Before Sunrise

The early hours of
each day are interesting
in so many ways

~ carliewired

I was up making my morning coffee just after 3 AM. I caught sight of an unusual cluster of lights above my mountains in the east. It was the convergence of five planets that I'd heard discussed on the radio. I'd missed the optimal viewing time yesterday due to cloudy skies. Today they were very clear. 

I left the house just after 4 heading off to the airport. I was surprised to see so many lights there. The strobe light on the control tower was active. There were red ground lights on along the runways and a pickup drove over the runways, perhaps to scare off birds. We have no originating flights from our airport and it was too early for an arrival. No aircraft came or went while I was there this morning. I am very curious.

I parked by Vantage Point to get a view over the river to my mountains. I've not seen the float plane dock sitting so high in the river. The ramp to the dock has been blocked to keep people off the dock. It has no railings and the river is running very fast. Our rivers rose 12 inches over Thursday night. 

I sat in my car waiting for the sun to come up and light up the valley. A white vehicle came along and I noticed a big, dark dog trailing behind it. I've never before seen anyone 'walking' their dog while driving their car. The car went to the end of the road and came back with the dog following it. The car stopped near the float plane dock and a woman got out in pajamas, a house coat and fuzzy slippers. The dog sniffed around the ramp while the woman watched for a few minutes. She got back into the car and the two continued on back to the main road. Now, I've seen everything! 

I got a shot of the sun coming over the hills. I missed shots of a beaver swimming upstream and a female merganzer moving downstream. I must say I don't do well photographing before sunrise, but the world can be most interesting then. 

I was home for 5:30 and will be looking forward to my midmorning nap. I have some office work today and probably tomorrow, too. 

We can look forward to a sunny day with a high of 28 C. My air conditioning has finally been turned on and I may need it this weekend.