night sounds

The wind is rustling around the house tonight.

The autumn we were first married, the wind used to wake me up at night. Not because it was so strong, but because it sounded different - we have mainly spruce and cherry here close to the house (besides the giant oak I keep taking pictures of - look! It's the daysgoby mascot!) and the wind creaks softly through their branches and sounds not at all like the pine and willow (and the birds and owls) that were near my window where I used to live.

The place I lived before that had a night freight express that would send a lonely call...it was so hard to get used to it, and even seven (eight?) years later, I still miss it. That and the occasional yip of a stray dog or scream from territorial stray cats would be the only noises against the never-ending swoosh of cars on the highway nearby.

When the windows are open in the summer here we can hear deer snort and blow to each other, spreading the word, giving the all-clear (Which can really make you jump) ...and we see and hear skunks, beaver, and the occasional porcupine crashing through the trees. Every once in awhile we'll hear the far-off call of a coyote, and there's a family of foxes that live up the road in the cemetery.

It's kind of like living in Wild Kingdom, minus the investment banker commercials and the voice-overs by the host.*



*I'm not the only one who remembers that show, am I?