A tough night

I am even more tired today than I was yesterday. This is because my night went something like this...

11:00 p.m. -- Went to bed having taken aspirin and rubbed down my knees with arnica gel. Was really hoping to get some good sleep.

12:45 a.m. -- Phone on my nightstand jolts me out of slumber. A recording of a harsh man’s voice tells me that some building at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL has undergone a power outage and crews are working around the clock to attempt to rectify this horrible situation which is a virtually impossible job because of several factors which I was too exhausted to absorb or comprehend.

2:15 a.m. -- Northwestern University's automated emergency response system calls again, to give me an update on the building with the power outage. I hang up without listening through the recording.

3:30 a.m. -- Shawn gets up to go to the bathroom and discovers that Piper has had diarrhea on the tile in the bathroom. The good news is that (1) it was not on a carpet or a rug, and (2) Shawn did not step in it. Shawn cleaned it up himself, without me. He turned on the lights so he could see what he was doing and used toilet paper which he flushed repeatedly down the toilet. After much light, water and toilet paper had been expended, Shawn sprayed the floor thoroughly with Lysol which spread its strong disinfectant fumes into the adjoining bedroom (in other words, up my nose). Don’t get me wrong. I am not complaining about Shawn. I am thankful that I did not have to get up and do all this. I am just explaining that I was thoroughly awake and not enjoying the experience much, for all how thankful I was that Shawn took the brunt of it. When he finished, he put Piper into his crate.

5:00 a.m. -- Piper awakened and whined to go outdoors. Knowing that he had diarrhea, I got up quickly and took him downstairs, where I opened the deck door to The Storm of The Century. All right, it wasn’t really the storm of the century; it was supposed to be, but it wasn’t. Not quite. However, there was deep snow stacked up so that when Piper hopped over the threshold, he found himself up to his chest in new-fallen snow which was still coming down in sharp spicules from the sky. Afraid that he would have diarrhea in the house again, I closed the door on him and left him out there while I hurried to put on Shawn’s boots and jacket over my pajamas and grab a hat and some gloves.

When I returned to shovel, Pipe had waded to the edge of the deck where he stood trying to ascertain exactly where the stairs had gone. I waded through the snow towards him, and a lot of it came over the tops of Shawn’s boots onto my bare ankles and feet inside. I needed to clear the deck steps first, and make a small area for Piper on the ground. That accomplished, I began to backtrack, shoveling out a path back to the door. It was messy, but I did it. Not well, but I guess well enough.

Back inside, I tried to wipe Piper off with a towel, but it was futile. He was encrusted with snow all through his fluffy white fur. So I tucked him under my arm and carried him back upstairs where I deposited him into his crate and Shawn turned on the TV to check for snow cancellations. Jonny got a snow day. Shannon and DJ did not.

After that, I snoozed until 7:20 when I dragged, literally dragged myself out of bed and made a kefir smoothie for DJ and tried to finish my shower before the contractors arrived at 8 a.m. I got out of the shower, looked out the window in Shannon's bedroom, and saw Shawn and the head contractor clearing out our driveway so the contractor could get his truck in.

Thus my morning began. Whether I was ready or not. Remember how we used to play hide-and-seek and the “it” person would yell, “Ready or not, here I come!” Well, that’s what morning did to me today.

I am afraid that I am ready for this remodeling to be done. Yes we have one working shower, and yes, I am grateful for it. But we don’t have any towel bars. Nor are there wastebaskets or washcloths in places where I can find them. Also, my space heater has disappeared. I am ready for a night when I can sleep from 11 p.m. to 8 a.m. and then get up and have nobody but immediate family in the house, and I can make coffee and tea and eggs and toast at my leisure and take a shower after I have eaten. Yes, that would be really nice.

These bathrooms are going to be great when they are done. I can already see that. I will try to find a way to take an inconspicuous nap with contractors in my house, and then I will feel better.