“I think insomnia is a sign that a person is interesting.”
The morning is perfectly beautiful and amazingly quiet. It is already 71°. The branches over the deck leave shadows across the wood, highlighted by the brightness of the sun. I hear nothing except a few birds and the clicking of Gracie’s tags when she runs around the backyard. The deck is almost clean of pollen. I took the hose to it yesterday and drenched my pants and flip-flops in the process. The table still needs a bit of cleaning as do the backs of the chairs, but the rest are summer ready.
Last night was the strangest night. I didn’t go to bed until 1:00, and I couldn’t get to sleep. I kept hearing the noise I’ve been hearing the last few nights. I had already figured out a mouse was up to something, but I had to figure out what it was. I decided the sound was metal against glass. I knew then the mouse was probably cleaning the cat food cans in the eaves where I keep Fern and Maddie’s dishes safe from the dog. I turned on the light and opened the door to the eaves, but, of course, he was gone. I put the cans in a new garbage bag and brought it out of the eaves then went back to bed. The next sound was easily identified. It was the bag of dried cat food. The mouse had moved to something new. I turned on the light again, got up and went into the eaves and took away the bag. The sound disappeared. I then heard scratching, and I gave up figuring that one out. I also gave up figuring out why Fern and Gracie could sleep through all of this and never even hear the mouse. By this time it was 2:30, and I still couldn’t sleep. Gracie had deserted me for the rug forced out of bed by my restlessness. I settled back into bed, turned off the light and Gracie returned. She started dreaming, making a muted barking sound and moving her legs. I called her name and she got quiet. I think I fell asleep, but I woke up again, and it was still dark, but I didn’t know the time. The electricity was off. I didn’t care and finally fell asleep.
This morning I came downstairs, and it was around 8, too soon to be awake, and I found the rest of the house had electricity. I knew then I needed to go to the breaker box in the cellar. I pushed every breaker then went up two flights of stairs to make sure all was well. It was. Electricity had returned to my room. I then came back down the stairs and reset all the devices which were now blinking furiously. I made myself coffee and finally settled into the morning. That brings us right to now.
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May 27, 2012 at 10:35 am
We have had and still have a very nice day today. Around 75 and a nice breeze is blowing. I too were up late last night but to watch the Eurovison song contest that we won 🙂 But that You already know. I’ve only slept four hours so I should be rather tired by now but I’m not. I’ll sleep like a baby tonight 🙂
I haven’t heard any sounds from mice since the first heat wave this early spring. I guess they still are there but they might have moved out to a summer home? It could be Bertil eating them all as well naturally but I doubt that.
Have a great day!
Christer.
May 27, 2012 at 11:12 am
Christer, firstly congratulations for Swedens big victory last night . You also did a great job posting the videos on your site, thank you very much.
I must ask if Loreen garnered votes for a shirt that was lacking in material. how could poor old Englebert match up with the obvious charms of your representative ?
And now we must get ready for the showdown between England and Sweden in the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament. Let’s hope that we both beat France !
congratulations again and thanks so much for posting the videos
May 27, 2012 at 12:42 pm
Thank You 🙂 To bad about Engelbert though, he did deserve better. There were songs that was really bad that got to many points from neighbors 🙂
It might have been the lack of cloth that gave us those critical votes 🙂 I think that Engelbert with less cloth most possibly would have given him the absolute last place 🙂 🙂 🙂
As long as we both beat France I’m happy 🙂 But it’s always a torn feeling when meeting England. I really want us to win but I really don’t like it when England loose 🙂
Since most of those visiting my blog comes from USA I thought they should learn something about European music culture when it is as best 🙂 🙂 🙂
Have a great day!
Christer.
May 27, 2012 at 1:09 pm
Christer,
If we can both get out of the group stages it would be great. Candidly I still haven’t recovered from South Africa.
I hope that your USA visitors are educated by by scantily clad and the dancing grannies
May 27, 2012 at 1:13 pm
Christer,
Thanks for poosting the acts, especially The Grannies. They were a hoot.
I tried to take a nap but just couldn’t fall asleep. Like you, I’ll sleep well tonight.
I have a have-a heart trap for mice somewhere in the cellar. I’m going to dig it out and get it ready.
Sleep well tonight!
May 27, 2012 at 11:01 am
Hi Kat,
I haven’t heard any mice sounds lately but I assume that they are staying down in the cellar where they belong. No squirrels either.
I didn’t go to bed until midnight last night and I woke up at 4:30 AM so am sort of in the same state of mind. Nothing is planned for the rest of today except finishing up putting winter clothes away and getting summer stuff out. After that I will do nothing at all except read and obey the dog’s requests for egress and ingress (if that is a word). Maybe I will put off the clothes stashing until tomorrow. Procrastination is my best talent.
Hope you have a chance to catch up on the lost sleep.
May 27, 2012 at 1:15 pm
Hi Caryn,
I am going to the dump then I need a couple of things at the grocery store, but that will be it for the day.
Ingress sounds just fine to me.
I am still tired, and my poor nap attempt made it worse. Now I’m going to bring the wash upstairs, put it away and then head out. Maybe when I get home I’ll be tired.
The lights upstairs went out again!
May 27, 2012 at 11:25 am
For some reason I can’t sleep past six in the morning regardless of how late I go to sleep. It must be that I don’t require as much sleep as I did when I was young. My 15 year old son can sleep 12 hours every day. I remember sleeping until noon on the weekends when I was in college. Of course drinking several bottles of beer until well after midnight probably didn’t encourage early rising. I could try the same remedy today but they would only go directly to my expanding waistline.
