A completely beautiful day. It was incredibly hot but that made the colors deeper, almost hallucinogenic in the late evening. I guess that temperature is like precipitation, everyone gets a slightly different measurement. My ISP, which is local, showed 105 on their weather page and Bill's thermometer showed 105, but the local weather person had 101 on his site. I think I'll go with the local weather person - it was probably 101. I have known him all of his life and he is completely dedicated to weather and accuracy. Bill, on the other hand, will buy a defective thermometer if it is $1 off and just make personal adjustments for the defect. All of his cars are really going 55 when the speedometer says 80, or 80 when the speedometer says 55, and empty is never where it should be on the gauge. Now that I think about it, I don't even know why I look at his thermometer.
Bill hasn't been able to get out to the pond much lately. This morning I talked him into setting up the watering system, which meant he had to rebuild a pump, which meant getting out to his shop and the pond. After we finished we sat for a while on the South side of the water and just watched quietly. He and I don't have a lot in common, actually nothing but my sister and now the pond, and have never talked very often, but this quiet time was comfortable. We were both mesmerized by the place. Tonight I've been trying to identify some of the birds that we watched. At first I thought that the small, almost luminous birds that kept diving the pond and scooping up water were Purple Martins, but they aren't. Then I thought they might be Barn Swallows, and although I have seen several birds exactly like this one in the area, the birds that scoop water out of the pond are slightly different. Their chest and underside is darker to grey.
After more searching I see that they are Barn Swallows. This looks exactly like the ones we watch.