Up High and Down Low

Ed and I spotted this mass of organic matter up high in a cotton wood tree near the lake house. We are always on the lookout for an eagle's nest, but figure that this is probably a squirrel's nest. Enlarged on a computer screen, this structure appears to be made of leaves.

Thanks to the optics and zoom function of a simple point-and-shoot camera, we can get a closer glimpse of this nest. That's the "up high" of this blog post.

Next, I took the same camera and set it for a close up function. I activated the self timer for 10 seconds, put the camera on the ground near a freshly made ant hill and pushed the shutter button.

Presto, Eduardo! Now we have an ant's view of homecoming. The camera's eye gives us a glimpse of nature again, only this time we are "down low."

The ant hills and the cottonwood trees line the highway near our lakehouse. Obviously, it does not take much to entertain me on a morning walk.

Copyright 2013
Wanda Hayes Eichler

Bat and Spiders

It was one of those mornings. First I spotted an almost perfect spider web, inside the house, attached to the bouquet of daylilies that I had cut and placed on the dining table the day before.

Then Ed spied a critter in the sunroom. It was a bat and it was trapped.

I photographed the spider web and then demolished it. The bat took a little longer to release into the daytime light. We had to coax him out of the space between a screen and window where he took refuge from the humans who really wanted him out of the house.

So, should the presence of a spider web and a bat tell me anything? Yep, fall is coming. Critters want to be inside where it is warm and soon we will be thinking the same thing.

Copyright 2011

Wanda Hayes Eichler