They spent a good portion of a cold, spring afternoon looking under rocks and behind lifeless plants. Their mission: to find hibernating ladybugs. Bob needed some for his seedlings that had attracted a few aphids and Milo was along for the adventure.
Bob spent the time explaining the different kinds of ladybugs, why they are good for plants and flowers, how they eat only the bugs and not the plants, and how he learned that the multicolored Asian ladybugs do indeed bite, although not very hard, but the South American varieties don't.
After a few hours, they had found only one South American ladybug but Bob was thrilled to have it and carefully set it under the grow lights with his transplants, checking every once in a while to make sure it was still there.
Milo was the first one awake the next morning and was playing in the dining room. Soon afterwards, our sleep was disturbed as Milo, having quietly sneaked into our room, whispered, "Daddy, I had to kill your ladybug. It was on the floor and I didn't want it to bite me."
Happy sweeping!
Kathleen Gunther
Editor, ContestHound.com
