It took me a few minutes of doing my rounds this morning to realize that things were a bit quiet out there.

Too quiet.

The roosters weren’t crowing and the hens weren’t clucking up a storm, which is not normal. Usually they are as noisy as, well, a hen house, as they take turns going in and out of their nesting boxes all morning. They were perfectly content and barely made a sound as I threw them their feed and opened their pens up to go out to the pasture.

I made my way through each area of the yard, collecting peas and cucumbers and flowers for my vase from the wildflower patch. I stopped to set my harvest basket on the steps and took a minute to admire the new red lily blooming by the front pond…

It’s quite tenacious!

Next, I made my way out around to the back to check on the new willow shrubs we planted recently, which are doing great (yay!).

The pups ran over to see me, but didn’t make a sound.

What the??

They weren’t even hinting at doing a boisterous pre-breakfast round of “awrooooo!”s, which is just not like them at all! Usually I’m shushing them while reassuring them that I do still love them and I didn’t forget about them since we last saw each other just nine hours earlier.

The entire pack were eerily quiet, in fact. The inside pups went out and did their business without stirring up a fuss…

…and the outside pups came in and settled right down.

Well, all except Tonka, who knows I made oatmeal cookies last night and is quietly giving me telepathic messages to share some with him…

Even the antique clock isn’t donging this morning because the donger needs rewinding so it’s just quietly tick-tocking on the wall.

IT IS SO DANG QUIET and I love it.

It’s not just our house that’s eerily quiet this morning, either.

The construction behind us is done for now and all the new houses have either been sold or are up on the market, so the neighborhood itself is super tranquil again. No early morning beep-beep-beeping or clang-clang-clanging.

The trash guy ran yesterday so no squeaky breaks going up and down the street.

The family with nine (!) little kids moved two weeks ago so no noise from across the street.

I know it won’t last but I am going to enjoy it while I can! 🙂