Poor Butterfly

Yesterday I watched an insect fluttering close to the ground. It was a hop merchant butterfly, the earliest butterfly to become active in spring. The hop merchant can do this because it hibernates over the winter. This allows it to go about far earlier than other butterflies that do not hibernate but rather, hatch out from eggs laid the previous fall.

Today, the warm weather held and the hop merchant had a fine time. But tonight’s snow and tomorrow’s snow and rain will probably do the little orange-and-black butterfly in. Perhaps it has the ability to find shelter and thus stick out the storm, I just don’t know. I hope it can.

I must sound silly, worrying about a butterfly. But everyone needs someone to care for them…even butterflies.