Butterfly Wrangler

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It's that time of year again.  

Yup, love is in the air and the second generation of Monarch's have emerged and the rut is on.  You cannot go anywhere without bumping into pairs of orange and black butterflies flitting-about and engaging in their courtship ritual.  

Poor Jill has been working in her flower beds attempting to reduce some of the milkweed that has taken-over and checks each small plant carefully for the single tiny egg before digging and removal.  They're terribly hard to see and as a consequence we have a house guest raised from egg through his fifth instar and as of yesterday it looks like he's poised to begin metamorphosis.  And now another egg has been added.  God bless her - she's a friend to the butterfly.

I don't want to leave you with the impression this is restricted specifically to Monarchs - there are many other species of butterflies and moths.  The joint has become a regular butterfly ranch and I think we're both feeling a bit like butterfly ranch hands.