Monarch Cremaster SEM

Every year, millions of Monarch caterpillars change into chrysalises.  During this change, the caterpillar literally sheds its skin and becomes a chrysalis.  As it slips out of its skin, it must let go with its legs and hold on with its cremaster, the black stem at the top of the chrysalis.

The two lowest black dots of a Monarch chrysalis are called 'holdfast tubercles'.   A pupating caterpillar/chrysalis is literally suspended by two tiny holdfast tubercles for a moment as it withdraws its cremaster from underneath its old skin and grasps its silk button with the tip of its cremaster.  Long ago scientists discovered that the tip of the cremaster is covered with tiny hooks.  These hooks become tangles with the loops of the silk pad it had made before pupating.

This step is critical.  If the cremaster doesn't grasp the silk button and falls onto most surfaces, it ruptures.  The chrysalis breaks open upon impact with the surface below it.  We still often hold our breath as we watch this critical moment during pupation ... STRESS ... will it make the reach?  Will someone bump the table?  Will wind blow at the wrong time?  Will an animal pass by and knock it off the stem before it finishes? 

We were given Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) images of the tip of a Monarch cremaster, along with permission to use the images.  This is an image of a Monarch cremaster with its hooks locked into the loops of its silk button.  No wonder it holds so well! 

The cremaster's hooks and silk pad's loops are much like Velcro®.  Unlike  Velcro®, the hooks and loops make a connection so tight that if one simply pulls at the chrysalis, the chrysalis will break before the hooks pull loose from the silk pad. This protects the cremaster from being blown loose in storms. 

It is good to be reminded again that God was there first.  He created everything.   How wonderful it is to rest in the knowledge that such a God is still here, handling things from year to year, month to month, week to week, day to day, hour to hour, minute to minute, and even second to second.  What a stress relief!

Genesis 1: 20-25

And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven. And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth, which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowl after his kind: and God saw that it was good. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiply in the earth. And the evening and the morning were the fifth day.

And God said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.

Total commitment to the eyeballs and beyond!

White Peacock

This White Peacock is really getting into its food.  The nectar that it needs is at the base of this flower.  The flower has a long tube throat and the butterfly's proboscis must reach the base of the flower to drink nectar.

This photograph shows the proboscis as it's curling up after it has finished drinking from that flower.  It's a long tube that curls into a very tight curl when it's not drinking.

A Cloudless Sulphur is really entering into its meal in this photo and the one below.

As was this Palamedes above and this Spicebush below.

 

That's a total commitment!  Getting this deep into a flower blinds the butterfly to what is going on around it.  That's total commitment.  It's not all the time that the butterfly is this deep into its food.  It's just a bit here and there. Sometimes it doesn't need to dig so deep.  Sometimes it does.    In the photo below, we see a Cloudless Sulphur that didn't need to dig deep into the flower at all to obtain nectar.

So what about me?  How committed am I?  Am I digging deep enough?  The answer is a resounding NO, not always.  My spiritual food is available through many 'flowers', from friends, messages, prayer, quiet time, and the Bible. 

Without taking time to totally commit myself, I will not gain the amount of 'nectar' I need to sustain my spiritual life as I should.  There is a point where one can spend too much time in spiritual issues and fail at living the life God meant one to live, interacting with others, earning a living, and enjoying life.  I'm not at that point, I'm falling short of spending enough time seeking 'nectar'.  There is a point where one knows he/she should commit more. 

Like the butterfly, I need to dig deeper into reaching the true nectar to give myself spiritual food to grow in the spirit.

Serves Him Right!

Veronica bugs kill butterflies.  This one has killed a Duskywing butterfly.  I do not like Veronica bugs.  End of story.

Then sometimes it's so good to see some of the sights I find as I wander with a camera.  Especially when I wander and find a spider eating a veronica bug.  Grin.  Gloat.  Chuckle.

It's so satisfying to see 'justice'.  But it shouldn't be.

Especially when it comes to my fellow man, including those who have declared me their enemy.

I know that if I am filled with the Holy Spirit and let him direct me, crowing when disaster befalls other humans wouldn't be as bad as it is when I don't allow him to take over.  I tend to learn the hard way.

Misjudging is the cause of not thinking or seeing the real situation - or someones upbringing - or battles they deal with - or many other things.  Misjudging can be, to a certain extent, understandable from a human standpoint.

Crowing or grinning when disaster or negative things happen to someone (who has declared me to be an enemy) isn't understandable except as the carnal bad nature of myself.  It's just plain ole bad - all the way around.

The tendency to do so is also as old as the hills, almost. Solomon wrote about it in Proverbs (below).

