Night

Just came in from putting out some more hay for the horses......When it was so hot last summer, I got into the habit of waiting until late in the evening, after dark, to feed the horses... plus the wind usually lays after sundown, and you can tell what the night will be like...do you need to put up the old mare and the young one, or leave them out for the night? I like to leave them out if at all possible...does a horse good to be able to move around. Sometimes the night is so beautiful, especially if the moon is full with silvery light everywhere. It is easy to imagine an Indian encampment on a night like that. The way my land slopes slightly toward the creek, in my mind's eye I can "see" all those teepees of long ago that would have been stretched out in the valley from my place down to the creek. The night is peaceful and calm, as the few near neighbors are inside their homes. The silence is broken only by an occasional hoot owl, the nightbirds, and the horses munching hay. About nine or ten o'clock, the coyotes start running in the pasture right behind the house and up and down White Rock Creek, chasing a deer or a rabbit.... just as they have done for centuries. It is thrilling to hear them howling, yapping, and yodeling ....true shades of the Old West. One night a few years ago, I had burned some scrap lumber down by the barn. It was a really cold night. I got one of my old handmade quilts from the house and was sitting wrapped up in it on the ground by the fire. I had part of the quilt over my head, like an Indian. The night was dark and still. It felt good to be by the fire.  The coyotes were howling all around. I was thinking  how "Western" it all was, when I sensed something right beside me. Two of my horses had come up and hung their heads right on my shoulder, one on each side, as close to me as possible. The firelight shone our our faces. It would have made a great picture for a Western greeting card. We stayed that way for a long time, enjoying the companionship and the night, until the fire went out.