Good Sleeping Weather!

When I was growing up, any time it was cold and a blanket needed to be added to your bed, my mama called it "good sleeping weather."  Every night here on Cabin Mountain in Tucker County, West Virginia has featured "good sleeping weather."  A cool breeze blowing on the mountain and a slight chill in the inside of the house in the evenings have been the constants.

Last night was "good sleeping weather."  But I didn't really sleep well.  It took me a while to get to sleep.  Once I fell asleep, I slept well, but still awoke earlier than usual.  I was up and making coffee by 8:45 AM, a good 45 minutes earlier than my previous earliest morning.

You see, I love roughing it out in the wilderness -- especially when roughing it in a luxury home built about ten years ago that includes three bedrooms with a full bathroom attached to each.  There are actually four bedrooms, but one doesn't have it's own bath.  It's like the maid's quarters if they had a maid.  No frills.  The rooms include very comfortable, expensive mattresses. (I'm sleeping in a Queen.  Shut up.)  Fluffy towels hang in each bathroom with fluffy bath rugs on the floor.  In fact, the house is huge and modern, which makes the sudden appearance of mice a bit surprising.

Last night, as I retired to my queen, I saw something out of the corner of my eye.  I was probably just seeing things, I thought.  And then, a mouse clearly darted from under the bed to under the dresser and then along the wall to the bedroom door.  But he couldn't get out.  I had closed the door and the space under the door was too small for the critter to maneuver.  He paced from one end of the door and back.  And then he peered at me peering at him.  Then he ran directly into the bathroom, which is opposite the door out of the room.  Then he darted back to the bedroom door and paced back and forth as if to say, "I know this is the way I came in, damn it!"  He stared at me again, as if to say, "Did you hear me??  This is the way I came in and I want out!!"  Then he darted back into the bathroom.  This is when I got up from the bed and opened the bedroom door.  The little critter darted out of the bathroom and out of the bedroom door.  I shut the door and thought, "Whew!  Maybe I won't dream he's crawling up the side of the bed now, since I actually saw him leave the room."

Then I pulled back the covers of the luxury queen and a small cricket jumped out and onto the wall!  Great.  Just what I need.  Crickets are harmless and I won't kill them, but I don't want to sleep with them either.  I knocked him to the floor and lay down to finish the book I've been reading this week.  It's a book about the history of the area.  I only had a few pages left.

But my skin was crawling now.  And I kept hearing mice foot prints and knocking on the door.  Yes, West Virginia mice knock.  Apparently.

Comments

[Phemia]

Well written article.