Butterflies

So, as mentioned, we spent much of the day with Sande and Margo McNabb. They did not run us into the ground, but mostly because they did manage to wear Maya out, so we had to take her home for a nap. At least, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it. Breakfast was wonderful; after three days of eating absolutely horribly (there was McDonald's involved at least once) it was wonderful to sit down with a plate of fruit and veggies. The last couple weeks I'd kind of gotten into the habit of having salads for lunch, so eating junk food was taking its toll on my system.



Anyhow, after breakfast, we went with the McNabbs to the Reiman Gardens at Iowa State University. The Reiman Gardens is a large indoor and outdoor public garden, which has a conservatory and a large butterfly habitat. Earlier this year, we went to a very similar exhibit at the Tucson Botanical Gardens, though this one is far more polished and better presented. Nevertheless, there were a lot of similarities; non-native butterflies and moths are regulated by the USDA to protect native plants, insects, and habitat, so the butterfly rooms have "air lock"-type areas in which visitors have to be inspected to make sure that there aren't any stowaway butterflies on them; some of them are perfectly friendly and happy to land on a shoulder, leg, or head as you walk through. Most butterflies do best in warm humid climates; while this was somewhat evident at the Tucson Botanical Gardens, it was striking here in Ames in December, where the ground outside was covered with several inches of snow.

Maya was a bit grumpy by the time we got to the butterflies, and as usual when she's tired, she did NOT want to be held, so she struggled to get out of my arms. I was concerned that she'd go on an unintentional butterfly mauling rampage, but to her credit and my surprise, she was extremely gentle, didn't make any rapid motions, and while she touched plenty of plants, never managed to nail any butterflies.