Take a look at that sky! It didn't bring us any rain though but earlier this week we finally got some overnight and a little into the following day as well.
It wasn't much, maybe 1/2 an inch or so but hey, at least we had some. It's a start!

Just to have more of an idea of how much we actually get I bought us a new rain gauge. We used to have one but it got very brittle and finally cracked.

                                                  

This one came with a stand which raises it up some so it's very easy to read and the numbers are  huge as well. Even I can read them without my glasses!
So ... let it rain, let it rain, let it rain!

Since I discovered the nice walk alongside the railroad tracks I now go there quite often and this week I found a spot where it's quite easy to zig-zag down the steep bank to the river ..

It's so pretty there!

I was watching a few ducks in the distance, I think this is a female Hooded Merganser:

 

When suddenly something else caught my eye ...

Guess what  .... it was an Otter!
How cool is that! I'd recently heard they were seen in this river and lo an behold, there he was!

                                                      
 
He (or she) was very busy trying to catch some fish, diving, turning and splashing and didn't seem to be aware of me at all.
I happened to be able to hide a little in the high grasses along the shore and didn't move and he swam right by me!
He kept on swimming downriver and eventually disappeared in the reeds.
I tried to secretly make several pictures but none of them came out very well.
Next time I'll be better prepared!

Closer to home .. 'something' has been eating almost all the leaves of my rose and Hollyhock:

%$#^@! I suspect it was a deer, it looks like too much damage to have been done by the ground squirrels to me, although those little buggers have already eaten my new cucumber seedlings that had just come up last week!

Fortunately they left the pansies I bought this week alone, but I'm afraid that will just be a matter of time ..

Whatever it was it wasn't this small raptor, a female Merlin, although she tried to get one of the LBBs (Little Brown Birds) the other day!

                                                     

She's an amazing agile huntress, trying to grab small birds in the air (on the wing) and always causes an enormous panic and raucous amongst the flocks of finches and sparrows that visit my feeders.

Sigh ... nature is definitely not for sissies! Live and let live, I guess ..

My 'human' live is a lot more calm and peaceful in comparison, although I'm still suffering from the aftermath of my encounter with poison oak.
My face has mostly healed but my neck and hands are still very, very itchy at times. I've been told it can take  up to 6 weeks before that will stop ... sjezus!

I'm spending a little more time inside now the weather gets cooler. More time to read!

Oh, I almost forgot .. the debate! I was so nervous, but she absolutely nailed it!

                    

                    That's right! You go girl! Forward! Right into the White House!