Mulberry Lane Musings

Homemaker Musings

2009-11-06T18:27:00.001-05:00

Hey everybody! I thought you might like to see some pictures of the canning we did this year. In the first picture, I am canning peaches (mmm...). The next picture is of oh-so-yummy pickled beets, and the last picture is of me making applesauce. In addition to the three items mentioned above, we canned apples and green beans. They were all fun to can. We used a pressure canner for the first time this year. I'll tell you how we canned the peaches and the beets:

Peaches:
First, we boiled water, then put peaches in it. We let the peaches soak for 5 minuets before plunging them into cold water. Then we sliced them in half and peeled them. We left the pit in some of them, so we could have one pit in each jar.My Grandmother told my mother that this helps the peaches keep their color.

Beets:
As for the beets, we boiled them in water, then put them in cold water to peel and slice them.

The rest of the process is the same for both. We packed the fruit/veggies in jars, and pour liquid over them. Then "burp" the jars with a knife to get all the air bubbles out. Then wipe rims of the jars. Next, we put on the seals and rims. The last step is to put the jars in the pressure canner, and let the pressure increase and boil for 30 minutes at the required pressure.Then we wait for the canner to cool completely before removing the jars. They are placed in a draft free area to cool and rest for 24 hours. As they cool, the seals will each make a "pop"sound from the vacuum sealing process. I like listening for the pops!

As for the applesauce, we cut the apples into quarters, then cooked the apples with just 1/4 cup of water or apple juice.When they are hot and tender, we put them into the Victoro Strainer, and turned the lever to make... applesauce!

Thanks for reading!

Clear-Winged Hummingbird Sphinx Moth

2009-10-09T17:00:00.002-04:00

Hello! In this post, I want to tell you about the Clear-Winged Hummingbird Sphinx Moth caterpillar that I have been raising since August. Mom found it on a Honeysuckle plant one day when we were out exploring, searching for Black Swallowtail caterpillars to raise. We did not find what we were looking for but we found this cute caterpillar :). It is certainly a very pretty caterpillar.
Notice the golden crown on it's head and the yellow base on the horn. It also has black dots along the sides of his body that are barely visible when it is only 1/4 of an inch long. That is how long ( or short) this caterpillar was when we found it. As it grows the spots are more visible.
These caterpillars feed on honeysuckle, hawthorns, viburnum, and Black Cherry plants. Compared to the Monarch caterpillars I raised, my clear winged sphinx moth caterpillar grew rather slowly and did not eat as much. The caterpillar never consumed a whole Honeysuckle leaf in a day, even when the caterpillar was full grown.

The last picture is of the caterpillar in the pupa stage. When the caterpillar is fully grown it will climb down the host plant and bury itself in the dirt to go into the pupa stage. But our caterpillar could not bury in the dirt, so it pulled some leaves over itself and then went into the pupa stage. I have read that the caterpillars will do this if they can't get into the dirt for some reason.
We bought a bird-cage at a thrift store that we put the jar into, so that we can watch the moth after it hatches for a little bit before letting it loose. Our caterpillar should stay in the pupa stage all Winter and hatch next Spring, Lord willing.

After hatching the moth continues to grow. It grows until it is about two inches long. The moths live in fields, on forest edges, and in gardens.

Did you know?...
The Clear-Winged Hummingbird Sphinx Moth got it's name because people often think it is a hummingbird? The resemblance is amazing. A few years ago we saw something and thought it might be a hummingbird, but we weren't sure. Now we think it must have been one of these amazing creatures! Click here to see a picture of the moth and get some more information!

Interesting Things

2009-09-29T15:51:00.002-04:00

The top picture is of a grasshopper (of course!). I know, we all have seen them, I think, and know what they look like, but did you ever notice their bellies? If you look closely, you can see what looks like a person's face with sunglasses on between the second pair of legs.

The next picture is of a Parasa Chloris. We found this rather ugly caterpillar/slug on our flowering cherry tree one day while looking for a Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillar (which, by the way, we never found. I hope we can watch one next year, though. I'm sure it would be fascinating). I will post some more pictures as we watch the Parasa Chloris, the ugly thing :-P :-)

The caterpillar in the picture above is a yellow-necked caterpillar that I found on our front porch. A very interesting looking feller, huh? They aren't very exciting looking as a moth either. They are dark brown and tan when that are a moth. To see a picture of a moth click here. Very pesty though, and the yellow-necked caterpillars cause a lot of damage to trees, eating the leaves. The other picture is of a toad we found in the herb patch beside our house.

