Where the moss dampens the sounds, so that your ears can hear the mist.

This has been a cold summer on the beach and in the mountains. Something is wrong with the weather. Every day starts with a steady, dull mist and it's hard to know what time it is. Different light comes in through the redwood canopy because it's summer, but it's clammy underneath the branches and the ground is covered in a new moss and with four leaf clovers that aren't usually there.


I wanted to walk down a ridge trail that drops for a while, straight down to the creek. I slid much of the way down on my ass. It's not very well used, and a bit out of the way. Probably the only people that take that trail are ones that know the way to the secret cave. I know the way, but if I told you, then I'd have to kill you. The last time I went in, it was too scary to ever go in again. It's full of thick, red mud and horrible, fanged spiders and the only way in it is by slithering like a snake.

Only once did I hear voices in the forest yesterday, but I think it was just owls. For a while, we hid under a root bank at the creek where the trail dropped in to, and waited to see if anyone else was in there. This isn't a well used forest, one climbs a couple fences to get into it and dashes through a clearing where dogs best stay out of sight. It was good to be in this forest. Gustavo had a freakout meltdown the other day after practicing agility, one like he hasn't had in a long time and the kind I thought was gone forever. There was a perfect storm of too many sounds that all happened at once, and his brain exploded and he forgot he was my dog and had a panic. He seemed better in the forest yesterday, where it was quiet except for wind and owls. I hope that it fixed him.