If the plants have pesticides they'll probably be something systemic, and so won't wash off, but if you knock off as much of the soil in the pot as possible then the plant won't have access to any more that might have leached into that soil. Any new growth and the flowers should be fine. The whole plant should be fine after a few weeks, once any pesticides used have degraded. it's just a precaution you need to take if you have existing caterpillars and run out of milkweed. You'd probably need to be careful with pretty well all commercially grown plants - they might be deadly for caterpillars. I have been told that I should never use store bought parsley to feed my black swallowtail caterpillars - fortunately I've never run out of my own parsley, so it's never been something I needed to worry about :-) Wooly bears, if they're the black and brown banded sort, are the caterpillars of the Isabella moth. The yellow sorts with the black hairs are Tussock moth caterpillars. They overwinter as caterpillars, and pupate in the spring - the ones you saw had probbly just emerged form hibernation and were looking for a place to pupate. BP

Thanks, TMFF - that makes perfect sense. This creek running across the road was a Mecca for the eagles. They were fishing and I was trying to follow one as it got off the treetop, skimmed the creek, caught a fish and was flying off. It is only now when I am looking at that set of pictures do I realize there was more than just that one I was tracking as evident in this picture - three in all!

Looks like a Pine Grosbeak. BN

yet another shot