And this very interesting creature is... well, I have no idea whatsoever. Very interesting looking, do you not think so? Mom thinks his head looks like that of a crocodile. Notice the intricate designs on his back. His leg's colour is greenish-yellow, or lime green. His hind legs are like that of a cricket. He is about one and a half inches long from nose to tail. If anyone has any idea what this creature is, please leave a comment on this post!

Seven Gems

2009-09-22T13:33:00.002-04:00

Hello! I want to share some information about the seven Monarch butterflies I raised this year.
I learned some new things this year, including the fact that the Monarch caterpillar has twelve eyes, six on each side of it's head! Even though it has all those eyes it has very poor vision, so it uses it's antennas to know where it is at.

Also, I want to let you all know "Monarch Monica" from last year, is a male. The last picture on this post is a picture of a female. The female has wider black veins on her wings, and no dots on the hind wings. She is also smaller. The male has dots on his hind wings. In our studies, last year and this year , we have had only one female butterfly. We also noticed that all of the our male chrysalis' were the same size, but the female chrysalis was considerably smaller.

The caterpillars seemed to grow at the same rate as last year and about the same length except for the female. She was only about 1-1/2 inches long when she went into a chrysalis. Another thing I learned is how a caterpillar breathes. It breathes through little holes along its body called spiracles which are connected to tubes called tracheae, which carry oxygen throughout it's body.

I also noticed as I was watching a caterpillar spinning into it's chrysalis, that I could still see the stripes for almost an hour! After the stripes disappeared, I noticed yellow dots on the solid green chrysalis. A few hours later those dots had turned a lovely gold! Watch a gem!!!

The first picture is of a baby caterpillar when it first hatched. It's... kinda cute, don't you think? :-) The baby caterpillar will eat it's eggshell immediately after it hatches and then it will begin munching on the underside of the milkweed leaf, making a hole large enough for it to crawl through.

New York

2009-08-06T12:50:00.006-04:00

Hello there! It's been awhile, hasn't it?
I thought I would fill you in on all the exciting things happening recently, and share some pictures as well.

First of all... the result on the giveaway. No one in our family ever won a giveaway... until I won that one! Yeah! I was pretty excited :-)

Second... here are some pictures from our trip to New York City/Long Island!!

This is Lady Liberty's old torch

The first ferry we rode on was the Miss Liberty. This is the Miss Gateway. We rode on her twice.

A building on Ellis Island

We went through the Holland Tunnel which goes under the water! That was neat. We also went across the Williamsburg bridge.

Another Giveaway!

2009-05-27T11:34:00.003-04:00

Cheri at A Joyful Handmaiden is giving away this beautiful apron at random on Friday.

To enter, just leave a comment here. If you want to enter twice, make a blog post, and leave another comment with a link to your post. The apron does have a small pin-hole in it, and a dirt smudge. Cheri also has more pictures on her post.

Garden Planting

2009-05-14T15:04:00.001-04:00

Last week we started to plant a few things in our garden. I
planted potatoes and onions. We are planning on growing several
kinds of tomatoes, brusell sprouts, green peppers, banana peppers,
lettuce, spaghetti squash, broccoli, green beans, yellow squash,
winter squash, beets and maybe carrots.
We hope to put the rest of our vegetable plants and seeds in
this weekend, if we don't have more thunderstorms like we did
this morning. It seemed strange to have a thunderstorm in the
morning. Lord willing, I will post updates to this blog more
often then I did this winter.

The Robin Family

2009-05-14T15:00:00.003-04:00

Around the 3rd week of May we discovered a robin had built
a nest outside our back door. About a week later there were 3
babies. About 12 days later, the babies were leaving home!!!

