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2023/11/29 SJ Xmas in the Park
π 2023-11-29 01:01 in Public
Another Xmas in the Park in San Jose. Always fun when you are already nearby during the right season.














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2023/10/14 Partial Eclipse
π 2023-10-14 01:01 in Public
I wasn't quite ready for it, as I didn't know it would be visible in California, but turns out it was for the short amounts of time clouds didn't hide the sun.

Here are a few shots:

not bad for a start
not bad for a start


kind of nice with the clouds in the way
kind of nice with the clouds in the way



getting close to being over
getting close to being over


one tiny sliver left
one tiny sliver left

See more images for Partial Eclipse
2023/09/22 Testing 1.5V AA Lithium Batteries
π 2023-09-22 01:01 in Electronics, Public
Lithium Batteries have a voltage between 3V and 4.1V, but recently they have been turned into the 1.5V form factor with some electronics that step them down to 1.5V and custom chargers that know how to recharge them via a special protocol, or for the EBL batteries, they have a micro USB plug onboard.

They are of course not all the same real usable capacity, and I've learned not to trust vendor capacity claims anymore either, due to the amount of sellers that plain lie on amazon. The good news is that Neither Xtar nor EBL lied about their cell capacity as long as you understand that the actual energy you can output will be lower due to conversion losses and some safety buffer to give the cell longer longevity.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1z9o7O5o70SxJnQwKHJD8JdlPdScZZ1o09scHqUlDxeE/edit?usp=sharing

Here is a quick summary without pictures:

New Xtar: Rating: 4.15Wh, Charge: 5.5Wh, 3.45Wh Usable discharge at 1A

  • https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0CF8ZNZ33/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
  • Summary:
  • This is the only lithium battery that drops its voltage to 1.1V to give you a low voltage warning. Other batteries I tested just die with no warning. That alone is a reason to select it. I tested it with my garmin GPS and it gave me 2H of low battery warning before finally dying. Very nice!
  • It is also the battery that gave me the most actual discharge capacity
  • Seller is not lying about cell capacity (thank you) which of course is higher than actual usable energy due to conversion losses
  • New charger is unfortunately bigger than the old one and drops the USB-A output feature to use your batteries as an emergency USB charger
  • Verdict: this is the best battery I tested and what you should buy as long as you don't need a built in charger like EBL
  • Old Xtar: Rating: 3.3Wh, Charge: 5.3Wh, 2.7Wh Usable discharge at 1A

  • https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NLVJDY6
  • Summary:
  • This is the older Xtar battery. It had best in class capacity until the newer one that came out with added low voltage warning. There is no good reason to buy this battery anymore, get the new one.
  • Its capacity is equivalent ot the EBL battery with built in USB charging, so the EBL is more versatile
  • The charger is very compact and can act as a USB power source, that's a nice feature.
  • 10.6Wh to charge 2 batteries, or 5.3Wh charge per battery

    EBL 3.3Wh rating, Charge: 4.3Wh, 2.7Wh usable discharge at 1A

    # https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08RZ5NDMM

    Summary:

  • There is no low voltage warning, but the battery capacity is actually equivalent to the old Xtar despite the space lost to the built in charger. The new Xtars last longer than the EBL though.
  • Interestingly EBLs need less energy to charge than Xtar for the same output capacity, they are more efficient
  • Big warning: if you try to charge the batteries via USB while they are in use, they are going to output 5V instead of 1.5V. This is unexpected and fried one of my GPSes. You cannot charge them while they are being used.
  • Deleepow 3.4Wh rating, 3.8Wh charge, 2.4Wh usable discharge at 1A

  • https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09NLXQRP3
  • Summary:

