A Night Walk

Temp: 15F

Sky: Cloudy

Last evening after supper I was feeling a little guilty for not getting outside yesterday, other than to walk from the car to the grocery stores in the morning. Usually it is so dark here you need a flashlight if you’re going far from the house. But it was cloudy last night and the new snow made the night bright. So I took a couple laps. It is different at night, especially on a Sunday night when everyone is back home preparing for Monday morning and there is no traffic. The crunch of the snow is louder. The quiet is quieter. And then, just as I was about to go in, a pair of owls started their concert, calling back and forth. I took one more lap just to hear them.

The owls woke me this morning too. As I walked this morning I scan the trees, hoping for one brief glimpse of the owls. Dog distracts me though. He has caught a mouse and is joyfully playing with the mouse, tossing it in the air and then following it as it tries to get away, tossing it once more. The game continues until the mouse quits playing.

On my final lap I spot this.

Feathers/down. It was not on my path earlier. And this is not the time of year birds would be molting. Where did the feathers come from? Again I scan the trees looking for the predator (the owl?) that left this behind, but I see nothing.

If only I had the senses of dog.