Bits and Pieces

Whenever a day or two passes where I fail to post, I get at least one email saying "Are you okay????". Since I am lousy at maintaining friendships through letters, phonecalls or emails, my blog is the means by which my family and friends can tell I am still alive.

So, yes I'm alive. And well. Just bogged down. It is semester end and the final term papers are piled high, the exams are either waiting to be marked or (in one case) waiting to be written, participation marks need to be assigned, and final results tallied. For the next week or so my paid work takes priority over nearly everything else. And my creativity is directed at finding a polite, constructive way to say "this is a cr*ppy essay" for the umpteenth time. That's not to imply my students all write cr*ppy essays - the well written essays are easy to comment on; it's the others that tax my creativity! Bad essays take at least three times as long to mark as well-written ones. And I get cranky.

Sleep would help. But when I do academic work at night, my brain is buzzing and it is hard to sleep. Last night, I shut down early, went to bed at a reasonable time, tossed and turned and finally slept.....to be awoken at 4:30 by Sadie's frantic barking.

Sadie has been with me about a month. As is usually the case with adopted dogs, it takes at least a month for their true personalities to emerge. Quiet, gentle, sweet Sadie has become a barking, hyper watchdog!!! She barks at every person, dog, bird, squirrel, or mosquito that dares to pass by. Thank goodness I work from home a lot so I can put a stop to it and shape her behaviour before it gets out of hand.

Last night, she obviously heard something that neither Charley or I could hear. (Belle, of course, can't hear anything as she is deaf but she observes Sadie barking and so she joins in!). I went outside, flashlight in hand, but could see nothing. Sadie insisted on coming out with me, and frantically tore back and forth near the pasture gate, whining the whole time. Nothing, Sadie, there is NOTHING!

And then I heard it: Martin's distinctive alarm cry. Sadie was right - there was something out there. Martin only sounds the alarm for two reasons: a bear or a strange, unaccompanied dog. He is completely calm around coyotes (an everyday occurance here), so I knew it wasn't that. I'm guessing a bear - it is that time of year.

There's not much I can do about the bears. Martin has managed to survive them for 8-10 years of living by himself in the pasture where he was abandoned. I take every precaution with garbage to make sure I don't offer them food on my premises - having even decided against bird feeders despite my passion for birds.

I like bears - as long as they stay away from me and my critters. They are beautiful animals, and the sight of them stretching up tall in the fields across the road, or climbing the apple trees in the old orchard nearby, or lumbering along the edge of the property are scenes I feel lucky to observe.

But I need to have a talk with them about their nighttime meanderings. Or with Sadie about her response. I need my SLEEP!!!

And now, time to get ready to go torture another group of students with a final exam.