Night Routines

If you visit here often, you will know that my nights are a series of naps. It 's my bedfellows. Those furry critters I love so much. Every night is not the same, but similar.

Last night I was up at midnight:thirty with the old guy, Oscar. He wanted to pee one last time and get a drink of water. It is very quiet and I counted the licks one time (78). Cujo joins us for the outside part, then scurries back to the bedroom to wait for a lift up into the warm covers.

Wall-E is always in my spot upon my return. He always looks apologetic, as if to say he was just saving my place. He scurries out of the way and I crawl back into bed to recapture the slumber I left waiting. Toni Louise never gets up for the midnight adventures. She sometimes raises her head and looks as I am settling in, but she knows that night time is sleep time.

I sleep blissfully until I hear the cat flip the shade up at the window. I look over to see him standing there with his head under the shade, looking like a statue of a decapitated animal. I have tried hissing at him and shooing him away, but he is determined to go outside, no matter the frigid temperatures. He will meow and cry until I slip out of the bed and walk to the back door, where he seems to appear out of nowhere. I open the door and he slips out into the early morning darkness. It is 4:22 am.

Yawning, I shuffle back to bed to move the apologetic Wall-E out of my space and crawl back into bed. I doze off as I feel Cujo wiggling under the blanket to nestle next to me. Oscar used to do that, but he prefers to maintain some space around his self these days.

Before I know it, it is 8:30! I hear Oscar sneeze three times in a row and feel Cujo stretch next to me. This is my signal to rise up and carry Oscar to the back door (old men can't hold their pee, you know). He scurries out with Cujo and I hit the brew button on the coffee maker before I head to the bathroom (old women have bladder issues, as well). I open the door to find a trio waiting to enter. Martha, the boy cat and the two doxies.

Oscar is usually hungry, but he heads back to my bedroom this morning. Being the good dog mom that I am, I go back to bed with my babies. I was just going to lay there long enough for the coffee to brew. A good plan.

Wall-E looks resigned as he makes room for me. He goes over to He Who sleeps peacefully through the night and noses his way under the covers. Toni Louise has decided she needs some face time with me and she pushes all obstacles, breathing or not, out of her path as she comes to rest at me neck.

Toni Louise is not one to be ignored. She settles in, then uses her front paw to move my hand to her side. I smooth her silky fur and murmur "good girls" in her ear. She watches me with one eye, so close to my face that we are breathing each other's breath. I try pushing her away, but she is having none of that. She keeps pulling my hand back to rest on her. There is nothing to do, but satisfy her petting requirements.

At some point her self esteem has been quenched and she settles in with her body next to mine and her head on my arm ........ and we both fall to sleep! Until 11:01!!!

Don't remember my dreams today, but I woke up wondering why 'snow' is spelled with a 'w'. It should be an 'e'. And 'shoe' should be 'shoo'. Makes no sense, the English language!