Hay, there.

We noticed a slightly cooler tingle to the air yesterday and when church let out, the temperature had fallen considerably. It felt great. Like a slug of energy coming across the fields on the other side of the road. This morning the thermometer gave every indication that the cooler air had settled in for a visit. 54 degrees, it said. The sun was golden. It was a lovely drive to work. I attribute the lift in attitude to both the cooler weather and the return to "normal" time. Of course there are flies in every ointment. This morning, I woke up at 5:00 A. M. I still had an hour to sleep but my eyes popped open and staying in bed any longer would have been futile. Perhaps I will get used to the time change and regulate my internal clock, so I am rising an hour later. After all, in the olden days (last week), my 6:00 would have been 5Am.

After work, I stopped at Deep Creek Feed and Supply to pick up 2 bales of hay for Bella and Savannah - the two paint horses in our field. I had called from work earlier in the afternoon to make sure they had Coastal Hay. They're very nice at this feed store. If they're running low on hay and you call them, they'll set aside a bale or two. The place is a pull-through store, kind of like 7-Elevens. You enter a wide doorway at one end where there's a double gumball machine just left of the entrance. Sometimes there will be tables to your left, full of produce for sale. Other times maybe a saddle or some horse related items on offer. Today I didn't notice anything for sale but the gumball machine was topped with an enormous bird nest. I mean it was not little by any means. It couldn't have been built by a weakling bird like a Wren or Bluebird. The nest filled up the space between the double heads of the gumball receptacles. Maybe it would measure a foot and a half across. The twigs woven in were finger sized. I asked the salesman what kind of bird had built the nest, expecting something majestic like an Eagle. It was a Crow's nest. He said they had cut down a tree and the nest was in the branches. Those caustic and cawing black birds surely do know how to build a nest that will stand up to anything.

After paying for the hay bales, I pulled out of the building at the back side and looped around to the wooden shed where they store their hay. I popped the trunk and unlocked the car doors and the salesman plopped a bale in the trunk then lined the back seat with cardboard and put the second bale on top of that. Slamming the doors he waved - See you later. And twenty minutes later I was home.

I never thought I'd be toting hay home in the back seat of my car or marvelling over the size of a nest - but there you have it. When tomatoes are in season, I'll swing back through Deep Creek Feed and bring some home. It's a nice place to shop.