Thursday, April 10, 2014

Question of the Night

It was 3:00 a.m. I'd been lying awake since one.
Ray and I had spent eight hours on the road coming home from an extended visit at my parents' home in South Carolina and obviously all the driving had my mind still racing down the highway. I decided a change of scenery might help me fall asleep.
Followed by my trusty cat, Juno, I crept downstairs to the couch. I made myself comfortable, pulled the hobo blanket over me and closed my eyes. Fifteen minutes later, I was still wide awake listening to Juno bat things around the kitchen floor. Obviously, she thought I had come downstairs to join her in a dead-of-night game of bottle-cap hockey.
Feeling, perhaps, that I lacked enthusiasm for her sport, Juno joined me on the couch, curling up on my belly. As soon as she was comfortably ensconced, we heard the thump-thump of dog feet jumping down off of the futon upstairs. A minute later, Ray appeared. He snuffled along the side of the couch, found Juno, who started to purr, gave her a quick couple of licks on the head, then continued on down the couch to my face. The blind dog's nose touched mine; he whined. Ray then went back to where Juno was lying and jumped his front feet up on the edge of the couch. It was obvious that he wanted to join her in her spot.
Juno, feeling a bit overwhelmed by the dog looming over her, jumped down and waited to see what would happen next. Ray crawled up on top of me. I laughed at the absurdity of it, then held my breath as he stepped on me, turned a few circles, then settled down, curled in his usual ball, his breadth spanning my belly and most of my chest.
Juno, seeing the dog settle down, jumped up on me and curled herself under my chin, reaching out one paw to touch her dog's back.
With my diaphragm being severely hindered by 75 pounds of Redtick Coonhound, I found I couldn't breathe. I jammed one arm under Ray's back and rested it across my ribcage. With most of his weight now on my arm, I could once again fill my lungs.
But now the dog wasn't comfortable. Ray shifted his weight, then a couple of minutes later did it again. A few minutes after that he squirmed again, then stood and turned a few more circles trying to find a spot that wasn't as lumpy as the one he currently inhabited. He settled down, this time spanning my thighs and pelvis. Juno, still comfortably tucked under my chin, didn't move during the resettlement procedure.
I lay there with a big dog on top of me and a cat tucked under my chin and wondered if it was humanly possible to fall asleep in such a position.
Fifteen minutes later, I woke up with the answer. It is possible but you can't feel your legs when you awaken. I wriggled my legs out from under the dog and rested them alongside of him. Once again, Juno never moved. I fell asleep again with my head on my furry chin-rest and with a big, boney dog crammed between my body and the back of the couch.
It felt good to be home.

18 comments:

  1. Aww, coming home to some snuggling is the best home coming ever. There is definitely no place like home. No worries, and love, Stella and Rory

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    1. Agreed. As the old saying goes: Home is where you hang your hat and home is where you have your cat (well, that's the way I say it anyway).

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  2. Your kids were glad to have the family all back home and just wanted to share you. Awwww....
    You do have a great way of painting pictures with words.

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    1. I could tell that Juno really missed Ray by the way she was winding around and under him. And the way she was batting at his tail while he was eating dinner!
      And thank you for the compliment...

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  3. Sounds familiar :) Glad you're home safe and blogging again!

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    1. Thanks. I'm glad to be back and will try to do a better job keeping up. : )

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  4. While I don't have a 75 pounder, morning tends to bring a 17 pound Moby cat and a 10 pound Bosco cat come to sleep on me. Where they lay, they stay until I turn into Mean Mommy and have to get up.

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    1. It is hard to toss them off when all they want to do is be with you. It's just so FLATTERING, if you know what I mean...

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  5. Here in Florida where it is warm too much of the year, I usually find it a bit oppressive to have 1,2 or 3 little blast furnaces sleeping on, near or on top of me. Do yours, being northern animals, produce copious amounts of heat as well?

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    1. Ray produces ENORMOUS amounts of heat, and so did Hugo for that matter. Harvey is such a little guy I hardly notice he is there. It's hard to ignore Juno, not because of the heat, but because of the sleeping up one nostril thing (or in this case, literally under my chin).

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  6. Aha - so that's where you've been!

    Thankfully, Blueberry does not insist on putting all of her weight on me. Usually it's just half her body which is acceptable...unless of course she places half of her body on my face so I struggle to breathe...

    I love hearing about how Juno is so much more comfortable with Ray now. It seems like only yesterday she and Harvey ran at the sight of him!

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    1. Well Ray is USUALLY like that. I don't know what he was thinking…
      And it is so great having cats with no fear of the dog. They just handle him differently. Juno scoots out of Ray's way when he threatens to run her over. Harvey stands his ground and bats at Ray's nose. Both methods work just fine.
      Finally, a peaceable kingdom...

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    2. Do you think the reason Harvey and Juno have no fear of Ray is because they were kittens when introduced to him? Whereas, Hugo and Moonie were seniors and in their own territory when Ray came home?

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    3. Absolutely. It's the reason we went with kittens instead of older cats. We were fairly confident that they would get used to him whereas, with elders, you just never know.
      On a side note, my sister has two dogs and has introduced multiple older cats to them without any problems. Of course, neither of her dogs has Ray's vocal abilities.

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    4. I LOVE, LOVE your audio posts of Ray's singing. Makes me laugh every time. The one with the Raccoon? I was dying!

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  7. I love this post! I can't tell you how many nights I wake up and can't feel a leg (or move a leg) because two dogs have captured my legs.

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    1. I just knew I couldn't be the only one out there risking potential gangrene because of my dog. ; )

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