Gypsy Habitat

We did quite a bit of work outside this morning, sort of rushing things in anticipation of storm that never came - at least not yet, anyway. A brief look at the doppler indicates we may see some rumblings late, late tonight - but nothing like the dramatic weather we've seen lately from Texas. This is the same system of course, finally making its way to us. But we've been blessed. Really, they've been blessed too: no fatalities.

It was a beautiful day. Absolutely gorgeous. We cleared a lot of shrubbery and leaves, cleaning up a good portion of one side of the yard, and Daddy went out to get some red mulch, which we'll lay down this weekend, probably. Madison is always a bit help, pushing the wheel barrow, or filling it up with leaves and so forth. Also, Daddy managed to finish hanging up all of the license plates. You won't believe this, but we happened to have exactly the amount of license plates to completely go around the top of the garage - not one too many, and not one too short. Pretty impressive!

While we were outside, Mommy found a few gypsy moth caterpillars beneath the trees, and even a few cocoons. That's when we remembered the butterfly habitat that we have up in Madison's room, and decided to do a quick learning adventure:

This is sealed environment with about five caterpillars, two cocoons and a whole lot of leaves and sticks. It currently rests nearby Madison's piano, so she can come and hopefully observe these guys go through the cycle and become moths. It'll be an interesting set-up for a while, though I'm not entirely sure how many days. I do know that once they're moths, we'll release them because:

a). We're nice and

b). We fear Mothra's vengeance.

What a neat idea Mommy stumbled upon. Now Madison can see a little science first-hand, right here inside the house!

"Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that's how it always starts. Then later there's running and screaming."

- Dr. Ian Malcolm