Ups And Downs

After riding the high on WWOOF day, I needed some down time yesterday and was napping so hard that I never heard Linda come back from house hunting.  She's up and down like a pogo stick, jumping through the hoops that the county is throwing at her for licenses, permits, inspections, etc. ad nauseum, to get her new business ready to open later this month.  It's almost a case of "You can't get there from here."  The search for a house goes slowly; great online, but not s'much in person.

It was almost eerie.  Stepping outside to fill the hummers' feeders, it took a minute to realize what I was hearing, which was nothing.  There were none of the usual ambient sounds.  The mountain had gone dead quiet.  No breeze through the trees, no bird calls, no dog barks, no chicken clucks.  Nothing.  Only silence.  It was like the world had taken a time-out.  It has happened before, but it is stunning when it does.  After a few minutes, a trucker hit the Jake brakes way over on Mt. Aukum road and that seemed to be the signal for restart.  Leaves rustled, hawks cried in the sky, and turkeys scratched for feed under the oaks.  It was as if the earth had been holding its breath and finally let it out again.

Inga had run, not walked, in to be milked yesterday.  Goats have such short-term memories that there is no guarantee she won't do it again, darn it.  We both paid the penalty for her stubbornness as it took forever to get her milked out.

The sky at sunset was, in the best sense of the word, awesome.  Walking down to the barn is sometimes the highlight of the day.

Same day, same sky, different colors.  This was post-goats and pre-chickens.  Every bit as beautiful.

It was a good day.