New Friend

Guess what Abby Grace and I found in our garden this evening? A tomato hornworm, but not just one. We found 9...yes, folks...9 tomato hornworms. Thank goodness we caught them when they were still little; otherwise I fear our tomato crop would surely have perished. Anyway, Abby knew just what to do (thanks to a previous experience a couple of months ago with a single friend). She picked her favorite and delicately (or not) disposed (or squished with her foot, thrilled over the worm juice squirting everywhere) of the rest. Then, into the jar her new friend went. Hopefully, this science experiment will turn out as planned. Our last one failed miserably, as apparently a fly had previously layed eggs on the larvae, so instead of a moth, we ended up with a bunch of baby flies and the bare remains of the "to be" moth. Disgusting!

The best news of all of this; Abby has show and tell at her school tomorrow! I bet Ms. Askins will love us forever after this one, but probably not as much as she would have if we had taken a pet worm for every child in the class...

(Don't forget to pause the music at the bottom before you watch the video.)

Correction: After a little research, I believe we are the proud owners of a tobacco hornworm, not a tomato hornworm. They are the same in terms of life cycle and what they eat, just differ in how they look (pattern on sides and color of horn) and where in the United States they are most prominent.