One is considerably smaller than the other.
1. Butt-thra is still fluttering around the garden, five days after her birth…
2. The mystery wallpaper has arrived for downstairs…
It will be installed on Monday. Stay tuned.
two small things
August 9th, 2012monarch midwifery: day 13!
August 3rd, 2012Hatch day! Got outside at about 5:20 am. Just me, a cup of tea and my iPhone. Right after 6 a.m., the monarch crysalis started to open. The stupid camera couldn’t seem to focus on the right thing, but you can just make out the split starting from the bottom…
Seconds later she popped out!
Note the tiny wings and the huge abdomen. Over the next hour and a half, Bix and David and I watched as she hung there pumping fluid from the thorax into her wings…
You can see her wings gradually grow while her abdomen skinnifies, all Jenny Craiglike…
Then she opened her wings. I could barely fit her in the shot!
Scarcely over two hours after she began her transformation from pupa to butterfly, our baby took her first flight…
* INSERT TEARS OF JOY HERE *
This evening I discovered the newborn fluttering around our sumacs, so she’s still here. Hopefully she’s enjoying our butterfly buffet before she heads south.
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Addendum #1:
After watching Godzilla vs. The Thing (also known as Godzilla vs. Mothra) last night, Bix and I dubbed our magical monarch “Butt-thra” in deference to our favorite winged monster, Mothra…
Addendum #2:
Bix requests that you join us for a song before you go, okay?
FYI, If you’re not familiar with the Singing Science series by Motivation Records, check it out. Fantastic and fun. (Space Songs and the two Nature records are our favorites.)
monarch watch: holy moly!
August 2nd, 2012At about lunchtime I posted that there wasn’t much going on with our butterfly friend. But look what she’s gone and done in the last two hours…
Can you believe it? It’s almost butterfly time!
projects update: built-ins + butterflies
August 2nd, 2012Let’s see… when we left off on Day 9, it was almost time for our monarch butterfly to bust out of her chrysalis, fan us with her awe-inspiring wings and flutter on out of here. So what’s up?
DAY 10
DAY 11
DAY 12
So much for the 10-day cycle. Ever waited for a cat to have kittens? It’s kind of like that. I go outside and check the chrysalis throughout the day. When something happens I’ll let you know.
In other news that might actually be news, David and Joe are downstairs banging out the built-ins. Here’s your sneak-peek…
Once they’re in, David can tell you all about them. Also waiting in the wings: our murphy bed hardware. So there’s that to look forward to, as well.
One last note: the wallpaper decision has been made. I’m saving it as a surprise. All will be revealed with the fullness of time.
monarch, day 8 + 9
July 30th, 2012Our monarch butterfly is still cooking on days 8 and 9…
I let our very rainy weekend stop me from snapping a shot on Day 7. But I have a feeling our friend looked quite similar to the above.
So is Tuesday hatch day? It will be 10 days since she climbed into position and that’s supposedly how long metamorphosis lasts. I may have to hover over her all day tomorrow to capture her emergence!
monarch, day 6
July 27th, 2012I think I see the green beginning to shift a little. Perhaps our butterfly friend’s change to orange is beginning? Or I’m imagining things…
Looking quite a bit different from Days 1 and 2. Four more days to go!
monarch, days 4 + 5
July 26th, 2012Our butterfly friend is looking fairly unchanged from day 4…
to day 5…
But I imagine there’s a lot happening in there. As it turns out, the pupa is clear and the color you see is the green butterfly on the inside. As she gets closer to “done,” the color will change to the bright monarch orange we know and love.
Only five more days to go!
monarch, day 3
July 24th, 2012
another creature sighting!
July 23rd, 2012We discovered a new garden guest yesterday…
Can you believe it?! A monarch butterfly caterpillar just beginning its transformation into a butterfly! In fact, it must have just climbed into place because it only takes a matter of hours for the pupa to form.
This morning, she had already reached the chrysalis stage…
I’m so excited that the kiddo gets to watch this happen. We just don’t get this Wild Kingdom kind of experience often in the city. So happy we planted our Asclepias tuberose (native butterfly weed or milkweed), as it’s the host plant for monarch eggs and larva.
Will endeavor to post a photo every day for the 10-day metamorphosis. Great visuals here, by the way, if you’re eager to see what’s going to take place.
just spotted!
July 14th, 2012It’s been almost exactly eight weeks since John’s praying mantis egg case dispensed the tiniest little creatures into his car. Since then, I haven’t come across any of the babies I managed to capture and release into our yard.
Until this morning…
He’s between 3 and 4″ long. So happy to see you, little guy! I hope your siblings are somewhere nearby.