The nature of my backyard…

On Friday, May 14th, I went with one of my coworkers to the annual butterfly plant sale at Texas Discovery Gardens. Other than the fact that I was pretty sure I was paying money for potted weeds (Dude – they were selling hackberries. In pots. To plant in your yard. Voluntarily.), I was excited about the prospect of planting stuff that might attract a butterfly, hummingbird or two to my backyard.

I ended up purchasing five plants. A couple of lantanas, a flowering vine of some sort and two small, four-inch fennels. I was the most excited about the fennel, because it is also edible. Not that I know how to cook (much less how to cook with fennel), but the idea that I could cook with fennel if I was so inclined was exhilarating.

But my fennel came with an added bonus. A barely visible baby Anise swallowtail caterpillar I named “Bob”.

When I first brought Bob home, he was tiny and sort of looked like a little bird poop on one of the fennel branches. Over the next 10 days, though, he grew rapidly into a fat a$$ caterpillar that nearly ate both of my fennel plants bare.

I checked on Bob twice daily to monitor his progress. Once in the morning and again when I returned home from work. Yesterday morning, the little glutton was happily munching away. But when I returned home from yoga last night, Bob was gone.


I am hoping Bob decided yesterday was the day to leave the never-ending fennel buffet and make a chrysalis, not that some bird happened by and decided to eat Bob for lunch.

***

In somewhat unrelated news, I decided on a whim over the weekend to buy a birdfeeder. I figured this would:

1. Feed the birds


2. Be a relaxing/stress reducing activity for me


3. Give Alley a sense of purpose as she patrols the backyard and enforces a strict squirrel-free zone

Of course, I was expecting instant bird-feeding gratification, and was slightly devastated that birds did not instantly flock to my feeder. As a result, I spent much of Sunday afternoon and early yesterday morning staring out our bedroom window at the feeder waiting for a bird to happen by. When this didn’t happen, I moped.

My sour mood was only exacerbated when I returned home last night to discover that Bob was missing. I pretty much hit rock bottom around 7:30 PM. I may have cried a tear or two. Over a caterpillar. At one point, I even had Trevor out in the backyard LOOKING for him. Luckily my husband realized how ridiculous it was to be looking for a bug outdoors, and sent his crazy wife indoors to take a shower.

Luckily for Trevor, my spirits greatly improved a few minutes later when I looked out our bedroom window to see two blue jays bathing in my birdbath and no less than five swallows stuffing their little beaks at my new feeder.

Bird feeding success!


Oh, joy and happiness!

My newfound elation didn’t last long, though, because I started to think through the events of the past 10 days:

1. Bought fennel and (by default) Bob the caterpillar.


2. Bob grew big and strong in the relative safety of my backyard.


3. Birds flew over my yard with disinterest.


4. Bought birdfeeder.


5. Suddenly birds start paying attention to our house and yard.


6. Birds appear.


7. Bob disappears.

Conclusion: I may have inadvertently murdered Bob.

I may be over nature for awhile.