Why do we have so many BUGS?

You may remember this post from last year when I talked about what strange bugs we have at our home. I think I have almost lost count on how many little buggers we have kept in glass jars to "observe". At one time I even started a bug collection of the strange ones so that when Ms. Bellie got older, she would have a science fair project, but they all went back to ash when we had the fire (maybe I should start a new one!).
Yesterday, when I was out painting the front porch I had to move a Praying Mantis from harms way.
And today I found this:



A month ago, we found a Monarch Caterpillar that we kept, and watched it turn into a butterfly, then set it free. It's name was Bumblebee! I have never, however, seen a butterfly of any kind just hatch from its chrysalis in the wild! Granted, rose bushes aren't necessarily "the wild", but you know what I mean!

However many strange bugs we may find around here, there is always a "teachable moment" for the kids! It usually evolves someone saying "Uh, Gross!" and someone trying to smash it, and the best yet, me saying "how 'bout we research it on the internet and see what we come up with?" Now that I think about it, I wonder if this is why Mr. Stinky wants to go to Halloween dot com and Dinosaur dot com and Anything dot com!