Saturday, July 21, 2007

Tectonic Sleeping

Sleeping is one of my strengths; I am an Olympic-caliber sleeper. Compared to me, L'il Abner is a piker. I have slept standing up at the top of Mount Fuji in the cold pre-dawn hours and actually slept well on a platform at Steep Ravine with the wind howling and the rain beating down. My Beloved remarks, sometimes with a little exasperation, that it usually takes me under 30 seconds after the goodnight snuggle to fall into sleep breathing (his diplomatic way of describing my snoring). I'm a good sleeper.

The ISC is, too. In fact, all cats seem to have this amazing capacity for sleep. However, she insists on being served breakfast at a very early hour and has an unlimited repertoire of tactics for getting those two lazy bums out of bed to feed her. One of the most effective is pointing her whiskers straight forward and poking them into one's peacefully sleeping face - it's like walking into a spiky stiff spiderweb.

Another strategy is to jump onto the bed right next to one's head, a sure startle from a sound sleep. That's what I figured she was doing yesterday morning when the bed suddenly jiggled and MB awoke with a start, but I maligned the little darling unfairly - turns out it was an earthquake in the nearby Hayward Fault.

I came to California expecting nearly daily shocks and jiggles - for several months, every heavy truck that passed had me asking, "Is that an earthquake?" I've settled down some since then. Now it takes 4.5 or higher to even break the rhythm of my sleep breathing. And the ISC doesn't notice them at all after she's been served her breakfast and returned to bed with us for a catnap.

6 Comments:

Blogger Dagny said...

Boris is my early morning diner. If you do not rise quickly enough, he has been known to nudge your face with his paw -- repeatedly. Then there's the plaintive wail. He was nowhere to be found during the tremor. Natasha on the other hand ran back and forth like she was Chicken Little and thought that the sky was falling. Me? I'm a pretty sounds sleeper once asleep. If it's a 3.5 or above and I'm fairly close to the epicenter, then I will awake a couple of minutes before the shaking starts. Friday morning found me thinking, "Why am I awake? Oh. That's why." Maybe it's a survival instinct for one who has lived alone, except pets, for a number of years.

Saturday, July 21, 2007  
Blogger Zoomie said...

I love the names of your cats and the implication that you love "Rocky and Bullwinkle," too.

Saturday, July 21, 2007  
Blogger cookiecrumb said...

Wow, evil stink-eye on that cat! What a photo.

(Top of Fuji-san? Dang, I only made it to the eighth station. There was weather. I'm a wimp.)

Saturday, July 21, 2007  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Cookiecrumb, I love that you know the proper "Fuji-san" rather than the more common and improper Fujiyama. You never cease to amaze me!

Saturday, July 21, 2007  
Blogger Deetsa said...

Funny that I should happen upon your blog and this entry at 4AM having slept only three hours (jet lag is a b****). Now that my 2 years of teaching budding pubescents is over maybe I can get back into my food blogging again (primary kids are energetic but somehow less stressful to teach). Your fun entries are certainly a kick in the butt to start posting again. Now that I'm in France for a month, you'd think I'd have heaps to talk about.

Saturday, July 21, 2007  
Blogger Zoomie said...

Nerissa, I, for one, would love to read about your time in France!

Saturday, July 21, 2007  

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