Don’t even try talking to me before I’ve sucked down a couple of cups of coffee. Coffee must be sucked down while I’m out on the front porch, with a cheap cigar.
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My first trip out to the porch this morning, it was still dark. If I look up at about a 45 degree angle, the north star is directly in front of me. Since I was a kid and learned to locate the north star via the Big Dipper, I’ve been fascinated how everything in the night sky rotates around this one small spot.
A few minutes later, a satellite cruised across the sky from north to south, more or less. There are no flashing lights, that’s how you know it’s not a high cruising jet.
My next trip out to the front porch, the sun was just starting to peek over the horizon. The song birds are enjoying the slightly warmer mornings. Yesterday and today the cardinals were everywhere. You hear them more than see them along with a variety of other unidentified song birds.
A couple of bald eagles came up off the river and started looping upwards. They cruised the tree line out in front of the house and disappeared back over the river. If I had come out on the porch five minutes later, rather than talking about seeing the eagles again, I’d be talking about not seeing any eagles today.
The other morning while still dark, there was a two second display from a meteor. This morning, a satellite and a couple of eagles. Last year while standing out on the porch around 10 PM, a coyote walked down the street and disappeared down into the ravine. Took all of 20 seconds. Another morning this past fall a dozen turkeys wandered down the street to pick the meat out of car crushed acorns from the old oak tree across the street. Here and gone in five minutes.
The chances of me retiring some day are looking like slim to none. But if that opportunity arises, I’ll have one room, walls all made of glass. It will be connected to the rest of the house by a narrow hallway. The time spent at home will be spent primarily in this room, doing something, even if it’s just staring out the windows.
On any given day, I’m missing far too much.
