This is the posting I wrote to OBOL the day after 9/11/2001. We were all
feeling at loose ends, unsure what was coming next. For the first time in
our lifetimes, airplanes were absent from the skies.
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul T. Sullivan
Sent: Wednesday, September 12, 2001 10:01 PM
To: obol
Subject: Today, 100 years ago
OBOL:
This morning, following on Joel Geier's comment that only birds were flying,
I got out to see what the sky was like as it appeared 100 years ago. I
headed to Mountain Top Rd. to see if I might find the Lewis' Woodpecker
reported by Don Albright.
It was a beautiful, pleasant, fall morning on that country lane. The sun
rose to a clear blue sky with a few wispy clouds, but no contrails. [I know
there were two F-15's guarding Oregon's airspace, but I didn't see them.]
There were firs, meadows, farms, oaks, ash trees -- dawn in the country.
The chickadees, robins, and nuthatches sang as they did 100 years ago.
Someone's grandpa came by, driving too fast, perhaps because he was rushing
to see grandma, or just because all young men drive their horses too fast on
country lanes. I overlooked the utility wires with their burden of
starlings, and the poles that held them.
Someone else's grandma came by with mom in the infant basket, strapped in
the back seat of the buckboard -- a precaution in case of a horse-on
collision.
Don Albright came by in his carriage, taking his son to school. He told me
where to look for the Lewis' Woodpecker.
The sun rose and brightened the country scene. The Western Bluebird didn't
need the utility wire to sit on or the nest box on the utility pole. I
looked past the Himalayan blackberries and the Scrub Jays. Many Steller's
Jays flew between the firs. It was a peaceful scene.
I went on into work and labored to perfect color printers for the office of
today. I gave blood to a Red Cross lady who used a plastic widget with a
spring-loaded lancet to prick my finger.
After work I returned to Mountain Top Rd. to watch the sunset against the
blue, plane-free sky, with only birds flying.
100 years ago, grandpa wouldn't have had to make a special trip to look for
a Lewis' Woodpecker........
Paul T. Sullivan
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