8-21-08, Egg

8-23-08, 1st Instar 1.5mm

8-24-08, 1st Instar Day 2, 3.0mm

8-26-08, 2nd Instar, 5.3mm

We’ve had quite a week, especially Eric. Today we just completely vegged out. Eric is wiped out from his surgery on Wednesday. We’re all tired from being at the hospital on Friday, Monday, and Tuesday also. It wasn’t the best case scenario, the surgeon wasn’t able to get the stone easily, but the stent was put in place, which has helped some. Of course, Eric could argue the point.

At any rate, when we discovered that another Monarch egg had been laid on our butterfly weed, we were so excited. Since our last baby caterpillar didn’t make it, we decided to bring this one inside before he hatched. Johann is keeping track of his growth. We bring the caterpillar fresh leaves a few times a day. Soon we will have to scour the few places around town that still have milkweed growing along the road for more food. Around here people don’t know they are taking away the caterpillar food for the Monarchs that come here. People love to watch their migration come through every year and even help tag them, but they aren’t willing to keep milkweed plants growing to support new generations of Monarchs. Time for some more Miss Rumphius walks!