2009-05-14T14:56:00.002-04:00

On this day a church was holding an Annual Fishing Derby, so Daddy took me. It was the second time I had been to the Derby, and the second time I had gone fishing. I caught three fish, which was the limit. Last year I caught one fish. My cousin's husband, their children, Daddy, and I rode together. I caught a rainbow trout. Also, when we ate the fish for supper Mom wouldn't eat them because they died in the bucket, instead of us killing them. We did kill them! With the hook! :-)

2009-05-14T14:02:00.001-04:00

The babies have hatched! Mom looked at the cage one day and all the sudden we heard:
"Ohhhh my goodness! Lindsey get the camera! Ohhhh my goodness!"
I said: "What? what is it?"
Mom: "The babies, the Praying Mantis babies hatched. Oh my. Lindsey hurry up!" I think she was really excited, do you? :-)
There are about 150. We covered the Japanese Maple tree with a net and let the babies loose in it, that way we could find them. We tried keeping one inside, but it died, because we could not catch any fruit flies in our homemade trap. We did try giving it canned cat food because we had read somewhere that you could feed them that. It did work for awhile, but then we were gone all day and it didn't get fed, poor thing. We don't think the cat food was enough. We will try again in the future.

Tax Day Tea Party!!

2009-05-14T13:07:00.001-04:00

On December 16th, 1773 a group of men called the Sons of Liberty, dressed as Indians,boarded 3 ships and proceeded to dump the tea the ships were carrying into the Boston Harbor to protest the British tax on tea.

On April 15th, 2009 a group of people gathered in front of the Capitol building in Harrisburg, PA, to protest to the governor and our President the possibility of taxes being raised and the budget spending plans. There were "tea parties" in other states as well. After a few speeches, the people were permitted to enter the Capitol and leave tea bags outside the governor's office door. My family and I were among them.

^ See the tea bag by the pig? ^

To learn more about the Boston Tea Party; click here.

Some Happenings

2009-05-14T10:23:00.003-04:00

Hello Springtime!!
If you were reading my blog in November,
we were going to watch this Praying Mantis
egg sack. Well, now the egg sack is in the house
and we are awaiting the arrival of the baby
Mantis'. We have the egg sack in a small bug
cage.We will post more pictures when they hatch.
It is the end of March 2009.

This is me taking apart an old laptop that was given to our family by a relative and had broken. I decided to see how it was made and to see how far I could take it apart. I left almost no screw unturned. What fun I had!! My Dad was jealous because he loves to take things apart too and he didn't get to help me, not even one screw!! I must have the same "curious characteristic trait" as he does. Say that 3 times, fast.

We have here the unfinished product!!
And the finished task!!! I plan on making
some jewelry out of the keys, and key chains
out of some of the smaller memory boards.
I put all the pieces in a box to keep. We are
going to use some of the thinner pieces on a
scrap-book page.

After the fun with the computer, we discovered
Guinea Hens and Roosters having a field day in our back yard. In this picture they are lined up along our dog's pen, curious of the big, bear like creature inside. Little do they know she will not harm them, or anyone else, for that matter. These creatures visited us on April Fool's Day, late afternoon!

What to do for April Fool's Day

2009-04-01T12:27:00.003-04:00

Most people know all of the old tricks, but, according to Google, there are new ones out there on the internet. I wanted to do an April Fool's post, but didn't know what to to. So I searched it on Google and found an idea. This day only comes around once a year, so I wanted to do something really good. There is a place that has 101 April Fool's Jokes to play on the internet. So, scroll down a little to find yours!

April Fool's! That is the Joke!! Hope you didn't see it coming!!!

A Giveaway!!

2009-04-01T12:03:00.001-04:00

This pretty apron is being given away by Cheri from A Joyful Handmaiden. Post a comment on this post to be entered for a chance to win this adorable apron!!!

Some Discoveries!!

2008-11-17T21:03:00.002-05:00

On our little Japanese Maple we found a bag worm and a Praying Mantis egg sack!
The Praying Mantis egg sack can stay, but the bag worm is definitely going away!
I will blog more about the egg sack through the winter until the lil' Manties finally come out! You see, they will only hatch in warm weather.

The Newspaper Came!

2008-11-17T18:00:00.000-05:00

"Newspaper" Paper News! :-)

2008-11-17T17:57:00.001-05:00

These are pictures of me making my paper
out of hand-ripped newspaper. Making this
kind of paper was easier than making the lint
paper.

You've Got Mail!! :-)

2008-11-07T19:13:00.001-05:00

Got Paper?

