I guess we're new parents..................

 If you've been following along the saga of the butterfly cocoon, Karen went out yesterday and came in letting me know that the butterfly had opened the cocoon and was spreading it's wings. It had opened up when we weren't' around and was trying to get out of the protective net she had placed over the bush so no wasps would bother it. When Karen, reached in, the butterfly flew to her  hand and she gently pulled her hand out of the net and with a strong sweep of its' wings, our butterfly took to the air. Needless to say we were pretty excited to have watched the whole process ! This morning we looked at the bush and there are about 20 small Monarch butterfly caterpillars crawling on the leaves of the bush. The range in size from 1/4 inch up to a half of an inch and they are chowing down on the leaves of the bush.

.

It looks like we are on the way to becoming a sanctuary for the Monarch butterflies. Pretty exciting !!!!!