I saw the usual chickadees, cardinals, and house finches. A squirrel ate up the mealworms. The clematis popped out a blossom just when I thought it had given up the ghost. 
Sunset was streaky pink. The moon was not yet full but bright enough to illuminate the trick-or-treaters. 
Wind hammered rain on the windows before dawn. The rain continued on and off all day though the wind did not. Meteorologists had been predicting an apocalyptic storm to the North, using words like "bombogenesis." Tropical storm Philippe, which appeared to be the cause of our rain, is predicted to join a cold front (Southward loop of the jet stream) and cause air pressure to plunge. 
The regulars - cardinals, house finches, and chickadees - were hungry enough to visit the feeder. Titmice and a downy woodpecker showed up in the afternoon. A foraging squirrel (the one with the white tail) had her tail in umbrella mode. She had stuffed her cheeks like a chipmunk, maybe so she wouldn't have to come back out into the rain. 
Another nice day, but I didn't see much - just the squirrel raiding the mealworms again. At breakfast, the creek mirrored the sunlit trees while it was still in shade. The moon was quite bright after sunset.
But still cool and gusty. At breakfast, a squirrel inserted itself into the mealworm dish. Four blue jays streaked past the window. Were they fleeing something or going to harass something? 
It was a lot cooler today. And somehow, the trees looked like Fall. Even though leaves have been turning, the overall look was green until today, when there was more of a bronze tone. Also, the wind thinned leaves and made branches easier to see. The tail of what I suspect was a mockingbird stuck out f the beauty berry as the bush shook from the bird's effort to pull off a berry. 
Titmice joined chickadees at the seed feeder and one suddenly landed on the door handle and peered in at me. It didn't stay for a photo. I spotted a male red bellied woodpecker on a dogwood trunk in the second before it zipped off. A blue jay landed on the feeder hanger briefly. Then a female downy woodpecker came for seeds.
When I went out after dark to brick the feeder, a young crescent moon was overhead, among passing clouds.
I did manage a short walkabout the yard and fished a drowned mole out of the water. A spider was using it as a raft. Eew! Lots of beetles and crickets swam for their lives.
While the sky was gray as predicted, in the morning the clouds were separate and the sun warmed the air. Unfortunately I spent it mostly inside. By 3pm the sky was much grayer with dark clouds sliding up underneath from the South. Some muted sunshine got through between those lower clouds but the wind grew much stronger. The air was still warm though. I was determined to use the pool, possibly because I didn't have a thermometer. But mostly to clean out all the leaves that had blown in. I did so and got very tired and chilled. I also hoped to see some birds while half hidden in the water. I glimpsed a nanosecond streak of kingfisher followed by that delirious cackle. I did see a red cardinal snacking on purple beauty berries, but he saw me go for the camera. And that is why all I got were leaves and doomed insects. I fished out a live spider and cricket, two dead hornets, several drowned yellowjackets, more defunct moths, many dead beetles, and bushels of leaves. There were floating pale yellow, fuzzy balls that I think may be some kind of gall. 
There were titmice at breakfast. After that I got too busy to pay attention. After lunch, I went outside. A hawk apparently either gave up or else caught something too small to see. It dropped out of the trees a couple of backyards away and the flew off upstream. Since it was behind vegetation, I couldn't see what it was after or whether the prey escaped. But even after it flew away, there still wasn't much in the way of birds. I heard a kingfisher and saw mallards, geese, and an egret.
Arthropods were easier to spot. I saw a lot of moths and butterflies but only one question mark let me get a photo. Several spider webs caught the sunlight. Unfortunately for the hardworking spiders, the webs also caught leaves and fluff and unrecognizable stuff. 
Yellow jackets prowled in search of food. I rescued a hornet. Black ground beetles and other insects were still falling into the water and some found rafts to delay the inevitable. I was thinking about testing the water myself but a breeze began to diminish the warmth and the shadows quickly moved in. 
At breakfast I saw a Coopers hawk swoop down on something and land on the bulkhead across the creek. I had to shoot between foliage which confused the camera. A couple of mallards down on the creek ignored the hawk. 
At lunch I glimpsed a blue jay as it dropped out of the cedar before walking downhill out of sight. Other than that, it was all chickadees and finches again. One chickadee seemed to be eating a camellia bud. Some signs claimed 80 but my car only admitted to mid 70s. The creek was a mirror morning and evening. 
The sky was still cloudless and there was a light breeze but the creek remained still most of the morning. I glimpsed an egret by the dam but it flew as I clicked. Chickadees and finches kept the feeder busy. First a mockingbird, then a blue jay came for lunch. The mockingbird landed on the railing and then flew to the beauty berries. The jay went straight to the mealworms.
It was still quite cool - my breath smoked before breakfast. Btu the wind had dwindled to a breeze. The creek was very still and glassy. Chickadees were up early. A blue jay visited the mealworms. A bee or maybe a yellow jacket pollinated the camellias.
Daylong sunshine didn't warm the gusty wind from the cold North. Fluff blew off the saltbushes in clouds. Titmice and four doves came to breakfast. 
Yesterday didn't last - the temperature was almost 20 degrees cooler and the sky overcast when I got up. I saw a blue jay streak across the yard while finches and chickadees fed. It rained in the afternoon, and the temperature kept dropping. I saw titmice at the feeder, but they acted like I wanted to eat them. The overcast broke apart just in time for the clouds to catch color from the setting sun. Two egrets soared homeward but I wasn't fast enough. Then the feral tuxedo cat scampered through the yard. 
The sun returned just before noon but I had an afternoon commitment and thus missed a love afternoon. It was above 80 when I returned a little before sunset. I saw a kingfisher zoom past, headed upstream, and heard it cackle. But when I walked out onto the dock there was no sign of it. Four geese paddled downstream but the light was too low in that direction. The saltmarsh fleabane was going to seed and the sassafras was turning orange. 
