Tuesday August 21, 2012

Dave Bonta August 21, 2012

Tent caterpillar webs billow, white as sails—still full of the dawn fog. Two nuthatches kvetch back and forth at the woods’ edge.

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Steady downpour; almost as much water in the road as in the creek. Scattered, flattened stalks in the rain-dark yard are white with mold. …

‪Warm and still. Out of the corner of my eye, a pileated woodpecker slipping behind a tree. Distant howl of a train car's misaligned wheels.‬ …

Open water in the ditch. Juncos fly down to drink then up to perch in the snow-laden branches of a dogwood, shaking themselves like dogs. …

Snow-melt dripping off the roof forms a glistening bead curtain, blown sideways by the breeze, rattling on the tin roof over the oil tanks. …

A rattle of sleet gives way to the hush of snow, then the tapping of freezing rain, then back to snow. A squirrel never stops its scolding. …

Dawn. Three deer become two, become three again. The sound of squirrel teeth on black walnut shell—that harsh madman's whisper. …

Six inches of fresh powder. A pair of squirrels wrestle in it, then go up the big maple, couple on the trunk, and retreat to separate limbs. …

That metronome-like sound—could it possibly be a chipmunk? I cup hands to my ears: no, it's just slow meltwater. But the clock is ticking. …

White sky. The soft calls of a pair of downy woodpeckers on adjacent trees. Four chickadees on a high-speed chase tear through the lilac. …

Siren, train whistle, a red-bellied woodpecker ululating in the yard. It's snowing. Squirrel tracks cross the porch in front of my chair. …

The Morning Porch/Patio