  • These battery are not for sale anymore, and they were the least performing amongst the ones I tested.
  • The 3.4Wh cell capacity is probably untrue with the charge and discharge numbers I got
  • See more images for Testing 1.5V AA Lithium Batteries
    2023/05/14 You Cannot Cut and Paste From Kindle Cloud Reader Anymore
    π 2023-05-14 01:01 in Public
    Amazon, you suck, I'm sorry, you just suck.
    If I buy an Ebook to do trip planning I want to cut and paste from it into a doc, just small bits, you know, because retyping is kind of stupid. No, I'm not trying to pirate copy the book, simply to use a few bits for my personal use, the trip I'm planning.
    https://github.com/ccimpoi/ACRExtensions made it clear that all the extensions that went around the copy and paste restriction, won't work anyomre, I quote "I checked the new reader and they totally moved everything server side. Client gets only images and highlight is done using empty DIVs with server side provided coordinates. Looks like the end of the road... :-("

    So sure, you can still screenshot each page and OCR them, something pirates will do, so that doesn't stop them, but for legit personal use, it's just too much work.

    I guess I'm now going to get my kindle book refunded, because fuck this, and avoid them in the future.

    2022/08/14 Backyard Owls Trying to Mate
    π 2022-08-14 01:01 in Public
    3 big owls in my backyard, that was a treat:




    See more images for Backyard Owls Trying to Mate
    2022/03/14 Another Set of Painted Lady Butterflies
    π 2022-03-14 01:01 in Public
    It was fun the last 2 times, so went for it again :)

    The best part is that I was able to capture one coming out of its chrysalis in 4K:


















    2021/11/14 Dubai Expo 2020
    π 2021-11-14 01:01 in Public, Uae2021
    I had lots of things planned in Dubai, but with efficient sightseeing, got the important ones done in 2.5 days, so the last day I had most of it available to go see Dubai Expo 2020. Honestly I didn't even know it was going on, but clearly it was a big deal, only happens every 4 years, and I was right there, so I went to check it out :)




    I went to the UAE pavillion which was hard to get into:



    renewable energy was cool:


    lots of solar panels
    lots of solar panels







    Some countries showed how they could help improve the word, others how cool they were, and others had just displays on future things they were hoping to do (i.e. vaporware ;) )






















    Got to visit the Emirates (airline) pavillion, pretty cool:


    virtual flight of the future
    virtual flight of the future













    China was supposed to have a drone show, but did not on sunday, the day I came, they had interesting displays, but also showed how much of a surveillance society they were (I'm sure it wasn't their intent, but I guess I can't even tell):






    Things got nice a night:











    I made it to France just before closing time (22:00 on sunday instead of 00:00)







    yum
    yum

    and that was it, by 22:00 everything was closed. Spent about 10H there, and even with being efficient, definitely needed 3 days or more, but I feel I got a good overview. This was not what I was in Dubai for to start with, and spent more time there than any other place I had been to, so I think it was a reasonable tradeoff (actually that same day was also the start of dubai aviation expo, but I just couldn't be everywhere).

    See more images for Dubai Expo 2020
    2021/02/23 Herny MERLIN de Caluwé, RIP
    π 2021-02-23 01:01 in Family, Public
    My mom died on Feb 23rd, 2021. She was in a retirement home after having lost a lot of her physical capacities (taking care of herself), and after a hip surgery about 3 years ago, she started losing her mental capacities. We'll never know exactly what happened, but my guess was that either the anesthesia for her surgery somehow caused brain damage (she started being confused and not always making sense the day she woke up and never recovered, or whether something else cause micro damage to multiple places in her brain). She didn't have the typical mental illness that people know (as in she always recognized me in person, although not always on the phone, where over time she became less and less able to speak french and would answer me in Dutch for the whole conversation, which made talking harder since my Dutch is pretty basic).

    I wish I would have been able to better communicate with her in her last years, but that was not in the cards, so don't waste the time you do have with your own family. I know I could have done better with the time we did have, but at the same time, I also know that she did know I loved her in my own ways and I'm happy that she was able to come visit me in the US a few times before it became not possible for her to travel anymore (I also saw her every Xmas in France). I know she enjoyed the bike ride around Stevens Creek Trail the first time she came and last time she was able to bike, or the flights I gave her, including flying to Harris' Ranch for steak, and she probably still liked that ride I gave her in my F430 around skyline and that kind of caused her to throw up after a few turns too many (oops). But at the end of the day, she was also very happy reading in our yard, and looking at our birds.

