July 23, 2014 at 2:10 p.m.
Hard to get a full night's rest (6/2/04)
Dear Reader
Is there a worse time to wake up than 4:30 a.m. when the alarm doesn’t go off until six?
That thought came to mind — repeatedly — last week.
Springtime has meant sleeping with the windows open to let in the cool night air. But cool air isn’t the only thing that gets in.
The first night of my 4:30 a.m. routine, it was a line of thunderstorms. I might have been able to sleep through the thunder and the pounding rain, but the dog wasn’t. She’s particularly sensitive to changes in atmospheric pressure, she hates thunder, and she’s spooked by wind.
And her response when a storm goes through is to seek comfort, even if her potential comforter is sound asleep.
The second night, there were no storms.
That apparently pleased the birds in the neighborhood because they decided to have a party.
At 4:30 a.m.
Right outside the bedroom window.
I was too groggy to look, but it sounded as if a goose had landed in the yard. (Honk if you’d rather put the pillow over your head and go back to sleep.)
The third night, there were no birds.
That’s probably because the neighborhood cats, looking for an early breakfast, had stationed themselves outside the bedroom window where the birds had gathered the night before.
At — you guessed it — 4:30 a.m., the feline chorus started warming up, with the worst sort of cat screeching imaginable. There wasn’t a purr or a meow to be heard. Instead, it was an ungodly cat scream.
Punching my pillow, trying not to wake up but knowing I wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep, I found myself wondering about the etymology of the word “caterwauling.” Surely, it had to originate with that noise outside my window.
The fourth night, there were no storms, there were no birds, and there were no cats.
All was right with the world.
Until 4:30 a.m., when my neighbor started up his truck and headed off for work.
It was far less intrusive than the storms, the birds, or the cats. And I probably would have slept through it, except that I’m getting accustomed to waking up at that hour.
Maybe the best thing to do is just re-set the alarm clock.[[In-content Ad]]
That thought came to mind — repeatedly — last week.
Springtime has meant sleeping with the windows open to let in the cool night air. But cool air isn’t the only thing that gets in.
The first night of my 4:30 a.m. routine, it was a line of thunderstorms. I might have been able to sleep through the thunder and the pounding rain, but the dog wasn’t. She’s particularly sensitive to changes in atmospheric pressure, she hates thunder, and she’s spooked by wind.
And her response when a storm goes through is to seek comfort, even if her potential comforter is sound asleep.
The second night, there were no storms.
That apparently pleased the birds in the neighborhood because they decided to have a party.
At 4:30 a.m.
Right outside the bedroom window.
I was too groggy to look, but it sounded as if a goose had landed in the yard. (Honk if you’d rather put the pillow over your head and go back to sleep.)
The third night, there were no birds.
That’s probably because the neighborhood cats, looking for an early breakfast, had stationed themselves outside the bedroom window where the birds had gathered the night before.
At — you guessed it — 4:30 a.m., the feline chorus started warming up, with the worst sort of cat screeching imaginable. There wasn’t a purr or a meow to be heard. Instead, it was an ungodly cat scream.
Punching my pillow, trying not to wake up but knowing I wasn’t going to be able to get back to sleep, I found myself wondering about the etymology of the word “caterwauling.” Surely, it had to originate with that noise outside my window.
The fourth night, there were no storms, there were no birds, and there were no cats.
All was right with the world.
Until 4:30 a.m., when my neighbor started up his truck and headed off for work.
It was far less intrusive than the storms, the birds, or the cats. And I probably would have slept through it, except that I’m getting accustomed to waking up at that hour.
Maybe the best thing to do is just re-set the alarm clock.[[In-content Ad]]
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