2008-11-07T17:47:00.002-05:00

Here are directions to make paper out of lint:

You will need:
Container, Lint, Water, Blender, Screen, Basin, Sponge, Sturdy, Cardboard, 2 Towels, Something heavy (I used books)

1. Put the lint in a container with enough warm water to completely cover the lint. Soak the lint for at least 30 minutes.
You can soak it overnight.
We used hot water instead of warm water.
2. Pour the lint and water mixture into a blender. Puree.
3. While the mixture is blending, set up your screen and basin by putting the screen on top of the basin.
4. Pour the blended mixture onto the screen.
5. Spread the lint around. Try to make it as thin as you can.
6. Use your hand to press out some of the excess water.
7. Lay the towel and then cardboard over the lint, and carefully flip the screen over.
8. Remove the screen and press the lint firmly with a dry sponge to remove more excess water.
9. Put the other towel over the lint and set heavy item on top.
10. Leave until dried.
Have fun writing on your lint paper!!!

More ink, less mushroom

2008-10-30T14:36:00.005-04:00

Wow! There's not much of the mushrooms left!! Mostly just stem! I have been saving lint in a plastic bag for a long time. When the mushrooms are all ink, I will make paper out of the lint, and write on the paper with a feather that I have! I can't wait!

Mushrooms

2008-10-29T14:09:00.000-04:00

Here are some pictures of some mushrooms that Mom found growing in our front and back yard.

These are called Shaggy Ink Mushrooms or Lawyer's Wig. I cut some and put them in a jar to make ink. On the bottom of the jar (bottom picture) you can see the ink that they have made already. Mom is pointing to it. I cut them at around 5:00 p.m. and it made that much ink by 8:40 this morning!
In the top picture, you can see the gills are starting to turn black. Soon, they will turn to ink. Also, look inside the stem. You can see the tiny, thin strings.

This is a picture of two Ink mushrooms that I left in the yard. If you look closely, you can see some black grass around it. It is black from the ink on the mushroom. They say these are edible, but I'm not about to eat one!!! The whole mushroom will turn to ink, stem and all!!! It is said George Washington used ink from this kind of mushroom to sign the constitution.

This is another kind of mushroom we think is called Collybia Butyracea, Butter Top, or Tough Shank. This is edible as well. But we aren't eating these either!

Here are directions and pictures to an experiment I did with mushrooms.

You will need:
A small glass
A kinda flat mushroom
A piece of white paper

1. Place the mushroom gill-side down on the piece of paper.
2. Place the glass over the mushroom.
3. Let the mushroom sit for a few hours. (I let mine sit over night)
4. Remove the glass and mushroom.
5. Lightly spray your print with hair-spray

What it does:
While the mushroom is sitting under the glass, the spores inside of the gills fall off on to the paper. You put the glass over it to block out air. I put a cocktail dish over it instead of a glass because it is smaller. You use the hair-spray to keep the spores from moving.

Here is a picture of how one of mine turned out:

You can use the same mushroom multiple times. I have used mine about 5 times.

I am going to make another post soon. Maybe tonight or tomorrow.

Perler Bead Mania!!!

2008-10-27T20:18:00.003-04:00

Hello! Wow, it's been awhile! Here are some pictures of some crafts I did while not blogging
:-P :-)

This is a travel Checkers game that I made.

My friend Lisa gave me her two fish before she moved, and this is a likeness of my favorite one, Violet.
It glows in the dark!

This is actually an airplane, but I use it as a spinning top. It doesn't glow in the dark.

This is a likeness of the other fish, Watermelon. It also glows in the dark.

This is a snake. The white and pink beads glow in the dark.

Also, here is a poem about leaves that I wrote a few weeks ago:

Leaves

Leaves are very pretty
'Specially in the fall.
When they come down to the ground,
Calling, Calling to all.

"I'm pretty! Pick me up!" They say
"I want to be picked up today!"
So you gather all the pretty ones,
And say "Now what to do for fun?"

You want to make a leaf museum,
And gather all the leaves you can.
You arrange them neatly on a table,
And onlookers look, when they are able.

The leaves turn brown,
It's the end of fall,
They fall to the ground,
But no more do they call.

The trees are bare,
The weather turns cold
Winter has come,
And Fall is of old.
-Ada, Age 12

Catching up

2008-10-11T17:44:00.003-04:00

Sorry I haven't been online in a long time.

I gave my two twin beds to Cloppers and I got one of their bunk-bed sets.
:-) I sleep on the top, and I made the bottom into a hide-out. So I have
been reading or doing perler beads, or trying to figure out how to do the
latch-hook Laura gave me on the top bunk, and playing in my hide-out. Or I
play out-side. Plus I have school. So I don't get on the computer that
much. I will probably get on more during the winter, since there won't be
any mushrooms to pick, and pretend to make mushroom casserole or mushroom
soup.

