Along The Way

Six days a week the boys and I hike a mile to the mailbox, rain or shine.  In the Summer heat, however, I wait until it's nearly sunset and a bit cooler.  Cooler being relative.  There have been a few days so far this year where the temps have been too high as night falls and I skip the trek, though usually the boys grouse.  One day last week Ozzy really got antsy for the walk, so I leashed both of them up and headed out.  We made it about the length of a city block before Ozzy stopped dead in the road--tongue hanging--then abruptly turned around for home.  Nobody listens to me...

My mountain is covered in trees--mostly White Oak and Long Needle Pine--so there is much to look at as we meander to the mailbox.  Sometimes I take my camera, like last night.

Amongst the oak and pine, there is also a small grove of Pacific Madrona and I've noticed that around 8:30 or so, as the sun begins to lower behind the ridge, it lights up the trunk of one particular tree, highlighting the beautiful orange-red color...

Further along the route is this wonderful White Oak.   I've been meaning to take a photo through that odd little viewing space for ages...

After getting the mail and retracing our steps, we came around the bend at the house...and there was my favorite tree, the one I see out the front windows, the tree every bird on the mountain perches on at one time or another during the day, the dead oak I call the Halloween tree.  It doesn't look scary at all in daylight, but at night--especially when there's a full moon--it looks twisted, sinister and creepy.  I love this tree...

I might miss looking in shop windows, watching people go about their day, but in a way I'm looking through nature's windows, watching wild things go about their day.

And on that note, just as I was finishing this post, I looked out the front window to see this handsome fellow perched on a limb of the dead oak...

Pretty cool, huh?

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Sorry about my last shot.  I know it's blurry, he went from zero to sixty in a heartbeat, way too fast for me to focus.  Still...