    my mom was a good cook, including bread
    my mom was a good cook, including bread

    2000 was the first year she was able to come to my first house in sunnyvale, she help pick things and decorate a bit
    2000 was the first year she was able to come to my first house in sunnyvale, she help pick things and decorate a bit

    I took her on the 49 mile drive around SF, including a few extra stops I added
    I took her on the 49 mile drive around SF, including a few extra stops I added

    dutch family embordery
    dutch family embordery

    each time I came for Xmas, she made sure I was well fed :)
    each time I came for Xmas, she made sure I was well fed :)

    yummy souflé
    yummy souflé

    another year she came, we went to the Chinese and Japanese Gardens in Golden Gate Park
    another year she came, we went to the Chinese and Japanese Gardens in Golden Gate Park

    a picture she got with flowers I got sent to her for her BD
    a picture she got with flowers I got sent to her for her BD

    2013 birthday
    2013 birthday

    nice french restaurant, I took her at for Xmas
    nice french restaurant, I took her at for Xmas

    tour of Google in 2007
    tour of Google in 2007

    I took her for a couple of flights, one to Harry's Ranch for steak and a bay tour to Monterey
    I took her for a couple of flights, one to Harry's Ranch for steak and a bay tour to Monterey

    Had lunch on Monterey
    Had lunch on Monterey

    She came for my wedding and our cat was happy to make friends
    She came for my wedding and our cat was happy to make friends

    Wedding day
    Wedding day

    as long as she was able to travel, we went to Holland every year for a family reunion
    as long as she was able to travel, we went to Holland every year for a family reunion

    Our cat, five, was happy to see her again in 2011
    Our cat, five, was happy to see her again in 2011

    We went for a tour of Stanford
    We went for a tour of Stanford


    After 2011, she wasn't able to travel anymore, so I only saw her in France for Xmas, including a yearly Xmas day lunch that my brother and Diane helped more and more with over time.



    By 2017, she wasn't able to care for herself anymore, including getting up if she fell, so we had to move her to a retirement home. I flew to france last minute to help with her affairs, emptying her house, and helping getting it sold. She ended up staying there 3.5 years as her health and mind got worse over time, until her heart attack (by then she wasn't able to walk at all anymore, and gained a fair amount of weight):



    Last Xmas, 2020, was challenging. Travelling was restricted between both countries, but since I was a citizen of one country, and resident of the other one, I was allowed to travel. It was not a fun 12H flight wearing an N100 mask the whole way, but I'm glad I made it. Her facility made us wear scrubs for covid, which felt a bit over the top, but whatever. Last time I saw her:


    my last picture of her
    my last picture of her

    We were allowed to see her 1h in a special room instead of the normal 30mn due to covid restrictions. I think she was happy to see us, although it was hard to tell. I could have gone to see her a second time before leaving Paris (2H trip for 30mn allowed visit), but I didn't really have it in me, especially with the covid restrictions added, the visit was difficult and bittersweet.
    I tried to talk to her on the phone these last few weeks. the first time, she sounded confused, could only reply in Dutch, and it wasn't clear she understood that I was calling her. The 2nd time a week later, she barely managed to pick up the phone, dropped it and the line went dead.

    She finally died of a heart attack during lunch about a week later. The staff tried to revive her, but did not succeed. She was 77.

    It's a tough thing to say, but as far as I was concerned, she had very little quality of life left (although at least she wasn't physically suffering, but I'm reasonably sure she could tell she was losing her brain over time, and to me, that would be more painful than physical pain), and as hard as it is to say, I was conflicted about whether she was still able to enjoy life. I know it was painful for me to see her over time (the few times I was in france), so in some way I was kind of waiting for it to be over.
    It would be easier if I could believe that she's in a better place, but I only get to believe that her time on earth ended and hope she got to enjoy most of it as much as possible.
    Spend quality time with your loved ones as if it could be the last time, as you'll never know when it was, until after the fact.

