Fourth Lake Forest Preserve

Weezie has definite preferences about where and how far we walk. She also "sees" things I don't see. She takes specific detours on the paths. I suppose she smells something that needs to be avoided. It would be cool to have her set of sensors sometimes, like when Merlin transformed Arthur into a bird or a squirrel. So what would appear - a big coyote urine "Do Not Trespass" sign? And then maybe I would understand why dogs just have to roll in the rankest of all odors.

Yesterday at Fourth Lake, we saw a bunch of small birds dive-bombing a red-tailed hawk. They weren't just harassing the hawk, they were making contact - hitting the hawk so hard that it juddered in flight. It was amazing. They were too high for me to be able to tell what the attackers were but they were about the size of robins or blackbirds.

There were lots of thistles along the trail which made me think of Monarch butterflies and how their numbers are very low and all of a sudden a Monarch appeared beside us and walked with us for 20 seconds or so. And a few feet further, another one joined us. And then another one. We had a Monarch escort for most of the rest of the walk. It was magical. It made me reconsider my thistle eradication plan for the open area next to our yard. Although there was lots of sweet-smelling clover in bloom, too.