A week of silence in the woods had me hurt and confused – where had my Up-All-Night-Screamers gone?  Well, for the past few nights I am delighted to say that husband’s sleep is once again being punctuated by the sound of at least two owls swooping around in our mini-forest.  Hooray owls!  So glad to hear you back.  I’m not sleeping anyway, so I’m game for the company.  (And because my schooling as an attorney has taught me to check and recheck my facts before reaching a conclusion, the photo above was taken tonight after prowling around in the woods with my camera, listening and watching and finally standing underneath the tree where this juvenile made a few of the screaching noises I hear all night long.)

These are pictures of a patch of milfoil growing near my waterfront.  (Hooray for resale value!)   I have learned from the lovely folks at Cobbossee Watershed District that this patch of milfoil is native milfoil – not variable-leaf milfoil, which is the bad stuff that many volunteers are hunting for.  Still, to ride over this expanse of weeds is to involuntarily gasp, “Oh my….oh….my…..”  It is impressive and horrifying.  Check your boat before it floats people!This weekend we had about a dozen seagulls passing the time of day at the lake.  Apparently they’ve grown tired of the beach already.  The crowds can be a bit much.

I’ve previously noted that dragonflies and hummingbirds make me nervous because I don’t like being darted at.  (Pretty sure that is horrible sentence construction but I’m sticking with it.)  So you know I was sorely lacking in something else to point my camera at when I started trying to get a good shot of this black beauty.  And honestly, I can’t tell you how often I’ve seen one dragonfly eating the head of another.  There, I’ve said it.  The truth hurts, and life in the weeds is brutish and short.  Never thought I’d hear myself say, “Get off!  You aren’t using my foot to eat his head.”  Right.  Dragonflies resting on my pretty little toes.  To eat a small snack of Other-Guy’s-Head.

First time I’ve seen four great blue herons fly overhead together.  Not a great shot but I took it anyway.

Still learning to shoot the moon.

Tickled pink that flowers are growing near the house.

Will never, apparently, tire of my “pet” pig.  His perpetual grin is the real charm.