    More photos, courtesy of google photos auto face recognition and sorting: https://photos.app.goo.gl/cjBkLgzn4AV7UVAS7

    Normally I'd be fighting with airports and how to get back to France (tricky since I'm snowboarding in Utah, don't have my passport, and need to fly in the wrong direction first to get it, plus covid tests, before finding some flights back towards Europe, the direct flights having gone from 3 per day to 2 per week at this time), but my mom opted to give her body to science, and given travel restrictions and the covid risks to the rest of the family, we won't have a ceremony at this time, but this page is my remembrance of her.

    20000125-003024 20000530-210321 20030104-131733 20030105-075838 20031226-133544 20051228-153908 20070105-050653 20070504-131140 20070505-114949 20090803-095135 20090808-165105 20100102-180000 20110507-155414 20110514-164059 20111225-090806 20130916-112749 20141225-143923 20171225-040544 20181227-043936 20201226-080706
    2020/06/25 Gimpy, our very special needs disabled painted lady butterfly from Insectlore. 2020/06/25 - 2020/07/24, RIP
    π 2020-06-25 01:01 in Public
    This is the summary of Gimpy's Life, our very special needs butterfly that was born with only portions of a few feet (not enough to walk right), and non fully functional wings, and lost the round part of one antenna for reasons unknown, not long after emerging from his chrysalis. We didn't know its sex, but we called him gimpy.


    We poured our hearts into helping this little bugger survive: we built him little houses where he could enjoy a few flowers, hopefully feed without falling in his food and getting too sticky (that happened several times and tried out best to remove all the sugar glue each time). We tried to help him achieve the best butterfly life that was possible for him.
    In the end, he survived 9 days out of 14 or so (expected lifetime), but it was a not an easy life: he was unable to feed himself, so we had to extend his proboscis in food and he was able to slurp then. By the 8th day he probably stopped being able or willing to eat and by the 9th day (July 4th), he would not slurp food or water when we gave him some, so he ended up dying of exhaustion, hunger, or thirst while we tried our best to help him (doing so, was difficult the last few days as he started getting more scared of us, so we were not able to help it feed as much, and we weren't able to check on him as carefully).
    RIP Gimpy

    Caterpillar/Butterfly kits

    1.5 years ago, I got Jennifer a butterfly kit from her birthday from insectlore. You can read about our first experience taking care of caterpilars here. At the time, I should have found their FAQ, which would have made it clear that getting butterflies in november, was not the best idea. We hope they survived after we released them, but the temperatures were borderline.
    What they don't warn you about, though, is that you're likely to have to make life and death decisions, and they don't equip you much for them. We only found out later that outside of crushing a dying butterfly, you can also put it in the freezer and it will go to sleep in less than a minute.

    The first time, one butterfly came out wrong and was totally mangled. It looked that in his struggle to get out, it also severed body parts and was bleeding. At the time, it was pretty simple (even if not easy), to crush the poor thing so that it didn't have to keep suffering while bleeding to death:

    poor thing, you can barely tell that it was supposed to be a butterfly
    poor thing, you can barely tell that it was supposed to be a butterfly

    This time, thankfully, none of our butterflies was that mangled. One died during transformation and never merged, 8 were totally fine, and we released them into our yard (you can read about them here).

    This left us with the 10th one, gimpy, who had special needs.

    Gimpy, Day 1

    This time, I got a kit for Jennifer in June, a better time of the year. One caterpillar died in his Chrysalis, 8 of them turned into happy butterflies that we released in our yard. And last one was gimpy. Gimpy had issues getting unstuck when he got out, and after I saw him struggle, I helped him out. Unfortunately in the process, he seemed to have lost portions of his legs that were just too stuck to get out (yes, had I been prepared with the right surgical tools, I might have been able to help better, but either way gimpy didn't have proper control of his wings):

    Gimpy looked almost ok, except that butterflies leave their wings closed by default, gimpy could not close them
    Gimpy looked almost ok, except that butterflies leave their wings closed by default, gimpy could not close them

    soon, it was also clear that while he could control both wings, it was not in a balanced way (flight would not be possible)
    soon, it was also clear that while he could control both wings, it was not in a balanced way (flight would not be possible)

