Grasshoppers and childhood....

Does anyone else think of childhood when they see grasshoppers? I swear, I don't think there is a time when I see them that I don't think of childhood. First of all, my own childhood. I just remember everywhere I went, the grasshoppers were always jumping every which way in front of and beside me. To walk through a hayfield or tall grass was something else! They were just everywhere, and lots of them...all sizes. I am not sure, but I think we shot them with BB guns also...or maybe it was my brother and my nephew that shot at them....but if they did, then I am sure I was involved in it too but the memory is so vague I just cannot be positive.

And I remember the cats catching them and eating them.

Then I think of my own girls...I don't know of any other kids that did the things we let them do. Like I can remember them catching this one grasshopper and putting him in a quart jar and poking holes in the lid. And they would gather grass for it....I cannot remember how long they kept him, but he doubled in size! And I am pretty sure they set him free before the summer was over.

They also had the Monarch chrysalis and witnessed the butterfly emerge....

When they were young, up around 8 and 10, and along about that age, for two or three summers we kept one of those little wading pools in the back yard. You know, the hard plastic kind like this. You might ask what kids that age would want with one of those pools...well, we brought home tadpoles, Pumpkinseed bluegills, crawdads, and waterboatmen....I guess you would say it was an aquarium of sorts. We watched the bluegills grow, watched tadpoles change to frogs, we even had a crawdad that had a bunch of babies....I think that is the one and only time I witnessed that....and I think they brought the waterboatman home just because they could....that is all I remember them having, but I might be forgetting something.

But all these memories are jogged every time I see grasshoppers.

A Question Mark?

I am pretty sure this is a Question Mark butterfly...I only got to snap this single photo. He seems to be on the shy side...I have seen it or one just like it several times but it never pauses very long. And for sure not if I approach it....with or without camera.

There are more butterflies here this year than I have ever noticed before...Puss Puss has a fun time trying to catch them. I saw her come carrying a Monarch yesterday evening, but she let it get away.

Oh, last night we went out to the garage real late....to check on something about the doors Roger is making for the old garage. We spotted three little tree frogs on the side of the garage! One of them looked just the exact color of the siding, one had more green to it, and one was down so close to the ground that I didn't get down and inspect it. I am so thrilled to have seen that many.

One summer there were all kinds of toads in the yard, but I have not seen that many since. In fact, only see one occasionally. I think our 'pet' must have died...the last time we seen her she was about double the size she is in the post above. Notice the size in comparison to the hand. The last time we had it, it was almost wider than our hand!