Alien

There are some insects, like dragons and damsels, that just look so...alien.  They are fascinating to look at under magnification.  This specimen is a female Variable Dancer, a very common little damselfly that can be found in our garden every summer.  Usually they dart off when I approach too close, but this one was content to let me get within 12 inches - she left the perch several times but always returned.  I regret that I didn't have the Raynox lens on because I would have liked to have gotten the compound eyes.  Next time...

It's been good day.  I had a nice FT chat with my parents who are both looked pretty perky all things considered.  Mom is still a bit under the weather from the rebound Covid and both of them are tired.  But things could have been so much worse.  It was nice to see both of them smiling and laughing.

It's very hot today so I went out early to pot the plants I bought yesterday and also to get some milkweed seedlings separated (they are going to a friend this week).  The seedlings all look very unhappy right now, having been savagely ripped from their friends, but I expect them to perk up in the next few days.  I also started some basil since my first plant offed itself.  

The nest box of wrens in front of the house fledged today.  I didn't see it, but the box was suspiciously quiet when I approached it this afternoon.  When I checked, I found the dried corpse of one little nestling that didn't make it.  I've worried about this brood because the female didn't look all that healthy (very small, missing tail, etc).  Of 7 eggs, only 5 hatched and it appears that only 4 survived to fledge.  And since they need Mama to teach them to feed themselves over the course of the next few weeks...well, I just don't know.  I genuinely like being a nest box landlord but there are some heart breaks along the way - and holding that tiny little corpse in my hand today was one of them.  

Jax has been a very good boy today although we are now approaching his "witching hour" when he likes to play and play and play.  This is my cue to get off my butt and off the computer and entertain him!

Hubs is enjoying his new bicycle very much and actually had a personal best on the route he rode this morning.  Pretty good considering he was late getting on a bike this year.  As for me, a little yoga for my old joints.

And something dark - I'm thinking dark with espresso bean chips.

xo
Debbi