The morning started out like most mornings.
Jake is as punctual as a dog can be, he starts right on time, with his usual sitting and staring me in the face until I acknowledge his presence. Ignoring him is not optional; he just escalates to the next level. He starts rubbing his shoulders back and forth on the side of the bed, jarring me to consciousness. Sometimes I can put him off by telling him it isn’t time and roll over, turning my back to him. He won’t be put off by this maneuver for long. He runs to the other side of the bed and continues his shoulder rubbing. He is persistent, but I am stubborn and only half awake. Jake escalates to the next level. He knows that this works every time. He jumps up, front paws on the bed and begins breathing in my face. Mind you, he has morning breath too.
Out the door to the food bin, dish it up and wait. The monsters “wolf” it down. They wantonly look over to me as if asking “is this it?” When they realized they have eaten their daily ration, they rush out to the yard to do things they haven’t done since last night. Meanwhile, I usually head for the shower, but not today. I am off work. My plan is to do as little as possible. I sit on the sofa for a few minutes. It is raining, and it is pelting against the windows. Calming and relaxing. I close my eyes.
Bam! I am jarred awake again. Max is scratching at the door. I am a sloth. Slowly rising to my feet, I tread over and open the door. The monsters make their entrance, insist on their ear scratch. I am too slow. They block my path until I do what is minimally required. I go back to bed. They quickly follow suit.
Apparently Mother Nature wasn’t briefed on the plan for the day. I am rudely awakened to the shrill alarm on the NOAA weather radio. I get up to silence the ear splitting warning system by pushing buttons until I find the right one. Listening to the weather bulletin, I decide I have nothing to worry about; it was already thundering and wind howling. I crawled back into bed. After punching the lumps in the pillow, I close my eyes. Trying to still my mind and drift back to sleep, the radio starts screaming “No you don’t. You are not getting to sleep through this weather.”
Resigned to not sleeping in, I make a cup of coffee; eat some yogurt, granola and cheerios. Afterwards I sit on the sofa. Max is on my right and Jake is to the left. We sit contently listening to rain and thunder. There goes the alarm again. It must have sounded off at least twenty times today (twenty times more than I wanted).
The sky darkens. I have to switch on the lamps to read. There is a steady sheet of rain pouring in front of the kitchen window. Boom! The thunder is loud. The rain is loud. The monsters’ snores are loud. The wind is loud. I listen.
When I hear the whirring sound of the refrigerator, I realize the sounds of the storm have quieted. I walk back into the bedroom and see it. Clear as day. Jake has left his muddy paw prints on the floor and has rubbed mud all over the quilt. Guess I have to get started doing chores. I took some photos of after
Hope your day is fun as mine.
The Stone Cottage on Lookout Mountain 