Our old house had an infestation of roof rats. These rodents would scurry around in the attic at night and had an appetite for electrical wire insulation. Tossing a few bags of special rat poison in the attic solved the problem. I had to make sure that the stuff not only killed the varmints but also disintegrated their remains so that they didn’t rot inside the walls of the house and stink up the place. Having cats and dogs precludes the use of the trusty mouse trap. I can’t imagine the damage a trap could do to the snout of a family pet.
This morning we feasted on fresh bagels with lox and cream cheese. Nothing else, in my estimation, goes better with a cup of good black coffee. I may head back into the kitchen for my third helping. I just have to decide which flavor bagel to try this time. At my age I would rather expand my waistline with bagels and lox instead of beer.
May 27, 2012 at 1:18 pm
Bob,
I’m so glad I can sleep later than 6. After all the years of getting up at 5, I deserve a later morning. I think you’re right about not needing as much sleep. Like you, I remember those late, late mornings after a night of cheap wine and too many parties.
The traps I have are Have-a-Heart. I take the live but caught mouse for a long car ride and then introduce it to its new home. I caught several that way a few years ago. I still have the trap somewhere.
I love bagels but am not a lox fan. I’ve tried it a couple of times but didn’t care for it either time. I love onion bagels the best.
May 27, 2012 at 2:32 pm
You may want to either try lox cream cheese, where the lox flavor is disguised in the cheese, or smoked salmon. Smoked salmon can be purchased in Costco and it has a milder and less salty flavor. Lox is as close as I can come to Sushi.
May 27, 2012 at 2:34 pm
Bob,
Thanks for the suggestion on lox cream cheese. That I could give a try. I love fish except for salmon and sardines. I don’t know why as I don’t like salomn as I eat all sorts of fish. I know why I don’t eat sardines-I find them disgusting.
May 27, 2012 at 11:55 am
So many sleep songs for you to choose from, but I’m surprised this Coffee-fave artist didn’t make the cut: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy8hK3blQOQ
May 27, 2012 at 12:07 pm
Im6
My iPad wouldn’t load it..something to do with QVC ?
May 27, 2012 at 12:51 pm
Nope… nothing QVC worthy. Just something by Mark Oliver Everett’s band. But that did lead me to this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SBpPA21m0Fo
Just for you, MDH
May 27, 2012 at 1:04 pm
Blinking Lights ? huh ? Huh ? Saw the tour with strings, totally fab gear
May 27, 2012 at 1:19 pm
im6,
Thank you-I totally forgot that song or it would have been played today. It’s a great one!
May 27, 2012 at 2:26 pm
im6,
Okay, I’m going to write you when I’m working on a theme. I haven’t ever heard that Beach Boy song before this. It is such a perfect summer song as well!
May 27, 2012 at 3:06 pm
We have our first Hurricane or Tropical Storm moving in and the outter bands have already darkened the sky. I need to shut down my puter. They are predicting six inches of rain tonight. I love rain. Great post today Kat. You certainly know all the right things to do to keep things up and running.
May 27, 2012 at 6:06 pm
Z&Me,
I heard about the tropical storm on the weather last night. Nothing wrong with a good soaking, but I hope there’s not much wind!
Take care!!
May 27, 2012 at 11:07 pm
Are you sure it’s just a mouse and not a boogywoogy sheep?
May 27, 2012 at 11:36 pm
Birgit,
I would love it if they were boogywoogy tap dancing sheep!
May 28, 2012 at 6:38 am
Rubber Ducky 🙂
May 28, 2012 at 2:36 am
I’ve never given much thought to sleep. It was just something that happened when I was dead tired. Always envied those that enjoyed their sleep so much. My sister has always been one and my son another. Both sleep smiling.
In the past I’ve thought sleep, or at least the kind that was absolutely not required, to be a waste of time. I would much rather be up doing something that wasting that extra hour or two in bed.
Not so much lately though. For some reason I am becoming quite fond of lying there dozing off and on for an hour or two before I arise. Something about the warmth and dawn seems quite inviting. But I do miss watching the sun rise. I’ve been up on the roof only one morning since I’ve been here to see the sun rise, but saw only a sand storm moving in.
The last few nights though have been a bit troubling. My dreams are taking me back to all the foolishness and mistakes I’ve made in the last 60 or so. Don’t know why the torment, I suffered enough doing them originally. At least I think so. But I do wonder if perhaps it might be a foretelling of things to come. I’ve always heard that folks on their way to the bright white light, often see their lives flash before them. I certainly hope that’s not the case. It is tormenting though.
Really liked your tale (tail) of the mouse. They really are such interesting creatures. And seem to be one of those creatures put here on this earth to clean up our messes. Or at least what they think to be our messes. If they would only do something about our dreams!
Carl
May 28, 2012 at 3:30 pm
Carl,
I love to sleep, especially naps. They seem like the height of luxury to have the time to sleep in the afternoon.
When I worked, I was up at 5 every day. In the winter it was dark, and it was dark when I got home. I was a mole. Now I get up when I do. It seems that 8 hours is what my body prefers, and I feel better for it.
I think as we get older we often reflect on ours lives. It’s natural to worry about how we lived and hope it was a good life. I think people who see their lives flash before them are facing a bullet or sure death. I don’t believe the average person lining his life does. You must have jogged something which has you delving into your dusty memory drawers.
Mice here are not a convenience. They tend to be destructive, especially in my kitchen caginet and drawer. Tune in tomorrow for the tale (tail?) of another mouse!