The Animals Are Restless Tonight!
The Google search tells me they can find only five results after scanning all the documents on the interweb for that word string so I am feeling a little heady this morning. Two of them are in one thread where someone quotes another so that really is only four. None of them refer to anything like what I am talking about.
Somewhere deep in my subdirectories this song remains from a Roy Rogers movie I must have watched as a kid:
Stampede!
Lightning a flashin' everywhere
Thunder a rollin' through the air
Wind and rain, cattle look insane
This herd might stampede tonight
Clouds are drivin' cross the moonless sky
Cattle a rollin' frightened eyes
Keep 'em close and tight, cowboy pray with all your might
That this herd won't stampede tonight
There's lightning there's thunder
There's wind and rain, stampede!
More cowboys seemed concerned about this than people with pets.
I knew we were in for trouble noon yesterday when all the classic symptoms of early summer afternoon and evening thunderstorms were there for us to see. It was hotter than blazes. The only place I noted more moisture than under my arms was in the humidity hanging in the air waiting for something to get it mad after I finished my walk with DakotaDawg.
Another clue I get that we are going to have a bad thunderstorm is when DakotaDawg is my new best friend. We got back from the walk and she stayed very close. She did not take up her normal station on top of the lateral file in the Sun Room. Instead, everywhere I went DakotaDawg got there right before me. If I got up she got up. I knew when I looked her in the eyes.
DakotaDawg with that wild look in her eyes.
DakotaDawg is not real happy with thunder or lightning. The kitties are not too wild about these events of nature either. It is a mistake to let a kitty sit in my lap if there is even the slightest chance of a boom somewhere near the house. This is compounded by the flash of light and then the inevitable leap of the kitties as they dig in their back claws to gain extra advantage. Then of course, there is the blood.
We went to bed early. It was still raining with the occasional flash and boom very close to the house. Kitties decided that they were safer in the bed. DakotaDawg saw the logic behind this reasoning and attempted several times to come aboard. This is one place she is not allowed. She knows that but ignores it when it is storming or when we have left her unsupervised in the houses with her co-conspirators, the three wonderful kitties. If we are very quiet when we come home we can usually find two or three of them snuggled up together right in the middle of the bed. The big gray cat prefers to leave his hair on other pieces of furniture or some pile of clean clothes not yet put away in the dresser.
It ended up being a little late for me by the time we were ready to get some shut eye. The animals had calmed down some but were still on edge. This storm I thought was nearly over then kicked into high gear. It was off to the races.
Stampede!
The Kitty Le Mans started in the bedroom and continued into all the other rooms of the house. I am not sure whether DakotaDawg wanted to participate or if she felt the need to provide supervision.
She took up a new station at the bedroom door and the kitties were forced to finish the Stampede! throughout the rest of the house. Things, like the weather, quieted down and I thought we were finally going to get some rest… right up until the Not So Cute Little Orange Talking Kitty decided that he had won the Le Mans. It was time to come into the bedroom and catch some ZZZ’s on the bed.
DakotaDawg was having none of that. Pippin sat just outside the door whining about DakotaDawg blocking his entry. As usual, he got his way. DakotaDawg had to rest next to the bed on her rug. After a few more attempts to join us in the bed DakotaDawg fell into a deep snoring dawg stupor.
I figured if I was going to have any chance of getting any sleep I better make another visit to the bathroom. When I got back the Not So Cute Little Orange Talking Kitty was stretched out on my side of the bed and ‘sleep noises’ were coming from everyone.
I went out to the TV room, sat in the recliner and closed my eyes and slipped away... Right up until the Big Gray Atticus thought this would be a perfect time for an uninterrupted visit. Some head butting got my attention and I realized that one of three things must be making him unhappy. The first check was the litter pan and thankfully there were no new presents in there for me to take care of. I checked the water bowls in the two locations where I keep them religiously filled to try to avoid these middle of the night reminders... both completely full. There was only one more thing it might be. Catticus had decided that the food bowl was not filled to his specifications. This means that no more than 10% of the food is eaten. So I filled the kitties’ bowl and went back to the recliner.
I finally fell asleep. I think I managed almost an hour before I was awakened and ordered back to bed. I said a prayer to Thor that he take a nap because the animals were still very restless.
Today is the solstice when the Sun reaches its northernmost point in the sky. It is the change of seasons and the longest day of the year. I think I am going to join the animals and take a nap. I know they need their rest so they will be ready for action should we have another storm tonite.
I think I will just stay up, going around the house waking them so maybe all of us can sleep when it finally does get dark. Thank goodness we don't live above the Arctic Circle.
Pippin, WAKE UP!
© 06.21.2010 steven d philbrick SR+ DakotaDawg
POSTED BY SRPLUS AT 12:30 PM 0 COMMENTS
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