A Wet Summer

Thanks for all of the suggestions and encouragement during my time of computer chaos. I think that I have a blogging system that will work until I have my own computer in my hands!

This is one of the wettest summers in out area that I can remember. We often have clouds and moisture even first thing in the morning.

One plus side is that we mountain folks are not on edge about wildfires. The past few years have been incredibly stressful in that regard. Last summer at this time, everyone in our neighborhood listened to scanners so they'd know early if a fire broke out. Indeed, I found lightning-triggered wildfires that were just starting twice in the past two summers.

Shyla and I have been out every morning together recently. It had rained on and off since yesterday afternoon so we both got soaked from the wet tall grass and bushes during our mountain bike ride this morning. The only advantage to getting so soaked is the lack of fire danger!

The next photo was at the very end of our ride this morning. I was freezing cold from being soaked but Shyla loves this type of weather. It makes her fly!

Another plus to all this rain is that most of the plant-eating animals are doing really well. My trail cameras have seen lots of activity. I recently captured a photo of a worried looking fawn with her mom.

The fawn had good reason to be worried. A sow with a cub had been in this spot the previous day and then again the day after this. Black bears do prey on fawns but I suspect that this one is too big and agile for a bear to take it down.

I'll share more of the footage of this mother bear and her cub in an upcoming post!