'A VERY GOOD EVENING'

The ride home was as routine and uneventful, as ever; my 12-hour shift of ‘playin’ with the Natives’ was over, thank goodness. Outside my truck window, it was a beautiful spring afternoon, with blue skies, lots of sunshine, and temperatures in the low 70's. I debated going fishing when I got home. The dogwoods and the redbud trees were in full bloom, so I knew the crappie would be biting. I also considered taking the dogs out for a run over at the hatchery, but we'd done that the last two evenings in a row. So, no.... that's not what I really wanted to do. In the end, I decided to spend the evening, sitting outside by a fire, reading a bit and just unwinding after a very hectic day.

It took only a few minutes to change out of my uniform and into a pair of shorts and a t-shirt. A few more to get a good fire going in my old tractor wheel fire ring, and then I piled up in a sack chair, with a good book in hand.

I'd just gotten into my reading when a turkey sounded off in the distance. The second time he gobbled, I laid my book down and just listened, a smile on my face. I could picture in my mind that ol’ Tom cautiously making his way down the little cove at the back of the farm, looking for him a girlfriend. I knew that’s where he was, 'cause I'd watched that rascal feed, back there, all throughout hunting season while sitting in my deer stand. I never saw a deer, but I sure saw him, a plenty.

         After a few minutes, my mind turned back to reading, and I, once again, immersed myself in the centuries-old saga of the Welsh Prince Madoc. Presently, I felt my black cat Boy rubbing back and forth against my leg. He didn’t really want to be petted. He just seemed happy to have a bit of company for the evening.



As I continued to read and soak up the last warm rays of sunshine, I could feel the tension in my body slowly evaporating. A calm had befallen me, and an unbelievably wonderful feeling it was.

My Sweet Shrub

The sun was now beginning to set, yet the fire kept the creeping evening chill at bay. Most relaxing of all, though, was the smell of wood smoke; a stress reliever in its own rite.

While getting another stick of wood for the fire, I noticed that the sweet shrub that Kim had given me, last year, already had a bloom on it. That made me very happy. I’m already looking forward to the sweet, fruity fragrance of sweet shrub later this summer.

A Whippoorwill

I marveled at the darkening evening sky, as I sat, listening to the lonesome call of the first Whippoorwill I've heard, this year. As full darkness set in, the heavens filled with brilliantly-lit constellations overhead. Of them all, the ones I knew best were that of the Big Dipper and Polaris, the North Star. The star-studded sky was mesmerizing. With it too dark, now, to read anymore, I was content to sit statue-still by the warm fire, soaking in the peace and quiet.

The fire gradually burned down to glowing red coals. I leaned back in my chair to look up through the still-bare limbs of the surrounding trees, as I watched the flashing lights of high-flying jet airplanes streak across the star-studded night sky. From back behind the house, I could hear an owl hooting, calling out to others of its kind.

Finally, after about nine, I decided to call it a night. As I banked the fire so that it would burn completely out during the night, the coyotes from across the Keeler pasture opened up, pups and all, serenading the waning full moon that was already easing below the western horizon. As threatening to our young calves as they are, I still enjoy hearing their weird, wavering song. It’s just another reminder of the wildness that’s still out there in the dark.

With the chirping of crickets the only sound, now, I inhaled deeply of the wood smoke one last time before heading inside. It had been a good evening, a very good evening.