No Naps Allowed

Rainy, stormy and chilly. For the past several days. I think. One day seems to blend into the next and I lose all concept of time. Tomatoes and apples rule my world. Everyday finds me sorting the ripe, the almost ripe and the slightly ripening tomatoes. The ripe gets processed and frozen.

I finally used the last of the apples yesterday in a pie. All the rest were juiced and made into cider. The ones I culled out for the pie were in a bowl on the kitchen table. Mr. Martha decided to knock them down and roll them off the table and onto the floor for the dogs to play with. I lost a few to that. Toni Louise loves her some apples. Wall-E and Oscar just wanted to maul theirs. Martha just wanted to watch the dogs get in trouble. Just like a cat.

I think this happened yesterday. He who tows has been busy. Rain and wind seem to bring out the people who shouldn't even be driving in good weather. Last night was awful. Seems like every time I managed to get to sleep, he would get a call. He tries so hard to be quiet. I always wake up. When the phone rings, he literally leaps up from his sleep. Makes me think of those old military movies where the soldiers would jump to attention upon the appearance of an officer. He stands there by the bed and mumbles into the phone as he looks frantically for his clothes. The clothes he left in the sitting room on his chair, so he can dress without waking me.

By now I am fully awake, as he tip-toes out of our bedroom. He usually bumps into the bathroom door as he tries to navigate without light. All my senses are awake and working. I hear everything, every little bump in the night. I listen as he dresses and leaves the building. Wall-E, who sleeps next to his master is now pacing along the foot of the bed.

He marches to and fro until I growl at him. He settles on Papa's pillow and we all try to go back to sleep. Oscar and Toni Louise have hardly been disturbed and go right back to sleep ..... unless they decide a trip outside is in order. Wall-E and I toss and turn restlessly as we search for that gentle slumber that has been so rudely interrupted.

I feel like I have just gotten to sleep when Wall-E jumps to the floor to greet Papa, who has apparently arrived home. This wakes Toni Louise who joins him on the floor to tap dance as they wait for the master of the house. He shushes them in a stage whisper before a visit to the bathroom and finally returns to bed.

He manages to go right back to sleep. Wall-E gently lifts the edge of Papa's covers and squirms in to turn around and stick only his little black nose outside the blanket. Content with the world. I am still awake, as all my bed partners drift off. I ponder all the problems of the universe and solve many as I lay sleepless.

Suddenly, it all happens again, like a perverse Ground Hog day. Or, night. After his second adventure in towing last night, he decided to employ a small flashlight as he entered the bedroom. Thoughtful? Not so much. I happened to be fully awake after the tap recital performed by the dogs. It shined directly into my brain, like the light the doctor shines in your eyes. He continued with the flashlight as he tried to unset the alarm on his cell phone.

In spite of his efforts, the alarm went off on cue and I simply got up and made coffee, took the dogs out and started my day. I dressed in the dark and made sure the room darkening shade was in place so that he could sleep a little longer. The alarm did not awaken him.

As I sat and sipped the first cup of coffee, he got another call. Now on my fourth cup of coffee I am finally coming to life. I would love to think there is a nap in my future, but it is Friday ..... in a kampground. Oktoberfest is in full swing. No nap for me.