Party Hats and Butterfly Woes

First, thank you to Aunt Joyce & family for the birthday gifts. They were a hit. As you can see, the window markers were a favorite. The kids decorated the sliding glass doors with a party theme, hence the party hats. Thank you!

On to our butterfly woes...

We were amazed at first at all the eggs and caterpillars we had, but I reminded Danielle that butterflies lay hundreds of eggs because not many make it. It's true. Late last night we heard a truck fogging for mosquitoes. Had I known it was coming, I could have covered up the plants, but I didn't know. We found some dead caterpillars this morning and Danielle was sad. We did find some that were still moving, though, and were temporarily encouraged. Then, after looking at the pictures I took of our 2 larger cats tonight, I saw that one of them has dark spots on it. That means he most likely has a parasite (a fly egg inside him) and he will inevitably die. If I can find him tomorrow, I should probably kill him so the eggs don't hatch and spread to other caterpillars. You can also see what I think are spider mites near the large caterpillar and some aphids on the stalk in the background. The bugs won't hurt the caterpillars directly, but they will consume the milkweed plants, thus depriving the caterpillars of food. So, who knows if we'll actually get any caterpillars that make it to butterflies. Ahhh...the circle of life.

(The first picture was taken before the fogger came through. I'm not sure all of the cats in the 2nd picture are alive, but the big guy in front was chowing down. I couldn't see any brown spots on him yet.)