Chilly

I was gone almost all day.  It wasn't as gray as yesterday, but a cold Northeast wind did not encourage me to spend a lot of time outside.  I did not get wet but did remove one dead skink from the water.  The beauty berries were beginning to turn purple.  Wrens fussed at me and blue jays screamed about something.  A snowy egret perched on the fallen tree on the lake.  Ducks preened on the dock as the tide rose over the landward end. 

Though buffeted by the wind,cormorants flew in every direction as though they were frantically searching for something.  I found the Carolina mantis again, still on the rose, but on a different part of the plant.  Bumblebees were having a hard time between the wind and the cold.  Actually it was about room temperature but the wind was nothing you'd encounter indoors.