Friday, August 27, 2010

Caterpillar smorgasboard

Black swallowtail caterpillar eating machine.

No, really, help yourself. I planted it for you. I hate parsley. Never use it, myself. For salad? No...I hate salad! Can't stand stuffing it under the crispy skin of chicken, either...For stock? No, no flavour whatsoever. Parsley is useless to me, eat! Eat!

Y'all come back real soon, now, y'hear?

20 comments:

  1. Well now...I don't suppose you would like to hear what your horrid conservative reader would do if she were in your shoe's since you don't have chickens?...No? I didn't think so. Have a great weekend anyway.

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  2. Jajaja - (sorry, the cat has taught me to laugh like this) SherriB - could I perhaps mail the caterpillar to your chickens?

    I think these labels are all a bit silly. I think we actualy start to adopt values based on the herd when we are labeled.

    Conservative - definition, Oxford English Dictionary: averse to rapid change (me too!), moderate, avoiding extremes (me too!), cautious...me, sometimes?

    All sounds fine to me.

    Liberal (Oxford Eng. Dict.): favouring individual liberty , free trade, and moderate political and social reform

    Now, y'all tell me:

    What's the difference???

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  3. Pee Ess: I am actually waiting for the butterfly...that's why I'm fattening the little bug(ger).

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  4. great collage of Oscar chomping away! Is the lower right one of Oscar's 3rd instar taken earlier, or is there another caterpillar also developing? You might be amused by this website which seems to think that one might plant parsley on purpose to feed swallowtail larvae *g*. http://www.butterflygardeningandconservation.com/butterfly/st/black.php

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  5. Wow, Marie, you're really putting the South in South African today.

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  6. QC - well, I actually did plant extra for them this year, after last year's debate on the subject. Fortunately (?) they have confined themselves to one potful. But the butterfly was back today (I wish I could tag them really delicately to see how many butterflies have actually visited)...

    John, I had a boss from Weesiana for years, so picked up Southern reeeeal good :-)

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  7. I hate it, I stayed in the South for five years and you still do a better accent than I can.

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  8. Your cat laughs like this? Have you considered counseling for it?

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  9. Great pics of your caterpillar. I once wrote an article about whether or not to kill all caterpillars indiscriminately. It certainly is a dilemma. I don't believe we should kill every last one of them. The world would be a poorer place without our lovely butterflies and moths. So - share your plants (within reason, of course) with butterflies and moths, and help preserve the biodiversity of life in our gardens.

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  10. Sigrid, the cat is Dominican, he laughs in Dominican.

    QC, yes the little one is Oscar in his youth...

    Lyn - he is my only caterpillar, so I keep him. And it is the Year of Biodiversity, after all.

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  11. Love Oscar's pictures! Thanks for sharing.

    And I loved the Spanish laugh. In Mexico that is how we laugh. This really brought a smile to my day. Thanks!

    Funny how the code word is "supres", maybe I was suppressing the "jajaja" memories? Jajaja!

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  12. Do I detect just the smallest tinge of sarcasm?

    In Greek we laugh like this: xa xa xa!

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  13. I apologize if a note of sarcasm was felt on my comment, not at all! I found the "jajaja" quite a charming addition of my perception of the blogger, and brought sweet memories of messages exchanged among young, school-age girls, which one, to my knowledge, has landed in America, and to whom daily life here had suppress such a simple memory as how we write laughter in my country. That's all, sorry!

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  14. Maria - I think Ellen may have been referring to sarcasm in the post, not your comment? Anyway, I didn't pick up any sarcasm there...

    Xa xa xa xa

    ...

    Actualy, I think it was flwrjane from SmallbutCharming that first taught me to laugh jajajaja. The cat's been doing it all along but never wrote it down for me.

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  15. Marie,

    Thanks, I can now breath (yes, this was sarcasm). Truly, as long as you keep laughing it does not matter the language you laugh. Now, if you want to think about laughter, and start being conscious about it, watch for those times when your own laugh reminds you of the laughter coming from one of your parents! And no, this is not sarcasm, it is a true and honest observation. Have a nice weekend, and thanks again for taking the time to respond.

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  16. Yes! I was definitely referring to the sarcasm in Marie's original post!

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  17. Que lastima! i just dropped by for a laugh or two....

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