    We left gimpy with the other butterflies in the habitat for the first day (they don't all come out at the same time), but unfortunately we had no idea he couldn't actually feed on his own. As we found out later, he could not really go somewhere on purpose, nor could he extend his proboscis on his own to feed:


    Gimpy, Day 2

    By the 2nd day, the last butterflies had emerged, so we let them free in our yard, and it was clear that gimpy as not going to be able to live on his own:

    we gave him a bit of sun and showed him outside
    we gave him a bit of sun and showed him outside

    it was clear that he was not really able to get around though, or even feed, also by then he somehow had lost tip of his right antenna
    it was clear that he was not really able to get around though, or even feed, also by then he somehow had lost tip of his right antenna

    We released the other butterflies and watched them enjoy our flowers before flying off

    so we took him home
    so we took him home

    jennifer tried to feed him
    jennifer tried to feed him

    we finally figured out that we had to manually unroll/extend his proboscis into the food, and this was likely the first time the poor little thing got to eat
    we finally figured out that we had to manually unroll/extend his proboscis into the food, and this was likely the first time the poor little thing got to eat

    jennifer made different foods for him, but his partial legs were so short that it was difficult for him to reach
    jennifer made different foods for him, but his partial legs were so short that it was difficult for him to reach

    so she found ways to prop it up
    so she found ways to prop it up

    We were worried when we found out that he didn't have full control of his proboscis, the straw that bufferflies can unroll to feed. It could eat through it if we put it in food, and he could move it just a bit, but he did not seem able to unroll it and place it in food on his own. That made it difficult to know if he was hungry as we also found out he would make small motions with his proboscis rolled in the air, and that didn't have to mean it was hungry (actually it was Jennifer's sharp eye that noticed that what looked like a small antenna on the side of its head was actually the proboscis moving, and maybe trying to suck food out of the air).

    You can see in this clip that he can move a bit, and his proboscis is curled on the left of the head, moving, but not able to reach any food (unless we put him in there manually). Poor gimpy probably wanted to enjoy that orange, but wasn't able to (we gave him orange juice later):

    Gimpy, Day 3-6

    we got hime fresh flowers from our yard, even if they died fast. We're hoping he was able to enjoy the smells.
    we got hime fresh flowers from our yard, even if they died fast. We're hoping he was able to enjoy the smells.

    Those were probably Gimpy's best days, despite the challenges due to his infirmities. One problem was that he couldn't walk with purpose given his missing or damaged half legs, and would sometimes end up in the sticky sugar.

    Jennifer tried different ways to prop him up to the food
    Jennifer tried different ways to prop him up to the food

    Did I mention how hard Jennifer tried? Here she made him a new little house with recessed floor to fit a cut cup of food
    Did I mention how hard Jennifer tried? Here she made him a new little house with recessed floor to fit a cut cup of food

    she became a butterfly cook
    she became a butterfly cook

    Jennifer made a mixture of plum and orange from our yard, and sugar water
    Jennifer made a mixture of plum and orange from our yard, and sugar water

    his sectionned front left leg made it difficult for him to walk, but he did his best
    his sectionned front left leg made it difficult for him to walk, but he did his best

    The recessed cup of food that Jennifer had designed was better but gimpy still could fall into it. We also tried another method with a less amount of sticky food (arguably it was still too much in that picture):


    he seemed happy being on a flower (when balanced right), and having food brought up (we still had to manually extend the proboscis)
    he seemed happy being on a flower (when balanced right), and having food brought up (we still had to manually extend the proboscis)

    the surface tension of the sugar water was helpful for keeping the proboscis in
    the surface tension of the sugar water was helpful for keeping the proboscis in

    You can see gimby eating a bit:

    At least twice he even fell upside down (wings first) in the sugary food, so we had to clean him and dry him:

    we then helped him dry
    we then helped him dry

    We hope he enjoyed the flowers we gave him:


    despite his damaged feet, he was able to climb flowers as often as he could, that was exciting
    despite his damaged feet, he was able to climb flowers as often as he could, that was exciting

