A big, fat, green worm

Look what I found, crawling on the asphalt outside my garage.
I went to my resident bug man, Dave Hertzler, to see if he could tell me what I was seeing.
It looked ominous to me — like it could sting, or maybe take down a Jonah Vine in an afternoon.
(See that story in Jonah 4)
Dave did a little research and was pretty certain it was
a white-lined sphinx moth caterpillar.

Some day that big, fat, green worm will look like this:

From wikipedia:
“The fore wing is dark brown with a tan stripe which extends from the base to the apex. There are also white lines that cover the veins. The black hind wing has a broad pink median band. It has a wingspan of 2 to 3 inches.”

This moth isn’t the most attractive of moths, (especially with its wings folded)
but its living habits make it fascinating to me.
For one thing, it flits about much like a hummingbird, gathering nectar from flowers.  
We’ve seen a number of them in the gardens around Shady Acres.
They always surprise and delight me.

Yes, I put him back into the garden.

I am always amazed at the many, many things to see in our world.

And (are you getting tired of hearing this?) my heart gives grateful praise.