Unfortunately, I did not take a pill.
Oh, I went to sleep not long after going to bed. Then at some time before midnight, I awoke and heard the unmistakable sound of my dog, Iris, jumping in the bathtub of the bathroom just off our bedroom. Normally she only retreats to the tub when a storm threatens, but the sky was cloudless. I mused on this, then managed to go back to sleep.
At two o'clock, I woke again, and evidently Iris heard me stirring, because I heard her jump out of the bathtub and come to my side of the bed. I reached down and stroked her head for awhile; when I'd stop, she would nudge my hand.
What if she's sick and needs out, I thought. So I whispered to her, "Do you want out?"
She did the characteristic stretch that dogs do when you ask such a question, which usually means yes. I got out of bed; Iris led me to the living room and plopped down in front of the couch in her favorite TV-watching position. Obviously she wanted another insomniac to keep her company, but I went back to bed. Within five minutes, I heard her climbing into the tub again.
Cliff woke up briefly and I told him I should have taken that pill, but 2 A.M. is too late to take one. Then I heard Crazy Neighbor pulling up to the house next door, the house on whose loan he has defaulted... a house with no electricity, but he seems to be staying there anyhow. This was the second time during the night that I heard his car over there. He has a court date in three weeks, so maybe then things will quiet down.
I heard a train whistle at the back of our place, which set off a chorus of coyotes howling.
At this point I'm wide awake, and I start pondering the mistake at the bank. Yes folks, for the first time in my life I actually caught a bank in a mistake. I had written check number 2476 to pay a bill in the amount of $78.37. Saturday I received an overdraft notice in the mail saying check number 2476 was for the amount of $240.76; the bank had paid the check and charged me a $20 overdraft fee.
You can imagine how this messed with my mind, waiting until Monday morning to call the bank. The lady I talked to yesterday was courteous, and by this time I had cooled off so that I was nice to her. Turns out it wasn't my bank that made the error, it was the bank on the other end. She explained it all to my satisfaction, and said she would get the money back into my account. The trouble is, at our rinky-dink bank, transactions don't show up online until the next day. So, at 2:30 in the morning I was lying in bed wondering if that had been taken care of. At 3 A.M. I finally got up, made coffee, and found out that, indeed, everything was fixed and my money was back in my account.
Then I checked Facebook and saw there was a rash of insomnia amongst my Facebook friends. It never fails; after all, it's a full moon. If I were the type person to believe in astrology, I would wonder if it affects me because I am a cancer... a moon-child.
I received a lengthy email from my friend, Maria, yesterday; I mentioned her in yesterday's entry. She still reads this drivel, and said she prints off all the recipes I include in my blog and gives them a try. Maria is of 100% authentic Italian heritage (and proud of it), so I'm glad to know she likes my hillbilly recipes. Ah, sometimes I wish we could go back to the old chat room days. There was a core group of us that felt like family. Then I remember the stinkers and troublemakers that came on the scene and disrupted things, and I have no desire to go back.
