Caterpillar

I just spent an hour looking at pictures of caterpillars and trying to identify this one which was traveling at quite a pace across our patio. I wasn't able to identify it but I am able to say with certainly that unlike many caterpillars that are pretty disgusting looking (try the tomato hornworm) these have a certain charm all their own. 

They might be  woolly bear caterpillars, which turn into very uninteresting brownish tan tiger moths and which are commonly found around here at night flapping around light bulbs.  The caterpillars are known to cause dermatitis in some people. I'm happy to say that although I never found out what caused my dermatitis, I'm pretty sure it wasn't from handling woolly caterpillars.

The pond in which the tadpoles are thriving is growing forests of bright green algae. We can't really clean it out without disturbing the tadpoles but we did get the outdoor electrical outlet for the pump fixed so that we don't have to run a big orange extension cord through an open garage door....OilMan's idea of an acceptable fix. My friend's husband, who can fix anything, came by and had it running within fifteen minutes...broken GFI or something....How lucky Tobi is to have such a smart and handy husband, and how lucky we are to be recipients of his excess energy! 

We are leaving on a bit of an adventure on Saturday and I didn't really want to have to leave the garage door open or to turn off the pump to the fountain. The algae will continue to grow, but at least we won't have mosquito larvae joining the tadpoles....