“Remoted” – Workday 145 / Day 212 (Wednesday)

Tuesday overnight was another night of interrupted sleep. There are long ago stretches of years and chapters of life where sleep was regularly shattered by nightmares or the stretches of insomnia that visited for several weeks each April and October. Now, it’s the Canine Overlords who are the thieves of sleep.

This time, Winston was the instigator needing to go out at the wee and glorious time of 2:30. He was standing next to the bed, doing his very polite “whisper bark” where he blows air out of his mouth that seems like his version of a human “ahem,” and marked the second night of him needing to potty, which is unusual. Of the three beings in the house, Winnie, until this week, was the one that managed to sleep solidly from 10 or 11 pm until 6 am.

Before bed, at the magic usual bedtime of 10 pm, which Moose still recognizes, the two dogs were staring at me as if to say, “excuse us, lady, but are were not going to bed?” They went outside and I brushed my teeth, two key pre-bed rituals. When Moose came in, he parked himself behind the office chair, near the treats, knowing that there is always a treat before heading up to bed. I told him to wait a minute, went back into the living room, got busy on the computer, and suddenly, it was 10:30. Moose, usually by my side, was nowhere in sight. He was sitting perfectly composed, still as a statue, still behind the desk chair near the cookies.

Bed hogs.

When we go upstairs to bed, there is an entire circus of routines and rituals before sleeping. Before we head upstairs, three biscuits are broken to make six or eight smaller bits which are carried upstairs. As I change into pajamas, the boys sit on the floor at the end of the bed and then we work on “stay” and then “paw” earns a biscuit bit. I walk across the room while they “stay” and I wait until it starts to feel weirdly long and tell them to “come.” Then it’s “paw,” and “other paw,” and the payment of the final biscuit bits and then we can go to bed. We used to also work on “up” where Moose would balance on his hind legs and twirl, but he’s too old for that now. They both need help getting onto the bed, and by the time they are on it and I get in, there is barely any room left in the bed for me. 

The Prime truck delivered the new mailbox ordered Tuesday and the hot cocoa packets ordered on the weekend. The regular mail included my mail-in ballot requested in August, so it’s time to finally read the booklet with the breakdown of the ballot questions. I’ve sat down with it three, maybe four times since it arrived, fully intending to read it, and never gotten beyond the inside cover page.

Mini, wee apple pies!

After work, the apple mini pies debated over the weekend were finally brought forth from the oven. Brown sugar and pears were added to the recipe in my own little flourish, and they are tasty little things. The refrigerated crust makes them quick and easy enough, so apple season just gained another treat. 

Hopefully, tonight will be full of long sleep and dreams of new mailboxes and tasty little pies served with cups of steaming hot cocoa. But even if it’s the usual night of one or both dogs either growling, barking, or whisper barking, it still beats the old insomnia and nightmares.