Nap Time

It's Sunday, a day of rest for the BullyDozers.  It's so strange. Hardly at the same level of significance, but it brings back 9-11 to me.  My beat is the airport? When I get there I am in awe of the silence hanging over a normally bustling transportation hub. The very distant rumble of f-16s circling at 40 thousand feet just adds to the quieting shock. Something isn't right.

I can also remember standing in the middle of a major highway shut down during rush hour.  A sniper has been randomly shooting at traffic. I feel so eerily out of place. There should be traffic noise, not gunshots and concussion bombs.  

In both cases I want to WHISPER for no good reason.

So today there is no constant drone of heavy equipment on the hill behind me. The waves in my water glass have gone to calm. There is no wind carrying dust to attack my sinuses. All the dogs along the back fence are struck dumb.  Really, for the first time since they broke ground out here, I can clearly see what they've done.

Oh my! Can I see what they've done! I don't want to WHISPER. I WANT TO SHOUT.

Like the BullyDozers I'm going to take a break here. I want to let some thoughts gel. I hope you'll come back. It's not going to be nearly as dismal and forboding as I'm teasing it. I've just taken in a ton (hyperbole) of impressions and need to let them take form.  Kind of like building a highway, eh? Talk to you soon.

Well, I'm back.  I'm actually up on the hill noting a total absence of life.  I think that's what's getting to me.  Nothing is crawling, nothing is smelling, nothing is growing, nothing is breathing.

I can see some evidence of past life. There are weather formed stones of varying sizes popping up every once in while in the lifeless dirt. Something must have been going on here over time. Amid the shades of brown, gray and white, you can be left to imagine what lived here in other eons. ( They did find a wooly mamoth  or a mastodon in a construction site less than two miles from here.)

Actually you don't have to think back that far?

[SEE PICTURE TWO]

 Just two months ago I was looking up at an admittedly desert-like landscape.  There were lots of yuccas and scrubby pasture grass.  And there were rabbits, coyotes, cattle, a llama, an occasional antelope, joggers, kids exploring, sandlot golfers working on their drives, and lovers holding hands walking up to watch the sunset. 

Now? Nothing! This hill defines DEAD!

You know? I think I'm going to welcome the BullyDozers back. They are at least alive.  And maybe I can convince one of them to PLANT something, ANYTHING! Even a dandelion will do.

Whoa!

I can't believe I'm about to say this so I'm going to WHISPER it. "Even highway traffic will be an improvement over THIS! Sorry, I hope I didn't wake you up."