Nothing Profound

If I could write this blog while I am walking around the backyard with my camera I would probably have a lot more to say about things, but in the end, I don't think I have any very profound thoughts. Every day I pore over the same tiny patch of the world and just marvel at how beautiful it is. I don't have a grand view of mountains, or an ocean, or very much at all, but on the small scale, my landscape is pretty spectacular. Even though right now it is pretty muddy.

That being said, here's today's Backyard Bug of the Day:

They are tiny (maybe a little more than 1/4 inch?), kind of like a bee, kind of like an ant, probably some kind of fly, and they were doing a little wing waving, butt wiggling dance when I first saw them (as you can see in the first picture, there were two of them, so maybe that was a mating dance?). Anyway, didn't get any great pics, because they wouldn't sit still, but I think you get the gist of how cute it was.

By the way, I think that is a shriveled up potato they are dancing on in the first picture.

My neighbor has a tree that is coming to the end of its bloom, and the petals are wafting everywhere. It's lovely...

Yesterday when I posted that picture of that really, really tiny bug I noticed what I had not noticed when I actually took the picture, which is that the lichen (or whatever it is) on the tree looks really cool when you look at it close up, so I decided that today the lichen deserves a picture of its own:

Then, while I was taking pictures of the lichen, I saw another really, really tiny bug crawling around. It's a different kind than the one yesterday, but it has eight legs, so it's an arachnid. It also moved surprisingly fast, so I didn't get a good shot at it (noticing a theme here?), but here it is...

Though looking at these pictures now, I am not 100% certain they are both of the same bug...
The picture does not give you any sense at all of how small these are. In real life they are about the size of this: .

Today's Backyard Bud of the Day is something most people consider a weed, but I love as a wildflower. I actually ate some for the first time last week. People rave about dandelion greens, but I don't see what the fuss is. They just taste like leaves. They are supposed to be good for you, though... However, you are supposed to pick them before the plant flowers, so I guess it's too late for any more this year.

Now, just because I like the look of it, a bee on bluets:

And one last thing. I think this feather has been sitting in this exact same spot since last autumn...

Speaking of things remaining where they are, the vernal pool lingered today. The ground is really saturated, which makes for some muckiness, but it's nice to have my little pond for another day.

Edit: Oops, almost forgot this one. I swear, I do not have a prurient interest in bugs, but this was just too cool a shot to not take it. These bugs were on the skylight in my bathroom. I had to climb up on the sink and stand with my feet on about a 3 inch wide strip of countertop between the sink and the edge to get this picture. It was awkward, but worth it (since, after all, I didn't fall).