Very Bold

Well, not really - just a Bold Jumping Spider (Phidippus audax) who ventured out of his hiding space in our siding this afternoon where he immediately caught the eye of this photographer.  A game of peek-a-boo ensued with him running and me trying madly to focus.  Eventually he determined that I was not interested in eating him and then he posed very briefly for a few pictures, this being the best of the lot.  This was the species that changed my relationship with spiders - just something about those big button eyes I guess.

After I dropped Jax off for his weekly play date at Day Care, I loaded my kayak and hit one of the local lakes.  My paddling muscles definitely need some work and having a pretty strong headwind on the way back didn't help.  But I had a great time just the same.  There were several small boats out on the lake with fishing poles, but we all stayed away from each other.  No dragons yet and not many birds, but soon...

I am getting ready to send my D750 into Nikon for cleaning and what I hope will be a simple repair.  Crappy timing, but turnaround times are pretty quick right now at Nikon so it should be back in plenty of time for Costa Rica.  I dropped the camera (in a bag) on the ground and now I can't see the focus point through the lens.  It is still focusing fine as you can see from this image but I need my little red box in the viewfinder.  

The cherry trees are past their peak in terms of blooms and the number of bees in the garden has dropped noticeably.  Today, however, for the first time this season, I saw carpenter bees nosing around.  I was going to try for a photo of one, but then this showed up and ... well...

Plain dark today.

xo
Debbi