Midnight Walk

Well it was almost midnight when we went for our walk. We normally go out about 11pm for the dogs last walk before bedtime and to check on the horses one last time. Tonight lee decided to stay in, so it was just me and the dogs, Nikki, Codee, and Tuffee. We had about 2 inches of snow at about noon today. There is still a good cloud cover but not any moisture coming down. And not much wind at the moment. It was really still out there, the kind of weather that makes it so that you can hear every little sound.
I could hear a child fussing in a house a couple of hundred yards away. I heard a car door shut a good block away. A pickup going west on the nearest paved road sounded as if it was right beside us.
Snow crunched and squeaked under my feet. Star pony snorted, a thud in Sonny's stall sounded as if he had pushed his feeder against the wooden wall. Codee startled everyone with a loud bark at the moon. My voice seemed overly loud as well when I told her to hush. I squeaked the snow some more as I looked in all the heated water buckets to see if any needed additional water in them for the night. There was a soft, low whinny from my mini horse, Stormy. I also took a look at the 3 little piles of alfalfa hay I had left out near the corner of the shed where the cottontail rabbits go in and out under it. No it didn't look like they had eaten any. We had seen a rabbit out in the snow earlier that day. There are way to many rabbits around here but I still can't help but put out a bit of hay for them when it is really cold and wet. The thermometer read 25 degrees when I came out.
I looked up at the moon which was hazy with the clouds over it. I had seen a planet shining real bright right under it a few nights ago but couldn't see it tonight. Nor could I see any stars.
As I watched the moon a coyote yipped nearby. The neighbors dog answered it. Then all was quiet, so very, very quiet. As I listened for any sound I faintly heard way, way off the whistle of a train as it followed the railroad tracks that run near to the Rio Grande River as it winds and twists through nearby Albuquerque, and the smaller communities of Corrales, and Alameda. As I listen it whistles again a bit louder.
It seems odd or just weird that I can hear the train that I know is at least 10 miles away from where I live. Normally I can't. Normally there is just to much noise. I breath a big sigh taking in a lung full of the moist, night air that has changed the way the sounds are tonight.
The breeze picks up and cuts right though the 2 pairs of sweat pants I have on, and even through my heavy jacket and gloves.
Time to go in.