A Rainy Night In.....Tennessee

- Rain...an abundance of rain....5+ inches last weekend...and more since...including today.....

- Enjoying the simple things Mother Nature has to offer.....last Thursday night....around 3:50 AM...lightning flashing through the glass caused me to awake....I opened the glass door (w/screen) out onto the back deck, and allowed the night breezes into the bedroom...along with the comforting sounds of rain falling in the deciduous forest behind the cabin.....thunder rolling/rain, rain and more rain........good night again......Priceless!

- The creeks throughout our nature developments are roaring to the point that many residents can hear them though they may live several hundred yards away....like me. I can easily hear Stone Creek rolling through the wooded hollow behind my cabin.

- Attached are photos of a wildlife scene that played out recently in Greenfields...thankfully in front of the camera. Driving along the access road into the developments I spotted three small shapes running down the pavement in front of the vehicle. Soon a larger avia sailed past the driver side window and alighted just in front of the three small shapes.....The large bird was a mother Killdeer (bottom photo) and the three small ones baby Killdeer chicks...perhaps 3 weeks old. Two of the chicks can be seen in the top two photos, partially hidden by the roadside grass...looking for momma. They were about the size of a golf ball....with a head. The mother, as they often do, put on quite a display of faked injury (2nd photo from bottom) while we watched.

- I see this display annually, as the Killdeer seldom flies, and they even nest on the ground. However, the display is hard to photograph, as the mother is in constant motion as she oversees the chicks. The display lasted for 20-25 minutes...until all the little ones disappeared into the taller grass. Why this species ((Charadrius vociferous) likes to hang around roads, I am not sure. Evidently the inherent danger is overcome by a favorite morsel that may inhabit the roadside habitat. Perhaps they just like to live dangerously.