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Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Nature Notes: Pleasant Days

I can't believe how pleasant it is after such awful June and July weather.
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August has been getting better and better. We've had rain to refresh the plants, cooler temperatures and just the right amount of sun.
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I guess the highs aren't my favorite temperatures but I don't really mind since the evenings and mornings are so nice. Even the highs aren't anything like as bad as they were all through June and July.
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I felt the earthquake tremors (Tuesday around 2:00 PM) when I was inside which was a tad strange.
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I thought a jet had flown too near the house. I even went outside to make sure there wasn't a crash.
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My neighbor called and said did you feel that? She explained about the earthquakes.
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I googled and sure enough Raleigh, NC where I live was impacted in a minor way.
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My daughter called to make sure I was alright because she saw that where I live was one of the places that were feeling it.
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I was glad she called because she works in DC and I had read that they were affected when I was doing my googling.
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She said they felt it which was weird working on a high floor of a tall building but it was fine.
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The goldenrod, solidago, (shot above) on the Shelley Lake trails is very happy now that it got some rain.
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There is also a lot of partridge pea Chamaechrista fasciculate, Caesalpinia family (Caesalpiniaceae) blooming, shots above and below.
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I like the way the young mallards have the little touch of blue in their feathers.
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The next shot is a male common whitetail dragonfly. In looking this up I noticed that the dragonfly on my last week's nature notes was an immature male whitetail dragonfly. I didn't realize that until I looked this one up.
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I wasn't fast enough to catch a shot of the great blue heron flying and he didn't land at a good place for a photograph but I took one anyway.
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Click for the home of nature notes.

10 comments:

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

I wonder if the earthquake would have shaken the ducks off the log. I really like this cute photo.

Math Resources said...

Lovely pictures and awesome photography.

Nicole said...

Gorgeous shots you got there! I love the load of birds and the Dragonfly!
Glad your temperatures & weather got better!
Have some catching up to do, but will do so eventually ;-)

Sallie (FullTime-Life) said...

Beautiful photos. I knew about DC of course, but did not realize Raleigh would feel the quake -- happy everybody is OK. Now it is watching for the Hurricane I suppose.

EG CameraGirl said...

I'm glad your weather has improved finally, Carver. The mallards really do look more grownup now that they have some blue in their wings.

The earthquake was felt here in Canada too but I didn't feel it. It must have registered in my brain as a train going by. LOL

Gattina said...

Beautiful shots from our feathered friends !

??? said...

I love all the ducks :) Glad to hear the earthquake was so mild.

eileeninmd said...

Great shots of the ducks and the dragonfly. I was at work in Baltimore and our building shook. It was scary and last night around 1am there was another aftershock. Glad I was asleep.

Arija said...

It's a funny feeling when the Earth moves . . .

Love all those duck and drakes and one goose. Great dragonfly too. I can tell by your photos that you are feeling better.

Rambling Woods said...

My sister lived very near to the epicenter and was also in DC for the day...stressful...and now a hurricane... stay safe....Michelle