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Returning to my rural roots...

Sunday, May 25, 2014

A Growing Bed of Pets

I’ve never been particular about making pets sleep on the floor, but this is the first time I’ve had a 60 pound lead weight with fur sleeping at my feet. It’s a bit like being short sheeted. In our house, whoever doesn’t take the dogs out in the morning gets another ten minutes to stretch out in bed. This is considered a luxury.

Recently we discussed the situation, and found out that we have different views on how much space is being allotted to whom. We were drawing pictures in the air, assigning percentages and mostly complaining about Calicocoa.
She’s not in any real danger of losing her spot on the bed, though I am curious why she hasn’t given up considering that she rolled off of the bed last week.  Rolling off of the bed is serious in our house, because the pillow top is easily 36” from the floor.
Since we were so detailed in our descriptions of how the other half sleeps, I thought I’d share family maps of the bed.

Farm Diva









In my version of the bed, my boyfriend has just barely enough room to squeeze on. I have plenty of room at the top of the bed, but Calicocoa takes up enough space that I am forced to tuck my knees under my chin. Griffin nestles himself comfortably in the middle.

Boyfriend
 
In my boyfriend’s version of the bed, he is hanging off of the edge. Calicocoa has a corner. I am sleeping spread out across the remainder of the bed. Griffin has nestled himself comfortably in my boyfriend’s back.
Calicocoa
 
In Calicocoa’s version of the bed, we’re all interlopers with whom she is being exceedingly generous. There is little concern as to how we sort out the upper part of the bed, except for the usurper who should be rooted out of the middle. That would be Griffin, nestled comfortably in the middle.

Griffin
 
Griffin’s version is more abstract. The entire bed belongs to him. There are three desirable warm spots and one area containing Calicocoa’s monstrous jaws. Protection from the jaws drives his preference to be comfortably nestled in the middle.

Richard Parker
 
Of course, Richard Parker joins the fray on occasion. If she comes to bed, she lies next to my boyfriend so he will pet her at night. If her water bowl has been overturned, she might walk over my face to get to a glass of water on the bedside table. She has no interest in the dogs, but if Griffin is nestled comfortably on my pillow she has no qualms about stepping on his face too.

2 comments:

  1. I think on this note, I will get myself to bed! Laughing, as I crawl past my bed safety rail, with body pillow propped against it, tuck a pillow under my knees, locate my neck pillow, and decide whether or not I need my regular pillow . . . and either wait for the other occupant of my (um, our!) bed to decide to come to bed, or to decide which side he is going to lay on first, right or left. Then there must be the obligatory leg rub (he has twitches and tingles and cramps) if I have am to have hope of getting any sleep. I either fall asleep or completely wake up - again - (oh, before crawling in bed, the routine of getting ready to do so usually brings me wide awake, no matter how sleepy I thought I was) Sigh. We need neither dog nor cat to complicate sleep time! If we need a warm spot, there's always a corn bag to heat in the microwave . . .

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  2. A guy I knew in Tucson that had twin beds. He had two little dogs. One slept in each bed. He got the couch. Try a configuration where the dogs get the bed with both people sleeping on the couch. That should give the critters comfort and keep the people warm. Problem solved. (Did I miss something?)

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