Ok, so you already saw this. But here is the latest picture of our ant farm. They have made tons of tunnels, and seem pretty happy with the ones they have made. Just some of my observations. Did you know that once they build their house, they pretty much just sleep? Also, if you want to see them move, then just gently blow in the air holes on the lid, and that makes them really mad! They all come running to the top ready to destroy whatever it is that is threatening their home. They are interesting, and soothing to watch....if you can get past the whole creepy crawly thing, which I am working on.
Our newest project is to grow some veggies. We already have 3 pepper (jalepeno and habenero) plants, a lime tree, rosemary, and basil that we use. Now these are our newest additions. From left to right, cucumber and two tomato plants. There are 3 tomatoes on each of our plants. I am going to have to get some netting to keep the critters off of them, but I can't wait for them to grow so we can have our own veggies. Next year's plan is to make an above ground garden in the back yard so that I can do lots more of this! I love gardening, and the boys are really enjoying helping me water the plants now. Our sunflowers are about to bloom, so we'll add those pictures soon.
The large three-pointed leaf plant on the left of the tree is actually a pumpkin vine. We planted some seeds from our pumpkin last October, and it has really taken off. We can't wait to see if we get a pumpkin!
Lastly, but so not leastly. I was taking care of my lime tree when I noticed these guys eating my leaves like crazy. I will kill a bug in a heartbeat if it is hurting my plants, but I couldn't kill these 4 little caterpillars. I say little, but really they are nearly 3 inches long. They are "orange dog" caterpillars, given that name because they can kill a whole crop of citrus in a hurry. But, I couldn't kill them because they turn into Giant swallowtail butterflies. So we brought them inside, put them in a butterfly net, and have been feeding them leaves from my tree every day. Last night they got in positions to start making crystallis, and hopefully we will have butterflies in about a week. I'll keep you posted. One of the caterpillars put himself in a bad position, and I don't think he'll make it (this happened when I had them in my classroom before), but the other three look pretty good.
So, my side note on why I can't kill them. Ever since I was a little girl, my mom taught me about how caterpillars are like us before we are Christians. Once we believe that Jesus died for us on the cross, we change like the caterpillar into beautiful butterflies, removing all our sins. This is why I have a butterfly tattoo for those of you who always wondered. Butterflies are our special bond. We have always shared our amazing butterfly sitings (taking pictures on trips, in the garden, or wherever we see them), but over the last 4 1/2 years we have told each other about the butterflies we see each day. We tell each other that is God showing us that He is there with us in this battle against her cancer. Maybe you'll look for the butterflies each day and see God with you too!
