Got home late last night after the jam. It took a while of internet surfing to get myself back into sleep mode. Driving through the snowy, icy roads in the dark, making sure I don't hit a moose is a wide-awake activity. (They hit back.) Even with Stevie "helping" me drive, it pays to be careful. Sure enough, there was a moose just stepping off the road not too far from home!
Back home at last, Stevie and I entered the cabin and found Pig and Sofia all whirly-happy to see us. Mark was asleep upstairs and I wanted to make sure he wasn't awakened by any noise. The dogs finished sniffing each others' butts ("Oh yeah, I remember you") and I settled down at my desk to check email and basically doodle around on the computer until I was sleepy again. Sofia, a young husky-coyote mix, (very smart girl but the first dog I'd guess was an alien) didn't just lie down again like the other two dogs did. She kept rubbing against me as I sat in my office chair, kind of like a cat.
Speaking of the cat, he made his appearance right away, so that I had two animals rubbing up against me and twining and twirling around my legs.
Sofia and Kittykittymaomao have an interesting relationship. Sofia has an extremely driving hunting instinct, and the moment she first saw Kittymao she thought LUNCH. Over the last year she has learned that instead of lunch, Kittymao means PLAY.
You don't know what cabin fever is until you've had a cat locked up in a small cabin for six months. Kittymao tumbled down the stairs to greet me and the dogs, but then started racing up and down the stairs and chasing his tail like some orange shag Taz pillow gone wild. He gets very, very bored in this little house all winter. Maybe that is what drove the cat to become a playmate in stead of lunch, but now if Sofia isn't home in the evenings, Kittymao comes downstairs and meows for her. If the kitty is outside on a warm winter day (we'll get to the Alaskan definition of "warm" one of these days) Sofia looks all over for him.
Their play consists of several games, one of which I call Cat in a Box. It's really Cat Under The Bed, but it is the same idea. Kittymao goes under the bed, and Sofia jumps up on top. She bounces around in anticipation, while the kitty decides where he's going to pop up. She lays near the edge of the bed, paws hanging over, eyes bright, face eager, and then suddenly Kittymao pops straight up the side of the bed, eyes wild and fur flying, whaps at her with his paws and disappears again. Sometimes he'll pop up three times or so before hiding again under the bed.
This is extremely funny to watch especially if you are IN the bed with Sofia. You can see why she loves this. You'll be laying there and suddenly just the HEAD of this crazy-looking orange, wild-eyed animal pops up!
It's not so funny if you are trying to sleep. Kittymao often tries to start these play sessions in the middle of the night. The Cat in a Box sessions are often followed by mad chasing sessions back and forth and around and around the cabin. Once again, not so good in the middle of the night!
Yes, folks, just another reason people call their cats "That damn cat."
So here I am, in the quiet cabin, man asleep upstairs who has to get his rest, and Sofia and Kittymao about to start another crazy session of furniture-whomping play.
I wave my hand at Kittymao and make him retreat up the stairs. This doesn't help because while Kittymao races back up the wooden, uncarpeted stairs, Sofia decides to go with him, and they start galumphing around upstairs. I wait a few minutes, hoping that she'll jump up on the bed, curl up and go to sleep, but soon I hear the unmistakable noise of the Chase Game. I need to get her downstairs before it becomes the Cat in the Box game!
Of course this situation isn't making me very sleepy.
We keep a jar of dog cookies (biscuits) on the TV, so I get one, break it in half and give some each to Stevie and the Pig, saying, "Who wants COOKIES?" just loud enough for Sofia to hear but not to wake up Mark. They chew them gratifyingly loudly and I'm standing at the bottom of the stairs with a cookie in my hand when Sofie appears, and comes eagerly to me.
I give her the cookie. Instantly she gets a goofy look in her eyes and starts tossing the cookie all around, pouncing on it and throwing it and killing it over and over. Ever seen National Geographic's footage of wolves or coyotes pouncing and tossing mice? That's exactly what she looks like.
At this point I give up, get the leash and tether Sofia to the coffee table for the night (with her dog bed there). Unless I do that, no one is going to sleep tonight!
After about an hour spent quietly on the computer, I'm ready for bed. After I'm snug and warm, I crash out. Ahhhh.
Around 4am Stevie comes upstairs and curls up and goes to sleep. He does that sometimes just to be near me. The bed is too high for him to jump up on, which is a good because he's 70 lbs. and large! But he'll stay nearby to be close to me.
He's been getting over a dog cold virus that was going around Fairbanks, and has had a stuffy nose. In fact last week I rushed him to the vet because it sounded like he was having an asthma attack, but he wasn't, thank goodness. It was just that small, snurffly head cold.
You know when you are almost over a cold and the runny nose problem you had is now a thick snot problem? It's almost gone but it's so thick you can't blow it out?
That is exactly what is causing Stevie to have some pretty good wheezing when he sleeps...in fact, I woke up out of a dead sleep to what sounded like a teakettle. It took me a while to figure out what the hell it was. Finally I got out of bed, grabbed Stevie's nose, and wiggled it. The teakettle noise stopped. Stevie thought I was nuts, but he wasn't whistling anymore. I went back to bed.
And woke up again, this time with a teakettle PLUS a very realistic bird whistle noise. This was LOUD. Sighing, I got out of bed again, wiggled his nose and then blew on his nose. Remember, this started at 4am.
Stevie was beginning to figure this was just one of those weird things people do, like sticking things up his butt periodically (his eyes glaze over at the sight of a thermometer---I finally bought an ear thermometer just for him).
I got back to sleep, finally. And wouldn't you know it? This time it was a great imitation of BAGPIPES that woke me up.
Geez, now I know what it is like to sleep next to me when I have bad asthma.
Back out of bed, wiggle his nose, blow HARD into his nose, shake his head a little, pet him, reassure him I'm not crazy, and back to bed. And this time the Nose On Parade finally quieted down.
Just in time to get up at 6AM.
