Goodbye to a Friend

We had to say goodbye to "Little Fella" recently. Little Fella, as named by Gus, was a little caterpillar (a moth of some sort, my sister knows the exact species) that we found in July at my parents' cabin in WI. He lived in our living room and porch the rest of the summer and the beginning of the fall, until I was worried that we would single-handedly be responsible for his demise. These guys hibernate over the winter and don't become a moth 'til the spring. We considered moving his box to the basement, but I was worried we would forget, that we wouldn't give him the right kinds of plant life to survive, or that he might even stink up the basement in his forgotten death!

Instead, we decided to do the humane, but difficult thing: we returned him to nature. We took him to nearby Woodlake Nature Center and found a perfect little tree for his new home. Carl and Gus were quite sad, but were reassured when I said we could come back for visits whenever they wanted.

The three of them are scouting potential tree homes for Little Fella. When we found an ash tree, the same kind he was living on when we found him at the cabin, we knew it would become his home sweet home.

They're settling him in here. Gus picked leaf after leaf after leaf and piled them neatly beside and on him, to ensure adequate nutrition in his new home. They waved and blew kisses. "Bye Bye Little Fella!"