All of my butterflies are headed for or are in Mexico :-)

Weather here is sometimes cold, and sometimes beautiful. It's not cold
enough to turn the heat on, but it probably will be pretty soon.

School is going good, I do most of it in books. Bible: Creation. Math:
Really difficult division. English: The art of listening for details,
History: The earth, Science: Nutrition and the human body.

Maybe I will post some pictures of my room when I get some. :-)

-Ada

All 4 Butterflies!!!

2008-09-23T19:37:00.000-04:00

Goliath***************************** Tiny

Monica***********************King George

Now I would like to share with you some of the observations I recorded during my monarch research time.

I had four caterpillars. 1 turned into a chrysalis at night, and the other 3 made their chrysalises in the morning. Goliath was the caterpillar that went into the chrysalis at night, while Tiny, Monica, and King George were the ones that made their chrysalises in the morning. I was able to see Tiny and Monica make their chrysalises, but Goliath was the only butterfly that I saw come out of the chrysalis, in it's entirety. I was able to see Goliath and King George hanging from the lid of the jar before they made their chrysalises. I suppose they are going to head south very soon. I read that they migrate about October to February. The Monarchs east of the Rocky Mountains are said to migrate in Florida, Texas, or Mexico. The Monarchs west of the Rocky Mountains tend to migrate to California.

Did you know: Not all butterflies that look like Monarch Butterflies are Monarch Butterflies? The Monarch Butterfly advertises that it is poisonous by it's colors. The Viceroy Butterfly has the same colors that say it is poisonous, but it is actually not poisonous. In contrast to the Monarch in the caterpillar and chrysalis stage, the Viceroy is quite... different. When the Viceroy is a caterpillar, it feeds on the leaves of Oak, Poplar, and Willow trees. The caterpillar looks more or less like a twig, brown and worm-like. When it makes the chrysalis, it will wrap a leaf around itself. The chrysalis is also brown, and it will get and fungus-like growth on it that looks like a wart. Yet the result of the process inside of the chrysalis will be as beautiful as the result on the Monarch. The Monarch get's it's poison from feeding on the milkweed plant, but the Viceroy gets no poison at all. The enemies of the Monarch will not eat it, as it knows it is poison, nor will it eat the Viceroy, for, it says it is poison in the same way the Monarch does, though it is not.

Video of "Thing 2"

2008-09-22T17:34:00.000-04:00

This is a video of "Thing 2" emerging from his chrysalis.
We decided to change his name to King George. He was a caterpillar for 17 days, in the chrysalis 1o days, and he emerged on the 27th day, which was September 15th. For 7 days his chrysalis remained lime green. Then on the eighth day (24th day of my experiment) , it started turning blue. 65.5 hours later, it was completely clear.

Monica, Our Only Female Monarch Butterfly

2008-09-22T17:10:00.001-04:00

Meet Thing #1 as a butterfly, who we now call "Monica".
I raised "Monica" from an egg here in Cumberland County.
She emerged on the 14th of September, just before we went to church. She is 26 days old total. She was 16 days a caterpillar, 10 days a chrysalis, and today... Voila!! Monica the Monarch Butterfly!!! :-) We put some sugar water in a jar lid since we had to leave before she was ready to fly, and we wouldn't be home when her wings were hard and strong enough to take her first flight. When we came home, she was trying to fly through the screen in the sun-room.

Did you know: The expression "Voila!" means "See there!" or "Look there!" There are 2 ways to pronounce it: \wä-ˈlä\, and \vwä-ˈlä\.

Tiny has emerged!!!

2008-09-22T16:16:00.001-04:00

Tiny emerged on September 12th.He is a male. Look closely at the pictures to see the dots that show he is a male.He was at least 24 days old when he emerged. Tiny was in the chrysalis stage for 9 days.

This is a picture of Tiny on his first flight. He flew off my finger and landed in the sand when we tried to put him on a flower. We then picked him up and tried again to put him on the flower.

Success! He stayed on the flower this time :-) He stayed there for a few hours. I guess he was drinking lots of nectar so he would have plenty of energy for his long journey to Mexico :-)

Another butterfly should emerge soon!!

2008-09-12T14:02:00.002-04:00

This is the left side of Tiny's chrysalis. Notice it is still a little green on top, like Goliath's was.

