September 8, 2005

When Dog and I left the house this morning at our usual time, it was so dark I almost returned to the cabin for the headlamp. But I didn’t and my eyesight adjusted shortly, aided by stepping into an area with fewer trees. I soon realized just how dark it is at 6:15 when we stepped off the front deck to the sound of a nearby screech owl's call.

The mornings have cooled enough now that I wear long pants and a long-sleeved shirt on our morning walks instead of the shorts and t-shirt of mid-summer. We headed up towards the new pond and soon so startled a robin from its beauty rest that it scolded us for yards, outraged that we’d awakened it. The Canada geese were already up and cackling at each other. I don’t think we were original cause of their upset as they were already scolding something before we arrived, but our presence made them scold even more. I think we even woke the crows this morning, though they tried to pretend we hadn’t.

Back at the house, Dog and I went onto the back deck after our walk where we were greeted by a ruckus in a small bush. I soon realized we had startled a mottled young cardinal who had lost its balance and was now flapping madly trying to regain its equilibrium. It eventually hopped to a more stable location, urged on by mom’s concerned calls. At one point I could see four cardinals, though I couldn’t see them closely enough in the still dim light to discover how many were adults and how many were the klutzy teenagers.