The weather at my sit-spot today was so nice, it was 79 degrees and sunny with a good breeze. I was able to sit under the shade of the tree south east of me again. I can tell that fall is coming because he shade was more sporadic and there were fallen leaves all over the ground (picture included). It was harder to concentrate today on the sounds of nature because people were cutting down a tree close enough to my sit-spot that I was able to hear the chainsaw going. But other than the chainsaw, I could hear the birds chirping, the grasshoppers buzzing, and the leaves rustling in the wind.

The top of the pond was rippling because of the breeze and some of the small algae clumps were moving around on in the water. I was surprised to see this as I did not think algae clumps could move, for some reason I thought that they were anchored to something in the water. For the first time I was able to see the bottom of the pond. I was fascinated to see the entire bottom of the lake covered in various plant life. They looked like ferns but were more of a pale-yellow color. The fern like plants were surprisingly big too, some of them looked to be over a foot tall.

Today I was able to find and watch a dragonfly. The dragonfly was an orange-red color and was very bright. I was able to keep up with the dragonfly for much longer than I initially expected. I found him while he was hovering over the water, I am not sure what he was waiting for or why, but he stayed there for quite awhile not moving from his spot. Then suddenly, he flew over to the grass and zoomed around close to the ground, I would assume looking for food. I would like to note at this point I realized following something that could fly very quickly was not my smartest idea. Then he landed on a fallen leaf, the leaf was brown and had gotten to the point were if you were to step on it, it probably would have crunched. He sat on the leaf for about three minutes. While he was sitting there I got up to go take a photo of him and he moved away from me and decided to fly around. But after several failed attempts to take a photo and/or video, he landed on a leaf under the tree south east of me and I was able to snap a photo.

              Obviously, water plays a big role in the area I am observing, as I sit in front of a pond. The pond supports the multitude of life that surrounds it as well of the habitats within it. As I was sitting, writing about the role that water plays in this area, a large turtle (or maybe a frog) did, what I am going to assume was a belly flop, into the pond. The splash was so loud and scared me so bad I let out an involuntary shriek. But this just proves the large about of life that lived in the water, even though I did not see the animal itself, I could see, or in this case hear, the evidence that it was there. That got me thinking about what else the waters were supporting that I could not blatantly see, obviously fish, turtles, frogs, various insects, but also the trees and plants surrounding it. The water from the pond provides water for all the plants and life in the area. It became clear to me which trees need more water, like willows, as they were closer to the pond and those who need less were further from the pond.

              Overall, I enjoyed being able to sit outside in the weather today, as it was very nice out and it was very soothing to sit and attune into nature. I was not attacked by ants this time, although I did have a few crawled on me, none of them bit me and, like I said, it was only a few so I did not mind. I did not realize how fast dragonflies were until I had to track and follow their movements, had I known this I probably would not have chosen to follow a dragonfly, but it was pretty to look at nonetheless. I feel that I was able to notice more about the nature around me and become more attuned to my environment, but I still have a hard time finding the various animals that I know around me, so I look forward to working on that in the future.