There was also some creature more agile than a raccoon but less so than a cat climbing over my fence. I didn't get a look at it. I was thinking that perhaps a fox has ventured here from the deeper woods. It's been years since I've seen one, but I'm sure they are still around, lurking about the edges of the town. Being quicker and more shy than raccoons, they are less easy to spot. This is trash night in the neighborhood, so it is the night most likely to attract all manner of small scavenging creatures, and those who hunt them.
Because the house was so uncomfortably warm, I sat outside for a while as the sky turned pale. I like those few moments when the trees are etched black against the deeply luminous eastern sky, an hour or so before dawn. It is the most serene part of the day, and, were I not nocturnal and thus still awake, I would find that time well worth rising early to see. Those who rise with the birds have missed the best part of the morning, when the silence of night yet prevails and the dim light is as yet the merest suggestion of day. I guess that means that the birds themselves miss the best part of the day. Poor birds.
