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"One has only to sit down in the woods or the fields, or by the shore of the river or the lake, and nearly everything of interest will come round to him,- the birds, the animals, the insects; and presently, after his eye has got accustomed to the place, and to the light and shade, he will probably see some plant or flower that he has sought in vain, and that is a pleasant surprise to him."

~ John Burroughs ~

Found another striped bark scorpion in the sink at the camp.  This is the third one so far in the last year that we've come across inside the house.  How are they getting inside?  So far no one has been stung thank goodness.  From what I've read is no worse than a bee sting.  Rather than kill it like most folks would, I scooped it up in a jar and released it out in a field.  Did you know that scorpions fluoresce in ultraviolet light? Read my other posts here and here.

We had quite a bit of rain a while back followed by mushrooms popping up everywhere, which led me to this nice fairy ring today. Note how the grass in the center is darker.  This is due to the build up of nitrogen from the breakdown of organic material by the underground mycellium network.  Read more about these here.

A trip to our local park offered this nice photo of a mother mallard with her chicks.  She kept a close eye on them, and me as well, as they napped in the warmth of the sun.  Did you know that baby ducks and geese "imprint" on whatever animal it sees upon hatching?  Read more about imprinting here.