This is the back of Tiny's chrysalis. He is 23 days old since we found him, and 9 days old in his chrysalis.

This is the right side of Tiny's chrysalis.

This is the front of Tiny's chrysalis.

Tiny is turning blue!

2008-09-12T13:42:00.001-04:00

This is Tiny. He is 8 days old in the chrysalis stage. He is 22 days old from when we found him.

In this picture you can see that the chrysalis is turning blue, but he will probably take longer to turn blue then Goliath did, because of the weather.
T

Goliath has Emerged!! :-)

2008-09-10T14:53:00.001-04:00

This is Goliath, beginning to emerge from the chrysalis.

He will come out of the chrysalis, up side down, then he will flip right side up.

When he first comes out, his wings are small, soft, and wet. He will pump blood into them, and they will get bigger, but will still be soft. In the sunlight, they will harden and dry.

Now his wings are bigger, and are almost dry. He will hang onto his chrysalis case for about 3 hours. While he is hanging, he coils and uncoils his 2 long proboscises, until they join, and he has only 1. If he does not do this he will not be able to drink. Then he will climb on top of the lid of the jar, and fly.

Did you know: A male has a black dot on each of his back wings, where the female does not?

Did you know: The name chrysalis comes from the Greek word chrysos, which means "gold".

Goliath Almost all the way Blue!

2008-09-09T20:13:00.000-04:00

This is the right side of Goliath's chrysalis. Notice the top is still a little green. Also look closely in this picture and the pictures following for the black and orange wings visible inside the chrysalis.
You can see that chrysalis is a clear blue, and it will become clearer before he emerges.

Goliath is 9 days in the chrysalis stage. He is 20 days older from when I found him on the milkweed plant.

Look closely for the wings in this picture especially.

This is the right side of Goliath's chrysalis.

A Lovely, Blue Morning

2008-09-09T20:02:00.000-04:00

Gooood Mornin'! :-)
This is a picture of Goliath this morning at about 9:00 a.m. He is changing to the blue color more quickly now.
Did you know: Monarch Butterflies rarely emerge on a cloudy, rainy, or cool day like today. Some how they can sense the temperature outside even in the chrysalis.

The Chrysalises are turning blue!!

2008-09-08T19:33:00.000-04:00

This is "Goliath"

This is "Tiny"

This is "Thing 1"

This is "Thing 2"

If you look closely at each of the pictures, you can see a little bit of a dark, purple-blue on the top, in the middle of the chrysalises. They will turn completely blue, and then they will turn clear. When they turn clear, you will be able to see the butterfly inside.

Did you know: The caterpillar makes a silk button where they are going to hang in the chrysalis stage. If they cannot attach the black stalk on top of the chrysalis to the button, before their skin falls off, they will fall and die. It must be hanging to continue the metamorphoses. If that had happened to one of my caterpillars, I could pick it up gently and attach it to the silk button. Or, I could have used super glue to hold it up there. Yes, really, it is true. I'm not kidding. :-) If you would like like to see the caterpillar attach the stalk to the silk button, before he releases his skin, look closely at the end of the video I posted earlier.

All in a Chrysalis

2008-09-06T13:58:00.000-04:00

The first chrysalis is "Goliath". It is 6 days old.
The second chrysalis is "Tiny". It is 3 days old.
The third chrysalis is "Thing 1". It is 2 days old.
The fourth chrysalis is "Thing 2". It is 1 day old.

"Thing 2" was my last caterpillar to move up.
It's kinda saddening, know what I mean?
I hope I can raise more caterpillars next year!
Now we are waiting to see if we have males,
or females or both. A chrysalis changes into
a monarch butterfly in about 2 weeks.

Pandora Sphinx Moth

2008-09-05T19:09:00.000-04:00

Daddy found a moth by his shop and trapped it under the dog food scoop. He brought it in and we put it in my old fish aquarium on top of a box. At first we thought it was a locust, but when Lindsey looked it up, we found out it was a Pandora Sphinx Moth. Here are some pictures we took of it:

All moved in!

2008-09-05T15:30:00.000-04:00

The whole "soft" chrysalis process takes about 3 minutes to complete. The chrysalis will continue to turn lime green. You can see stripes now, but in about one hour the chrysalis will be solid green and harder.

This is the chrysalis 10 minutes later
when it is completely formed. "Thing 2"
began its transformation at 7:50 a.m.,
this morning.

