Thank you for all the concern about our trials over the past couple of days. As I said, in the long run, we are far luckier than many of our neighbours. With the exception of Dory, things are pretty much back to normal. Annoyingly, my headache turned into a weekend-long migraine, but on Saturday, there were no more generators running, and by Sunday, the cacophony of chainsaws and wood chippers was significantly lessened.

Dave has also started on rebuilding the side fence.

Orginally, the fence ran from the back corner of the house, at the line where the coneflowers on the right side are. He’s now got the posts (and framing, not pictured) in, and it’s much closer to the front of the house, in front of the maple tree. That brings all the space between the small garden and the tree into the backyard. It will become my shaded “woodland” garden.

Moving the fence was a project we planned to do in the fall. The storm just moved it up for us. Getting the rest of the materials will have to wait until we can get Dory back, because we can’t fit all the wood we need in Dave’s Buick.

While he was building the fence framing, I was doing my best to tidy up the gardens. I love getting on level with the plants. There’s an amazing world in there that we so often overlook.

This little guy is an Eight-Spotted Forester Moth. It’s a new one for my garden. I just love those fuzzy golden legs!

There are several backyard ponds around us, so dragonflies are a common sight. I still delight in seeing them.

And check out this master of disguise…

Can’t see him? How about now…

This little Katydid is almost perfectly invisible. I wouldn’t have seen him if he hadn’t moved! A perfect way to outwit predators.

And last… it seems Ms. Monarch did her job. The common milkweed were almost all completely knocked over in the storm, and when I was staking them back up, I noticed some holes in the leaves. It didn’t take long to discover why.

That’s a monarch caterpillar. And that’s my thumb! Such a wee little thing. And it wasn’t until I opened the pictures on my computer that I noticed the second, even smaller caterpillar. Can you see him by the hole?

I found this third, larger one on the pod on the swamp milkweed. With a little luck, we might get another monarch chrysalis or two.

You bet I’ll be keeping my eye out for these, and all the other little tiny miracles that call my garden home.