Moonstruck

There is a full moon tonight, making me think of that movie "Moonstruck," which I positively love.  As a result of tonight's moon, the coyotes are howling, Savannah is barking, and this is the second time I've been out of bed and down the stairs... and as I type it is 3:15 in the moonstruck morning.

Savannah's first bark started at 1:45 so I came downstairs and took her outside. Because of the coyotes howling off in the woods, Savannah took two steps and then stopped and listened for what seemed like a full five minutes before she would take another two steps. This went on and on up and down the driveway, which was so bright with moonlight that I didn't even need the flashlight.

What I do need on such nights is more patience. I get very frustrated with this puppy when she wakes me up, supposedly to go out, and then plays around out there, listening to wildlife and chasing crickets and eating leaves and looking up the road and doing everything else except finding a spot in the grass on which to pee. The moonlight was so spectacular tonight that I even walked up and down the road a bit so Savannah had plenty of choices for that perfect spot of grass. Because of all the rain we had this weekend, there are bunches of white rain lilies popping up all around, which looked very pretty in the moonlight. (The things one notices in the middle of the night.)

Finally, finally, Savannah found that perfect spot outside and then I quickly brought her back into the house. Sometimes I think she really knows that she will have to go back into the house right after she pees, and maybe that's why she takes her sweet time. After 47 trips up and down the driveway, I was wide awake by then, so I turned on my laptop in the breakfast room and browsed through Pinterest... and found a bunch of great ideas for making covers for a dog crate. My sewing consists of buttons and hems and very simple pillows, so creating a cover for a crate is not going to happen. Savannah's puppy crate is fully covered with a plush afghan (no sewing required) and Sweet Pea has claimed it as his cat cave in the TV room.

I got back in bed at 2:50... and I know that because the little numbers on the alarm clock in the bedroom make a very nice night-light. At 3:01, Savannah barked again (more coyotes howling, following the progress of the train going through the next town, both of which I heard because I was still wide awake). My husband heard Savannah barking, turned over in his sleep, and said out loud "Why don't you go down there?"  I resisted the urge to tell him I'd already been "down there" plus outside and on the computer and had come back upstairs to possibly sleep for the rest of the early-morning hours until the sun came up.

When I got back downstairs to the kitchen for the second time, at 3:02 according to the little clock on the microwave, Savannah was sitting by the back door, growling under her breath. I looked outside expecting to see a pack of coyotes on the porch but nothing was out there but the moonlight. I told Savannah to hush... and here I am. Definitely wide awake, and probably will be for the rest of the morning and the rest of the day. The book I'm currently reading is "Lost Horizon" by James Hilton, and being stranded in Shangri-La somewhere in the Tibetan mountains sounds quite good at the moment. I would imagine there are no coyotes, train whistles, and barking puppies in such a place. Nor husbands.

And where is Savannah right this minute as I'm typing? In her dog bed, not only sleeping, but snoring. I think she's dreaming as well, because her back legs are moving just a teeny bit as she sleeps. How did she fall into such a deep sleep so quickly? That dog bed looks very comfortable. Plush and soft with an 8-inch soft ridge all around it... maybe they should make mattresses for people like that... one would feel more contained and protected while sleeping... how could a person roll out of bed with a high (but soft) edge all around you. (The things one thinks about in the middle of the night. Or in the middle of the early morning.)