Lazy Days of Summer
After a week of weather so hot even the scorpions are wearing grocery store straw hats it was time to get back in the mountains. After a quick trip up over the Sierra I pull up to one of my usual camps at Mono Lake. The next morning I woke up at 7000 feet, it was 52 degree’s, I put on the thermals and made some coffee. A refreshing change from the egg cooker temperatures back in the San Joaquin valley.
That afternoon, just as it was pushing eighty, I broke out the USB fan preparing for a warm afternoon. Out of the blue, and I do mean out of the blue, clouds quickly gathered and it started to rain. Wearing only some flip flops and a ball cap, I ventured outside to enjoy the sudden change. The mountain rain is cold on a naked body. Its interesting how easy it is to come by pleasure when you leave the luxury of modern life behind.
After some dinner I jumped in the truck and did a little exploring down along the lake.
I came across a heard of sheep tentatively picking their way through the sagebrush looking for grass. Their Herder, a man from South America, was holed up in a nearby small trailer . The Herders use those tall quonset hut shaped rigs. Often you can see a smoke stack popped out of the roof. I have seen a few of these guys herding sheep in the Eastern Sierra but this is the first I have seen one at Mono.
Later that night I am back in the trailer. Brian Eno is quietly filling the nearby space when I heard an unusual rhythm in the background. I shut off the stereo and walked outside. The sound appears to be coming from the other side of Hwy 120, up towards Bald Mountain. My first thought is that its a lost group of Burners having a drum circle. I focus on the rhythm and realize the beat is much too complicated for that.
Slowly, it dawns on me. The musicians playing the complicated poly rhythms are the sheep, their little cow bells bouncing around as they passed through the forest on their way to another meadow. Another sweet memory generated, I sat back and listened to the music fade as the sky grew dark.
