This one is a 4th instar Giant Swallowtail in molting position. 5th instar is the last stage a caterpillar achieves before pupating into an adult butterfly.

This cat is in its 3rd instar stage--still a wee baby. With a big appetite.

That butterfly bears a striking resemblance to a sunflower eater around here. It's called the Bordered Patch.

Ceiling Cat after being fed at midnight.

Courtesy of Adam Hillman:

Still a coward. And it seems to me that fictional Rooster Cogburn fits the bill better on the left side of that meme.

Here's a more recognizeable modification of the @dianea meme recently circulated; the original had a real lawman on it and Texas' expectations are the size of Pecos Bill:

Not many people buy that excuse tho. What it is:

Resembles the Marion model:

Why I took a screen shot:

Metal click beetles were stamped metal painted to look like a beetle or a cricket and they were toys based on the WWII cricket clicker. Likely went out of production because they could drive parents bonkers.

Most movie connoisseurs hate Ernest P. Worrell films but they don't know what's good in the first place.

This post provides something of a timer for watchers of #MonarchButterflies since they left Mexico to re-colonize the States & Canada, as well as a cautionary tale.

Monarchs began to break camp in March, flew north and didn't find much milkweed to lay eggs on, even in Texas, because of the severe drought. Monarchs first to break camp went to Texas; laggards managed Oklahoma that was not just in drought but subjected to a series of protracted deeper-than-usual freezes and the local milkweeds were very very late coming up. However, I did have a few potted milkweeds I kept inside (Tropical) but they had become infested with spider mites, and monarch remigrants found 'em and laid lots of eggs on 'em anyway.

The upshot is that eggs were laid on potted milkweeds from April 11 thru April 20, and unfortunately, the spider mites did nearly all of 'em in...but...I had a few survivors, two of which completed pupation and was released today, but far north of Enid. Clara's Limo Service carted the two brothers to a place where Mississippi Kites don't nest, and Mississippi Kites eat monarchs. Found that out the hard way in prevous years, and the sorry tale of monarchs and Lord Fauntleroy Kite is a whole different story to tell at a different time.

So--for the timing: Remigrants reaching Enid OK would have laid eggs on wild milkweeds if only they had come up, and they didn't; The survivors pupated on May 9, and eclosed today, May 14, and that, folks is First Generation monarch. When they mate and their ladies lay eggs, that's about the time frame you'll be looking at for Generation Two...and so forth until Fall Migration when the last generation, The Greatest Generation, produces monarch butterflies that can overwinter without much food for several months in a row, until spring comes again.

Kissed with a seal.

YES! Trademark of MTM.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MTM_Enterprises

Happy Mothers' Day!

Something like that I guess. Ya, that is undeniable.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Nora FTW

Helluva thing if Bernie should ask her if she's being served. :-}}

Yes. This. Sanders should avoid grabbing Mrs. Slocomb's pussy at all costs.

Is it Eid already?! Good heavens--Eid Mubarak to all my Muslim friends!!!

Now we're talkin'. This right here is spring and it's official. And it's not just for the South, people.