Housekeeping and Other Anomalies

I’ve slowed down. Our pussycats have slowed down. Life has slowed down. I used to have my house cleaned by the time I got dressed in the morning. My first assignment would always be to make the bed after climbing out of it. I don’t use that term loosely. With at least two and often three cats snuggling up to one of us, it is a challenge to get out of the bedclothes and avoid knocking a slumbering feline over on the way.

But lately the pattern of our morning ritual of bed making that I’ve done most of my adult life, has been stymied. Although these cats go in and out during the night by early morning they are all dead asleep in their assorted positions. One might mosey into the kitchen with me, usually tripping me along the way, for some new bowl of dried kibble to crunch before going back to sleep…on our bed.

The other two will usually stay asleep for hours. Number two cat will arise by around 11 a. m. for food in the kitchen and then will thankfully go find some sun to lie in for his next nap. The younger cat would have already left the bedroom to his mother, who stays asleep most of the day and thus I have no incentive to make the bed until she leaves the room. This is anywhere from 2 to about 3 in the afternoon, although if it’s really hot and sunny she might only stay asleep on the bed until noon.

By the time she does depart from the bedroom she’s quite well rested just when I’m feeling tired from doing massive gardening projects and want to rest. Believe me when I tell you that the last thing I want to do at that time is to make the bed. So I don’t until later in the day. Occasionally even John makes it, but not the way I do, so I try to beat him to it.

As I see it the only benefit to them having their deep slumber in our room would be the photos I can take when Shaq is finished licking Ginger and onto his own bath time. She is so crazy about him that she lolls around waiting for his attention. Ignore the messy sheets in these shots. That’s what we have to do to get out of the bed. It looks much more exciting than it really was. Although it’s summer we’ve had the invariable rainy nights and some cold temperatures so I put an extra quilt on my side. But that usually means that during the night I feel trapped and buried in blankets and John freezes as they seem to migrate onto my side and then land on the floor near me while he becomes uncovered.

I never realized that sleeping in our room together was going to get this complicated. This could be related to the joys of having three cats and two oldies cohabitating. Hmm?