Chrysalis

 I'd left some of the tomato cages in the garden even after the tomato plants had given up the ghost.  I brought them from the garden today and was going to set them atop the others and put them away for the season.  That's when I noticed the chrysalis attached to one.  I'm not sure what kind of caterpillar made it but it has the same form as a Monarch's.  I checked how long a butterfly stays in this pupal form and found it was 10- 20 days.   Poor butterfly will be freezing by the time it emerges!  I read on that a chrysalis is one form of how a butterfly can overwinter.  It then emerges the next spring or even summer.  Maybe that's what the  little fella had planned.  Instructions for overwintering said a house would be too dry.  Figured Mjolnir might be a good place since the flowers I overwinter out there keep the humidity up however, the article also said houses are too warm and the butterfly can emerge too early.  Instructions suggested overwintering outside is best but to keep it safe from mice and birds.  I'll figure out something.