Finally, at 2:30 this morning, I’d had enough. The howling dog inside reflexively answered the pack of his kin that had circled the ridges above us since midnight; it wasn’t his fault his attempt to protect us, standing at the window yowlping out into the darkness, was driving us deeper and deeper under our pillows–sleepless, agitated, exhausted.
At 2:32 I got up, flung open the door, and howled back–the primal scream of the insomniac. And never another peep from inner or outer dogs after that.
That said, I determined at 2:35: no blogging for me in the morning. Sleep late, get extra winks, a Friday full of patients and I’d need my rest. But here I am, fingers with a mind of their own. I’ll just follow them and see where they go.
ROANOKE: city at night
ROANOKE: a great weather site with NOAA weather radio for our area (and maybe yours)
ROANOKE: a January writers conference
VIRGINIA: Forest Watch–a good place to send your year-end charitable contributions
BLOGS: Caroline Kettlewell’s hinterland goes to the blogs. I met Caroline (virtually) years ago when I discovered the term “narrative non-fiction”–her strong suit. We almost had coffee in Floyd once on her travels through Floyd–a place she had written about for the WaPo I think it was, some years back.
READERS: Brijit gives short rated summaries of the best of the best magazines.
WRITERS: LitMatch connects writers with agents. Maybe.
ROFL I really am sorry you missed a night of sleep, but the mind picture your post created of you standing at the door howling in the middle of the night is priceless. I can’t stop laughing. What a great way to start the day!
Yup, it’s always easier to see the humor looking back. I’m just glad we live where nobody can hear such maniacal midnight wailing. At least that’s my assumption.
There may have been humans with the dog pack. Now my HOWL might have made them think twice about crossing our fence!
How understanding and perceptive of you. Many people would have reacted by yelling at their dog, having no insight into his reasons, for being restless. And a good howl in the middle of the night can be a great stress reliever.Having 3 howlers of my own, I often join in, which encourages them, and we can probably be heard for miles.
I love the the photo of Roanoke at night, it brings back a lot of memories.
I heard about the Bush administration attempts to sell off the National Forest last year, sorry to hear it’s happening again. I’m counting the months, as much as I don’t like the field, anything would be better. Democrats might be called tax and spend, but at least they tax those who can best afford it and spend it here at home to improve our lives.
I’m going to have to try that howling thing when my dogs start howling/barking when the foxes start yapping. They can drive me nuts.
Carolyn H.
i was thinking it was coyotes until you left that follow-up comment. hunters, i presume then…..
in my parents’ cove in NC, it’s coyotes. they sound like a bunch of banshees, especially when they come close to the house. one christmas morning, we awoke to find them playing in our backyard with our collie…. very unusual!
wishing you a howl-free night tonight! 🙂
What a great thing to do, Fred! I know that feeling of 2 AM exasperation so well, and I’m going to try that with this gosh darn cat tonight! Me-OWOOOOOOOOOO! 🙂