Friend or Foe
As a new gardener I know that there are pests whose very existence is considered a personal affront to my green lovely babies... but come on now. This guy is so cute! Yes, yes he is eating my already distressed lemon tree. And yes you can see the damage all around him. But this is Arizona. I hardly ever see cute fun bugs anymore. I was out in the garden mid morning camera in hand, trying to capture the new growth on film when I caught him. He was staring right at me. I took a few pictures then ran to get my babies from nap time.
First they just watched him from a distance. But soon each one of my children had their own idea of just what the grasshopper needed.
Ava was sure that gentle coaxing was the way to get him out of the tree. Then she ran off to find some big leaves to entice the little fella to follow her.
Cyrus really just wanted to poke it. Then laugh. And laugh. "he touched me mama!" I stepped in and bravely (read: squealing on the inside like a little hen. I used to play with bugs all the time when I was little. It turns out that skill is gone. Once I had him in my hand and he squirmed ever so slightly I Panicked. I completely dropped him like he was going to eat me. I handle human poop {diapers, potty chairs }on a daily basis with out batting an eyelash. Here this one inch grass hopper has me acting like a 1950s cliche) where was I? Oh yes, I bravely moved him down to the mint. A much better place for him. In all of my bravado I lost him, so my babies set out to find him.
Ava ran off again to get a bigger better leaf, and Cyrus looked under rocks. "check every hiding place!" Ava yelled.
We did find him again....
Back on the SAME leaf. This little guy has a Napoleon complex. He's the chihuahua of bugs. And he's right, he may be tougher than me. But don't shhhh lets not let that get out.
Thank you to The Magic Onions for bringing us together every Friday to celebrate nature!
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