Pre-Dawn Coffee

This morning before light, I took my coffee out on the front porch.  I haven't done that in a while.  It was not too cool for just a long sleeve T-shirt.  I sat on the swing and looked out over the yard. The moon was exceptionally bright in the back yard, casting a very distinct shadow of the house into the front yard.  It was pretty low in the sky because the shadows were pretty long.

There are not a great number of trees within our neighborhood.  At one time it was a 100 acre pasture.  This morning the yards of our neighbors all had a thin layer of fog hovering just above the ground.  I wonder if I had been on one of their porches, if I would have seen the same in my yard.

It's always amazed me how noisy it is outside in the dark before the sun comes up.  I counted at least 7 individual rooster voices.  There may have been more, but loud sounds tend to echo around here and these guys are loud.  They provide a non-stop soundtrack for the pre-dawn hour.  And somewhere in the vicinity is a large pack of dogs.  I've always wondered if all that barking in the dark was actual communication (like that scene in 101 Dalmations when the dogs are putting out the alert for the missing puppies) or just the irrisistable urge to make noise.

Amid all that screeching and barking, there was a much mellower sound:  an owl.  I have no idea where this bird was located, but its "Hoo-hoo-hoo Hooooo" was a nice change from the frantic emanations of the canine and fowl variety.

The sun will be up soon.  Already, I can see a lacy pattern beginning to form through the leaves of the pecan tree outside our front door.  The sun is brightening the sky behind it.  The dogs and roosters and that owl will be drowned out by the light.