Just when I thought it was all over...

Ta da!

Lolly  has arrived

It started out like any other Wednesday.  I dropped the peanut off at school, returned home and started on the breakfast dishes (pretty exciting so far, huh?)  I had just taken out the kitchen trash and as I bent down to grab a new trash bag something caught my eye.  Lolly had emerged!  I was so excited!  Mostly because I had all but given up on her.  I was truly convinced she didn't make it.  It had been forever since she had chrysalized - 15 days to be exact - and I just had a funny feeling.  So, imagine my surprise when she appeared!  I can't believe she was right there on the windowsill, slowly emerging from her cocoon right in front of me and I didn't even notice...I was so engrossed in doing the dishes.

I haven't set her free yet for 2 reasons.  The first, hungry birds are more likely to gobble her up in the early morning and secondly, the peanut needs to see her!  She is glorious to say the least.  I even saw another Giant Swallowtail flitting about the same tangerine tree where I found Lolly, so today must be "Coming Out" day.

I have since moved her to larger diggs and have supplied her with some food (a cotton ball soaked in sugar water) until the peanut gets home and we set her free.  I hope to take some video of her maiden flight and will post it here.

Garden Delight

What kind of Caterpillar is this???

Read more and find out!

Just this past weekend, when my husband was out in the backyard trimming our Tangerine tree, he pointed out a very strange looking caterpillar on one of the branch cuttings.  It looked like a lizard at first glance and kind of gave me the creeps...but, I decided it would be fun to keep it in an acrylic box (handy for more than just beads!) and watch it do it's thing, ya know,the whole "metamorphosis thing". My daughter, a big time bug lover, named it Lolly.  After placing Lolly in her (I'll just stick with 'she' since her name is Lolly...) new home with a couple of twigs and some leaves she almost immediately started getting ready to chrysalize.  By the next morning she was in complete chrysalis mode, hanging at a 45 degree angle from one of the twigs. 

Lolly looks just like this right now...

shhh, she's sleeping.

At this point I still had NO idea what Lolly was, a moth, a butterfly?  And what type?    After a little internet research, aka Google, I finally discovered Lolly was a Giant Swallowtail Butterfly!

Giant Swallowtail Butterfly

Isn't she pretty?

So, now we wait...10-14 days according to my vast "research".  I can't wait to meet Lolly and set her free to start the whole cycle over again.  I plan to take some video of the event and post it here.  Stay tuned!