Winged Minion

This is not what I should be doing right now. I've got to get ready for work, and with company coming in from out of town this evening I should be using what little extra time I have to be cleaning, if not exercising or something. But when I opened a new tab on my browser (morning coffee email ritual) I realized that it has been so long since I've visited that the little picture of this window was no longer a one click option of most visited sites. While it's not like I haven't neglected you in the past, dear reader, I have, but just now that's not true. In fact, I have been on vacation and am currently working on a travelogue of my adventures, my longest post to date here in the Nightmare. I don't really know what arrogance leads me to believe anybody would be interested in how I spent my fall vacation, but I hope you enjoy it when finished. In the meantime I leave you short description of something beautiful that happened during the nightmare.

I find it difficult to distinguish between what I've told you in these pages, and what I've told others in conversation, but surely I've mentioned Ionic Stone, the limestone mill that is literally out in the woods? Yes, good. So, I like going out there but it is stressful driving a big truck through those conditions. The main hazard is oncoming traffic. A lot of people live out there and they don't expect to encounter a large vehicle taking up the entire road. But I have to make sure that the trailer tandems don't fall into that stream rounding corners, or that there's no large limb hanging into my space, not to mention deer. So, with senses on high alert I snapped to attention when I detected movement ahead, on the edge of the road; close too, about 15 feet ahead. "Wha's dat?"

It was a large Red Shouldered Hawk. It rose into the air presenting me with a view of its tawny breast and creamy wings, beating powerfully, then flew across right in front of me. It then came to rest on a tree limb giving me a view of its backside as it did so, with its banded tail splayed out and the wings beating as a brake, I imagine. It turned its head and looked at me, then soared off into the woods in one fluid motion. I mean, how lovely is that? It was a real National Geographic moment.

Stay tuned.