After reading what Solomon wrote, the bad side of me says that if I learn not to rejoice when my enemy falls, God will take care of my enemy better than I can which would be much more satisfying.  But that in itself is again the bad nature of hoping for something worse than what has already happened to someone.  Human nature is pretty nasty.  At least my human nature is.

Here's hopes and prayers that I'll always pray for my enemies with a pure heart, the love of God, praying that my 'enemy' will draw close to God and that I will draw closer to God too. 

Wouldn't it be great if we all changed to the point that we'd all be close to God and find out that it doesn't take work to love one another, that it could be simply natural.  That's the reality of heaven - it won't be hard, won't be work, it will be simply our nature to love one another at all times, with the pure love of God.
 
Until then, I'll pray and trust God to change me to be what I should be and that I can learn to let God's love flow through me instead of my human nasty side blocking God's love.

Proverbs 24:17-18 KJV
Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.

Polyphemus Moth and Gas Pump???

Uh - why is a Polyphemus Moth hanging out at a gas pump?

Oh yes, it was quite a surprise to find this huge moth with a 6" wingspan at the gas pump in the afternoon. 

We find Polyphemus moths quite often at our moth light in the early morning, a bright light with a white sheet underneath it.  Moths are attracted to light and the white sheet reflects the light, creating a huge white glow.  We are able to photograph these beauties by picking them up off the sheet, placing them on a piece of bark, and taking a picture.  Then we can allow them to fly away again.

But in the middle of the afternoon?  Yes, it flew in to the bright light at night but it sure hung around for a long time at a busy gas station.  Did no one notice it?  I noticed it simply because I notice moths and butterflies quickly.

I placed her in a brown paper bag for a few hours, she laid some eggs, and I could release her to finish laying eggs in nature.  I could then raise some moths from the eggs she laid.

As I thought about it, I realized that once again I was on the verge of taking a gift for granted.  It isn't every day I find such a beauty in such an unexpected place. 

Uh - thinking of unexpected places to find gifts, I realize tonight that once again, I have often been given a certain gift but not one that I appreciate as much as this beautiful moth. 

I was given the 'gift' of:

• 
  
  An opportunity to exercise patience
• 
  
  An opportunity to exercise self-control
• 
  
  An opportunity to control my tongue (fingers on the keyboard)
• 
  
  The opportunity to pray for others who would not expect me to pray for them and who I wouldn't, in my human self, think to pray for ...

The question is, am I seriously praying for the good of others who despitefully use me?  It's always the time for a self-check and always time for a God check.  I pray that God will 'try my reins and my heart' and reveal to me where my attitude is not in alignment with Him.  He wants the best for me and those who see things differently than I do.  It's not about me.  It's about God.  It's about Jesus.  It's about the Holy Spirit working in me.  I pray that I will step back and allow the Holy Spirit to work in me.

{Even now as I preview this to publish, I realize that I still haven't taken time to pray not just for others but for myself.  I need prayer worse than others - the fact that I wrote this and still hadn't prayed about the situation is proof in fact!}

Psalm 26:1-3

Judge me, O LORD; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the LORD; therefore I shall not slide. Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart. For thy lovingkindness is before mine eyes: and I have walked in thy truth.

Matthew 5:44-45

But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

Luke 6:27-29

"But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also

Little Blue Butterfly

Ahhh, the joy of traveling and taking photos of butterflies that we don't have in our part of Florida.  While driving up the Blue Ridge Parkway we saw quite a few of these beauties.  What a wonderful drive!  I could stop where I wanted, wander and take photos, return to the car, and drive further up the parkway.  Stephen napped while I wandered.  We were both happy with the day. 

After returning to the hotel, we downloaded images from the camera, edited this photo, and went to sleep in a quiet air-conditioned hotel room.

The next day we visited a temporary butterfly exhibit at WNCWild, drove a short while, and checked into a hotel. After uploading this photo, placing it on facebook to ask someone to identify it (I left my book at home), we headed out on foot to buy supper. Life is good ... other than one grumpy hotel clerk, it had been a great few days away from the farm.  Butterflies or something butterfly related was in every single day.

Then - we decided to buy supper across the four-lane road.  We went to the light and waited for the light to change.  The red hand was up - NO WALK.  The light changed but the hand stayed red.  The light changed back and still - NO WALK.  In four light changes, never did the light tell us that we could walk so we walked as soon as the light changed and we knew it was safe to walk.  The 'walk' light was the one that didn't change; it was broken.

A truck was waiting to turn when the light changed and as it drove past the passenger rolled down his window and yelled out, "You're supposed to wait till YOU have the signal to walk".  Stephen and I knew that we did the only thing we could do unless we went back and took the car.  We walked when the light had changed and didn't jay-walk. The only problem was that the 'walk' light was red.  The passenger in the truck was misjudging us because he only saw us for a minute - not the 15 or more minutes we were at that light waiting for the hand to turn green. 

