When I woke up, I could hear the rain falling on the roof and dripping on the deck. It’s a steady rain, a good rain, and I love a rainy day. My house is dark except for the light here in the den. It seems to brighten every corner of the room. I have always felt somehow comforted by the rain. It surrounds me and fills my ears with a different melody every time. I remember in elementary school I loved to watch the rain dripping down the windows. Though no one spoke, the classroom was never quiet. I could hear the shuffling of papers, the turning of book pages and the rain. I felt warm and safe. After school, I’d get home, take off my wet clothes, put on my pajamas and read in bed. It was the nicest of afternoons.

Yesterday I filled the bird feeders, and the birds are taking full advantage of the seeds. I even filled an extra feeder for the chickadees who are outnumbered by the gold finches who seem to be at all the other feeders and don’t share well. The finches don’t like the different feeder I filled, but the chickadees do. In the afternoon, from my kitchen window, I watched the red spawn jump from the deck rail to the feeder, grab a seed then fall back to the rail to dine. I went outside in stealth mode hoping to scare it again, but it ran. Later I watched a fat gray spawn walking on the rail and closing in on where the red spawn was standing. I waited as the grey spawn got closer and closer. Sure enough, that red spawn went after the grey one which took off in a heartbeat despite its superiority in size. The red spawn is evil.

Last night around 12:30, I let Gracie out for the last time before bed. She took off like a shot. I knew she had either heard or seen something. I stood on the deck and watched as she ran a few times around a tree in the yard. I could hear her sniffing. I called and was ignored. Then she took off and ran the perimeter of the yard along the fence. I lost track of her so I gingerly went down the steps which are, for the most part, free of ice. I, of course, found the one spot which wasn’t, and my leg went though the space between the stairs. Luckily I wasn’t hurt and was able to get my leg back on the step. Finally I managed to get to the ground and stood on a spot free of ice. I located Gracie at the opposite side of the yard. I yelled for her and offered treats. She came running at full force, ran up the steps and into the house leaving me in the dust. I went upstairs gingerly and went inside. She was waiting patiently by her crate for her treat. I still wonder what it was that attracted her attention. Luckily she never found it and luckily I made it safely back into the house limbs intact.