I have a lot to post about, but I’ve been busy, so I’ve been putting it off. However, tonight I have overcome… only to bring you this:

Do you know what this is?

Lacy and Que do. They already met The Pupae. If I recall correctly, when they figured out what was occupying the mason jar lid on my kitchen counter, screams ensued.

Tonight, I screamed, too. Why? Because one of those cocoons is empty.

Backstory: A few weeks ago, my mom plucked two big, juicy, green caterpillars off of her moonflower plant; they were eating it alive. She put them in a jar and figured they’d die. We thought one died for sure, then maybe the other had died. But… they kept moving. Caterpillars are resilient creatures! They kept living. Then, they turned brown and we thought for sure they’d died. But no, Mom dumped them out of the jar and they wiggled around in their new brown cases, looking strangely like they should be hanging from trees. They actually moved when provoked for several days (as [Que|que] discovered). But, after quite a while of just sitting there in their cocoons, I knew for sure they’d died. Much like posting on Pleonast, I was procrastinating taking their picture. And as tonight proves, I waited an hour too late.

Just a little while ago, I was downstairs looking at the pupae! I even prodded one looking for movement! Then, I came downstairs to get some dessert… and one was open.

Not only was it open…

…but there was goo on the counter, and the floor…

So I called my Mom, “Mom! The Pupae have hatched! It’s somewhere in the house! This is really creepy!”

“Well, it’s probably a really big moth.”

“Thanks a lot, Mom! I can’t find it! I’ve turned on the kitchen light to maybe draw it - AHHH! There it is!!!”

It doesn’t look that big in the picture, but he’s a good 3 inches or so. Oh man. OH MAN.

After I roped it into a big ol’ tupperware and threw it outside, I didn’t take any chances with the other pupae. It went outside, too.

Gross-o-rama.