Rain to sun

Early rain did not deter the birds.  A couple of blue jays chased around in the cherry.  In fact, there were jays around all day, but they would not pose.  The regulars and hummers came to the feeders. The sun took over by mid morning and a breeze joined it to dry things out.

In the middle of the afternoon, I soaked my stung hand in the pool.  The skimmer held a live and a drowned skink.  After I got out, it seemed like there were more skinks of all sizes everywhere.  One small skink had lost its tail right behind its back legs.

A monarch butterfly rested in the domestic cherry that grew from a pit I tossed into the mulch years ago.  I saw other butterflies but not well enough to be sure of their identity.  Wasps like the one that stung me were about but left me alone.  A green grasshopper seemed attached to the door. 

A downy woodpecker wanted seeds but was too wary of me.  Later when I was inside, titmice came for seeds.  Snowy egrets were still finding food at the dam outfall.  A house wren chased a skink into the rosemary.  It hunted all around and then visited the seed feeder, looking for bugs I assume. 

Sunset turned fuzzy contrails pink.  The first quarter moon hung over the chimney when I closed the feeder to keep raccoons from depleting it.