Another cat photo

Portrait of a caterpillar.
Ranchman's Tiger Moth
Platyprepia virginalis

Much better when viewed large!

click on me.

Arctiinae (erebid moths)

Dr. Paul Hammond, identified the orange and black  caterpillar as Ranchman’s Tiger Moth and the other one as a Garden Tiger Moth.

Eggs are laid starting in July. Large bluish-white clutches of eggs are laid on the lower surfaces of leaves. The caterpillars hatch in August. They spend the winter on the ground in protected places and pupate from June to July of the following year. The moths hatch from July to August.

The caterpillar of the garden tiger moth feeds on various kinds of non-woody plants, as well as bushes and trees. It is especially fond of raspberry,blackberry, viburnum, honeysuckle, erica, and broom.

At last! Something that eats Blackberry and Scotch broom! Of course at least these two also dine on Lupines. 

Photos by my wife.

From Wikipedia:

"Local folklore of the American Northeast and the American South hold that "woolly bears" (or "wooly worms" in the South) have the ability to predict the weather, similar to that of the groundhog. The forthcoming severity of a winter may be indicated by the amount of black on the Isabella tiger moth's caterpillar—the most familiar woolly bear in North America. More brown than black is said to mean a mild winter, but more black than brown is supposed to mean a harsh winter.^[13] However, the relative width of the black band varies among instars, not according to weather."

This is obvious, as we are currently having a record mild winter and these are more black than brown.