Harvested By the North Wind

Friday morning started out gusty and then the full-on October north wind set in before dawn. This took down a lot of the ripe English walnuts from the tree just outside our window.

I went out this morning to collect as many as I could before the rodents-good and badget them. A coyote, the first I’ve seen in a while, scared the living daylights out of about eight jackrabbits. I heard mockingbirds, white-crowned sparrows, the muffled voices of cyclists zooming down the road, the cattle across the street, the occasional tomato truck, about five trains, and the dogs barking every time I shifted to the next patch of fallen walnuts-my boot cracking them noisily.

Long morning shadows
A coyote trots northward
The full moon, sinking