Creatures About

Across the road, on the hillside, one white steer is grazing. It has stood in the same spot for a quarter-hour, rather than drifting across the hill as these steers usually do. It seems to be rooted.

When I went to get the rubbish, I stepped over a black snake with the dimensions of an earthworm - a tall earthworm - in the process of shedding its skin against the rough floor of the garage. Nearby was an earthworm that had come up out of the rain.

A pair of hummingbirds stood on air here and there before vanishing into the trees by Friends Run. I know that they work the stream bank, where there are orange flowers still in blossom.

To my coffee at last, I sensed movement on the roof of the spring house. There, two thrush-sized birds are working the roof, turning over the fallen leaves of box elder one by one. It looks as if the birds slide down the roof with each hop, though I can't believe it is that slick. I wonder what they are finding, and I wonder what they are -- in and under the branches, their field marks are not visible.