Beautifully cool (57°F) and clear, with a half-moon high in the northeastern sky, just alongside the Pleiades. Jupiter is still bright and high in the south; Orion is well up over the northeastern horizon. The moon was bright enough for the dogs and I to see well without any light – I could even detect the red of our new roof.
Speaking of which, Chris and the boys are back from their vacation, and they went right to work yesterday. When I got home from work they'd already left, but the roof is now more than half completed.
The three field spaniels were happily snuffling in the moonlight this morning. No signs of alarm; they were just enjoying their enthusiastic inhalations of the morning's aromas. Even I could smell the spicy chaparral aromas this morning – sage, especially, but also many other components. The crickets were almost silent for some reason (possibly it was too cool for their liking). Race, the border collie, was completely absorbed by the pine cone he'd found – he has a game he plays repetitively and compulsively. First he drops the pine cone just in front of him. Then he slowly backs a foot or so away, all the while staring at it intently. Then as soon as one of the field spaniels or I makes an inadvertent move toward the pine cone (since none of us care a whit about it), he darts in and grabs it, delighting in his victory over us. Then he does it all again...
