WOW!!!!
Wow! At my last post, I announced with great joy the discovery of monarch caterpillars in my garden. At last count, I have at least 25 of them! Hannah is the expert "buffeye" finder, and she knows what they are. She tries to be very gentle with them. Not bad for a 2 year-old!
The other morning I was jolted awake by the crash of the little 2-gallon tank. I was foolish enough to leave it perched on the windowsill, by an open window. The wind blew it down. The impact dislodged the last of the chrysalises, which I knew was about to emerge. I didn’t know if the thing HAD to be hanging or not, but I gently picked it up and tried to prop it as vertically as possible in the corner of the tank. (-after I moved the tank away from the window…) Two hours later, Hannah broke into my room. As I apprehended her, we passed by the tank. The Chrysalis toppled over and began to twitch. OOOooh! The Big Moment! As we watched, the casing cracked, and a very bedraggled and crumpled "thing" emerged- a fat black and white speckled worm with tiny shrivelled wings. Great, I thought- the first time I get to witness a butterfly emerging, and it’s a mutant! Nuts. But then again, It was my first time, so I didn’t know what was vs what wasn’t supposed to happen. So I ever-so-gently picked up the pathetic creature and let it hang on my lampshade. The body started to pulsate, and the wings began to expand! It was amazing! As the body grew thinner, the wings grew larger. The antennae also grew, and it uncoiled and coiled it’s tongue. WOW! The wings were so delicate and limp. It hung there for an hour, and Hannah was fascinated with it! She even tracked down a magnifying lens to look at it! (Atta girl!!!) I transfered the now-obviously-magnificent Monarch Butterfly to a rope on my front porch, where it rested for another 2 hours before flying off. Just think… that butterfly will fly all the way to Mexico!
I put some pictures in the album, If anyone is interested. 
