Tension

So, my evening went something like this:

I watch TV, tidy up the kitchen, make coffee for morning, set the timer on the coffee pot, get the dogs outside and in their kennel for the night. Proceed upstairs, feed the cats, cover the bird, get ready for bed. Close the bedroom door.

The cats don't like this. They don't like that they cannot enter where I am and since there's no one else home to snuggle with, they start doing body slams against the door. I am sort of in and out of sleepiness and can't figure out if the noise is coming from inside the house or out. This startles me awake. I jump from the bed and my feet get cramps - not sure what that is about but it is becoming a recurrent event - and the toes on my right foot are so cramped, they are curling up towards the ceiling. I hobble into the bathroom - cats gleefully following - and proceed to stand, twist, bend, massage - anything I can think of to get my feet to uncramp and my toes to return to a 'normal' position. This takes 20 minutes.

I decide that it's probably a good idea to have a phone near my bed - after all, I am alone in a large house and while our neighborhood is pretty quiet, you never know. I retrieve the phone from the nightstand in the other bedroom and 'lo and behold, it's dead. Dead, dead, DEAD. Won't respond to any attempts to activate it. So there goes my 'security blanket'. I return to my bed and spend about an hour pondering 'should I lock the bedroom door, or shouldn't I. On the one hand, if I lock it, it will give me some 'time' to avoid an intruder by - hmm, by ....by jumping out the window onto the concrete below. Not that great of a plan but heck, I have no phone so if my home is invaded, jumping out the window may be my best shot. BUT then I think 'if I do lock the door, then it will be obvious to an intruder that there is someone in here...so maybe I shouldn't do that'. In the end, I fall asleep before I can decide.

I awake a few hours later hearing a sort of 'scratching' noise. I turn on the lamp and see a small, furry grey paw sliding under the door. Klink has realized that the body slams have completely pissed me off so he's now trying the more subtle approach. I open the door to go to the bathroom and he bolts in, victorious. I then have to use the 'treat' bottle (rattling it is my signal to the cats that I will give them a treat) to get him to exit the room. He obediently saunters back out - all 16 pounds of him - and his brother follows. They get a treat, I pee as quickly as possible and head back to my bed before they can follow me. I am moving gingerly because the slightest mis-step and odd flexing of my feet causes the cramps again and I don't want that again.

Unfortunately, the sound of the treat jar rattling upstairs has awakened the hounds who now fiercely protect me against intruders by barking their fool heads off. Dani sounds like she's ready to rip some one's head off. I quiet them down - 'shhh. Quiet. It's me. Go back to sleep.' and head back to bed. For the night. Finally.

It has rained all night and my planned activities of hanging around the yard with the dogs - me pulling weeds, planting, etc. while they do their laps around the perimeter of the yard - is foiled by wet, soggy weather.

I decide to be productive and pull out the kennel bedding - and find two socks, a few twigs, clumps of grass and 1/2 eaten cows hooves. Chloe is gleeful at the discovery of all the hooves and proceeds to play 'hoof hockey' - she picks up a hoof in her mouth and swings her head, tossing the hoof across the tile floor. This does not sit well with me because while I honestly didn't feel a single 'effect' of the banana daiquiri, my head does. I have a bit of a headache - probably from restless sleep - but the daiquiri could be a factor. I rarely drink and my body's reaction to alcohol is unpredictable. So who knows. In any event, the racket created by the hoof hockey is not sitting well with me.

A teeny tiny bit of sun is trying to come out. I will head upstairs to shower, dress and prepare for the day. I miss J. and the kids. The house is always so darn quiet when they aren't here. I look forward to these 'alone' times more than I can describe and yet, invariably, I end up just missing the guys like crazy. Can't wait to see them tomorrow.

Love you, J. Hurry home 'cuz me and the cats miss you.