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Saturday, November 8, 2008

Woolly Bears

I was quite the tom-boy when I was young.
I loved animals, bugs and worms! (no spiders, though!)
I especially loved caterpillars and usually had a pet one in a jar.
One fall when I was about 10, I had quite a few pet ones in my bedroom.
They all spun caccoons in various spots on furniture and windowsills!
In the spring, the little moths flitted about the room alerting me
to the fact they they had hatched! Crazy! I have 4 boys and they
haven't even done anything like this!
One of my favorites is the Woolly Bear caterpillar with the black and
orange bands. Legend says that the width of the bands foretells
the severity of winter!

24 comments:

  1. Great story. Have a good weekend. strider

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  2. My kids absolutely LOVE caterpillars! We had tons of the gypsy moth ones in NJ, but we had to be sure not to move them inland per the USDA with threat of fine and jail time (they eat some crops I suppose). Everything that was outside had to be scrubbed to make sure there were not cocoons anywhere. They love other little creatures too (no spiders though here either!), especially Sparky, who loves frogs, lizards, worms...everything like that. My favorites growing up were lightning bugs. Hope the rest of your weekend is super!

    ~ Kayren

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  3. I used to collect those, too (along with toads, salamanders, etc.). I'm glad that my boys have no interest in that sort of thing because now, I view capturing little creatures as something that is so cruel! I've seen too many Disney movies.

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  4. My brothers and I used to go down to the creek and collect pollywogs (tadpoles) in a jar and then bring them home to watch them turn into little froggies. Great fun. I used to love the fuzzy caterpillars too. Thanks for the memory boost, Betsy!

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  5. What cute caterpillar! funny story. Aren't you now glad your 4 boys don't do such bizarre things? Actually. you'd maybe still like it! Ugh.

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  6. Hi Betsy. I love caterpillar, too, maybe because of the thought that they will soon become a butterfly. But i could only look at it from at the distant. Creeping things really scared me.

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  7. I was a tomboy growing up but never had any interest in bugs, worms, toads, snakes and such. I was much more interested in playing cowboys and indians, riding my bike all over creations, playing crazy games with the neighbor kids till dark too. Thankfully, all three of my kids were never much for the insects and creepy-crawly, hippety-hoppy or slithering animal as they all preferred loving on kittens and puppies that grew into loving cats and dogs. I'm so relieved to remember I never had to worry about emptying my son's pockets of any type creatures like that which several friends of mine back in the day, had to endure with their kids!

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  8. I've always loved those caterpillars, but had no idea they were called woolly bears! Thanks for the info... and yes, what a tom boy you were!

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  9. Well let's hope it's going to be a mild winter this year. But since SD already has had it's first blizzard, sounds like it might be a rough one.

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  10. Your room always did smell a little funny.

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  11. As a kid, I loved caterpillars too! A tree in our backyard was full of them and I would always catch a few and play with them. My kids like to see them, but won't pick them up....it's quite funny.

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  12. I had caterpillars everywhere too!!! I liked to play with spiders though. There were non poisonous tarantulas and I loved them cuz they were furry like the caterpillars. And I also collected horney toads (i think the technical term is horned lizard). My kiddos don't share my love for it either :(

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  13. Hi there! saw you over at Willows, had a peep at you.
    I taught autistic children aged 3 to 8 until health reasons tore me away. I get pretty annoyed at some of the things that I had to give up, but having to resign from he school was the hardest. Like you bugs kinda fascinated me, but spiders!!!!!!!11

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  14. Me again, just been catching up on Willow, your sisters!!!!!! I think thats great, I have 3 sisters I wish they would start a blog (if only to keep track on them)......

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  15. Cute post! Looks like you are going to have a 10 legged winter.

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  16. That is so cool about the caterpillars all over your bedroom! I never thought of that, but I sure loved to gently play with them outside. For some reason my sis and I were fascinated with ants, so we kept trying to make homemade ant farms. We killed a lot of ants trying to make pets out of them. Your foray in to the natural world sounds a lot more successful!

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  17. Once when my kids were little, 2 and 3 years old, their babysitter was letting all the children play with the catepillars, they layed on the ground and the catepillars crawled on their bellys. Well they all broke out in a rash, 12 kids, the sitter was so worried she called her niece who's a nurse to come and check out the kids, but they were fine, just a skin reaction to their fine hairs. It was pretty funny, the kids didn't mind at all about the rash, they loved letting them tickle their bellys.

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  18. I loooove these kinds of things:) I bought the boys ant farms, see monkeys, huge terrarium with crickets, meal worms to feed the fish (we breed them)... It's really just all for ME though!

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  19. Ooooh!!! You've sent a shiver up my spine. Give me ghosts any day!

    CJ xx

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  20. Kayren ~ wow, I didn't know there were any usda restrictions like that. I never had a lizard, but we had turtles at one time. They had some sliders at the pet store the other day...so cute...I was so tempted! The husband just rolls his eyes when I tell him these things! ha!

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  21. Suza ~ my younger sister had a tadpole. It was fun to see him change into a frog. He was a big frog, too! We let him go in a creek....fun experience!

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  22. Mmm ~ yes, actually, I'm glad not to find 'pet' frogs in their pockets, etc. And I think I've outgrown the thrill of caccoons on the drapes! ha!

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  23. fxsmom ~ fuzzy, non poisonous tarantulas? ick....I have the willies up my spine! You are much more brave than me.

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  24. Betsy, how cute. I am by no means an 'insect' sort of person but this little thing is greatly appealing. What an interesting, nature-loving child you were!

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