Let me take you back to Wednesday. I'm relaxing at my grandma's house when my noisy little cousins come screaming into my nice quiet room demanding that I go outside to 'PICK UP THE FAT GREEN WORM'. Okay, maybe it's a maggot or something. Gross, but intriguing. So I put down my book and follow them out to grandma's garden. The bright yellow and orange flowers she'd planted are trying their best to block out the persistent milkweed plants that are already growing rampant across the plot. Katri, the younger cousin, races ahead and points excitedly at the top of one of the milkweed stalks. That's when I realize that their 'fat green worm' is not a maggot at all. It's a caterpillar.
And it was a big caterpillar at that. I took it home Wednesday afternoon, and when I checked on it the next morning, it was already in chrysalis. I can't wait to have my first Monarch butterfly of the season!
You'll notice (or maybe you won't, you can never tell with readers) that I say 'first Monarch butterfly'. Well, that's because I kinda already have a butterfly. That's right, the Swallowtail has hatched! He's small for a Swallowtail, with a 7 1/2 cm wingspan. Usually they're bigger than Monarchs, but I suppose every butterfly is different. I named him Skip, at my mom's suggestion.
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