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The Morning Porch

Daily short takes from an Appalachian hollow

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I-99

September 8, 2017 by Dave Bonta

Cool and almost clear. A few clouds come scudding from the same direction as the highway noise, as if themselves powered by small engines.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags clouds, I-99
March 24, 2017 by Dave Bonta

Warm sun and an inversion layer bringing traffic noise from over the ridge. Cardinals and titmice compete with the whine of truck tires.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags cardinal, I-99, trucks, tufted titmouse 1 Comment
February 5, 2017 by Dave Bonta

Under low, gray clouds, the sound of traffic from the valley. A titmouse at the woods’ edge keeps whistling his one, querulous note.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags clouds, I-99, tufted titmouse
December 26, 2016 by Dave Bonta

‪Traffic sounds have returned to the valley: tires whistle, trucks groan. Off in the woods, some large animal crunches through the ice. ‬

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags I-99, trucks
November 18, 2016 by Dave Bonta

The hollow echoes with the roar of traffic. Odd how the sun can rise through the trees in total silence, turning a heavy frost into mist.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags frost, I-99, mist
October 23, 2016 by Dave Bonta

Cloudy and cold. The soft back-and-forth of sparrows flitting between woods and meadow. The distant keening of an ambulance.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags I-99, white-throated sparrow
July 21, 2016 by Dave Bonta

Another cool morning. From over the ridge, an inversion layer relays the whine of tires on asphalt and the keening work-songs of trucks.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags I-99, trucks
April 2, 2016 by Dave Bonta

Sunny and cool. A small brown moth flies past, fluttering hard against the wind. From the interstate to the west, the whine of a speed bike.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags I-99, moths, wind
March 16, 2016March 7, 2016 by Dave Bonta

Warm and clear. As the morning wears on, the traffic noise from over the ridge diminishes, leaving only the field sparrow’s ascending song.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags field sparrow, I-99, killdeer 2 Comments
March 16, 2016November 27, 2015 by Dave Bonta

From the east, the pop-pop-pop of a rifle being sighted in for deer season. From the west, the roar of Black Friday traffic. Hunters, all.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags hunters, I-99, killdeer 1 Comment
March 16, 2015 by Dave Bonta

An inversion layer at sunrise. Above the roar of traffic from over the ridge, a bluebird’s warble. The clouds flare pink and slowly fade.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags bluebird, I-99, sunrise
February 14, 2015 by Dave Bonta

From the valley, a wailing duet of fire sirens. Woodpeckers tap and listen, tap and listen, as the soft, light snow goes on falling.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags downy woodpecker, I-99, sirens, snow, snowstorm
February 8, 2015 by Dave Bonta

A gray day loud with traffic. The snowpack has slid half-way off the metal roof over the oil tanks, curling under the eaves like a claw.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags I-99, roof, snow
January 18, 2015 by Dave Bonta

Loud traffic sound from the west. A downy woodpecker keeps interrupting his tapping to take short, zigzagging flights among the trees.

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Categories Plummer's Hollow Tags downy woodpecker, I-99
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On This Day

  • August 25, 2025
    Clear and cool. One minute before sunrise, a long-tailed weasel appears at the end of the porch with a meadow vole dangling from her mouth, sees me, and disappears back into the weeds. I catch one more glimpse of a reddish-brown shadow crossing the driveway.
  • August 25, 2024
    A desultory dawn chorus of one Carolina wren and a towhee. I consider baring an arm to stop the mosquitoes from whining in my ear.
  • August 25, 2023
    After a soggy night, a few more raindrops and then some brightening. A vireo starts up. The lowest branch on the tulip tree has turned yellow.
  • August 25, 2022
    Clear and cold. A squirrel joins the sun at the top of a scarlet oak Dad and I planted 25 years ago, now laden with acorns.
  • August 25, 2021
    In the dawn light, a hummingbird double-checks that I’m not a flower, hovering over my head like a wild thought.

See all...

Related book

Cover of Ice Mountain with a linocut of a big ridgetop tree.

What I do after I sit on the porch. One winter and spring's daily walks distilled into short poems with linocut illustrations by Beth Adams.

Header image: detail from Paper Garden by Clive Hicks-Jenkins (used by permission)

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