After Irene

I'm very glad I got up early enough to see the storm dissipate. It was still gray and windy when I went outside, but over the next hour the clouds blew East where the sun tinted them.

There were tree branches and a lot of leaves and several shingles, but altogether it was nothing like the storm last May. Though I suppose the trees that blew down in May might have toppled from Irene if they'd still been standing.

All the critters were famished and we got the feeders out right away. The finches so crowded the perch that they tipped it like a bigger bird. They totally ignored the squirrel's attempts to join them.

The hummers have resumed their combat. Even the little skink was out and about. I saw a black swallowtail laying eggs and a big green darner dragonfly hunting mosquitoes. A little green heron took up position on the dock.