Stephen commented to me that it ought to teach us a lesson about when we judge others.  We don't know their whole story.  Yes, there are times we know someone else made an inexcusable bad decision.  But more times than not, we can't know all the facts that lead up to decisions that others make.  Sometimes we can't know everything that leads to us making our own decisions, let alone other people's decisions.

It appeared that Stephen and I were being rude.  Instead, we were simply dealing with a broken electrical switch (or something along that line).  What the passenger didn't realize was that we were well aware that they were waiting to turn and we moved as fast as we could so we wouldn't slow them down more than a few seconds.   Appearances can be deceiving!

Now I wonder about the hotel clerk - what caused her to respond the way she did to us?  Did she just lose a loved one?  Did she and her boyfriend just break up?  Did her child become ill?  Did she fail a college test?  Whatever caused her to react as she did isn't my business.  My business is to pray for her.  We hope that others pray for us when we're short with them as we should be praying for her.

Stephen and I hope we remember this lesson and apply it in our lives - remember that we don't know the facts in situations. Things are happening of which we aren't aware that cause people to make the decisions they make.

John 7:24  (Jesus was talking.)

"Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment."

Caterpillar Doing What?

Pipevine Swallowtail caterpillars caught my eye yesterday and I had to take a few photos.  What neat caterpillars they are! 

When one is touched, it rears its head and thorax back, extends it's normally retracted osmeterium, and startles people and critters that hasn't seen such behaviour before.

Many of these caterpillars remind me of old science fiction horror movies.  The monsters were often simply enlarged and slightly modified insects.

The back prolegs of the same caterpillar as pictured above are not what we'd expect.  The colors are natural - we didn't change them for the photo. 

What is the value of these critters?

Most people shudder at the sight of the above caterpillar.  Value = paying for insecticides to kill them.

But the adult butterfly is valuable to nearly anyone.  The males have iridescent blue on their hindwings.  Value = people will pay to visit a butterfly exhibit to see them.

Value is truly in the eye of the beholder as far as we humans go.  Most humans value the adult butterfly but not the caterpillar. 

How blessed we are that God doesn't see us the same way.  We're all valuable in the eyes of God.  Our value is worth the blood of his son. 

I rarely quote John 3:16 simply because it's quoted so often and so many people know that verse. But in some situations, it's the most appropriate verse in the Bible.  "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son; Jesus Christ."

That's putting a pretty high value on us.  We thank God ...

 

Where is the Nectar?

This cute little skipper butterfly is trying to drink nectar and as we watch it, we're cracking up.  First, it's drinking through a hole an insect made in the side of the flower instead of through the open end of the flower.  Second, the flower is detached from the plant.  Nectar is no longer at the base of the flower.  Shortly after we snapped this photo, the flower fell off, butterfly still holding onto it.  As soon as the flower started falling, the butterfly flew to another flower.

It isn't an unusual sight.  This Cloudless Sulphur butterfly is attempting to drink nectar from a flower that has fallen onto a leaf.  It's like trying to drink through a straw lying on a table - not inserted into a glass.  Nothing is at the other end!

Here the same thing is happening once again.  This Gulf Fritillary butterfly is trying to drink nectar from this fallen canna lily bloom.  The flower is covered with dew, but that's all. 

These butterflies are driven by instinct.  They see the flower and they do not register whether the flower is attached to the plant or not.  They spend several minutes searching with their proboscises for nectar before they give up and fly to another flower. 

Thinking about these butterflies who are failing in their search for food at these flowers or ending up drinking just dewdrops instead of nectar, it makes me want to stop and do a self-check on my feeding.  Am I searching for food where none exists? Am I settling for less than full sustenance?

When Jesus talked with the woman at the well, he told her that he was the living water.   Without her knowing that the best that God could give to her was there in person, talking with her, Jesus told her, "If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water."  

She responded with, "Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw."  

She didn't have it quite right but with our limited understanding, we can't have it quite right.  But Jesus takes care of what we can't.  She would still need to go to the well to draw water to drink for her physical body.  The wonderful gift was that her spiritual body would be filled and not thirst. 

I hope I never become satisfied with less than the best that God wants to give me. 

John 4:10-15

Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph.   Now Jacob's well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour.  There cometh a woman of Samaria to draw water: Jesus saith unto her, Give me to drink. (For his disciples were gone away unto the city to buy meat.)  Then saith the woman of Samaria unto him, How is it that thou, being a Jew, askest drink of me, which am a woman of Samaria? for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans.  Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.   The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water?   Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle?   Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.  The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw.