And THAT’S Why I Don’t Stay Up Late

When something like a second or third shift job isn’t part of my routine, my natural inclination is to get up fairly early in the mornings. I like to get up, get stuff done, and then have the evening to relax, followed by a reasonable bed time (normally between 10:00 and 10:30pm). This works well for me, particularly when it lets me enjoy activities with my dogs that I might not otherwise be able to do, such as early mornings in the woods for SAR training or in Pittsboro for sheep herding. After all, if I typically stayed up late, it would be very hard to drag myself out of bed at 5:00 so Reyna could look for strangers or Duncan could chase sheep. This isn’t something I tend to think about a lot, but it was brought home to me rather forcefully this past weekend.

Saturday, I was up at my normal time. For my birthday present, John (brother) took me to the Alan Jackson concert Saturday evening. It was fun, even though we were soaking wet by the end of it. I got home around 11ish, and since Reyna’d been crated while I was gone, I stayed up longer than I normally would have so she’d have time to burn some of the energy she stored up during the evening. This meant I got to bed shortly before 1:00 - well after my normal bedtime.

Sunday morning, I slept in until 10am. I haven’t slept that late in I don’t know how long. Normally, I’m up long before 8:00, and if I happen to sleep that late, I feel like I’ve wasted most of the day. So, got up at 10:00, dragged my groggy self into the living room to let Reyna out of her crate, fed the dogs and the bird, and then plopped down on the couch in something closely resembling a stupor. Didn’t do much more than that for the better part of the day. I did take a two hour nap in the afternoon, though. Still draggy at bedtime, but couldn’t actually get to sleep, since I’d slept so late and napped and such. And that was very bad, because I had to be up at 6:00 so Duncan and I could make an 8:00 herding session in Pittsboro (I took Monday off from work). Soooo tired on Monday. Didn’t get much done that day, either – although I did manage to sneak a nap in during the afternoon. I’m back on my normal schedule, but I’m still feeling a bit draggy. I can’t believe how long its taking me to get over one late night. I have to remember to not do that again…