I’d been reading last night…long after everyone had gone to bed. My eyes got drowsy and I found I was reading the same paragraph over and over. Definitely time to go to bed.
I called, softly, for the dogs…knowing that if I didn’t take them out one more time, they would wake me to go out shortly after my lids closed.
I threw on my slippers and jacket, opened the doors and reminded the dogs to hurry…it had been so cold today with the wind blowing I had just assumed it was still that cold.
While the dogs trotted off around the corner of the house, the stillness of the scene hit. The only light came from my porch light and a couple of street lights. Everything was so still and quiet. I stood there observing…no birds in flight despite Daphne and Scooby running through the high grass where the pheasants live. The streets and highways were deserted. I could hear something, very softly. As I strained to hear it I discovered that it was a very fine mist falling on the handrail of the deck. I looked up at the street lights, in that soft orb radiating from the bulb, to see that a mist was falling…so fine a mist that I couldn’t feel it.
The quiet and stillness of the scene reminded me of life in California, just before the Pomona earthquake hit. Sitting in my car, outside of work, noting how still and quiet it was. No sooner had that thought left me head, every bird in the vicinity took off in flight, and a quaking that felt like people jumping up and down on the trunk of my car.
That was the thought that came to mind as I stood in silence, waiting for my dogs to return from their nightly wanderings. I had to remind myself that we don’t have earthquakes in North Dakota…for which I am thankful.
Filed under: Observations
