Hello folks who wonder if horses were the original self driving cars,

Once upon a time I was supposed to meet a friend for dinner. But the place to meet the friend was a 90 minute bus ride away. Also, the food we were going to have that night was healthy, locally sourced, organic, non-GMO, ethical farm fresh salads. To avoid missing the bus, I reach the bus stop early and then have to wait 15 minutes for the bus to arrive. So, I start looking around. That is when my eyes fall on the "greatest thing to happen to humanity" since "Penicillin". Yes, that's right, I spotted the nearest Taco Bell location.

Taco Bell Employee: "Hi! Welcome to Taco Bell! What can I get you today?"

Me: Uhh..hi! Gimme a min *scrolling through the expansive menu

Taco Bell Employee: "Sure, be sure to try our Chalupa Supreme®".

Me: Sure, I can have one of those.

Taco Bell Employee: "Ok, what else?"

Me: No, that should be it.

Taco Bell Employee: "If you haven't tried Mexican Pizza®, I highly recommend it. It is my personal favorite"

Me: Sure, I can have that.

Taco Bell Employee: Also, would you like the Nacho Fries®. The crisp fries pair nicely with the cheesy dipping sauce.

Me: Ok, that sounds good!

While wolfing down this greasy food that will ultimately clog my arteries, I observe my bus departing the bus stop. Later I called up my friend and lied that I had a family emergency and couldn't make it to dinner. Then soon after I crash on my couch.

"We are not interested in your Taco Bell adventures, Karan. Give us some moving pictures or we are out" *audience members start getting agitated.

You better sit back in your seats, or this Monarch butterfly will never get to pollinate another flower again.

*audience members gasp and comply immediately.

Sooo, where was I... Yes, the point about the Taco Bell story was that the employee had good intentions but they played a major role in ultimately making me miss my dinner (No, I was not at fault in any way).

These days everyone is or purports to be an eco-warrior. One way they do this is by planting flowers to attract pollinators. But people only want to attract the supermodels of the insect world. Enter Monarch butterflies and the plants that they flock to.

Introducing Tropical Milkweed, the non-native milkweed that will flower during winter when other native milkweed species don't.

One of the best places to see these monarch butterflies overwintering is in Santa Cruz, which I paid a visit to during the holidays.

Another problem with this species of milkweeds is that since they don't die back in winter, they can harbor spores of a parasite called OE (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha) that can spread from an infected butterfly to the tropical milkweed plant to the Monarch caterpillar to the next Monarch butterfly. These spores can hinder the development of the adult butterflies and can cause them to emerge with defective or deformed wings. Like this one that just had 3 wings instead of the usual 4.

This is what the scales look like if they were not infected with the OE parasite spores.

And this is what the scales look like if they are infected with the OE parasite spores.