    Gimpy, Day 7-8

    Unfortunately each time he got scared or excited, he tried to fly and ended up upside down and then couldn't flip back, so we had to help him (actually, during a couple of days he became strong and skilled enough to jump up from upside down and eventually flip back right side up). What upset the poor thing was diverse and hard to know for sure, but the few times that he sensed AC air did not work. Surprisingly putting him in the sun, seemed to upset him too for reasons that are not clear (maybe it was too warm and he couldn't close his wings or regulate temperature).
    In this clip Gimpy got upset at the sun and flipped himself over. We soon had to learn that our buttefly just didn't like being in the sun:

    To make things harder, we think he eventually got a bit scared of us, as part of what we had to do, to help him, must not always have felt great (like wetting and un-gluing wings stuck with sugar). Obviously at times we must also have done a few things he plain didn't like when we were trying to do our best to help him.

    By day 7th, he started flapping his wings and flipping over for more reasons, and it was harder to feed him. Jennifer tried really hard to find solutions, including this new feeder which was a great idea, but did not work out (it was too steep for gimpy who couldn't stand well with its leg stubs):


    Jennifer was very observant and noticed that even his broken shorted leg didn't look quite right, and it had gotten glued to the body due to sugar, so she had to help him out. After flipping over out of frustation, Jennifer was able to see the leg stuck to the body's hair, and free it up while Gimpy laid very still.
    We didn't know he was turning around like this but eventually Jennifer figured that it was because of the stuck foot:

    sorry gimpy, this must have felt uncomfortable, but you really wanted your foot stuck with sugar, to get unstuck
    sorry gimpy, this must have felt uncomfortable, but you really wanted your foot stuck with sugar, to get unstuck

    By then poor little thing was looking more beaten up with all the wing flapping, flipping over, one time a wing even got stuck to the cardboard due to sugar and a small corner of the wing was lost:


    We tried to find new ways to feed him so that his poor injured feet had a bit of traction and that he wouldn't fall in the food:


    Always made sure he had flowers to enjoy:


    Unfortunately by mid-day he would get more restless and often looked like he was upset, at us or something else. All we could do was to put a a cover on the box so it got dark to calm him down. This was hard to watch, we were worried that maybe he was in pain or suffering in some way, or maybe he was just upset to see us (ultimately the only communication we got when something was wrong is he would flip over, which is kind of limited). It was upsetting not to know what was wrong and how to help:

    So many questions, he didn't seem to be able to move forward much, but was he moving backwards (not a normal thing to do). Was it because it was easier for him to move that way, or because he was afraid of us?

    And in the process of all this, he really surprised us by having enough power to hang on to a flower and move it with his wings:

    This is where things get sad. Because he seemed scared of us, we gave it more space and didn't try to feed him in the evening when he was more restless and more likely to fall in the food and get all sticky. Because he died 5 days before his expected time, we think he didn't eat when we gave him food in the morning of day 8 (it was easy in the morning as he was still waking up and less likely to be feisty), and we didn't know (he had the proboscis in the food, but we didn't know if he sucked any). He didn't really seem weak during the day, but of course, it's hard to tell for sure.

    I put the lid on the box that evening so he didn't get too excited (yes, of course, there was room for air exchange).

    Gimpy, Day 9

    The next morning, I brought gimpy to his food as he was waking up, and maybe I should have taken a clue that his antenna was dipping in the food.

    when I was looking at him, he wasn't doing the suction
    when I was looking at him, he wasn't doing the suction

    Soon after, we found him with one wing arched (maybe due to to dehydration) and the other wing dipped into the food:


    Jennifer thought he was dehydrated because his wings we arched, so she misted him and tried to get the sugar out of his wing. In hindsight, we should have tried to give it pure water at that point, even if it was probably already too late:


    it was very hard to do, only Jennifer had the eye and precision to do it
    it was very hard to do, only Jennifer had the eye and precision to do it

    By then, we realized that he looked dead. I had already written gimpy off as he hadn't moved at all in a while, but Jennifer said we should take him to the sun, and she was right. We saw a bit of life back in him but it was apparent that he was having his last moments (we wanted him to eat/drink and recover, but that was not to be). We had a small piece of parchment paper between his wings so that they didn't get stuck again:


    he wouldn't eat, but he was probably too weak to make the suction to eat by then.
    he wouldn't eat, but he was probably too weak to make the suction to eat by then.

