At a loss for words
Nature is cruel, survival, and all of that. Feather found a tomato worm. She worried the thing across the deck, pawing, and toying with it. She licked it – taste test. Then, she bit it and swallowed it. I was a bit shocked. Not surprised. Just amazed that her base instinct took over. Gone. Hardly a meal, a mere snack. Done.
This end…
Sphinx moth, tomato horn worm. I got ‘em. How? Dunno. They showed up eating a bite out of my green tomatoes. They proceeded to eat the leaves leaving bare stems. They pooped leaving droppings outside the tomato pot. Finally!!! I caught on. Duh!! First one, then another, then another… Colleen said they had to go. She’s got the farm background. Ok! They stick to the plant like glue. I fashioned chop sticks from two BBQ skewers. No luck. (They stick, remember?) The anatomy is fascinating. Fake “eye” spots. Horn! Multiple pairs of “clinging” legs in clustered pairs. The mouth end looks to have row upon row of teeth to chomp the leaves to the stem. They poop! But! They seem to poop near the head not the tail end. (Yes! That is pictured, top center.) That was interesting (too). I mistook the horn for the head and the head was so non-descript to be mistaken for the tail. Ha ha! My bad. I know my vision is fading with age… but maybe there’s something worse when you can’t tell the head from the tail.
photobackstory 