Night Life

Generally I sleep well at night. Oh, I know the odd project will keep me awake and working or on occasion I can't put down a really good book but those "were" rare occasions. Since my diagnosis and now with the chemotherapy more often than not I'm wide awake in the middle of the night.

I've learned some things. One--out of our 150 channels on satellite at least 140 are paid programming during the midnight hours. But more importantly, two--our cats have a night life that I never imagined.

That's right: those cats who sleep all day are different animals in the night when it's dark and quiet. The older cat, who I thought slept on my end of the bed all night, thinks it's great when I'm up and follows me around waiting for his bowl to be filled. The younger cat is a terror. Who knew the mischief she was in. A black flash races up and around the stairs, into the living room, behind the tv (which she has to slip behind as it's in a hutch), over the railing, up to the fireplace where she stops for a second and stretches up to try and reach my spider plant. Then it's back down, up the stairs barely touching them and into the kitchen where she slows down long enough for a drink out of the fish bowl. Or better yet a pause to knock over a filled cup that was left out, making a good mess.

Do you ever feel like you have gremlins? In our house I believe now that the cats are the culprits. Cupboard doors are opened, clothes and towels drug across the floor, papers on the table flung onto the floor with abandonment. Those cats are much more active at night than I ever imagined. The other night I walked into the bathroom and discovered the cat playing with my toothbrush. I also now know why the linen closet door is always open in the morning and the toilet paper unrolled in every bathroom. And who knows, they might even be stealing socks.

During the day our cats are real scaredy cats (most visitors don't even know we have them). We think it's because they are one generation from being wild. And maybe their instincts take over at night time too when they are on the prowl exploring every corner of the house.

After watching them these past months I now will stop blaming the kids for all these messes. Of course, the cats are entertaining and certainly a lot better than scrolling through the channels. But... last night I could hear that black one doing something in the kitchen where it was dark. When daylight rolled around I realized she had found the butter dish on the counter and found it to be a tasty treat. I think I will have peanut butter on my toast this morning.