posted July 7th, 2005 by Shannon
Arghh, just as I suspected! Two of the cats formed their chrysalis last night as we slept. I REALLY want to see one change this year! But the advantage to having 11 cats is that there are 9 more to go. Two more are getting pretty close, so hopefully we will get to watch them today.
This is what I want to watch: Swallowtail Metamorphosis.
Filed under: Adventures, Family on July 7th, 2005 | No Comments »
posted July 6th, 2005 by Shannon
So the adventure continues. Tonight George walks from the bedroom hallway into the kitchen and says “Hypothetically speaking, let’s say I knew where the missing caterpillar had made his chrysalis, would you want me to tell you?” Silly boy! I knew he was just trying to pull my leg and make me think he actually DID find the chrysalis when he really hadn’t. I just smiled back at him. BUT, then his voice changes pitch and speeds up a little bit and he says “Uhmm, I mean, hypothetically speaking, if I saw the missing caterpillar WALKING across the kitchen floor right here, right where your son is about to step, would you want me to tell you?” By this time, he’s talking pretty fast. I walk around and look where he�s pointing and guess what I see? Cat #11 crawling around in the corner sniffing out a Cheerio Nathan had dropped earlier today!!
Emily asked if she could touch the cat and we told her yes. When she did, the cat shot it’s orange horn looking things up and she JUMPED back! Guess she already forgot about the other orange horn experience. This time her hand stunk too. Somehow they squirt some foul smelling something when they shoot the horn-looking thing out. Eww. (It did go away after washing her hands well.)
The two cats closest to a chrysalis still look just like the picture I took earlier this morning. I won’t be surprised the make their chrysalis while I’m sleeping tonight. Bummer. I really want to watch one transform this year.
So, the count is now: 1 chrysalis (from my parents), 2 cats hanging in the J shape, 2 others that have shrunken down in size and staying very still but not in the J shape yet, then 7 cats that are still crawling around and chomping parsley leaves.
Filed under: Adventures, Family on July 6th, 2005 | 2 Comments »
posted July 6th, 2005 by Shannon
Well, we seached the entire kitchen area last night and never found caterpillar #11. I hope she’s safely made her chrysalis by now. We moved the other 10 cats into the butterfly house. There will be no escaping from this container, but it’s a little harder to see them in there. Before we moved them, we saw two relatively large piles of watery caterpillar frass (poop). They are suppose to do that after they are done eating and shortly before they make their chrysalis.
You should also know that we have one chrysalis that my parents sent us in the mail before we knew we had cats in our own yard. It should be emerging in a few days – assuming it survived the ride through the postal system. So, to recap, we have 10 cats and one chrysalis in the butterfly house and one cat on the loose somewhere in our house.
Two of our cats, I am assuming the ones who have already had the watery frass, appear to be “in position” to form their chrysalis. See how they are hanging in sort of a ‘J’ shape? Their heads are really only attached by some sort of string that they have made. Now we’re just waiting for them to do their thing.
Filed under: Adventures, Family on July 6th, 2005 | No Comments »
posted July 5th, 2005 by Shannon
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10… 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10… No matter how many times I counted, I could only find 10 caterpillars in our caterpillar box today. They are pretty sneaky and sometimes you can be staring right at one but not see him. However, I was convinced that #11 was on the loose. And I was right. I found him under the baker’s rack a few moments later. I moved him to the butterfly house (the box is just temporary) since I thought he would be making his chrysalis soon. I kept counting the other 10 to make sure they were still all there. The temporary box does have some holes in the sides but I thought I had them all covered. Despite a few close scares, I always managed to find the 10 remaining caterpillars in (or on) the box. Until this evening 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9…. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9…. One was definitely missing. George couldn’t find him either. Then we spotted some frass outside the box. (Frass would be caterpillar poop. It looks like little dark green balls – aren’t you glad you know that now?) We still have not found him/her, even after a very thorough search of the kitchen. My main concern now is her safety. I can’t guarantee what my son will do if he finds a pretty ‘pillar crawling his way.
Filed under: Adventures, Family on July 5th, 2005 | 1 Comment »
posted July 4th, 2005 by Shannon
Well, it’s July 4th and we stayed home. I started this weekend out as the July 4th Grinch. It’s just not the 4th if you don’t watch a parade and spend the day at the park. But it turned out to be a pretty good day, except for the fact that I’m recovering from a cold.
George decided he wanted to smoke a brisket today. He started the fire early this morning and cooked it ALL day long. He inflated our small swimming pool AND our big inflatable couch for the kids to play with. We ended the evening by eating yummy brisket and ice cream and then letting the kids watch the New York City fireworks show on TV before they peacefully drifted off to sleep. (Ha!)
We found 11 Eastern Black Swallowtail caterpillars on our parsley Saturday and we moved them inside today. My goal is to actually watch one make his chrysalis this year.
Filed under: Family on July 4th, 2005 | 1 Comment »