Ahhhh yesterday.... 62 degrees in the beginning of February was such a nice break from the blistering cold (and 8 inches of snow 5 days ago) so I decided to go over to my parents early and enjoy the day. I LOVE going to my parents, we just hangout and and talk, my dad and I trade stories about our various craft projects we have going on and I help my mom out with whatever computer problems she has.
While talking yesterday I brought up this music box that I remember from when I was little above the one window in our living room and asked my mom about it. It was a little bigger than a 8x10 picture frame with a mirrored back and it had a dried flower scene with butterflies in it and the one butterfly flew around on the glass when the music played. So I asked about it with hopes that she would gift it to me if she knew how much I liked it and it turns out that she just found it the other day when she was cleaning out the basement, she put it in her yard sale pile! So she said I could have it, she went down and got it for me and it still works!! I took it apart to clean the mirror and the inside glass because it sat for the past 10 years in our basement but after a few minutes of cleaning it was nice and clean and my new treasure.. It plays "Fly Me To The Moon" and the butterfly that fly's around the glass is a Common Buckeye butterfly. My mom told me that my grandfather gave her the music box when her and my dad were first dating.
Also when my dad and I were talking I told him about the butterfly specimens I bought the other day so I showed him the specimens and the other butterfly & moth specimens this eBay seller has and I told him how much I liked the Atlas Moth specimens he had on the website so my dad offered to buy them for me since I always buy him stuff for his crafts. So I left my parents yesterday with a treasured music box from my childhood AND a 2 specimen Atlas Moth for my collection.
While talking yesterday I brought up this music box that I remember from when I was little above the one window in our living room and asked my mom about it. It was a little bigger than a 8x10 picture frame with a mirrored back and it had a dried flower scene with butterflies in it and the one butterfly flew around on the glass when the music played. So I asked about it with hopes that she would gift it to me if she knew how much I liked it and it turns out that she just found it the other day when she was cleaning out the basement, she put it in her yard sale pile! So she said I could have it, she went down and got it for me and it still works!! I took it apart to clean the mirror and the inside glass because it sat for the past 10 years in our basement but after a few minutes of cleaning it was nice and clean and my new treasure.. It plays "Fly Me To The Moon" and the butterfly that fly's around the glass is a Common Buckeye butterfly. My mom told me that my grandfather gave her the music box when her and my dad were first dating.
Also when my dad and I were talking I told him about the butterfly specimens I bought the other day so I showed him the specimens and the other butterfly & moth specimens this eBay seller has and I told him how much I liked the Atlas Moth specimens he had on the website so my dad offered to buy them for me since I always buy him stuff for his crafts. So I left my parents yesterday with a treasured music box from my childhood AND a 2 specimen Atlas Moth for my collection.
Just so you can get an idea of just how big Atlas Moth's are (Atlas Moths are considered to be the largest moths in the world in terms of total wing surface area) here's a picture of one being held in an adult man's hand. The specimen I bought is a male and female specimen and the frame is 10.75 wide and 15 inches high so the specimens I got wingspan is probably around 8inches..
On a side note, I used to think I would be able to catch bugs and pin them myself instead of buying them so I thought I would give it a try. My old job at the dry ice factory was set deep in the woods so I would take my breaks and walk around outside and find the most amazing moths hanging around the lights. These are where I got all the moths for these pictures I used to take. So one of said moths, the Luna Moth was so beautiful that I wanted to try to pin myself. I searched online for ways to kill them (horrible I know) and made a killing jar (a Tupperware container with a grate in it, you put pads soaked in alcohol in the bottom and lay the insect on the grate above, shut it up for an hour and your ready to pin) So after an hour I took him out, had such a horrible time putting a pin though his chest (the worst moment ever) and pinned his wings back how I wanted them, put the lid on the pinning box and left him to sit until he dried and was ready to mount. Well I come back 2 days later to check on him and when I take the lid off his wings were all cut up from where I put the pins and I thought maybe someone moved the box and they came undone, well I decided to blow on the Luna Moth for some reason and as soon as I did he started flapping his wings! I guess he was only knocked out from the killing jar and not all the way dead. I was ready to cry, I felt so horrible for pinning him and leaving him in a dark box alone for two days with a pin though his chest. It was the single worst thing I can ever remember doing. So from then on I decided that I'm too much of a wimp to handle that again and I'll just buy my specimens for now on...
This entry was posted
on Monday, February 9, 2009
at Monday, February 09, 2009
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atlas moth,
common buckeye,
music box
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