The weather has been beautiful but the birds were lacking. Squirrels, on the other hand, were romancing in the trees. Fluffy seeds were flying but the saltbush was about finished. The maple tree was gorgeous. I found buds on the red rose. A honeybee explored a camellia flower. A dragonfly banged into the window at lunch but flew off immediately.
Since the storm, it's been windy and sunny. The leaves were blowing and the fuzzy seeds were flying. Birds, mostly, were not flying. I saw a great blue heron alight on a tree limb that was no longer obscured by leaves. A little bird, maybe a wren, hopped around the grill on the patio, but I didn't have the camera at the time.
At breakfast there was some blue sky and brief sunshine but by 10am thunder was grumbling and the light dimmed. The rain started hammering the pavement not too long after that. NWS reported almost 6" but I don't think we got that much.
The sky cycled from hazy to overcast and back, and I felt tiny sprinkles in the afternoon. Two mallard drakes were hanging out together on the dock while the kingfisher perched above them. The maple tree was so bright it looked like it was plugged in even when the sun wasn't shining.
Yesterday provided fair weather for the election, though people have been voting since mid September. I enjoyed the warm sunshine but didn't see much. I missed a mockingbird in the beautyberry. Small insects, about half the size of the cabbage white I saw, flitted through the opening over the pool. An orb web snagged seed fluff from the saltbushes and a magic leaf. I saw other spider threads but no actual spiders. Yellow jackets explored the camellia.
Today continued warm and mostly sunny and more humid. At breakfast, a flock of birds hunted dogwood berries. I saw a mockingbird and a blue jay and a flicker and something I couldn't identify because the birds were obscured by leaves. Meanwhile the creak mirrored the early light that had not yet reached its surface. The red maple flamed and the oak shed gold leaves. Clouds blew from the Southwest and mid afternoon congealed into a threatening mass, but it dissipated. After dark, a moth was lured to a window.
We breakfasted on Standard Time with titmice. After lunch, I saw a brown headed nuthatch and a downy woodpecker. A brief flurry of birds left me an impression of yellow which might have been a pine warbler, or a trick of light. Fluff blew from the saltbushes. And it was dark by 5:30pm.
A question that nagged me was whether we could have an Election Day fall during Daylight Saving Time. I think so because the Election rule is first Tuesday after the first Monday of November. Daylight Saving ends on the first Sunday of November. So in a year when November 1st is a Monday then Tuesday would be Election Day but Daylight Saving would not end till the following Sunday, November 7th.
