Midnight Alarm

This is only marginally equine related as it is an attempt to explain why I won't be writing about Speedy and my efforts at schooling the turn on the haunches or the collected canter. I am simply too tired.

I love having dogs, really I do, but nothing will snap you fully awake faster than the sound of barfing. Especially when it's coming from 90 pounds of black lab who is notorious for NOT making it outside.

You gotta love 'em!

A late night canine-yak wouldn't have been so bad except that we had our home alarm system reinstalled last night. No, I am not going there, but you can see how this story could have been so much worse. The reason the system is not usually armed at night is just for barfing emergencies. We've been down that path many times.

No, what made the night so long was that the installation took more than seven hours, twice what was planned. In fact, the technician didn't leave our house until nearly 8:00 p.m. By the time he left, I was dead on my feet. I had cooked dinner while he was here, but we had to let it sit on the stove until he finally left. Once the dishes were done, it was way past my normal bedtime. Hey, don't judge; I get up at 4:30 a.m. 

Cute when they're not barfing. Yellow dog is now a 1 year old.

So at 1:30 a.m. when Tobi started yakking, I was ripped out of a very sound sleep. But like I said, nothing gets you fully awake faster than that particular sound. There's even a meme floating around on Facebook that shares the sentiment. Fortunately, most of the floors in our new house are hardwood or tile, but that doesn't make it any more pleasant to clean up.

As I shuffled both dogs outside, I reached for the paper towels and Bye-Bye Odor. "Clean up on aisle 4!" happens so frequently at my house that we keep supplies close at hand. After my first trip to the trash can, it took three, I heard a very unwelcome CHIRP come from the alarm system's control panel.

After the next trip to the trash can, my husband was furiously pushing buttons trying to mute the chirp. His faculties were not quite as sharp as mine though so all that was achieved was freezing the screen. The sound of barfing doesn't usually get him out of bed as quickly as it does me. 

Black dog is handsome, but he's also the midnight barfer.

Once the clean up was completed, I looked at the alarm's screen and simply pushed the home button. The chirping stopped. All four of us, including the barfer, made our way back to bed. I of course lay there tensely waiting for either another round of dog yakking or further squawks from the alarm system. Neither came, but when 4:30 a.m. rolled around, I didn't get up nearly as quickly as I had three hours before. ​

​It is mornings like these when I wish I was a coffee drinker ...