Not the Halloween kind of witch, but the water witching kind. Odd plant—blooms after frost at the same time last year's fruit are maturing. North American native.

Busy day in the back yard. Lots and lots of insects, all apparently unharmed by the recent freeze. Also, lots of birds, perhaps enjoying the fall seed bounty or perhaps the bountiful insects. And this evening, two bats cleaning up the darkening sky.

Bats, without eyes, see the world probably not that much differently than we do, in some ways even better. Different signals come to the brain, but the brain creates what becomes the moving picture. And, along the same lines, raptors, and probably most other birds, have a very short neuronal path between eyes and muscles and thus can react almost instantly.

Big day for Canada. Ding, dong, the witch is dead. Or, more prosaically, the oil-soaked robber baron has been thrown out.