Deadline Cometh
I am in book euphoria delirium.
I hike daily at dawn, then spend the next 16 hours working on the book.
Nothing unimportant exists in my life right now –
I just don’t have time for it.
I only have time for:
book animals dawn dreams coffee.
When I begin to feel deflated (which happens), a note full of sweet enthusiasm
comes in from one of you and I am buoyant again.
THE BOOK (as it sprawls on my computer screen) is GORGEOUS!!!
The ordering window will close when printing begins in September
BUT – to get printed credit in the book, you must order before September 1!
That’s this week, so they tell me.
shop.dailycoyote.net
Wild Life
Yesterday, I saw:
a young fox
a vulture
an eagle
four doves
a large toad
a mule deer doe with two spotted fawns
three antelope – two does and a buck, and the buck raced a wide semicircle around us, going so fast, yet obviously not even exerting himself, it was thrilling to see.
It was all thrilling to see, especially considering that, these days, I am spending so much of my time on the computer working on THE BOOK. I haven’t seen a sunset or a shower in…. a while.
Speaking of the book! If you’ve ordered The Daily Coyote: Ten Years In Photographs, you will be receiving a VERY important email from me today. Please keep your eye out, and if you don’t see it, please check your spam/junk folder. And thank you!!!
(And if you haven’t ordered it, you can by clicking HERE!)
We’re Not In Kansas!
Tornadoes showed up all over Wyoming yesterday. WRONG STATE, tornadoes. We signed up for negative 30 degree winters, 108 degree summers, 50 mph wind, annual wildfires, flash floods, rain so fierce it feels like you’re getting slapped in the face, scorpions and snakes, a dearth of trees, mud that swallows trucks whole, BUT NOT TORNADOES.
The highlight of my day was getting this gorgeous photo of Charlie watching the madness after I’d lured him inside with an artisan venison jerky rib treat and locked him in. He prefers to watch storms outside, out in the open where he can see everything. Sorry, Charlie. Not happening when possible tornadoes are part of the equation. He scratched at the window for about five minutes, then curled up angelically on his mattress for the next several hours.
The wind downshifted around dusk, and I went out with Charlie and Chloe and gathered up all the fallen cottonwood branches and offered them to Daisy. She loves to eat the leaves.
To Bee!
The Farmily grew by ten thousand members this weekend. I became a bee guardian, initiate bee priestess.
Mike and I built a top bar hive, and I introduced the bees to their new home on Sunday. It was intense. It was a totally psychedelic experience. I laughed out loud, I cried, I felt the truth of the universe. I watched a bee dance, I watched a bee die. I got sick of wearing gloves so I took them off, and a bee landed on my hand, and bathed herself. Bees wash their faces like cats, with their front feet and tongue, did you know that? I did not know that, until I watched it happen on my forefinger, inches from my face.
They say not to open the hive for three days, to give the bees time to settle in without disruption. It has been so hard not to open the top and peek in! I resist, and I sit by the entrance and watch the bees fly in and out. They are carrying pollen in, which apparently means the queen is alive and all is well. I listen to the walls of the hive with my stethoscope and it is BUZZING in there. Another good sign. Tomorrow afternoon, I shall peek in.
Snippets: So Much Bird Action
This morning’s pond activity: two geese and two sandhill cranes. The cranes (which have moved in!! I am ecstatic!!), were not down with the geese. They seemed to be yelling, in unison, directly at the geese, urging them to get going and find another pond. The geese were like, relax, we’re just taking a little break and floating here not bothering anything. So the cranes waded out into the water and started herding the geese out of the pond! The geese got agitated and honked some obscenities, then started paddling in earnest and flew off. The cranes relaxed and pranced back to the bank and were like, yes, this pond is ours. And I, from my perch up the hillside with my binoculars, was like, yes, it’s all yours, just please stay! (Here’s a recording I made of them the other morning)
I am so incredibly thrilled and touched by the response to the new book. I’ve received a zillion emails this week and am powering through them as fast as possible. And enjoying it! EMDR worked!
On the afternoon of my birthday, I was in the kitchen and saw a bald eagle out the window, fairly close to the house. I went out on the back deck and she flew over to me (I don’t know if the eagle was female, but I hate writing “its” over and over). So close I could see her pupils, individual feathers, and the nails on her talons. She sailed past me, turned, glided right by me again, turned, drifted past me AGAIN… FIVE TIMES. Ten yards away at the most. She was so close for so long that I got a little fearful that my hair maybe looked like prey and that I was the target. The coolest thing was watching her move her head side to side, back and forth, back and forth as she flew. It reminded me of a fish. The whole thing was incredible.
The next afternoon, I was lying on my bed, feeling the effects of a week filled with adrenaline and coffee and very little sleep, and I saw a bald eagle out my window. Just happened to catch it fly by with the corner of my eye. So I went outside. It was very windy. The legendary Wyoming wind that, thankfully, we don’t get too often in my county. The eagle flew in an arc across the driveway and flew towards me until she was about 20 feet away, diagonally above me so we were looking at each other. She had her head facing right into the wind, and she hovered there, motionless (but of course not motionless at all). I don’t know how long. I just know that for that time, the wind didn’t bother me.
Forever – is composed of Nows –
‘Tis not a different time –
Except for Infiniteness –
And Latitude of Home –
From this – experienced Here –
Remove the Dates – to These –
Let Months dissolve in further Months –
And Years – exhale in Years –
Without Debate – or Pause –
Or Celebrated Days –
No different Our Years would be
From Anno Dominies –
~ Emily Dickinson
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