Titmice and chickadees came for breakfast. I was gone most of the day. My travels took me over the Eastern and Southern branches of the Elizabeth and then the Nansemond River. The road cut along the edge of the Great Dismal which was very green from the rain. The mist became fog in patches and rain in other places, and so fine in others that the pavement was dry. When I got home there was still light and two snowy egrets settled on the back of the dock bench.
A stinkbug was on the inside of the patio door glass when I got up. I put it outside.There was more mist when I went back to the conference, but I arrived reasonably dry. When I left, mid afternoon, puddles indicated that there had been real rain. I saw a great blue heron in a trashy swale and a minute later a monarch butterfly through the Tide window. The mist was moving toward rain as I exited and drove home. By 5pm it was definitely rain. And a strong wind was driving the tide up into the grass. The saltmarsh fleabane didn't mind. 
In the morning, a wet mist clung to everything, but it was warm enough that the wetness could be ignored. A mockingbird played with one of the red dogwood berries I had fished out of the water and left on the patio. An egret waited for breakfast by the dam outfall. 
At lunch time I glimpsed what looked like a zebra swallowtail on a camellia blossom. It was gone before I could do more than say, "Look!" Then a cloudless sulphur flitted past. A big bird grasshopper clung to the window screen long enough for the camera. 
There was only a light breeze on the ground, but clouds streamed out of the Southwest while higher clouds seemed to move more slowly and closer to due East. I again saw a leaf that appeared to be floating in mid air and discovered a huge web stretching from the creek edge to the trees along the pool and a dozen feet high. There was no sign of the spinner. A periwinkle clung to a spartina stalk. I relocated the Argiope egg sack. The saltbush was decked out in white but the saltmarsh fleabane's pink flowers had wilted to brown. Sassafras leaves had turned a caramel brown. The goldenrod did not seem to have attracted insects. 
The water was warmer and actually pleasant. A drowned camel cricket floated among the leaves. Innumerable ground beetles waited for rescue. Three spiders preferred to climb the walls. There were also a couple of the tiny velvet-black caterpillars floating. A jumping spider sat on the slick chrome railing. The sun got through the clouds frequently as the afternoon went on.
The gusty wind came from the Southwest, so it was warm and humid. It was strong enough to push cumulus clouds as fast as jets. Higher cirrus clouds hardly moved. The speeding cumulus made the sunlight blink and sometimes looked like rain, but the day stayed dry. The wind kept all the birds away at breakfast. I saw an egret on the dock as we were leaving.
Chickadees and titmice came for lunch. The Argiope we saw yesterday was squished on the concrete today. It probably was dead already yesterday. K found a small green frog in the skimmer. Later, I fished lots of ground beetles and a few spiders out of the water. I saw another high-flying bird and photographed a smudge. 
Toward evening, geese and mallards were out on the creek, and just before it got dark I saw another egret. The wind made waves on the creek. 
High tide flooded the street beside the church, but the sun was shining so I had hopes of the rest of the day. But the clouds spread across the sky right after lunch. 
An Argiope was tucked up under the roof overhang in the protected corner of the patio, but I wasn't sure it was alive. A Carolina wren gobbled up the remaining mealworms before the rain. I saw a high-flying bird that seemed to be catching insects, but the camera didn't catch it. There was activity in the beautyberry, but I couldn't see what bird was eating the berries. 
After come-and-go sprinkles, a soaking rain fell. It was too wet to risk the camera after the rain, so the millipede and the silverfish/firebrat I rescued, along with many beetles, went undocumented. The Argiope had changed position so I guess it was just lethargic. It was a good afternoon for any eater of mosquitoes - warm, humid, with only an occasional breeze. 
A fledgling male cardinal showed up at lunch. His parents were no longer supporting him. A mockingbird was lurking around too.
Something up in the trees got the blue jays going again, and other birds joined the mob. A honeybee explored a camellia. Mockingbirds returned for beauty berries but the light was bad. Blue jays tried to chase them off. 
A sprinkle of rain fell in defiance of the meteorologists. An owl hooted after dark. It sounded more like this than like the other possibilities.
It was a beautiful day, but I had promises to keep. At breakfast, several titmice joined chickadees for sunflower seeds. Meanwhile a blue jay ate mealworms but dodged the photography fee. A titmouse played nuthatch on the pine trunk. 
I went out and added mealworms to the dish but the blue jay never returned. After I'd come back to breakfast, I felt a tickle on my leg. I shook it a little and suddenly there was a sizable mama wolf spider on the floor. I was able to gently shoo her outside, not just for humanitarian reasons, but to make sure all her babies went with her. 
The full moon rose through thin cloud streaks that added interest. A bright green treehopper was attracted to the window, along with midges and small moths. 
A house wren and then a Carolina wren poked around in the morning. Here are both for comparison.
A vine tied together two flowering stalks of goldenrod. The saltbush was also blooming and the marsh fleabane was still pink.
The morning creek was bright and glassy but the breeze soon roughened the surface. A brown thrasher was visible at breakfast. It went for beauty berries and there was not yet enough light to photograph that area.
A cobweb spider in the window had her egg sack hatch. I would have expected the spiders to winter over as eggs. There were slug tracks across a sheet web in the cinquefoil on the North side of my office. Three goldenrod stalks were blooming. As the yard has gotten more shady, just a few stalks survived. The marsh fleabane appeared to be doing well. The hackberry grew galls instead of berries. Some sort of predatory bug stalked something up in the hackberry leaves.
As we finished lunch, a black rat snake appeared below the bird feeders. It slipped across the steps and through the mulch and disappeared somewhere behind the sakaki. It was able to raise its head about six inches to take a good look at where it planned to go.