Did you know: Most caterpillars molt into
a chrysalis between 9:00 - 10:00 a.m.
This may be some "Thing 2" do for fun at your house!!!

Still getting the house ready.

2008-09-05T15:26:00.000-04:00

< Notice the shedded skin on top. They shed their skin while making the chrysalis.

These pictures are of the second minute when "Thing 2" made his chrysalis.

Thing 2

2008-09-05T15:19:00.000-04:00

Notice the safety web he built

Here he started making the chrysalis
and shedding his skin.

These pictures are of the
first minute of "Thing 2"
making his Chrysalis.

Surprise, Surprise!

2008-09-05T13:51:00.000-04:00

Watch this video to see "Thing 1":

So, what do you think?You may leave a comment on this post, if you would like to!
Wasn't that some "thing 1"derful? :-D

2 up, two 2 go!

2008-09-05T12:16:00.000-04:00

This is "Thing 1" and "Thing 2". They are about 2 inches long, and 13 days old. They look like twins. Hey, you never know, they could be brothers! After all, couldn't both of their eggs come from the same butterfly? (See "Did you know" in "More of the Monarchs") :-)

Tiny is getting ready to make his Chrysalis! It's about 9:00 a.m. Wednesday morning. We are very excited because we will be able to watch the caterpillar change!!! Daddy was hoping to see it make the chrysalis, but he had to go to work before it changed.

Here we are! Tiny built a new house! :-) Notice the gold specks, the black and gold line, and the shiny black stem up top that keeps the chrysalis from falling. It is so small and skinny, it's amazingly strong enough to hold the chrysalis up there!

In the next post, there will be a surprise! I think you will find it very interesting!

Tiny is getting Ready!!!

2008-09-05T08:20:00.000-04:00

Today is the 13th day that we have had "Tiny". He is 2 inches long.
He has crawled up to the top of the jar and is ready to molt to the chrysalis stage. During the day he began to hang down. That is how he slept all night!!Can you imagine sleeping like that? At first I felt sorry for him but then I remembered that God designed the caterpillar to do this and has provided all the strength
the caterpillar will need to do the task.
And just think about the beautiful outcome!!

One up, three to go! :-)

2008-09-04T19:57:00.000-04:00

This is "Thing 2" (left) and "Thing 1"
(right). Look at 'em grow! They are
a good inch and 1/4 long.

Tiny, who's not so tiny anymore, and is quite the "little pig", is an inch and 1/2 long. As they grow, I keep the jar clean and give them fresh Milkweed leaves.

Did you know: The caterpillar is nearly blind, seeing only light through three simple eyes on each side of his head.

Hide and Go Seek

2008-09-04T19:36:00.000-04:00

This is something interesting that happened to "Thing 2". He shed his skin! He is 10 days old. I read in a book that the caterpillars will shed their skin 4 times. This is the only time we saw a caterpillar shed it's skin, while growing. See if you can find the skin on the side of the jar.

Uh-oh. I lost "Thing 1"! Can you find him in the picture?

Goliath Grows up and moves inside! :-)

2008-09-04T19:19:00.000-04:00

This is Goliath, the night before he made his Chrysalis (the eleventh night).
He will climb up and attach
himself to the top of the jar.
Then he will spin a web, and
attach his back legs to the web.
Then he will slowly release each
pair of remaining legs. Then he
will hang head down for a day
and a night. Then his long
black feelers will go limp.

This is Goliath in the Chrysalis stage.
He made his chrysalis over night. If you
look closely, you can see gold specks on
the bottom of the chrysalis.

Here They All Are!!

2008-09-04T18:54:00.000-04:00

This picture is of all my caterpillars. "Goliath" is 9 days older.He is the first caterpillar to the left. He is a good 1 1/2 inches long! The next caterpillar is "Tiny", who is aslo 9 days older, and he is an inch already. The next one is "Thing 1". He is about 3/4 of an inch long. He is 9 days old. The last caterpillar, "Thing 2", is also 9 days old, and is about 1/2 an inch long.

1 Whole Week of Monarch Research!

2008-09-04T17:36:00.000-04:00

The top picture is "Goliath" (7 days older) The middle picture is of two caterpillars.The one on the left leaf is "Thing 2" and the other one is "Tiny" who is also 7 days older . "Thing 1" is the caterpillar in the bottom picture. "Thing 1" & "Thing 2" are 7 days old and almost 1 inch long now!! They will continue to eat the milkweed leaves until it is time to change into a "Chrysalis". This should happen in another week or less.

