Trouble Sleeping?

The other night a Facebook friend posted that she could not sleep.  I know that feeling too.  I'll toss and turn for hours it seems, trying to find a comfortable spot, trying to stay warm.  Suddenly I'm too hot, so I kick the covers off.  I definitely can not sleep if the room is too hot.  Studies prove we all sleep better when the air is cooler.  I agree with that.

When I can't sleep, I try to stay quiet and calm so not to disturb my Sweetie Pie.  He is not so calm.  I can always tell when he can't sleep.  He's up and down, walking to the kitchen, to the bathroom.  That causes the animals to shift and move too.  And by morning the covers on his side are twisted up like a pretzel. 

Presley in her bed with my books

We like to read in bed at night, before lights out.  I have a huge stack of books in my 'waiting to be read' pile next to the bed.  I have to make sure the pile doesn't topple over onto Presley's dog bed.  She doesn't like it when that happens.  Recently she has been staying in the bed with us.

I finally managed to get their picture on here!

Reathie is on the left, Otis on the right

That is funny to me.  When Sweetie Pie and I married, my two dogs Reathie & Otis slept on the bed with me.  First of all, there was room, since I had been sleeping single in the double bed (ok, it was a queen size), there was room for both of them.  After we married, our first real fight was over the dogs in the bed.  He won, I cried, the dogs got over it.  So now when Presley hops up, instead of chasing her off the bed, he loves on her and acts like she is the best thing since sliced bread. (Ok, she is. Really.)

I have recently discovered the author Harlan Coben and I am officially obsessed with his character Myron Bolitar.  It has just been in the last few years that I ventured out of my comfort zone of reading and I have to admit, I missed some really great books.  Thank goodness for Kema's Bookstore in Gray!  It is a wonderful used bookstore and Kema will find whatever she doesn't have in stock.  

That's the problem when I read at night.  I will stay up late, late, late when the book is really great!  Just one more page, just one more chapter.  After Sweetie complains for the umpteenth time, I'll reluctantly put the book down and try to sleep.  Good characters stay in my brain while I'm trying to relax and sleep; currently Myron is barreling through my thoughts.

Here are two remedies I practice when I have trouble falling asleep.  For years, instead of counting sheep, I count jumps. I'm riding a big, bay Thoroughbred jumper and we are racing through a rolling, green course.  As horse and rider approach the first jump, I can feel the horse gather himself under me as he sails through the air and over the jump.  One.  Now we gallop down a small grassy hill and again, I feel him shift as he leaps across a wide stream.  Two.  And on and on. (btw...I never rode jumpers, but I think it would be a lot of scary fun)

This is me on Darby Dare, 1970

He was definitely the prettiest horse I ever owned!

The second one is more personal to me.  No, it's not what you think!  In my mind I walk into the barn at Ficklings Farm and down the wide aisle to Darby's stall.  Darby Dare was my second Saddlebred and I boarded him for a while out on Rivoli.  I can visualize every inch of that place.  So, I grab a lead, hook it to his leather halter and lead him up to the cross-ties.  Then I begin grooming him, brushing his bay coat until it gleams in the sunlight like an antique mahogany table.  His grooming routine is from head to tail, ears to hooves.  Then I walk to the boarder's tack room and grab my saddle.  He grunts as I tighten the girth around his belly and I have to remember to check it before I get on.


Then I go through the process of bridling him.  I can almost feel his soft mouth as I slide my finger in the back recesses of his mouth to get him to open for the bits.  Hopefully, by this time, I'm drowsy enough to relax into sleep.  Most of the time I don't make it past the grooming routine.  And for the last resort, I'll get up, grab my book and head to the living room where I can read for hours undisturbed.  Sweet dreams y'all!