Something’s changed out there.
The land feels taken over by a watching presence that is slowly claiming it.
Gone is the harsh cheer of summer and the promise of plenty.
Fruit trees and hay grass crops produced at a fraction of their usual yield – maybe because of the smoke from last year’s fires and the drought.
It’s likely the normal abundance of fall game is also diminished as a result.
Last night’s skunk seemed unnaturally ravenous, when for the last two years we’ve smelled it, but it never needed to dig.
I told my youngest we would not go outside tonight, after having left the truck running with lights on while bringing in groceries
The sheep and roosters will have to wait for food until the morning, and I hope the boys will be alright.
They say large predators won’t attack if you have lights on and are with your dogs, but this sense feels menacing.
It doesn’t care what we are. It just knows that it’s hungry.
Candid Corvid Productions 