Female Widow Skimmer...

...hanging around at the park. 
"Unlike some other species where males guard egg-laying females, Widow Skimmer males leave the female by herself, 'widowing' her as she lays her eggs just under the surface of the water. The nymphs live in the water, molting and growing until they are ready to emerge from the water and then molting a final time to reveal their wings."  
After the park I went for my walk & almost had a heart attack. I was walking along the sidewalk & noticed a man & his dog on the lawn of the house to my left. Suddenly his dog came running from the lawn onto the sidewalk just ahead of me & stopped, so I slowed down and asked the man if his dog was friendly, because it didn't LOOK friendly. The dog began growling at me, so I stopped, and the guy told me I should be careful as she had "issues". Oh Great!  I'm 4 feet away from a dog with "issues". I said "maybe you ought to grab her collar and hold onto her" and he said "she doesn't always come when I call". So I said can you at least TRY, as I don't really want to be attacked by your dog.  So he repeatedly called her but she didn't budge--she just stared at me making that low-pitched growl. Scared me out of my wits. So I said "I think I'll just cross the street to the other side", praying the dog wouldn't come after me, and he says yes, if you do that the dog will probably be okay. And I'm thinking, the DOG will be okay? What about ME!  But I started to cross the street, expecting at any moment to be bitten by that blasted dog & thinking the guy was a moron, because if you know your dog has "issues" & doesn't listen, shouldn't it be on a leash if you take her outside, knowing she doesn't stay in her yard? I looked back and she was still watching me but at least hadn't left the sidewalk. Shook me up for a couple of blocks, and I won't be walking that way again anytime soon.....at least not unless I have pepper spray with me. :(