Rain

The morning was just overcast and humid.  And I was running errands anyway.  After lunch we tried to figure out where to put the second bluebird house, but no luck.  The redbuds on the West side had grown too big.  The posts on the dock were too hard to reach.  And the already installed house is unoccupied as yet.  Hmmm.  

Bolted parsley started to bloom but one stalk was being nibbled by a black swallowtail caterpillar.  A cabbage white wafted above the vegetation.  Blooming Japanese honeysuckle invaded the wooded area.  The coral honeysuckle, however was nearly finished flowering.  Poison ivy popped up all over, but the rain should help me pull it out.  Oak leaves carried the marks of leaf cutter bees. A patch of elderberry bloomed a couple of lots downstream.

The mud shore of the creek was covered with bright green algae or seaweed.  I've no idea if that's good or bad.  Lots of periwinkles were available to graze on the green stuff. 

Two wrens appeared.  one sat on the hummer feeder and sang.  The other hopped all around the feeders in an agitated manner, coming closer and closer till both flew off.  Were they courting or arguing over turf?   A blue jay slipped in while I was changing camera batteries.  The downy was around and the male cardinals were still chasing each other.  An osprey flew over while we were looking for a location for the bluebird house. 

I finally settled on a set of pottery for the vines in front and went off to buy them. I had just got back and got everything unloaded when the rain began, very tentatively at first.  A goose family drank from the pool puddle before the rain got harder.  And waves of downpour rolled through with breaks when insects reappeared.  Something had a web waiting in a corner of the door.  Slugs were climbing the walls to escape the wet.  Thunder growled sporadically and a few lightning flashes were close, but it was mostly just rain.