Nice Holiday

For once our weather was ideal. It was not hot, it was not muggy, even though the morning started out foggy, it ended up being the perfect weather for a Holiday.

I decided I was going to take a Holiday too. Why not?

The dogs convinced me to take a day off from working.  

So we did.

I grabbed a book and we walked out to the campground and I hung out in the hammock and read a book and looked a the Mushroom Book I have.

The dogs found vole or mole runs and decided to enjoy hunting them.
They don't do this in the yard and I let them do

it in the forest as much as they want.

To them, this is a playground of things to dig and 

smell.

It is their internet and playground.

We spent hours. I read, they sometimes jumped up on the hammock to join me and sometimes ran off a ways in the meadow to find what scents enticed them.

I felt like camping but didn't feel like putting up the tent and taking it down Tuesday [heavy rain]. So I did the next best thing.

I shoved the camp cot against the bench and made a wide bed for us on the porch. 

We piled up blankets and pillows and settled down to watch the day fade away and the first stars come out.

This is called Dusking: The purpose is to intentionally watch the day fade away and clear your mind with no electronics, internet, or cell phones.

I've done this before, but sitting on a hard bench isn't that comfortable, so we did it from the camp bed under the porch roof.

By the time the stars actually started to dot the sky, my brain was in chill mode and the warm bodies of dogs hugged me.

We fell asleep probably early as the sun sets now around 7:30. We watched the sky fade from blue to a darker blue very slowly. 
The hoot owls called out.

The crickets sang, some quite loud somewhere on the porch I assume.

I counted stars as they appeared and was up to 10 when I must have dozed off.

A lone coyote barked in the distance west of us. Soon a chorus of coyotes started their nightly hunt east of us in the neighbor's woods. They were loud and sounded much closer than they really were. Their voices echo off the hillsides surrounding us. Hannah and Charlie were silent.

Those noises faded away as we drifted back into sleep.

I woke up slowly, it seemed still dark, but it also seemed as if it were brighter. I checked my watch and was surprised to see that it was after 6AM and the dogs were still quiet. Hannah wasn't nagging me for her 5AM or earlier breakfast.

I felt more rested than I had in days.

According to the Garmin watch thingy, I slept 8 1/2 hrs but it was light sleep with a few times awakening. [Garmin doesn't feel I had 'good' sleep, but I feel like I did. So there Miss Garmin!]

As daylight started to creep in, I laid there comfortably, cuddled by my two buddies. I wondered why sleeping without proverbial walls seem to be so much nicer for me.

Maybe I just have gypsy heritage, though that is not confirmed as far as I know. I wonder what it would feel like on a colder night? 

I got up and bundled up the blankets and pillows and tossed the slightly damp ones in the dryer for a few minutes. The dogs were not impressed by me whisking things away and breaking things down.

We are due for some heavy rain along with thunderstorms today. Let it happen. I had a good night.

I'm ready to get going on my short 'work' week.

I leave you with my favorite spider, the Garden Spider or the Orb Weaver or Banded Garden Spider. She is absolutely stunning.