That butterfly sure does fly funny....

It was Tuesday all day today. As my three readers know by now, Tuesdays are always on the very busy side. Today was no exception for sure. For today....the caterpillars arrived. My boss is, unfortunately for me, feeling the sun on her head and the sand between her toes on a trip this week. SHe is the CBO...Chief Butterfly Operator at our church. Every year, we order caterpillars that will become Painted Lady butterflies and will hopefully emerge from their chrysalis homes in time for an Easter morning release. In years past, she has always received the caterpillars and performed the necessary duties to ready them for their chrysalis building process. Uhhhh, not this year. While she might have been enjoying a much deserved umbrella drink, I was desperately searching through the huge mailing packet for instructions on how best to keep these little things alive. No luck. Nada. I looked on the website, nothing. I called the company. After being on hold for 45 minutes, I finally got someone who was kind of nice and super clueless to have her supervisor fax me the instructions. Here is what I had to do:






The food they came with and provided in jars smelled like baby oatmeal with apple juice in it and had the consistency of thick tapioca. Talk about having food issues after that experience. Our IT support guy was in the same room as I struggled to coax a caterpillar onto a paintbrush and then carefully get it into its little cup of food and not slam the lid on and decapitate it. I could tell he was stifling laughs and I don't blame him. I'm not bug phobic. When I was little, I used to take the worms from the garden and give them baths in the sink...no, I was not dropped on my head as a child. These are just so fragile and when you have to violently shake the paintbrush to get them off. The other option was to smash the brush into the goo. Death vs dizziness. Good choice, I hope. I just ask that no one judge these poor butterflies if they look a bit drunk on Easter. Just traumatized and filled with the Holy Spirit.







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