Still Living Despite What the Owl Says

Back on the road today, our maiden voyage in the new truck. It has had some nerve racking moments for me, but overall OK. This truck is an 18 speed, where as the other one was a 10 speed. So the shifting pattern is different and I'm having trouble adjusting.

However, there's a short 150 miles left to our destination and I'm still alive. Based on a little occurrence this morning, I'd say that's a miracle of sorts....that is is would be if I were a superstitious person. Let me explain.

Last night I took a few moments to read a little of my current book. (If you want a full review of the book, click on its picture in the side bar.) In short the story is in part about an Apache girl. In the portion I read last night, the girl wakes in the night and hears an owl and is frightened. According to the author, in Apache beliefs, if you hear an owl then someone is going to die. Even worse, is to hear the owl, and then see it fly across your path. If this happens, then you are the one that is going to die.



The alarm clock went off around 6:00 this morning and I thumped the snooze and lay there for a while listening to a very slow drizzle of rain on the metal roof, trying to avoid getting up. And suddenly I heard an owl calling, quite close. We hear them frequently in the trees that are in the surrounding area, but our 10 acres is open and most of the land immediately bordering us is as well, so the owls are always heard, but distant. I rolled over and glanced out our open bedroom window and there he sat. A Great Horned Owl was sitting on the ridge of our garage roof, just yards away from the bedroom window. He sat there and hoo-hooed a number of times while I watched, and immediately the part of the story I read last night came to mind. How strange that I should read that, and then wake up to an owl.

And then suddenly, he turned and seemed to look directly at me, though I'm sure he was looking at the house itself, and lifted up on his silent wings. He flew directly at me, and it almost seemed as though he were going to fly right through the bedroom window, only he pulled up at the last minute, and I saw his shadow float across the window and floor as he passed and landed on the roof right above our heads, where he sat for a while longer continuing his morning serenade.


Like I said its a good thing I'm not superstitious because if I were, I'd have had a miserable day awaiting my eminent death. But I'm not, so I was able to snicker at the coincidence with amusement, and then enjoy the wonder and awe of such a close encounter with one of these allusive animals God created. It was an awesome way to start the day.


The truck is really cool, though like I said, the whole shifting thing is weird. But we'll get used to it. Other than that, we're already getting 6.5 miles per gallon, where as we averaged 5.8 with the old truck, and this one isn't even broke in yet. And the sleeper portion is amazing. One wouldn't think 14 inches would make a significant difference, but we feel like we have a castle back there. There is so much room! And we have been playing with the remote door locks, the sun roof that opens, and our new trailer lights that we added all day. We splurged on this truck and got a few luxuries. Well....we LIVE in it...so I guess we figured there wasn't any harm in making it really nice for ourselves. I mean when your confined to an 86 inch fiberglass box for a home...might as well have it be really comfy!

We're delivering just east of here in Minnesota in the morning. From there...who knows? That's one thing that is really fun about this job. Everyday is a mystery, and every trip holds something new to discover and enjoy.