Sew Together

 Every other Thursday we have the "Sew Together" group. Women bring machines and projects to our community center to enjoy a day of camaraderie, food and sewing. I love that we have access to the building, many tables and chairs. That was a major drawback to Babcock Ranch. We had nothing like this. 

It looks like everybody is busy .. and we are! We are sewing, and sharing ideas, and talking and laughing. 

Today began early. The Mister had to take the motorhome to a truck center to have the wheels balanced and have them aligned. I actually took the dogs on a short walk - it was relatively cool! Before 9 I was on my way to Inverness, FL - about 15miles from here - to drop off some insurance papers. It was time to renew, and no surprise, the price was higher than we cared for. The Mister made some calls, and a trip to a different insurance agency, and was able to save us money for the coming year. From there I dropped by a friend's house to play Mahjong. The Mahjong Tile Goddess was not kind to me. And then I joined the ladies for sewing. 

Last night the Mister called me outside to see a lubber grasshopper. These guys make my stomach crawl. These monsters grow to about 4" in length. They eat your vegetation and some gardeners suggest that you dispose of them - uh??? And just how should I do that? The fellow we found took a bath in some nice soapy water. 

picture from the Internet

Here is some information I discovered and posted a few years ago:

the red/orange color serves as a warning to predators that he is toxic. (He won't harm you, only things that want to eat him. He might hiss at you, and according to one source he may give off a foul-smelling foaming secretion that could be irritating.) 
this insect can not fly, like some grasshoppers. It crawls and hops. 
The lubbers eat broadleaf plants, but they usually do not present a huge problem to landscaping. They are not like the locust horror stories I remember reading as a kid!
The adult phase is the final of 5 or 6 stages (instars) of the insect's life. When they first hatch from eggs in the ground they are tiny, and black with yellow accents. They continue to be mostly black with yellow until they reach their final, colorful instar stage. The life cycle is 1 year.

The Mister went shopping. He came home with fresh scallops...yum. We'll have cauliflower & béchamel sauce and peas with pan seared scallops for dinner.