It was a beautiful day today. The picture is this evening after the sun had gone behind the hill. I finally finished cutting up the tree by the lake, Wednesday, that the beaver took down this winter. The grass had been growing up around it. Thursday the lawn mower guy (I traded a web site for lawn mowing) came and mowed everything.

This evening two deer walked across the yard from the neighbor's on the right to the empty lot on the left. I hadn't seen them on my lawn before. The walked and paused and walked and paused their way across the lawn. I hadn't realized what big ears deer have. ("The better to hear you with, my dear.") The quail were out this afternoon and there was a red-winged blackbird with that flashy flash of red as he flies. The swallows were out this evening darting around on their nervous hunt for insects. They would fly low over the water and then quickly make a splash and dart up and away.

It was a pleasant day in the neighborhood.