In Which T. Tiger Finds a Walking Stick!

Where there is great love, there are always miracles. - Willa Cather.

T. Tiger and I made a very interesting discovery on our front porch on Sunday afternoon. A small walking stick was strolling down the bricks right beside our front door. I was indeed able to get a few photos, but when I sat the Tiger down to get a good look, the walking stick said, "EEK, A TIGER!!!" and took off up the wall with a great deal of speed!

A few hours later, as it was growing dark, I told my husband I was going out onto the front porch to check on the walking stick. He suggested if it was still there, I might move it into the garden, where it might be both happier and safer.

So I went out, and indeed, there the walking stick still was, walking along the bricks, heading straight into the path of a huge spider web, and what's worse, the ultra-large spider actually came out and LOOKED at the stick hungrily.

Of course, I grabbed something on the porch, captured the walking stick, and removed it to the garden, where I sat it down, and it instantly walked in among the plants. So I am happy to report that T. Tiger and I gave that bug a happy ending.  :-)

I also wanted to share with you more of the tale of the butterfly from yesterday's blip. For there is much more of the tale to tell, but truth be told, yesterday morning as I posted that photo, I feared the worst for my butterfly. So here, as Paul Harvey might say, is the rest of the story.

First off, the butterfly came out of its chrysalis sometime around the middle of the day on Saturday. The sun hits the milkweed patch in the afternoon and that seemed to move its process along. The butterfly sat on the milkweed for a long time, and eventually ended up down in the grass in front of the milkweed. I did not see how it got there.

It seemed to be trying to climb things, and attempted several times to fly, but did not seem to manage. I did not know what was wrong, but we watched the butterfly walking away on the grass, and that seemed somehow to be not how it was supposed to go.

So I took a plant, and offered it to the butterfly, and it climbed aboard, and I took the butterfly over to Barb's Butterfly Garden, where I placed it on one of the last flowers on the butterfly bush. I also brought over some goldenrod and placed those yellow blooms all around the butterfly.

I was concerned that the butterfly could not seem to fly. I was also concerned because in the photos, it looked like its proboscis may not have zipped up yet. The monarch's proboscis actually starts out as two parts, and then the two parts join to form a sort of straw, through which the butterfly drinks. If that does not happen, the butterfly cannot eat.

So I looked it all up on the Internet, and I worried and stewed. I put a small table from the yard over the butterfly for protection, and offered it a large stick to climb. And we took turns going out and checking on it. I told my husband I was worried about the butterfly, as it had not flown yet and I could not tell the status of its proboscis.

"It feels like we are parents," he said to me later that evening. And when he went out one last time at dusk to check on it, he came back in and informed me that he could not find the butterfly. We wished it (what turns out to have been premature) a bon voyage, hoping it had managed to fly away on its long journey.

But when I awoke on Sunday morning, it was very misty and damp out, and the sun didn't arrive until around mid-day. Worst of all, when I went to check in the butterfly garden, I found the poor butterfly looking weak, lying on its side. Oh no!

So back onto the Internet I went. I thought the butterfly might be weak from all of its efforts, and heavy from dew. So I got a banana and put some little slices on a plastic lid, and offered it to the butterfly. I also mashed some banana slices and put them in the freezer, as when they came out later, they would be even more mushy, and perhaps more inviting to the butterfly.

I offered the butterfly the bananas, and it climbed right on top of them. I tried to see if it was using its proboscis at all to try to eat it, but I was trying not to scare it, so I didn't want to get too close. Honestly, I just couldn't tell what was going on in that area.

The butterfly did seem to gain strength, so perhaps it WAS indeed able to eat. It climbed up a plant. It waved its antennas into the wind. And then it disappeared - though we did not see it happen, we presumed it flew away. Bon voyage! Bon voyage, butterfly!

I was sitting in the sunny yard with my book later in the afternoon, when I saw an orange butterfly rise up off of one of the trees out front, and I just KNEW it was "my" butterfly.

It lifted beautifully, and went up high, high, high above the trees. We both saw it go. My husband said, "There goes your butterfly!" How amazing it must be to crawl, crawl, crawl, and then to fly, fly, fly! What a view it must be from up there!

We only saw the butterfly one time more after that. The shadows were growing long, and suddenly there was an orange shape on the milkweed. "He's back!" my husband happily announced. "Of course, he doesn't want to leave us. Who would?" But then he flew away again, and we waved and laughed and looked skyward, full of love and hope. 

Bon voyage, butterfly!!!

Now, I have often said that it is wise to cultivate an enjoyment of bugs, as they will provide a lifetime of entertainment. But I also want to point out that caring for bugs can take a lot of emotional energy, and it is NOT for the faint of heart!
Signed, the nervous nurse-maid to a brand new monarch boy.

The soundtrack for this posting is this one, and I dedicate it from Tiny Tiger and myself to both the walking stick who was not, in fact, eaten by a spider, and to the monarch butterfly who, as it turns out, really CAN fly! Glass Tiger, with I Will Be There.