Arguably, this has Disney’s first trans character, inasmuch as it features a caterpillar coded as male until it emerges from a chrysalis coded as female. Is it actually male? Eh. But certainly I thought it was until its transformation. It’s also arguably an Insect of Color. [quickly double-checks if butterflies are insects] It has a definite Carmen Miranda vibe going. So, you know, they’re living their best life, and good for them. It’s one of the weirder footnotes in Disney history. Which is, after all, what we do around here.

It’s spring! A little satyr comes piping past Pluto’s doghouse, bringing the world to life. Mushrooms slam into Pluto’s chin, waking him up, and he’s out into nature. He tries to help a small bird catch a caterpillar, and that doesn’t work. Then, the caterpillar builds itself a chrysalis and almost immediately becomes a sexy butterfly, which does a dance on Pluto’s nose as though it’s trying to seduce him. He decides that a beehive makes an excellent dance prop; to escape the inevitable angry bees, he dives into poison ivy. Then there’s goldenrod, to which Pluto is canonically allergic, and then there’s a storm.

I’ve got a lot of friends who can definitely sympathize with Pluto on his disdain for the whole thing. Especially when it comes to allergies. My partner’s probably allergic to Scotch broom, an invasive species that unfortunately we need to eliminate on our property. I say this because his allergies have gotten worse since we moved here during the time the Scotch broom is blooming. He really hates that time of year, because he’s miserable through it. Someone I know online has appeared repeatedly on webstreams slightly doped up on antihistamines, because it’s better than sneezing through them instead.

It is further true that we’ve gotten a lot of hail this spring, and I’m just lucky not to be out in it. Our cat, to his displeasure, is an indoor cat, but when he’s gotten out on days when we’ve had hail, it’s pretty well driven him back inside due to his annoyance at weather. Our temperature has been up and down—it’s in the fifties right now, but we’ve had several nights where it’s below freezing. I can get being irritated at the whole thing.

However, I still like spring. My cherry tree is blooming, too, and no one in my house is allergic to that. My cat may not like hail, but he certainly likes watching the birds in the cherry tree; it’s like kitty TV. There’s a lot of beauty outside my window this time of year. The frogs are singing what my best friend calls the song of their people in the evenings, and it’s lovely to listen to. I like spring a lot. I just like knowing that I can go inside from spring if I need to and that my partner can take an antihistamine.

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