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Milkweed Tussock Moth Caterpillar

I had such a busy work week that I didn’t have time to make specific plans for the weekend like I typically do, so we got a late start yesterday. For one, we slept until 9:30 am. Secondly, getting my husband to come up with ideas of things to do is like pulling teeth! After me insisting he come up with something, he suggested we check out this one grocery store way out in Plainfield because their Indiana store usually has the Butterball turkey polish kielbasa we can’t find anywhere else. I gave them a call first to check whether they had any in stock and once they confirmed they did, we poked around online to see if there was anything nature related out that way worth visiting.

Will County’s forest preserve website isn’t as easy to navigate as DuPage County’s site, but Joe managed to find Lake Renwick forest preserve which has a rookery where five species of birds, one of which is state endangered, nest together. It’s closed during the breeding season and yesterday was the first day it was available to the public. Unfortunately, without a better zoom lens, we just couldn’t get any good photos of the birds. We did come across some crazy looking caterpillars, however. I learned online that they are Milkweed Tussock moth caterpillars, to be exact.

After walking around about an hour, we were sweating to death so we went to the grocery store and got our beloved turkey sausage. Now we don’t have to rely on my mom to buy it from Indiana anymore. Yippee!

Today we got up a bit earlier and ran some errands. One of our stops was Walmart where we bought a couple of those reusable bags that I’ve seen a lot of people carting around. The plastic bags are out of control! It’s too bad Target’s reusable bags are so crappy. I’d much rather use a bag that says Target than one that says Walmart but the Walmart ones are sturdier and better designed, so what can you do?

Once we got home, Joe washed both vehicles while I cleaned the kitchen and dining room. He’s going to clean the rest of the house tomorrow before picking up the kids. We have them Monday-Sunday and Joe is off all week while I’ll be working Monday and Tuesday. Then it’s off to Wisconsin Dells for a few days.