The sky this morning from the front porch. Storms moved through last night and there's almost a chill in the air at 6:00 a.m. This excites me! So does the news that Bob's folks signed the contract on the sale of their house in Navasota yesterday and are headed out this morning for Dumas to house shop. We're pretty excited that they're going to be 10 hours closer to us in the coming months.
It was doggie park day, but since we left earlier than usual, it was a little lonely, since we were the only ones there. Katy is happy as long as I'll keep throwing her the ball, though. 
Evan kept running like a gazelle back and forth across the park peeing on things and wondering where his playmates were.
Every now and then people would walk their dogs past the park and he'd stand, hopeful, that they might come and play with him.
But it was just him and Kate in the end.
On the way home we started to see a few signs of the fall colors creeping into all the green.
This maple, one of the first to spring to life on our walks, is already packing it in. We've got short summers for sure.
One of my favorite parts of early morning walks are discovering the ways the dew shimmers in the sunlight before it's burned away. The drops on this little spider web in the evergreen were delightful. I wish the picture could do it justice.
Back on my porch, I had to admire how hardy this year's spring planting has been. They are still gunning away with blooms, even though some of the leaves are starting to turn.
Now, while I'm taking a few pictures of the above blooms, I've been getting told off by a pair of swallows who have decided my front porch is no longer mine. They swoop and chirp and haven't been bold enough to actually dive bomb me. . . yet.
And they are quick. I took about 20 shots trying to capture them and these two are the best of the bunch. I sorted through a lots of shots vainly trying to even see an outline of them. (Got lots of pictures of Nick's car and the house across the street though.)
The reason I'm getting berated for enjoying my own front porch is perched up over the porch light.
Earlier this week we must have left the house more quietly, because mama stayed put. She's not at an ideal angle for pictures, but that probably suits her just fine.
I did a search on swallow nests and discovered this is a typical spot and height for them. They prefer a colony spot where pairs can makes their nests near others, but settle for what they can find if a large barn isn't readily available. I got a chuckle out of a fellow swallow admirer's site as he ran down some of the email response from his readers :
Over the past four years, a surprising number of people have written that they were afraid of swallows that dive-bombed them when they approached the nest. While they didn't mention how they thought a songbird weighing less than one ounce might harm them, their fear was genuine. I don't know the answer to that problem, other than to suggest they spend more time outdoors and become familiar with the other creatures who share their yard.
Excellent advice!
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