Growing, Growing, Growing!

2008-09-04T17:09:00.000-04:00

The top picture to the right is "Thing 2".
The bottom picture is
of "Thing 1". They are both about 3 days old
and are very close in size. "Thing 1" is about
3/8 of an inch long and "Thing 2" is 1/4 of an inch long.
They are growing so quickly.

Eggs #1 & #2 Hatched!!!!

2008-09-03T09:20:00.001-04:00

Egg #2 hatched around 8:30 pm. We call him "Thing 2". He is about 1/8 of an inch long.He has a black head and if you could see closer you would be able to see his stripes!!! (Egg received from friends)

Did you know: The Monarch Caterpillar eats his egg shell first, and then starts eating the Milkweed?

Egg #1 hatched around 2:00pm. We call him "Thing 1". He is about 1/8 of an inch long, same size as "Thing 2". (Egg found)

Just before the eggs hatched, we saw 2 black dots on the egg. When we looked again, we saw the egg shell, and a tiny caterpillar beside it. To really see the caterpillar well, we had to look through a magnifying glass.

They were SO cute! And SO tiny. It was neat to watch them crawl around on the leaf. They started eating right away. They were really fast when they crawled too!
The egg I received on a Wednesday morning, hatched on a Thursday. The egg hatched within about 30 hours of receiving it. The egg I found on a Wednesday hatched on a Thursday as well. It hatched within about 24 hours of finding it.

The picture to the right is "Goliath" and below is a picture of "Tiny". They are now 3 days older than the day I found them.They have almost doubled in size!!

More of the Monarchs

2008-09-02T19:36:00.000-04:00

Sorry it took me a long time to make another post. I stayed at a friend's house for 2 nights, and then I was a bit busy. I will post about my time at my friend's house later. For now, here are pictures of my eggs, caterpillars, chrysalis, etc, and information:

Day 1 Egg 1

I found this egg on a milkweed plant after I received the egg below from some friends of ours.
Did you know: The Monarch Butterfly lays about 400 eggs, in only a few days, but lays only 1 egg on each Milkweed plant that she finds.

Day 1 Egg 2

This is a milkweed plant. There is a plant that looks similar to the "Milkweed", called "Dogbane", that is poisonous to the monarch caterpillar.The caterpillar will eat the "Dogbane" but only if it is desperate for food and it will kill the caterpillar.The "Dogbane" is darker green, has purple stems, is smaller in leaf size, and has more than one single stem.

Milkweed Tiger Moth

This moth also feeds on the milkweed plant. We discovered this caterpillar feeding on a milkweed plant we found on our property.

We found "Goliath" on another milkweed plant in the garden, and we found "Tiny" on the same milkweed plant we found the Tiger Moth and the other egg on.

I will post more soon.
(BTW, "we" means Mom & I)

Welcome

2008-08-27T16:18:00.000-04:00

Hello, and Welcome to my blog!
My name is Ada. I am 12 years old. I am home schooled.
For now, most of my posts will be about the Monarch Butterfly caterpillars I have, and are studying. I have 5 of them. This is a report I wrote about them:

The Monarch Butterfly, also known as the "milkweed butterfly", lays their eggs on the underside of the leaves of the milkweed plant (thus, it has the second name). In three to twelve days, the egg will hatch. The number of days depends on the temperature. When the egg hatches, a tiny caterpillar comes out, which you must look through a magnifying glass to see. The larvae stays on the plant, and eats it. Milkweed is the only plant the larvae can eat. The larvae feeds on the plant and develops into a caterpillar about two inches long. The growth of the caterpillar happens during a period of about two weeks. The caterpillar will then attach itself upside-down to a twig. They then shed their outer skin, and begin to transform into a chrysalis. As time goes by, the chrysalis becomes transparent, and in about two weeks, a beautiful Monarch Butterfly emerges from the chrysalis. They will head to Florida, Texas, and Mexico to winter, then return to the north for the summer. While they are migrating, large groups of Monarch Butterflies can be seen together. Do you know what the picture below is of?

It's not leaves... it's hundreds of Monarchs!

Following are pictures I found online in order, showing the process described above.

Thanks for reading! Stop by again soon, I'll be posting pictures of the caterpillars I have!