Curious cat causes Susan to loose her marbles, and sleep

I was happy to come home from the hospital and sleep in my own bed. Too bad I wasn’t as comfortable as I had hoped I would be.

While sleeping in the hospital bed, I raised the head section, never sleeping flat on my back. I couldn’t do that at home, except by piling up a mountain of pillows for support. So to be more comfortable I headed downstairs at about one in the morning and slept in a recliner. That did the trick for me. I’m hoping that soon my insides will be healed enough to return to my bed again.

Even when in my bed, two of my cats like to take turns sleeping next to me. They figured they could also join me in the recliner, which wasn’t bad. Those heater cats made me comfortable. The only time I felt uncomfortable was when Car-E, the larger cat, walked across me to get into a better position.

Barn-E does like to cuddle, that is, when he’s not going crazy in high-spirited play.

At the end of one evening, as I waited for the weather report on the late news, I heard talking coming from the other room. It’s a good thing I recognized that the digitally broadcast voice was coming from my weather alert radio. Otherwise, I might have thought it was a ghost.

It turned out that Barn-E had gotten up on the cabinet and was sitting on the radio's ON button. There weren’t any alerts. Maybe the piercing alarm would have scared the cat away. Instead, he just proudly sat there, changing the volume with his tush.

I had to get up from my comfy recliner and remove the cat from his perch. To keep him from getting up on the cabinet again, I removed a nearby chair. It had to be his way of getting five feet off the floor.

After the weather report told of more cold and windy weather, I went to sleep.

Being in the recliner did the trick. I slept well, until about 4:30 the next morning. That’s when I was rudely interrupted.

CRASH! The sound came from near the weather band radio. This time there was more noise. The extra sounds had to be marbles rolling on the linoleum floor. Of course, I had to leave my warm recliner and investigate.

Barn-E had leaped from a table to the top of the cabinet again, but this time he not only pulled down the radio, but he also knocked down an old glass pint milk bottle that had been filled with marbles.

Glass was everywhere. It was a good thing I had slipped into my house slippers, or I might have been in real trouble.

Barn-E continued to chase the marbles around the floor and Car-E came to join in on the fun. I was so scared their paws would get stuck with shards of glass; I couldn’t sweep up the bottle fast enough.

I should have shooed the two cats out of the room, but I didn’t. I guess I wasn’t completely awake and wasn’t thinking straight.

A broom and dustpan took up all the big pieces of glass, but the little bits needed different measures to take care of them.

With a wet Swiffer, I managed to pick up all the tiny pieces. That trick cleaned up the last of the mess, or at least I hoped it had.

It took almost an hour to catch the loose marbles and dispose of the broken glass. By this time I was wide awake. There was no use trying to recapture my lost sleep.

I got up and changed into jeans and a sweatshirt. Rain was on the horizon, so I took Sunny outside for his morning constitution.

This was no way to start my day.

I sure hope that tonight Barn-E doesn’t find any more mischief to get into. At least not in the middle of the night or early morning.

I do love my cats, but sometimes they do test my patience.

Susan Manzke, Sunnybook Farm, N8646 Miller Rd, Seymour, WI 54165; susanmanzke@gmail.com; sunnybook@aol.com; www.susanmanzke.net/blog.