    Given his number of infirmities, Jennifer wondered if his proboscis stopped working because it got plugged by sugar or a piece of fruit, but obviously that's kind of hard to check. If it were true somehow, by then it was way too late and Gimpy was too weak to do any suction. Yet, as a last ditch effort, we put his proboscis in water and tried to stimulate it a bit, and Gimpy responded by moving it a few times ever so slightly, but those were clearly his last dying breaths (not that you can see a butterfly breathing):


    If you look really really closely, you'll see one of his last signs of life at offset 0:29. We were hopeful he could drink water and perk back up, but it was too far gone unfortunately:

    In the end, Gimpy lived 9 days (those butterflies live 14 days on average, so he should have lived a bit longer). It died on the morning of July 4th. In hindsight, it was likely that he didn't feed at all in at least 24H, but it was hard for us to know, because butterflies do not expel waste unless they ate way too much (that happened a couple of times with gimpy when he was eating way too much early on). The other problem was that in the last 3 days, he had gotten what looked like more restless with us, so that he would try to fly and eventually flip upside down when we were too close. As a result, we gave him more space and were not able to observe him as closely (Jennifer before that was checking carefully and knew when he was bigger because he had eaten, or could easily tell when one of his legs or wings got stuck because of sugar).

    A bit later, we found that his wings had bent/arched and he hadn't shown any movement in over 30mn, so we said our good-byes. Hopefully his last moments weren't too uncomfortable and we hope we helped him have the best butterfly life that he could in the 9 days that he shared with us.


    RIP, Gimpy
    RIP, Gimpy

    Conclusion

    So, most of you are probably going to at least smile, if not laugh at us, for the amount of time and effort we've spent over those 9 days trying to give this poor little butterfly as good a life as possible. I understand, I probably would have done the same thing too, but given that I'm the one who didn't manage to help him better get unstuck from his cocoon, and probably is at least partially responsible for him missing a leg or two, I've felt responsible for helping the poor little bugger out as much as possible (the wings never fully inflated and the part of antenna missing, is likely another problem that may not be our fault).

    We've tried to give it as much of a "proud butterfly life" by showing him outside a few times, first when we released his siblings, including taking him out for lunch with us, until he didn't like the sun and wind. After being back indoors, we make sure he got fruit juice or sugar water, and we moved him around with the sun during the day so that he could enjoy the heat on his wings (he first seems to enjoy that, but soon enough it looked like not, maybe too much of a good thing?). For his last moments, Jennifer also took him back outside to experience the outdoors and the sun one last time.

    We learned a lot about butterflies, but we were also left with a lot of questions, including the ones related to his challenges:

  • We had to learn that he didn't like sun, maybe because he couldn't fold his wings and it was too hot or too drying
  • There are times, he went backwards, was he scared of us, or was he so unable to walk properly that it was easier to move backwards?
  • Was he trying to fly just to fly, or was it indeed the only way for him to show that he was upset/scared?
  • We never found out why he had some control over his proboscis but didn't seem to be able to extend it in food, while being able to use it once it was there
  • We hope he was able to enjoy the flowers despite missing the part of his feet that can smell, and one part of one antenna
  • We never were really sure if he liked what we tried to do for him, like getting a floor that's not as tough given that he had to drag his body, but if it was too smooth, he had no grip to move around
  • More generally we hope he never was in pain or suffering, but it's very possible he had gangrene on his broken legs. Our biggest hope is that the days of life with gave him were worth living and his quality of life was sufficient to make worth it. We also hope we were able to help him achieve the best butterfly life he could have.
  • Did he die a natural death a few days early, or did he become unable to feed because it had problems with his proboscis (did sugar cause a clog, and we could have gotten gimpy to feed on water after each time it had sugar?) or maybe it did have gangrene and an infection from his half severed feet?
  • One thing I got a hint of, is how caretakers of people with special needs must feel. We wanted to help gimpy so much, accepted his disabilities, adjusted our hopes and expectations accordingly, and did the best we could to help it. The other butterflies were fun, we released them outside on flowers, they left, and never came back (as expected of course, it's not like they're supposed to be pets). Gimpy had so many problems, but he never gave up: he made us so happy when he succeeded in doing things like climbing a lavender and standing proudly on top, or when we saw him hover while holding and moving the lavender under him. We definitely rooted for him.

