Snoring Bears

Winter is dragging on. Snow has not been so deep in 20 years and the cold, well, its unseasonably cold but not record breaking for winter in Montana. Needless to say its not every day you can just head outside and escape the confines of your space. Groggy dreary days turn into sleepless nights, yes, cabin fever is on its way. Now in my case, living in a 5th wheel, while a fairly nice one, it is still limited space and it is shared with my best friend and his dog. Both the dog and the man snore!
I am a light sleeper, I always have been. When I lived at the Sanctuary I would often wake up from the most distant of the rumbling of the train that ran down the valley. Eventually the far away whistle would blow and I could calculate how clear the sky was by the echoes and the time between the next an the next crossing as the train came up the valley. The train crossing at the end of the road, then on real cold and clear night you could hear it again at the next heading away. I wake up when the wind shifts, when thunder warms of storms not yet arrived, when an owl announces itself, even I have ben known to wake up when snow has started to fall. You begin to see how utterly impossible sleep could be with two snoring creatures in my space. Sleeping through this is not really an option. So my advise on dealing with the snoring…
* Complaining does not work. Tossing and turning and thrashing about like a 5 year old throwing a temper tantrum doesn’t help either. Yelling might work on the dog but not the man.
* Getting up and pushing on someone to roll over… it might work just long enough for you to crawl back into bed, sigh and …. it starts again.
*Its too cold to go outside, even fi the dog might happily jump up and join you if the door opened.
Whats that leave?
* Word press for one, Stumble around squint-eyed trying to read blogs or God forbid write one in that condition, seems to help.
*YouTube. No I do not watch those insane clips that see to have shortened most people attention span even more, but documentaries that seem to be nowhere else to be found. I’ve seen a lot of interesting shows there, and have opted to watch nothing older then 1990 and no less than 45 mins.
*facebook, admit it we all do it. Its is the best time killer and an easy way to keep in touch with the people you went to grade school with.
Off Grid and internet service? Yes, off grid does not mean disconnected. Moving away from the Grid and into more sustainable living and habits should be the action of the entire community, not just one hermit up in the hills. So what can be done without the internet? What do I do then?
* Art. While it is difficult to get any decent work done when over tired and listening to a man in his 40’s snoring and a chow/lab adding an echo effect, its hard to feel inspired.
* Bead work. I have totes of beads, clasps, stones, feathers and bones to make things with and you might be surprised how interesting a piece you can make under those conditions.
* scrubbing copper. I love the look of copper in the kitchen and do my best to keep it looking good. (another blog on that someday)
* reading, but being so tired sometimes it gets a little blurry. I received a book of modern poetry from the author. While I have read most of the book I need to read it while I am awake.
What I do not do is
*turn on music, (movies are watched very quietly on a lap tops tiny speakers).
* play guitar or any other instrument
* clean house
* or edit. Yes I am an author and have a number of books but I spend a great deal of time editing them and do so only when I am well awake. I have dyslexia and editing is the bane of my life! If you can not tell I do not edit this blog. I write this for fun and to share experience and a few thoughts. I hope that can be appreciated.
It is difficult to find things to do in a 32 foot space in the middle of the night. Its like sharing a winter cave with a snoring bear, you must be as quiet as possible. Waking such an animal is never a good idea. website, words and some art