This little crayfish, only about two inches long, showed up in one of the gully pools the morning after the rain. It seemed to be exploring the margin of the pool, but quickly headed for deeper water when I moved too suddenly, and became invisible in the cloudy water.
Soon crayfish predators--raccoons and coyotes--showed up, leaving tracks in the drying mud.	And some of them dug right into crayfish holes for a nice fresh meal.
The flood pulse that passed through during the rain shifted this old round bale a few feet farther along. This large pool was completely dry by Saturday, only two days after the rain.
Richard has almost completed the framing for the observation deck on one end of the rain barn. The stripes of shadow show that the joists are up. Decking should start in the next day or so, then the trusses go up, then the roofing, and then the gutters and downspouts into the storage tanks. The pole sticking up above the future deck will hold the railing. The nearer tall post is in a hole 4 1/2 feet deep...a hole which has already swallowed a wrench and Richard's Leatherman tool.
Richard attaches another knee brace to what will become the observation deck.	The joists went up this week, and now the decking is partly on as well. The photographer (me) is lying on the ground, shooting up. Most of these shots came out badly, but not this one.
I think--but am not sure--that these are Southern Dogface butterflies. I'm absolutely sure of what they're doing, though the pretty pastel wings artfully conceal the activity. Notice the glowing lime-green eyes and the pink antennae and fringes along the wing margins
Even an elegant male cardinal sometimes gets an itchy head...and just has to scratch.	This chickadee was upside down, intent on getting something out of the terminal clump of leaves. When I enlarged the picture in the computer, I could see what looked like an insect egg case--invisible from where I was taking the picture. Still don't know if that was it.

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