Up With The Chickens…

  Last Wednesday I had lots on my plate, which meant I had to get up with the chickens (not to mention the rooster) and do my walk earlier than normal.  I had to schedule an appointment in Montgomery at Uncle Clarence and Aunt Jeanette’s house to meet up with the refrigerator repair man.  Seems the seal on their fridge was leaking air and we needed to get that addressed before they move back home the end of this month.  So I jumped crawled out from under the down comforter ( NOOOOOOOO, PULLLLLLEASE LET ME SLEEP!)  to get my 2 miles in before I hit the road.  It was actually a beautiful morning.  The sun hadn’t come up yet and the normal school traffic (Mom’s driving their late- sleeping kids to school doing about 90mph) was non-existent…I realized about 20 steps out my door how much I needed this peace and quiet in my life right now, and wrapped my brain around enjoying such a lovely morning.

The streetlights in our town were still on and the sidewalks were empty.  I know from experience that this town of Sandwich takes on a different life after dark.  I rode in the squad a couple times with my son-in-law, Tim Heiser, when he was a police officer in Sandwich.  He worked from 11PM until 7AM.   What an education I had about what goes on after midnight, even in a town this small.  I never knew we had homeless people here, and I also never realized how many kids were out waaaay after curfew…and whose parents either didn’t know, or didn’t care. These streets take on a life all their own, and every shadow seems to mask a possible tragic story.   Then, magically,  just about 5AM, all of the “night people” and shadowy figures disappea,r and the town is transformed once again into a peaceful oasis awaiting dawn.  If you ever get a chance, ride along with a police officer on night shift…It’s life altering.

  My friends (we have a love/hate relationship), the Burlington Northern Railroad workers, have been busy little bees the last month.  Our town has 7 different Railroad crossings, and they all were in need of an overhaul.  I’m surprised someone didn’t throw and axle going over them…Finally they are fixing them all..

I cannot even imagine how much work this involves…There are ties, stone, dirt, steel and cement  laying everywhere along those tracks…You may already know that we live just 500 ft from the tracks…and I gotta say the work ethic of these guys is very intense…They start working about 5AM behind our house, and even those little cars they drive up and down the tracks have giant size train horns in them…SHEESH!!

Left picture I took looking East toward the rising sun …Right, I guess that’s what Al would call a mossmagator, or something like that…I have no idea WHAT  it does, but it sure is loud!!

So that was my morning walk on Wednesday…I actually did come back refreshed and more calmed.  I find that mornings are my favorites when we go camping, too.  Put the coffee pot on, take our walk around the peaceful surroundings, come back and have our coffee outside (this could definitely depend on the weather)….I am keeping fingers crossed I can revisit this favorite activity soon…and in a much warmer climate!!