Quamdiu sim, alienum est; quamdiu ero, ut sim, meum est.

[nullalux]

Well, my new backyard pets are really very cool. I went out to check on them as soon as I got home from work; they'd obviously moved about on the plant, and were not expired, as we'd suspected yesterday. threetimes arrived soon after me, and we watched one of the caterpillars hoover down a substantial portion of a leaf. They have these neat spiracles (sort of like prolegs) with which they hold the leaf and direct it into their mouth-parts. The actual legs, meanwhile, are holding on to the branch/stem of the plant. I can't get over their size, but they're really are sort of attractive, as the above link claims. The lavender stripes are pretty, and they somehow blend in without making the caterpillar stand out on the plant at all. I mean, I couldn't find the second one without seeking for a good while (and it was just a few inches away from the first one the whole time). The horns on their rumps are delicately curved, and a striking magenta color. Apparently, they're supposed to thrash violently and regurgitate on their would-be captors when disturbed, but the horns are harmless. I don't aim to disturb them, myself. The shrub is staying for the time being.

I'm pleased with the trajectory of my feelings regarding the 'pillars. At first I was disturbed and more than a little weirded out by their size (!) and presence in "my" flower bed. This gave way to curiosity, and after some research, I became more than a little impressed by the critters. In fact, I was reading about some caterpillar parasites, and started to feel quite protective!