The caterpillar

The day before we left for Otter Lake, Steph comes home from school and finds a great big caterpillar in our front yard. She asks me if we can put it in something and then with the MOST pitiful look on her face, asks me if we can keep it.

I just so happened to get a big salad for lunch in the cafeteria at work that day, and for some reason, the size of the salads that they give to you are enough to feed a large family of 5. Plus they cost an arm and a leg. For a whole bunch of lettuce and some strange vegetables that I can't pronounce. Anything else that you buy there will barely satisfy your hunger for even an hour, but the salads are humungous.

Man was that salad yummy.....

Anyways, I brought half of my salad home that day and it came in this really great caterpillar container. I mean this thing was MADE to be a caterpillar house.

So, I obliged. I went in the house and cleaned out my yummy salad container and poked holes in the lid. Steph and I then pulled a bunch of leaves off of the tree in the front yard and found some dead sticks for it to crawl on. The little thing looked so happy.

And so was I.

Until I realized that we were going on a 4 day camping trip the next day!

So....I proceeded to try and calmly explain that the really perfect little house that we just erected for Mr. Caterpillar was more like a hotel and less like a penthouse apartment, and that Mr. Caterpillar would have to check-out the next morning before our trip.

Steph was not happy. Not happy at all.

So, I found myself on the internet researching how to keep a caterpillar alive in a really cool salad container for 4 days while we were away.

The stupid internet said that you need to give it fresh leaves every day.

WHAT!!!???

Every day??????????

You have to feed it EVERY DAY!!!???

Thats just crazy talk.

It's like having a newborn or something.

Sheesh.

I was hoping that it would be happy with the wilted little leaves that we just plucked from the tree two hours ago.

So, I started to come to the realization that Mr. Caterpillar may just be going on his first road trip with the Chrupcala family. And I was not pleased.

I then explained to Steph that we would NOT be keeping him in the house, but that she was more than welcome to find him a nice spot on the front porch or in the back patio. And that is where he spent his first night.

I thought about that little guy many times that evening and secretly wished that Steph would have found him when we got back from our trip, or that I would not have had the yummy salad that day that came in that perfect little caterpillar house. Darn.

Fast forward to the next morning. Steph woke up and went to check on Mr. Caterpillar.

To my astonishment, Mr. Caterpillar must have felt my sorrow and regret from the night before and decided to pity my poor little soul............Mr. Caterpillar formed his chrysalis that evening. (Oh, and just so you don't think that I am THAT smart, I had to Google that word to see how to spell it.)

In my huble opinion, Mr. Caterpillar is just plain rad. And he has impeccable timing.

Here is Steph with her chrysalis, in the perfect little caterpillar house, yesterday.

I think he will come out in a few more days, then I guess I will need to research what I am supposed to do with a newborn baby butterfly.

Anyone have any ideas???

And please don't tell me that I have to feed it every day.....................