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| Watchful eyes are watching me |
Imagine, lying in your bed all warm and cozy under a down
filled comforter. Feeling rested your
mind races as the clock in your brain says it's time to wake up but your body
says, why. Then the bed moves, and you
know you went to bed alone. You feel a
cool draft enter the warmth of the comforter, you turn to the edge, looking
into a pair of large brown eyes; Simba, the castle guard is watching.
Realizing I'm a stranger, I talk to the guard in a calming
voice. Soon he removes his long nose
from the comforter as he wags his tail; he now knows I belong here. Welcome to the first morning of a house and
pet sitter on assignment.
The first few days have started the same, well with the
exception of Simba putting his nose under the comforter. Each morning as my internal clock rang I'd look
out the window to see treetops, and the shadows of neighboring mountains.
Many of you know me as a beach guy, and I am, but after these
first few days in the mountains, I could get used to this also. However, it would be nicer in the warmer
months.
Being alone on a mountaintop brings a new perspective on a person's
view of the world. The air is cooler,
the sounds of nature appear amplified, and the solitude opens your heart and
soul. While your physical energy may be
depleted because of the altitude, mentally you're refreshed by the peace and
quiet. That is unless you thrive on the
daily hustle and bustle of medium to big city life; which I do not.
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| Me and the "Castle Guard" |
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| Sunset over the valley below |
Driving up and down the mountain, you see something
different around every turn. There are
times when the dirt road is clearly visible and other times when you can't see
the road through the leaves. You may
have the sun directly in your eyes, or the shadows are so dense your headlights
come on. The only wildlife I've seen driving
so far have been turkeys walking in the road.
There are reports of deer and bear up here, and believe me, I'm looking
for them.
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| Don't miss the turn |
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| And keep to the path |
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| Turkeys in the driveway |
The forecast for clouds, wind, and colder weather has
arrived as promised.
Looking out the window this morning and not seeing treetops
or nearby ridges, it took me a longer to convince my body it really was time to
get out of bed. Walking to the door to
let Simba out I noticed the outside photo sensor lights were still illuminated;
why. A cloud has settled on my
mountaintop. In Florida, I would say we
have a layer of fog, but at 4000 feet, it's a cloud.
With the cloud on top of us, we didn't get any rain or snow,
but all the moisture in cloud made the trees "weep" as if it were
raining.
The cloud lifted, rays of the sun warmed the air, and the
wind calmed. This was just a prelude to
a coming storm with predicted high temperatures in the 30's.
It's time to do some exploring of the local area.
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| Stream fishing in the nearby town of Dillsboro, NC |
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| Storm two is moving in |
Until next time,
Mike
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