I walked first thing this morning, because the biting flies are back and they're more dormant before sunrise.

The flies are bad, but they're mostly just annoying. The reaction I get to their bite it short-lived, only a few hours, unlike mosquito bites which will itch for days. And, make of this what you will, each year it seems as though there are fewer of them. When we moved here almost five years ago, they were dense. I would wear a bandana sprayed with Deet around my neck and spray my hat and my legs and arms. They'd still harass me. Nowadays you'll get one or two as you pass beneath certain trees. Some of them are very slow, and if you notice them landing on you, you can kill them. I got three the other morning.

But when I'm carrying a camera, I only have my non-dominant hand available, so it's more challenging. Fairer for the flies, I guess.

Anyway, I wanted to get out before they were bad, relative though that may be, so I didn't shoot the last quarter moon first thing this morning.

I was surprised the handheld high-res shot worked as well as it did. I often get failures with this phase of the moon. Perhaps not enough features for the camera to be happy with the alignment. Since it was essentially almost daylight by the time I shot this, I de-saturated the image for a gray-scale result.

Then the fun began.

Originally posted at Nice Marmot 08:39 Wednesday, 1 May 2024