Local Entertainment

Saturday, August 24

Enjoying myself this cloudy but seasonably warm Saturday evening. The crickets have been serenading me for the last hour or so as I sit here by the fireplace watching what must truly be a wonder of nature. Mutitudes of dragon flies fill the air around me. When I make the effort to watch a single individual, I find their aerobatic skills to be amazing - rolls, loops, flips, slides, stalls and spins - they’re all there and performed faultlessly putting any man-made flying machine to shame. Who new that I would find my own personal air show right here just a few short metres from my cabin, the tumultuous roar and buzz of airplanes replaced by the tranquil song of the crickets. I wonder, are these the same creatures flitting about for the last hour or are they different little beasties that come and go? And if they are indeed the same individuals, they must have voracious appetites - either that or their hunting skills are not terribly efficient. 

Speaking of hunter and hunted, I found another small red squirrel, dead, among the cedars bordering the cabin which brings to three the number which have fallen prey to Molly the killer Collie in the last twenty-four hours. Up to this point, I’ve not seen any squirrels, live ones I mean to say. I’m wondering if this was a family as they seem to have arrived and been annihilated together in a very short time. I only witnessed Molly kill one of these unfortunate creatures and I immediately scolded her but, I’m certain, to no avail; it seems to be in her nature to rid whatever habitat she she finds herself in of rodents whether of the bushy or non-bushy tailed species. Her tally, to date, is half a dozen grey squirrels, a chipmunk and a muskrat in addition to her latest victims. She has also tangled with skunks on three different occasions but I suspect it was they who walked away from those confrontations the winners. So much for the claim that border collie’s are the most intelligent breed of dog.

Turning my attention back to the sky, I notice swallows off in the distance in comparable numbers to the dragon flies. Due to the magic of perspective, they appear to be of the same size as the much closer dragon flies. And the similarity doesn’t end there for their flight patterns are equally impressive. The best part of all this of course is that both bird and dragonfly are are doing their part to control the mosquito population.