We have chrysalis

10 of them actually.

I collect monarchs twice each year with my kids. It's a fun and cheap hobby that is also fascinating. You just need some milkweed plants, a rectangular 2.5 gallon plastic food storage container with a removable lid and some mosquito netting.

Cut a large hole in the top of the plastic container. Cut a piece of mosquito netting to overlap the hole by 1/2 inch (buy a mosquito net at Walmart for $1.29, don't spend $8 for a roll of vinyl window screen replacement), then use a glue gun to secure the netting. That's about as difficult as it gets.

After you notice the monarchs flitting about, look closely at the underside of the milkweed leaves. You should see tiny white eggs. Remove these leaves, then place them inside the plastic container on a paper towel. Keep the paper towel moist. Watch closely. In a few days you should see tiny caterpillars that will need to be fed a steady diet of milkweed.

You will need a lot of leaves. They produce copious amounts of crap that would probably be a prized fertilizer if a way could be discovered to harvest it. The paper towel makes it easier to clean. Obviously you need to be very gentle when you pick up a caterpillar. Don't be surprised when it squirts out a bright green fluid all over your fingers. If you are squeamish, wait until it crawls onto a leaf and then pick it up. As the caterpillars fatten up you can hear them eating.

Tonight was very cool. My son and I had never actually seen a caterpillar wrap itself in its chrysalis. It was very fast, taking just a few short minutes. My son likened it to a fat kid trying to squeeze into a small sleeping bag. When it was finished my son said, "The caterpillar's face fell off!"

Now we wait about 2 weeks. In about 10 days I'll remove the lid from the container and keep it outside in case the butterflies start emerging while I'm at work.

More details here if you're interested in taking this up as a hobby.

This is a pleasant diversion from the doom and gloom. It takes my mind off things for a bit and the kids find it fascinating. It's a nice way to learn something.