The Adventures of Big and Little

Tales from the milkweed patch. . . .

There is a milkweed patch across the road that I've been keeping an eye on. Actually, I keep an eye on LOTS of milkweed. When I go up and down Tow Hill, as I also did on this morning, I often stop and check every stand for caterpillars. If I see some, I admire them; I take pictures. That's just how I roll.

The patch directly across the road is one I can reach in about three minutes, by bike. So I am there nearly every day. And the news of this week is that the milkweed patch is full of caterpillars, in every size.

I spotted these two cuties having a snack together and took numerous photos. I thought how they reminded me of a story. Maybe Robin Hood and Little John, something like that: two friends, one big, one little.

I took my pictures home and cooed over them, and then I suddenly did a double-take: I remembered that I've read that larger caterpillars can sometimes eat the tiny ones. Not because they're big meanies, but by mistake: they smell like milkweed, so perhaps they ARE milkweed. Nom nom! Oh no!

So mid-afternoon found me scooting BACK over to the milkweed patch, separating these two. I moved the tiny one to a different milkweed plant so it wouldn't get eaten accidentally. So perhaps that was my (tiny!) good deed for the day!

I need a soundtrack song and this is a favorite, although it's short, just 55 seconds. It's the song that goes with Robin Hood and Little John, originally by Roger Miller. Here is a lovely, way-too-short cover of Oo-De-Lally, by Allison Young. Bonus: a few more photos of these two.