Of course, the night isn’t silent. The warmer seasons have their choirs of insects, chirping and other bug noises. There are automobile sounds cars racing off, an ambulance or cop. car. I remember once neighbours making love (having sex) with their windows open.

There are nights when I cannot fall asleep. Tonight , for example, is such a night. I’m watching the railroad tracks in Ashland on You Tube, hoping a train passes by. Most likely a freight train will pass, with the banal box cars and tanker cars. of today. There are few poetic reminders of the railroading past . No SCL or Milwaukee Road or Soo Line. Just the dull yellow of the leasing company that owns them.

Railroad executives aren’t poets. Maybe they wish they were. It’s a tough job keeping these monsters fed and moving. Lots of railroad execs went to Michigan , so blue and yellow are CSX’s colors, same as The Wolverines.

I watched The Golden Girls tonight.My Mom liked that show, and it really was a good show. I should have told Mom she had good taste while she was alive. I miss her.

This is why there are nights, with bug noises and heat pumps and refrigerators all doing their bits to shatter silence.