Ugh...stupid wooly worms!

[Judy, Meg & Polly Wolly Doodle]

Meg found a wooly worm today (people in our area think you can predict what kind of winter you will have by looking at them, I never got the hang of that.)  Meg thought it was an interesting creature and pawed it around on the porch for a bit.  I thought it was dead, pushed it off the porch and headed for the yard, Meg did a sharp U-turn and grabbed it up with her mouth and ran...it was as if she NEVER heard the leave it command in her life.  I have to confess I am not a bug person and while I can generally hold my hand under her mouth and say drop it, I was not going to have her drop a bug into my hand.  She ate it!  I did not know the fur on them was so harsh and she hacked and coughed for hours and tried to eat all the grass she could.  I finally decided a piece of bread might help push any residual 'wool' down and it helped a lot.  Hope she learned her lesson, wooly worms may be fun toys but they are not good meals.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Another life saved : )

[Sheila & Finnley]

WHEW !! Lucky me :)

[Lynda Kamrath]

Very educational F.  Thanks for sharing.  We just have oak moths around here and tons of caterpillars.  I planted some milkweed to try to attract more butterflies.  Once in a while I see a wolly bear, and am always happy when I do.

[Anne & Mr. Haley]

Some of these caterpillars are beautiful.  Thanks for the link.

[BG and Gavin]

Hey I just learned about this bottom one today in Health and Safety Class.  Don't let the kiddies touch the white one.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Nope. I am not dressing up but little Miss Woolly Bear might LOVE Meg

[Sheila & Finnley]

This is stinking cute !

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

Adorable!

[BG and Gavin]

Aren't they cute!

[Cheryl and Finnegan]

This is darn cute!

[BG and Gavin]

I used to catch them when I was a kid and put them in my "bug catcher."  It looked like this:

only my lids were purple.  I would put a twig and some grass and leaves and over time the caterpillar would spin a cocoon onto the stick and I would wait and wait until it turned translucent and then I knew we were close.  Then one day the moth would break through the cocoon skin and emerge and then it was time for me to release it by taking off the bottom of my bug catcher.  Thanks for the memory!  Have not thought of that in years!