Super Dog Zephyr, The Sequel, and The Hero Dog

Zephyr's swallow seemed to do well yesterday, but today I found it dead below the nest and this one, the last remaining swallow, perched on the edge of the nest like this.  My research yields conflicting results:  parents boot unhealthy babies from the nest; parents don't boot babies because that's counter-productive; stronger swallows boot weaker siblings; sometimes the nest is too crowded and swallows that perch on the edge fall off.  So I still don't know why the first four died, but the final baby is certainly large, well-feathered and strong-looking.  Hopefully I've found my last dead swallow!  Gulp!  I had been thinking things like "Five baby swallows is one Big Gulp," but once they all died, I couldn't make jokes about it.

We had plenty of non-traditional fireworks today with a little rain (thank You, Lord!), lots of lightning and crashing thunder.  Zephyr kept barking at the thunder until we put her in her crate which quieted her down.  Hero didn't like the thunder, either, so he climbed into Kara's lap!  Some Hero!  Mean Mommy made him get down--after she took a picture!

Local authorities had asked people to refrain from setting off fireworks because of the tinder dry conditions.  Our rain deficit for the year so far is over 6.5".  I think the Lord sent us the rain ahead of time to protect us from all the idiots that set fireworks off anyway!  Living next to 400-some acres of woods, we are nervous about forest fires!  Fireworks are still going off around us, but I'll be able to sleep in peace in the hope that the rain was enough to spare us from a wildfire.

Happy Independence Day, everyone!