The stars were crystal clear and close enough to touch this morning as we headed out for chores. I made it just outside the door when I stopped, looked up and marveled at how big and close the stars seemed to be.

The sky was a deep, navy blue but quickly faded to black as I changed my focus to the stars. They twinkled a good morning and I realized how warm it was for January.

The pump jumped to life in the barn and I glanced that way to see the lights in the milk house, glowing a candlelight yellow in the darkness.

I joined my family and saw that the cows were up, milkers were put on and the milk was flowing.

I gave a round of good mornings and leaving the barn, I headed toward the shed to start the skid loader and the 4020. I’d start my morning with mixing up feed for the cows.

Hopping up on the open cab tractor, I pulled down the throttle, twisted the key and layed on the rubbery start button. The 4020 roared to life, surely enjoying the warm morning as well.

Backing out of the darkness of the shed, dawn broke and the stars faded, and the sunrise peeked over the trees to the east of our farm. I stopped to snap a photo, framed with our two silver bins.

Jumping in the skid loader, I headed down to the barn to get some hay. I tossed the bale in my bucket, snapped the strings with my knife, pulled them into loops and knotted them.

Stepping up over the bale and twisting as I sat in the cab, I pulled the door shut and turned my hand to the left. I swung around to the East, and the now brighter sunrise caught my gaze. I reached again for my phone and clicked a photo with our calf building, hovering over the glowing light.

Revving down to the bunker, I flipped the hay into the TMR and turned to the North to scoop up some haylage. Pink clouds flashed to my right and I stopped again to admire the now red and deep gray sky, behind the tractor and over the bags.

I kept an eye on my scale as I weighed out the haylage, flipping it into the TMR. Perfect! Turning, I headed to the earlage bag.

As I rounded the corner by the oat bin, the skid loader came to a halt. I opened the door to a sunrise that my camera couldn’t do justice, but snapped one last picture and sat there to take it in.

I thought, “Man, anyone still in bed sure is missing one great morning!”