A great story from Donnie...

I was resting on the porch after five hours burning brush. I had no more than cleaned up and settled down when we got more than an inch of rain.  Perfect timing, extinguishing the end of my bonfire and refreshing the atmosphere, and myself. 

As I sat on the porch, surrounded by quiet woods, a mockingbird alighted on a tree branch in front of me. He flitted a moment, then dropped down and landed on the magazine in my hands! Of course I flinched, and he took off, stopping just a few feet away atop a porch cactus, to engage his own more recognizable species reflected in the window. But for that split second we were eye to eye, life to life, equals.