Rainy Lake time

Time at the lake has been wet.  We are lucky to get two sunny days together and even then, one of them will be windy.  Fortunately, we have escaped storms but not many pictures have been taken.

I often am amazed at how quiet the north woods can be.  I always thought the forests would be full of noises and birds singing.  Not so.  So, when I find one singer, I take his picture even if he is hardly unusual.  We have heard that all three pairs of nesting loons on Eagle Lake have left their nests because of a certain fly that irritates them so drastically that they desert their eggs.  So no baby loons on the lake.  With my knee acting up, I would not have been able to peddle the kayak anyway.  Such is the unpredictability of nature.

Itasca State Park has Yellow Lady Slippers in bloom but the state flower of Minnesota, the Pink Lady Slipper, still has to bloom.

Speaking of state flowers; here is the Minnesota State Bird.  With all the rain we have had (over 13 inches) in the last two weeks, they are numerous and hungry.  I found a zapper that looks like a tennis racket which when activated makes them "pop" for joy.  So fun.  Doesn't decrease their numbers much but so satisfying.

The natural mosquito predator, the Dragon Fly, hatches after the mosquitoes, and by the hundreds above our head, can keep the biters under control.

With the rain comes clouds and these beauties passed quickly by in brief respite from the rain.  We have jokingly said that summer doesn't arrive till the fourth of July.  Not far off.