Monday, 4:40 pm: Phew! It’s a warm day. My office is upstairs in our house, and with no air-conditioning, it’s a bit toasty. We fired up our charcoal grill outside to cook dinner, but that rascally sun finds ways to heat up our house anyway.

Our resident Downy Woodpecker

Wildlife seems to abound the last few days. Yesterday morning a Downy Woodpecker [Picoides pubescens] flew into our kitchen window. Lucky for him [or her] it was only stunned for several minutes. I picked him up with my gloved hands. He seemed a little confused and he sat on my hands and shoulders for awhile. Eventually I took him over to our birdfeeder and sat him on the perch and I walked away. Oddly he flew back over to me and landed on my shoulder. I think I have a new feathered friend! After several more minutes the bird eventually flew into the woods next to our house. I suspect he’s probably telling his friends.

Trying to be returned to the wild

On our drive to Presque Isle today, we saw our first black bear this season. He was a bit too quick for me, and all I captured with my camera were trees, bushes and our right side-mirror on our car. I thought bears were supposed to lumber along. Hmm, he ran and I lumbered. And on the return drive home we saw young bull moose leisurely eating muck in a pond on US Route 1 in Connor Township. He was unfazed with my camera clicking away, and seemed to enjoy drooling some unpleasant looking “stuff”. Obviously he enjoyed it. There’s no accounting for taste.

Gourmet dining -- for moose

Meanwhile back at the old homestead our weather follows:

Current values from our wireless Davis Vantage-Pro weather station:

Temperature: 83.7° [F.]

Barometer: 29.909 & falling slowly

Humidity: 28%

Wind: E at 2 mph light & variable

Visibility: > 3 miles

Skies: Variable cloudiness ca. 20-30% cover

Precipitation: None

Since midnight:

Low temperature: 48.9° at 4:51 am

High wind: 14 mph at 1:07 pm

High temperature: 84.3° [F.] at 3:28 pm