with the rain comes...

• More birds at the feeders, busy on eating and not paying attention to the cats. Da Vinci, who we would not label as "gifted", caught a male finch (notice the red tones on the birds belly which is in the cat's mouth). A side note: the feeder is six feet from the ground (he jumped up to it in order to catch the bird, evidenced by the swaying of the feeder) and he has no front claws. Da Vinci, being the good cat he is, brought it to the screen door for me. Special, right? I managed to take a quick picture of the event, quickly pried the bird gently out of his mouth--much to his agitation--, held it for a minute or so while I brushed away feathers that had been dislodged by the cat (as the feathers floated down, the cats ate them--yes, ate them) and checked for bleeding (what would I have done if I had found any blood I don't know, yet I looked for injuries anyway), opened my hands, and the poor thing flew off.

• Cooler, wetter weather bringing out blooms again from plants which conserved energy over the hot summer months by not blooming.

• Compost bugs, crawling out of the compost bin. I know the compost should be warm enough with, well, composting, that there should not be bugs inside, yet this is what I have. They help break down the kitchen green waste and eventually move on into their place in the food chain.