawns/flower beds, etc.  I’d rather spend my time and money doing other things like traveling!  Which I intend to start doing at the conclusion of this housesitting adventure.

Time to go pack some more…..

Well the property owners have returned from their overseas trip.  We set up this time to visit so we can have another “get acquainted” visit.  I wanted to take another look at the guestroom (which is where I’ll be sleeping) and get an idea about how much clothing I can (or can’t as the case may be) bring with me. 

I stayed for about an hour and learned more about the property owners and it turns out we have some more things in common.  Like our loathing of the Texas summer heat; this of course being the primary reason why they are smart and escape it every year by returning to their summer home in Northern Minnesota. 

We get along very well and I am more sure than ever that I have made the right choice about giving up my apartment and storing all my belongings to house and pet sit for them for the next several months.