spring's here!!!!........isn't it?

that's what these fellers thought anyway we found 3 of them in our living room this weekend. all sorts of questions sprang to mind: where did they come from? do they eat yarn? did we miss these huge caterpillers eating our plants and turning into cocoons? where on earth did they come from? is there more of them?

luckily the internet came to the rescue on some of those questions. they're apparently called compton tortoiseshells and are true butterflies (ie they won't eat my wool. whew.). the adults hibernate in groups over the winter. three isn't a very large group, but whatever. that lovely +40F weather we had a couple weeks ago must have woken them up. . . . .and they hit the snooze button a few times.

someone at chuck's work said she's gotten them before too - apparently they like log houses for their winter beds. we've been calling them chuck's butterflies, because (like chuck) they don't know how to sleep late when it's good for them. how long they'll last i don't know, cuz we're a little short on butterfly food.

the only down side to having butterflies around is they are just as likely to be underfoot as fluttering around the lamps. and if you've got a butt-ugly 70s rug, well, it can get hard to spot them.can you find the butterfly? talk about camouflage.

i don't think we've stepped on them, though. *yet*

but if you're anxious for spring like those butterflies, go check out aksunflour's contest: when will the snow be gone from her (alaskan) yard? go get your guesses in quick quick cuz the contest ends tomorrow!