I didn't take a photo last night, but this is our back deck view during a sunset |
It's amazing what goes on when we're sleeping in our homes - and how noisy the night can be. At one point I heard a transformer buzzing near our equipment shed; never noticed the noise before. Later in the night, coyotes were yipping and howling in the distance and our faithful girl Ginny was telling them to go away. Around two in the morning, I woke to a light show put on by the fireflies. They were in the tops of the trees, twinkling like Christmas lights.
Our cat Fabs seemed to like the change in routine as he snuggled into bed with us. Ginny, on the other hand, was very disturbed by our presence outside and, early in the morning, I found her sleeping in our front flower bed and not in her own bed on the back deck. The whole experience made her nervous and she only calmed down when we resumed our usual morning routine.
The sky was clear when we settled in for the night. I was prepared for some amazing star gazing but the bright moonlight covered much of the starlight. At first, we mainly saw the Big Dipper which was directly overhead. As the moon moved across the sky and then below the horizon, more and more stars were visible throughout the night.
I highly recommend a night under the stars. However, there are four things to consider before you do it: safety, temperature, weather, and insects. We knew last night would be perfect as there wasn't a cloud in the sky, no mosquitoes were present, and the night was going to be cool. Of course, tucked away in our quiet corner of the country, we didn't need to worry about our experience being disturbed by others. I think maybe we'll need to do this again in the fall.
7 comments:
fantastic!!! i only have done this once when it got up to 108 one day here in portland - our lack of air conditioning meant the house was about 90 and i had a renter living in my basement, so i wrapped myself in a bedsheet and slept on the chaise lounge. the dog thought i was nuts and kept checking on me, and i didn't sleep too well thinking about the raccoons and possums etc about LOL :)
Sounds wonderful! With all our Texas rain we have too many mosquitos to even think about it though.
Cherie, I like outside sleeping as well but haven't done it in awhile. The most amazing sky I've ever seen has been in Northern Nevada on a fishing trip. The place was about 50 miles from the nearest major town so no ground lights to contend with and is at an elevation of about 6,000 feet. When gazing at the stars there it's almost like being immersed into the star covered sky. I've never seen anything like it. There's no camera or video that could come close to the real experience.
I do like the night sounds of the country. My life started with country and most of my life up through high school was spent in country living. Sadly after leaving the comforts of home to find my fame and fortune, country living was left behind never to be a part of life again. I always had thoughts of living in the country but just never had the opportunity to make it happen. Now on the down hill side of life I don't really have regrets and I am where I am and life is good.
Wild life invades my city on occasion and I have seen coyotes, possums, wild turkeys, raccoons, and many other creatures of the wild. Last week a mountain lion was found in the middle of town. Sadly it was shot and killed by police. The invasion of civilization has taken a toll on wild life.
Have a great day enjoying nature's sounds and sky beauty.
David, I remember being in the high desert out west when I was growing up and the amazing night sky. Years ago while living in the city, we tried to find a place to see a big meteor shower one night. We drove and drove and could never get to a place that was dark enough. Later, friends told us that we should have gone to one of the beaches which was a county park and had no light pollution.
Laura, the mosquitoes aren't bad here right now and I wonder if it's because we have a lot of bats.
Aimee, we do have air conditioning but keep the thermostat up pretty high. We've realized it's actually much hotter in the house than outside.
Aimee, we do have air conditioning but keep the thermostat up pretty high. We've realized it's actually much hotter in the house than outside.
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