All Creatures Great and Small -- continued

Allan Dwyer

Wednesday. I wrote this yesterday to be posted today. It still shows up as a Tuesday blog.

On Monday I was in the backyard by 8:30 to do my duty with the lawnmower. As I passed under one of the cedar trees I ran full-on into a spider web and ended up eyeball to eyeball with one of the creative critters who landed on a lens of my glasses. There are mornings when dozens of webs stretch from branches to lawn furniture and everything else. I must admit that I generally regard it as an annoyance but it is a reminder of the variety of creation. While puttering in the yard I also saw butterflies, including monarchs. The bumble bees and their various cousins were hard at work in the blossoms of the flowers. Out of the corner of my eye I caught sight of something flying and spotted a hummingbird which landed briefly on the clothesline.

Come to think of it, we get lots of creatures. In our two bird baths we see cardinals, blue jays, goldfinches, robins. Their energy when bathing delights me.The feeder attracts chickadees and house finches, mourning doves, grackles. Woodpeckers work on the dead branches of the catalpa tree. We planted a serviceberry tree out front three years ago and this season the cedar waxwings came and stripped the berries in a day. I have looked to the sky while working around the house to see geese and herons flying above.

Mammals? Bats, squirrels, mice, chipmunks and rabbits. One morning while I was ironing a shirt I peered out the window and realized that the cat with the funny gait was actually a raccoon who had just dined in our compost. For a few days last year an injured skunk took up residence at the end of our yard, which made us rather nervous.

The Lord God made them all, even the mosquitoes.