Rain

Apparently a little rain fell overnight and the humidity prevented evaporation.  It was enough to revive the zinnias. Yesterday's hot, dry, gusty wind was replaced by a cool, damp breeze from the North. The sun found breaks in the overcast during the morning but rain began in earnest after lunch and kept on all day.  Radar showed a continent-length storm front paralleling the Appalachians and sliding slowly East.

Fortunately, I didn't wait to get outside.  The ground was still hard so I wasn't able to weed as much as I'd hoped.  I found a pinkish moth tucked into a crevice where the steps meet the pool liner. The Argiope turned around on the web so its spinnerets faced the house instead of the pool.  A pale four spotted pennant perched on the high oak twig.  I saw one dragonfly on a bamboo stake, but I thought the dampness would bring more.  There were more monarch caterpillars than milkweed, I'm afraid.  I found one hiking up a bamboo stake.  Wasps were hard at work on the mints and when the sun came through they were joined by fiery skippers. 

Wading birds - a yellow crowned night heron and a great egret - explored the barren dam.  The hummers stocked up, maybe because of the chill or perhaps they sensed the approaching storm.  I heard blue jays and wrens before I came in.  The twitchy cardinal seemed especially neurotic.