The Bug Whisperer

We went on a hike to a slot canyon near Kanarraville on Labor Day this year. It was a beautiful day, although a little on the chilly side. When we left St. George the car thermostat said 104. By the time we got to the trail head 40 minutes north, the temperature read 68. This is one of those hikes where the creek bed is the trail. That water was icy cold, so we took every opportunity to walk on the side and get out of the water. At this point along the trail Jared discovered a butterfly in distress.



It was pretty big. And beautiful. He examined it for a long time. He said it's eyes were like hologram things, with shifting colors of gold.

He has always enjoyed bugs. I remember when he was about 4 years old, I would take an old bathroom rug outside. We would spray the flowerbed with water and then place the rug down. In the morning we'd peel back the rug to reveal the bug circus going on underneath. Lots and lots of different kinds of bugs would migrate under the rug where it was wet and warm. He would sit on a stool with his elbows on his knees and his chin on his hands and watch those bugs like a TV show for an hour, until I said time was up and we needed to move on to another activity.

The butterfly stayed on his hand for a long time, fanning itself and drying out it's wings.


Then it did what bugs with wings do. It flew away.