Walking down the
driveway this morning with Lucy to put out the mail, I was struck by
the warmth which followed this week's rain. Nevertheless, the
creek bottom is following its natural late fall cycle --- squirrels are
noisily chipping their way into tough black walnut shells and witch
hazel has sent out its scraggly yellow blooms.
The warmth must have woken up the snakes as well. Lucy didn't
come immediately when I called since she was busy digging after her
arch-nemesis in a junk pile. She'd made me wait to begin the
walk, so I had no compunction about making her wait in turn as I
snapped photo after photo. Our long-suffering Lucy quickly
entered the routine, sinking into a sit as I found each new photo
subject.