The daily surprise

It is hard to believe that the Solstice is a little over three weeks away.

Too soon for these lovely long, warm evenings to begin to wane.

Yesterday’s was a cracker.

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Wednesday, that is. I am currently writing a day ahead.

Scattered cloud had me monitoring shifting light.

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And the comings and goings of the baby groundhog.

So far, we have only seen it in late afternoon, by which time our offerings have been taken, so now we are doing a second serving of carrots, cut into manageable slices for Junior.

It has to be finely timed. Too soon and the elders eat the lot, too late and we risk scaring the baby off. It’s a narrow window.

It is still just the one baby. We thought perhaps this was a different individual as it seemed smaller, but comparing the photos, I am convinced it is the same.

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Nothing surprises us anymore. We never expected to see squirrels and chipmunks making off with full-sized carrots, but it seems they have acquired a taste for it and we did one day see a bird – possibly a starling – pecking at a piece, but in the end the carrot was rejected in favour of something more palatable.

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The above was on Tuesday. Groundhogs sometimes stand very erect, supporting themselves with their tail, but Junior hasn’t got it quite worked out yet and tipped over backwards.

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“I gots to practice, missus.”

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Once the babies show up, you get deluged with photos because they are so precious.

They do terrible things to your garden, even if you supplement their diet.

But I couldn’t care less.

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While taking pictures of the groundhog, I got another shot of the woodpecker which shows why it is called “Red-bellied”.

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Tuesday evening was less cloudy but equally lovely.

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It had been a brush-stroked sort of day.

Having a good view of the horizon is a bit like living in an art gallery.

Each day a new and wonderful surprise.

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