A Walking Stick

We were sitting in the hot tub just before dark yesterday, when I spotted a walking stick (Diapheromera femorata) on the nearby Norfolk Island pine. It was easily 8 inches long. We both said it was the biggest one we had ever seen. My SO splashed up some water from the hot tub and it immediately went into hiding, scurrying to the underside of a lower limb. I commented that if I didn't know it was there, I wouldn't have been able to see it. Great camouflage.

Hurricane Alex has cooled the temperature for us. There's another tropical system already making its way through the Gulf towards us. We got 5 inches of rain out of Alex but could always use more. We try hard not to complain about rain when we get it, since we don't know when the next rain might come -- went 23 months without a drop in 08 and 09. Everything is green and lush this year. Looks like a totally different place, but we have had some unusual insects, and plenty of them, to go along with the wet.

We took my dad to the Coast with us this past weekend for the 4th of July. It created a lot of work for me, and I didn't have as good of a time as I'd hoped. I've come to like it down there best when it's just us: SO, me, the dog, and the cat, our little family. I found myself getting tense and irritable, trying to keep Daddy occupied. He's so easily bored, has become slovenly in his old age, difficult, disorganized, and unappreciative. I also think he's depressed, although he would never admit it. He dwells on the past almost constantly, and comes out with what I consider inappropriate statements an awful lot. He's sort of lecherous, truth told, ogling young girls and making frequent sexual references. I wonder if this is common in elderly men. It bothers me. I try to ignore it, but it really has changed the way I feel about him and I don't like that. As I said to my SO, "I want my strong, calm, charismatic Daddy back." I'm uncertain about this one I seem to have now, don't know how to deal with him. People constantly tell me how lucky I am to still have my dad around, but I'm not always so certain of that. It's definitely a life transition I'm watching him go through. It's not always easy to temper my own response to that.

Meanwhile, we're gearing up for another long RV trip to the mountains. I'm looking forward to it, but with mixed feelings, a little nervous about the animals getting along for an extended time in close confines. They made it through the Big Bend trip OK, and hopefully will this time as well. But the cat has become more aggressive towards the dog lately, and I don't know exactly why. She's intimidated by him and it affects her sunny personality. I had hoped that after two years of living together they would get along better, but there's too much "sibling rivalry" between them. I supposed this is probably the best it will ever be, and I partially understand that the dog is much bigger so the cat feels the need to constantly remind her that he's boss, especially when it come to his mommy! But we have to manage their togetherness, my SO and me, constantly on alert and doing our damnedest to keep them separated.

I'm taking along the laptop this time, so will try to do better about posting here.

Onward ....