I couldn't catch a decent night sleep these days if I was equipped with a decent night sleep catcher in a town full of sleep. Up early, down late. My least favorite combination. It leaves not enough "me" time.
This morning, it is my fault that I am up at 6:00 and not 7:00 because after all it is I who is responsible to check the time on the alarm rather than just turn it on. I needed to be up by 6:00 yesterday.
I set my alarm as a worst case scenario, because I don't usually sleep all the way to the alarm. I put it in my head what time I want to get up and then I get up. Today was a surprise. There is no going back for me once the alarm goes off. I was up.
Atticus had been pestering me for a couple hours anyhow, wanting me to put him out. As soon as he hears the first bird chirp, he wants to go. Since it was cool last night for the first time in awhile, we slept with the windows open rather than having the air on. The knock on effect was Atticus could hear the birds that much earlier.
He becomes rather relentless. Even after being pushed off the bed, he just pops right back up. It's like a game to him. Felix was the same way, bless his dead heart. In his case, though it was because he wanted food. Now. Always. Food. He could have lived in a bird house at the zoo and never once even looked up. He would have starved to death before he thought to eat a bird.
Atticus plucks them out of the sky with regularity. I have thought about trying to discourage or correct this behavior, but then I remembered he's a cat. It's what he does. I tried to come up with a punchy little memorable piece of front porch wisdom on that, but I just this second had my first sip of coffee, so I'm not all here.
In fact, I just remember this blentry is about sleep, or lack thereof, not cats and dead birds or dead cats and birds or whatever it is I just wrote. Sorry for wasting your time being off-topic. I shall immediately commence wasting your time back on topic.
Summer is hard for me to sleep because it is light up until 10 o'clock and early at 5. Maybe I have farmer's blood, I just am typically tied to the sun, whatever the sun is doing. Don't get me wrong, I am not pining for the days to recede in autumn's pernicious grasp that leads to dreaded winter. I do truly wish I could live in endless summer but I love my wife and my wife loves "seasons", so it is a fact of life for me.
As I sip my coffee and go over my day in the background while I spill my guts out onto the blog, I remember we have dentist appointments this morning at a new dentist. Yeah! And then I get to go back down to the Southwest corner of the state for the nth time in a few days. I have gotten out of the habit of driving 300 miles a day. It is an easy habit to break.
So, I am glad I had this extra hour. I could write a nonsensical blog post, drink a sip of coffee, listen to Atticus scratch to get back in (because he thinks every time he leaves and comes back the food fairy visited which only happens twice a day in reality, but if I remember my Pavlov that's enough to reinforce the behavior) only so I can show him the food bowl is empty so he can immediately scratch to get back out.
What is that they say? Dogs have masters and cats have staff? Oh, and... check your alarm, dummy.
No comments:
Post a Comment