The beginning of a Journey

That well used phase (or old cliche as some might say) that every journey starts with the first step is apropos to this blog. I have often considered using a blog as both a way to share my mental meandering with the world and as a cathartic remedy at the end of the day, akin to journaling though with better grammar and a wee bit less raw emotion or blatantly revealing truths. So today, tonight actually, I have take that proverbial first step into the wide open world of blogging.

And now I have a sudden bit of writers block, or maybe it is cold feet..."do I really have anything to say that anyone else would want to read?...My life is really not that exciting right now (thank God, as I could really use a break of semi-normalcy)...Do I really want to share my inner thoughts?...Do I even want to share my mundane and outer thoughts? Who would have thought!" But figuring out what others want to read is not really the point of this blog is it? It is to be a record of my mental meanderings, and if others want to meander along with me, that is their choice. So hurray to FREEDOM from worrying about what others think.

I have these 2 dogs, C, a big dog (st Bernard, lab, sheep dog mix--still only a pup of 8 months but already over 50 lbs) and N, this tiny dog (mini dachshund, shitzhu, terrier mix who has topped out at 9 lbs at 3 years old). Well, the two are quite a pair. N rules the roost of course, is a bit high strung, has an adventurous streak, can be a bit sneaky, and has a knack for finding (or digging) any little hole under (or through) the back fence, and wandering the neighborhood. C is the most obedient, gentle, kind, and laid back dog I have ever met, who would rather hang out in the unfinished basement which opens to the backyard than in the house if no one is home, and has never once even tried to get out of the fenced in back yard.

I love both of them dearly, but they both have their quirks that drive me nuts. N's big thing is the sneaking out of the fence, and when she is mad about something (usually having been scolded for getting out), she will poop on the only wall to wall carpet in the house, directly under the baby's crib (can 2 still be considered a baby..?). Since I have gone back to work, she is doing this more often, creating a major annoyance at the end of a long day when I'd love to just relax with my family (as well as having to make dinner, do the dishes, push through the laundry, clean up the living room, sort the mail, feed the fish, brush the cat, figure out which bill needs to be paid most urgently so that the light/heat/phone/cable/Internet does not get shut off (well, we don't have to worry about cable anymore, sigh), and of course find some time to nurture myself--like the outlet of a blog to help process and purge the thoughts of the day...). C's quirk is even more challenging though for me. Her one big thing is that she does not think that sleeping inside in a large crate all night is a very good idea. She goes in fine at night and goes to sleep, and even during the day she will go in and take a snooze or even just go in to chew on her squeaky toy. But at some point in the night (sometimes as early as mid-night or as late as 6:00am--but usually around 2:30am), she decides that she is done sleeping and she wants to go play in the basement or outside. So she will bark incessantly until I come down and put her out through the basement. Granted we did set up a nice room in the basement for the dogs complete with an old easy chair and our old recliner that would not recline anymore (thanks to a certain 5 year old who decided to use it as a trampoline with a spring board (foot rest part)) and the big 5 x 7 area rug that used to be in the dining room, and she has open access to the back yard from there, but 3:00 in the morning!?!?! Every Night!!!! You've got to be kidding me!!!

So, you may wonder, why do I crawl out of bed, stagger down the stairs and put C out (of course having to make sure N (who shares the big crate with her) does not go out as she will go wandering all over the neighborhood if she thinks no one is watching her) in the middle of the night?!?!?! Why not just let her bark it out a few nights and so that she can learn that this is not something I WANT to do for her. Well, those 2 sleeping little boys don't sleep through the dog's barking if I let it go too long. J finally started sleeping through the night (well, at least not needing me to get up with him in the middle of the night, he still wakes up at least once a night and turns on his crib toy or chats with this stuffed animal in middle of the night, but I only occasionally (like 1-2 nights a week) have to get up with him). If J hears the dog barking though, he gets scared and then I am up with him for at least 30 minutes, usually more like 1-2 hours, as he then decides he needs a drink and its time to play. I have also toyed with the idea of not putting C in the crate or at least not locking the door to the crate and letting her have free roaming of the house at night, but alas G gets scared if you shut his bedroom door, and the big dog goes in and licks his face (hence waking him up) if she is not in her crate. So why not just leave her in the basement at night, well, I have thought of that, and this summer there were times when I did do that so that I could have a chance at a full nights sleep (after 3 years with being up every night with first one son then the other, and now the dog, the body and brain get tired). But during summer I could leave the basement door open all night. It is wintry now (not quite winter, but hey, cold, snow on the ground, that is wintry enough for me) and I need to shut the basement door at night at least or I am wasting a lot of heat. And she does not like just hanging out in the basement as she will bark down there until I let her out.

So, if I want to get an almost full nights sleep, with as few interruptions as possible that are also as short as possible, I got through the process of crating the dogs at night and closing the basement door. Then going upstairs to bed. Then coming downstairs to let the barking dog out, and now going into the basement to open the basement door, and then all the way back up stairs to crawl into bed and hope the boys don't wake up. Who needs a StairMaster with all of these up and down trips in the wee hours of night?...no wonder my knees hurt!

So, yeah, not exactly exciting stuff, just meandering about the crazy midnight adventures of some of the fuzzy members of my household, and reminding myself why I let it continue. Check back for more wandering through the meandering paths of my inner and outer world (well, tonight was really about the outer...).-Alabaster Camel