Art T, after the chiton trick, it's amazing that you're still married. Carol must be a wonderful person.

When I was a teenager, our yard was invaded by a very large number of naked green caterpillars with two long tufts of white hair placed like horns, and red spots with some black trim. They were about an inch long, but there was one that was at least five inches. My mother and I gazed on them in horror, and she predicted that the vegetation in our yard would be stripped. Then we saw the five-incher. I said, "Step on it!" and she said, "Are you kidding? I'd be up to my ankle in caterpillar gush!" We fled inside the house, and the things were gone by the next day. I have never seen a caterpillar like that, before or since. We lived in the suburban Chicago area. Anybody have a clue what they were?

Actually, though, some of the strangest lifeforms I've encountered are here on Mudcat...