    Gimpy never gave up, and tried to be the best butterfly it could be despite its physical challenges.

    Yes, it would have been a lot easier if he could have fed a few more days and just died peacefully in his sleep, but that wasn't meant to be. Seeing him make his last movements as he died was very hard to watch, but I guess 9 days of life, hopefully at least 6 of them being as good as they could be, is still better than nothing (realistically many people would not have seen him struggle and let him die after birth, or not noticed he wasn't able to feed on his own and let him die of starvation after birth).
    Yes, we could have euthanized him if we knew he was not going to make it, but we kept hope that he would surprise us again and pull through. Would you have been ok killing a butterfly that you were not absolutely sure, was already dying?

    RIP Gimpy, we hope you'll re-incarnate in a better life, thank you for the teachings you gave us, and sorry for any ways we did not know how to better take care for you (although hopefully we did about as well as anyone could have been reasonably expected to).

    After he died, we decided to keep him. I tried to flatten his wings, unstick the ones that were often stuck and pointed wrong, and made him a little home with flowers from our yard:


    and him got a home with the other butterflies I inherited from an uncle
    and him got a home with the other butterflies I inherited from an uncle


    (before you ask, I do not support buying butterfly displays, I don't trust that the butterflies died a natural death. That one is over 60 years old and I inherited it from an uncle in France when I was a kid, while I enjoy it, I would never buy one):

    Summary video:

    Links

  • Kit we bought: https://www.amazon.com/Insect-Lore-Butterfly-Garden-Caterpillars/dp/B087YXSQG5?ref_=ast_sto_dp
  • https://www.insectlore.com/pages/butterfly-questions
  • https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-painted-lady-butterflies-1968172
  • Arin's touching story about her rescued Monarch butterfly: https://thegloriasirens.com/2019/05/29/my-time-with-mona-three-days-caring-for-a-dying-butterfly
  • A butterfly that got best friends with a human: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=327WTVWI0Qw
  • 2020/06/15 Insectlore's Painted Ladies Butterflies
    π 2020-06-15 01:01 in Public
    [rigimg:1024:1.5 years ago, I got some caterpillars for Jennifer's BD and they grew into butterflies that were released in the yard, although it was a bit cold in november. We you can read about our first experience taking care of caterpilars here.]

    Given that were were not going anywhere for a while, I thought it would be fun to have another batch in nicer warm weather, so I got another set of 10 and this time the caterpillars were already a lot bigger when we got them, which we didn't mind, watching the caterpillars grow slowly was kind of the boring part of the experience for us:

    they were fat within a few days
    they were fat within a few days

    and they went to create a chrysalis quickly
    and they went to create a chrysalis quickly

    Two of them were not attached right, so we used pins to attach them. One of those 2 never survived (not because of the pin that we carefully put outside of the cocoon):


    Not long after, the first butterflies started to emerge with folded wings that got straight once filled with blood:


    Butterflies are generally not afraid of us, especially after being just born:



    Once all of them were born (there was a 2 day variance), we took them to our yard when it was warm and sunny:



    they obviously liked our lantanas
    they obviously liked our lantanas


    this one already started feeding (you can see its proboscis)
    this one already started feeding (you can see its proboscis)




    we took the last one that was born that day
    we took the last one that was born that day

    and found it a nice set of flowers to enjoy
    and found it a nice set of flowers to enjoy


    Before long, they had all flown out away from our yard, to enjoy the world.

    This left us with out with little gimpy, our special needs butterfly that couldn't fly and could barely walk.


    Gimpy lived 9 days with our care, and we helped him be the the best butterfly he could be. We have a whole page with his story


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