Coming out from under

For the first time in ten days I am beginning to feel ever so slightly human again, albeit with cough, sore throat, and fatigue still doggin' my heels. But after many nights trying to sleep upright in a recliner, I slept in my own bed last night - or at least, I spent some time there even if not in restful sleep. Between coughing fits, dogs wanting out, Princesses wanting attention, cats checking to see if I am breathing, people using the road out front as some kind of race track, and the continual demands of weak bladders (mine and the dogs'), I probably didn't get more than three hours of sleep. But that is considerably better than my average for the past week or more, so perhaps we are turning the corner and heading back into the real world.

I am frustrated at having spent the whole of the reading break being sick, so sick that I could not even read a book or enjoy a walk, let alone do any of the many things I had planned to accomplish this week, from visiting my mom to photographing some shelter dogs to prepping classes for the second half of the semester, to spending time with friends, and so on and so on and so on. And to add insult to injury, the weather this week has been FANTASTIC - just the sort of spring weather that calls me to get out and enjoy it!

For the first time in over a week, I finally have a wee bit of my voice back (Those who know me well will marvel "Jean didn't talk for a whole WEEK???!!!! "). It is two octaves lower than normal and I can't say more than a sentence or two without a violent coughing attack, but I can be vocal enough to say "Dogs, quiet!". (However, I still will not be answering my phone for several days yet, so please email rather than call). I must still stay away from those activities that will irritate my throat, including talking, barn cleaning, and eating anything more solid than soup.

But, hopefully, I will be back to daily blogging about the antics of the animals, the beauty of the earth awakening from winter's rest, the changes that are about to take place for the critters and I over the next few months, new adventures and old reflections and all that is my life with the critters.

Thank you, my readers, for your warm wishes this past week. Thank you, my friend Ann, for the deliveries of wonderful homemade soups. Thank you, Sadie, for maintaining the blog and thank you, Charley, for sticking your cold nose in my face a few times a day to make sure I was still alive. Thank you, Oliver, for being my little sidekick, silently following me from recliner to bathroom to microwave to recliner. And thank you, Princess Belle, for deciding that the best time of all to insist, with your demanding little bark, I get up and let you out or let you in or feed you or simply acknowledge your presence, is exactly fifteen minutes after I fall into a nice deep sleep. Heaven forbid that I sleep too deeply and lose sight of the fact that I am the servant in this household, here only to attend to the needs of sheltie royalty.

Every household needs a sheltie to keep the humans in their place.