Sadie, the guard dog here at the house...mostly an anti-deer-in-the-garden device...barked all night last night. Finally at one AM I got up and went out to see what was troubling her.
Flashlight, dark night, cold barn walk. Wally the barn guard was sleeping, so he wasn't worried about whatever was up. Ditto Nick up in his kennel.
All was well at the barn, no cows in the yard, cold enough for the house windows to be all steamed up and as quiet as it ever gets. Waste of time getting up, but I couldn't just ignore her. There have been a lot of odd things going on around here during the fair...salesmen who weren't really salesmen showing up at the door, trying to barge right on in (I sent them packing) dogs barking during the day when there was seemingly nothing to bark at. The boss was accosted by thugs over at the fair....there are some pretty questionable folks around and I worry....and lock things that are normally not locked. Still I hate getting up in the middle of the night.
But, ah, the stars. We live near a village with lots of night lighting. You can rarely see much more than the brightest of stars, a mere sprinkling compared to what is visible in the Adirondacks. Just too much light for them. However, last night most of the lights in town were dimmed. Thick trees, still heavy in leaf, screened the rest. Stars stretched from horizon to horizon, right down against the hills...horizons usually white from city lights. Across the entire sky the path of the Milky Way was clearly visible. Because of light pollution that is something I have only seen a few times, mostly while camping among sheltering mountains up north. It was like a blazing white ribbon, stretching East to West, glowing brighter than I could even imagine.
I stood in the driveway south of the heifer barn among the sleepy crickets, the urgent cry of a passing night bird echoing loud, the huffing of the heifers on the other side of the fence, comforting and cozy...and just watched the stars for a long time.
This morning I was kind of worse for wear, what with the limited hours of sleep I managed to get, but I wouldn't have missed the show for anything.
And as I came back to the house, way across the river I saw a little bonfire. I'll bet somebody was fishing and maybe partying just a bit and in the incredible stillness (holiday weekend, the Thruway was silent) Sadie could hear the voices of the revelers.
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12 comments:
Maybe Sadie just wanted to share the starry sky with you.
But yeah. It probably was the voices and laughter of the bonfire people. We have a cave nearby and we can hear camping spelunkers through the woods some nights. The dogs, of course, hear them . . . BETTER.
Maybe Sadie was frightened by all the ordinarily invisible stars. I remember when I was a girl and camping with my fellow Girl Scouts, lying out in a field under amazing stars, one of my friends burst into tears: the sight of all that vastness was just too much for her.
This was a beautiful post. Thanks for bringing us out in the night and under the stars with you.
I learned the hard way not to ignore a dog alarm. Even if it seems to be a false alarm, the barking itself may have stopped something bad from happening.
Always to be safe than sorry! Glad there wasn't anything to worry about! Its amazing how quiet and peaceful it is at night or your case morning.
June, could be. That must be strange to hear the cavers at night. And more so for the dogs. We have a bike path. I don't hear the folks talking as they go by but the dogs sure do. lol
WW, thank you so much....I can understand that girl for sure. It is a very humbling sight. Sadie is mostly hound and she has some very strange idea, so anything is possible. lol
Jan, you betcha! They know a lot and it does not pay to ignore them at all. I don't listen to Sadie as much as the other two dogs...she is very independent and has her own ideas about what constitutes an alarm. However, if the other two get going so do it!
LIsa, more so where you guys live. I always marvel at the quiet when I visit. It was worth going out to see, but I sure was glad to just sleep last night. lol
It was like that here last night. I think she just wanted to share the stars with you.
salesmen who weren't salemen? thugs? eek. what's going on up there?
but the sky... i got lost once in texas (and by that i mean i ran out of road, was fairly sure i accidently crossed into mexico and somehow found myself in new mexico. still have NO idea how i did that.). when the road ended, and i hopped out to check out the cattle guard gate, i realized that the sky was the most beautiful i'd ever seen. NO lights anywhere, no clouds, no moon - really, really incredible. i tried taking pictures, but they turned out black. *sigh*
glad it was a false alarm!
LInda, it is amazingly beautiful where you live, as evidenced by your amazing photos...I can't imagine what it must be like at night!
Ericka, that must have been scary on one hand and worth it on the other. I remember standing in the shallows of a small Adirondack lake watching the stars for hours one time long ago. The brightest I have ever seen.... I hope you made it back where you were going all right.
Holy Cow! I have goose bumps!
TC. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful.
I'm going to read this again.
My hubby was reading it in his recliner last night and I heard him exclaiming about your writing.
I was busy playing Florence Nightingale and didn't get to it unitl this moment.
I thought his pain meds might have been influencing his response.
Nope. Beautiful.
Cathy, thanks. I hope he recovers rapidly. Glad he has you to take care of him. lol I know knee surgery has changed a lot since I had one when I was twenty, but I remember a long and miserable return to normalcy. The best part was that my parents brought me a stack of Dick Francis books while I was housebound and I discovered one of life's great delights. I was awed by that starlit night. It was absolutely incredible.
Lordy girl!
So you've done the knee and shoulder injury thing. I guess you have to be like the energizer bunny . . keep moving or freeze up:0)
Many, many years ago I stood on the edge of a dark mountain meadow and pointed a camera at what I hoped was the North Star in order to record a time-lapse image of circumpolar star trails.
I'm lying on the couch looking over into a dusty corner behind the TV where that photo sits, today.
I'll never forget those glittering stars scattered across the dark velvet of that Colorado sky. Written on my heart.
Cathy, lol,the one thing to be said for keeping working is that you can keep working. My car accident knee is actually my stronger knee now. Same with the boss's injured shoulder.
I'll bet your photo is incredible! I don't know how to do something like that but I have seen some wonderful results and the photos you put on your blog are always very special.
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