Wrong Lens

When I spotted this small fly, I had been stalking birds at the edge of our woods so had the 300 mm lens on board.  Not the ideal lens, but one does what one must.  This is a common fly at this time of year, a Root Maggot Fly (Genus Euchritota) and there were actually quite a few of them resting on the foliage.  As flies go, I guess they are attractive in their own way.  And since I was coming up short in terms of anything else today, this seemed like a decent shot.

It's been raining off and on most of the day, mostly a light drizzle but enough that you can get pretty damp if you spend a lot of time outside.  This afternoon after lunch, I ended up taking a nap which felt quite luxurious.  

Yesterday evening we had an unfortunate incidence involving Jax and a chipmunk.  There are a bunch of young chippies in the garden right now, smaller than usual and not wise to the ways of the world yet.  Jax spotted one and chased it under the deck...where he stepped on it.  He seemed not to know what to do at that point, sniffing at it but not really sure what had happened.  He eventually picked it up and brought it to me - and, shockingly, gave it to me without much fuss.  It was clearly dead so I left it on a little "altar" in the woods.  Needless to say, Jax is now more motivated than ever to chase chipmunks although I was mostly able to distract him today.  I'm keeping an eye on the youngsters and trying not to let Jax out until they've scurried into the vegetation. 

The Fairgrounds posted the link to the album of photos for this past Saturday and the response has been really positive.  That makes me happy and now I know I'm on the right path.

xoxo
Debbi