Present-day Miracles

Observation of a nearly complete life cycle, beginning with a Monarch caterpillar that traveled from a milkweed leaf in my yard, to my grandson's yard, and back to my yard! "Around the World" (From a mature caterpillar to butterfly) in 10 days.

Our Monarch caterpillar... eating, eating, eating... just prior to being housed in a mason jar with part of a pantyhose leg under a jar ring on Thursday, August 10.

The chrysalis that was formed in the jar on Friday, August 11.

The empty chrysalis we found in the jar this morning... Sunday, August 19.

The Monarch butterfly in the jar!A transfer to Daddy's hands.

Wonderment...

... and letting go.

I visited my daughter, my son-in-law, and my two grandchildren in their home this past week. Here we have "the sleeping prince."
And his (sister) princess wakening him with a smooooch!
It was time for a dip in the pool.
Enjoyed by all!
And this is the bigger and smaller of part of the story!

Fungus Among-us!

Can you identify the following fungii?. Actually, I think it's a Stinkhorn fungi (Lysurus mokusin). The photograph below isn't the best one, but I couldn't resist posting it. Check out the fly! (It'll give you an idea of the size of the fungus.) There were actually two of them in the front yard this morning!


This second was a doozy, too. (What is it??? Anyone know?)Since I'll be out of town for a few days, I won't be adding new posts... but I'll be taking plenty of pictures! ;-)

Nothin' shady about that!

New Homes and Food APlenty!

The job is done. I plucked off all the little Monarch caterpillars I could find from my Butterfly Milkweed and placed them on temporary leaves from a common Milkweed. Here are a few of them. They didn't skip a beat... just kept on chewing! (And, as you might notice... pushing the "excess" right through!)

I found quite a few of them... probably 15 or so. I kept one of the larger ones in a mason jar with some fresh leaves. I'm driving to visit my daughter, son-in-law, my 4-year-old grandson and my 1 1/2 year-old granddaughter tomorrow. Perhaps a caterpillar/chrysalis/butterfly experience will be fun and educational!

And, yes, I saturated the entire Butterfly Milkweed with insect spray! I got a little heavy-handed, but assume the plant will be happier in the long run.

I also rescued three fuzzy little caterpillars that I hope to identify later. They eat milkweed leaves, too. You'll see one fuzzy little fellow below. I've discovered that it's a Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar. Check out this image of the Milkweed Tussock moth!

The following photos show how easily they were transplanted. I was a minor inconvenience in the grand scheme of things. I'm not sure they even noticed the move!

If you click to enlarge the photo of the plant, you may be able to see a few of the caterpillars.

A job "well done." I'll check my plant in the morning... within a few days, there should be several new Monarch Butterflies flying from the ditch!

Critters, critters, critters!

My poor Butterfly Milkweed (Asclepias tuberosa) has been inundated with aphids... modus operandi: Aphis Nerii! So, I've decided not to wait for the results of the poll. Tomorrow I will pluck all the little Monarch caterpillars that are residing there and transplant them across the road onto Common Milkweed (Asclepias syriaca). At least for awhile.
(I'm working on working on my photo clarity...)


Anyway, once they're moved... WHAM! I have stuff I brought home from the store that's supposed to take care of whitefly, aphids, etc., etc. It looks as though I either take care of the aphid infestation, or they'll take care of my butterfly milkweed!

Another on our critter list is that of a different sort. Squirrels make quite a mess every year about this time. We have three Shagbark hickory - Juglandaceae (Walnut family), Carya ovata trees in our front yard. At this time of year, hickory nuts are still developing. That is to say, the husks are green and the nuts are not ripe. But there beats, in the breast of every hopeful little squirrel, the eternal visage that if they chew enough nuts, they'll find the first ripe one of the season! Therefore, the ground is littered...

and, over the course of this past week, I've picked up five 5-gallon buckets of green hickory nuts!







If they don't get picked up, the little critters find a comfortable spot on the ground, and chomp, chew and spit until they find the nut. There are some fairly sharp pieces of nut skeletons scattered across the ground. You won't want to walk barefoot out there for quite some time!

I saw a little fellow run across the yard with a hickory nut in his mouth today. I just watched him. Squirrels are pretty cute... and what's one more "mess," more or less? Who knows. He may just be the little guy that finds that ripe treat!

The last critter tries very hard to be near and dear to my heart. He's hard not to like... and he never needs a reason to give a person a "Hi, how're you doin' lick."


Anyway, he's taken to backing out of his halter. He really enjoys running to one or more of the neighbors' yards. First, however, he must visit his best buddy next door. A big, black Labrador Retriever. Given that my Sidney stands at the retriever's kneecap, they're a pretty funny looking pair.

Today I foiled his plan by placing a brand new collar around his neck. Backing out didn't work. Sometimes I just want to be in control of his forays. I plan to stay home tomorrow. I'll put his halter on in the morning. ;-)

Maybe I'M the shady one around here.

So... What Do You Do About Aphids?

The Monarch Caterpillars are back. In full swing! (And in all sizes!) We'd had a couple of them a month or so ago, but now my Butterfly Milkweed has quite a few of them.

But what's one to do with the aphids that are covering each stem on the plant? They don't seem to be bothering the caterpillars, but I don't like the looks of the Numbers of them! Is there something I can do to rid my plant of the aphids without harming the caterpillars?

(I wish I had a camera that would take those wonderfully clear photos... perhaps I need to experiment a bit more with mine to see if I can't do a bit better.)

This isn't a shady problem, but they're shady characters... those aphids!

Let's Get to the Root of a Mysterious 'Toot'!

On Thursday morning, a friend opened her front door and found...

... three cases for musical instruments on her front step. Reportedly, the first case she opened contained a rusted trumpet. Unplayable. The second case she opened was empty. The case was mouldy and not worth keeping.

We arrived at her house before she was able to open the third case, so she dropped the first two in a dumpster. I'm afraid I wasn't up to diving inside to investigate for myself - so here's a photo. When we returned from our expedition, we noticed that the third case was still on her front step.I followed her, acting upon the premise that I was offering moral support should we discover something distasteful, ungainly, Precious, or Dangerous (!) inside. Quite honestly, I was just plain curious.
As you can see, it was nothing unusual. A trombone with a slight bit of rust, but one that could be cleaned. Hopefully it's playable. It will be passed to the local high school band director in hopes that it will turn out to be usable.

As far as we could discern, these items had to have been left during the nighttime, under the guise of darkness. There's no shade here! ;-)