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OT: The Most Beautiful Thing That Ever Hatched Out Of My Shop

Brianison

Aluminum
Joined
Aug 28, 2015
This happened a couple springs ago, I just came across the pics again while cleaning out files in my tablet. just thought I'd share them.

One day I saw this little green chrysalis attached to the inside of the large sliding door of my shop. How it managed to not get knocked off r squashed, is miraculous. A couple days later I noticed the other one hanging on the eye of a forklift fork sitting outside the door.

After a few days, I went out to the shop one morning, and over the next few hours I got to watch what you see in the pics.

A Monarch butterfly hatched out of the cocoon, hung around on the door for about an hour,then made its way out to he fence right next to the door where it stayed for another hour, or two slowly flexing it's new wings. Then, once it was ready, it flew off into the world.

A few days later the one on the fork hatched. I had too much going on that day to take pics of it, but same basic story.

I know it's not the first or last time anyone will ever see a Monarch hatch, but pretty cool when it does it inside your machine shop door. 20180908_094016 (2).jpg20180908_094036 (3).jpg20180908_094051 (2).jpg
 
Driving to work on the back roads from Bastrop (Tx.) to San Marcos (Tx.) I came upon a Monarch flight path headed south. It was several yards wide and stretched from horizon to horizon. It was one of the most amazing things I've ever witnessed. Millions of them all headed for Mexico. I had to pull over and gape at the spectacle.
 
I get a ton of praying matises in and on my shop. They lay their eggs and it's pandemonium when they hatch. Little microscopic mantises everywhere. Pretty cool stuff.

Had a massive honeybee swarm go through my property a couple years ago. Sounded like a helicopter landing outside. Went outside to see the sky was black with bees. Must have been billions of them. Lasted about 5 minutes.
 
No wonder my shop sucks at times, all I get are wasps when they warm up and drop from the roof. Then I squash them for not paying their share of the rent.

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Like many others, I'm sure, my wife and I always collected a couple when the kids (and now grandkids) were small so they could see the process. My one sister in law spent 37 years or so as an elementary school teacher and did the same every year for her class. It is amazing to watch.

Dale
 
Bondo,
a little trick for wasps. Get one of those grey plastic bags that Lowe's puts your stuff in at checkout,(r just paint a shopping bag grey), stuff it with other bags to the size of small water melon, and hang it up near the ceiling. Wasps think it's a hornet's nest, and won't go near the place.

Sounds like hooey but it works a treat around here.

Glad everybody enjoyed the pics.
 
No wonder my shop sucks at times, all I get are wasps when they warm up and drop from the roof. Then I squash them for not paying their share of the rent.

Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

The bat that lives above my office eats all the moths. He doesn't like the wings though. If I don't sweep for a week there will be thousands of moth wings all over the floor.
 
I get a ton of praying matises in and on my shop. They lay their eggs and it's pandemonium when they hatch. Little microscopic mantises everywhere. Pretty cool stuff.

Had a massive honeybee swarm go through my property a couple years ago. Sounded like a helicopter landing outside. Went outside to see the sky was black with bees. Must have been billions of them. Lasted about 5 minutes.
Had a bee swarm come through the workshop I was working in a while back. They hit the back door and about a hundred made it in while the rest went around. I was running a SIP jig borer at the time and really couldn't be bothered but the owner caught all the strays in a juice glass one at a time and let them out the far window.

I asked him later if he got stung and he said no, good thing since he's highly allergic! Crazy Frenchman with balls as big as his heart.
 
Ever catch a bat with a fishing worm? Just give a big under hand skyward cast with a plastic worm with the hook buried inside,found Myself reeling down from the sky wondering what to do with it when it got here. It let loose.
 
Years ago I flipped a panel sheet off a pallet outside my cousins shop. Underneath was this huge lunar moth spread out and snoozing I guess. That thing was beautiful. Pre cell phone camera days, wish I had a picture now. I have never seen another.
 
In my shop on 2Jun1974, I hatched the small one from an old silver dollar. The big one is a Japanese sword guard made of iron, around 200 to 300 years old.

Larry

Tsuba 1.jpg Tsuba 2.jpg
 
Monarchs only feed on milkweed. i have a 26 acre field I mow once a year. I always spare the milk weeds......Bob

Growing up my mom taught me to not kill the milkweed vines growing on the chain link fence in the backyard when trimming the grass. It resulted in a lot of monarchs coming through. Lots of swallowtails as well due to other plants in the area. I'd put their caterpillars in jars when I found them, feed them, then release them when they hatched. For whatever reason their numbers have been on a long decline. What used to be butterflies everywhere in the yard is now just an occasional one.
 








 
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