Trying to Work while dogs nap

Toby, nap number 1

Nov 1st 2023

I usually write in our kitchen — closer to the coffee machine and the fridge. When I finally settle down to do something, both our dogs, Maisie, our half-Chihuahua-half Terrier (and the boss), and Toby, a Great Pyrenees (the muscle), jump up on the couch, curl up and take their first of many daily naps.

It's irritating. I am a product of Minnesota and a dad who worked on his "Magnus Opus" well into his eighties and frowned on naps. So, I write and try to ignore the gentle snoring of our dogs.

Yet it's a siren's call! What would be lost if I just took a few minutes to sit next to Maisie and close my eyes? Of course, it's rarely a few minutes; it turns into a half-hour and then an hour, and then the morning is gone.

Maisie with “her” blanket: No guilt.

The dogs apparently feel no guilt about sleeping the day away. They wake only to bark at delivery folks or the moan of a coyote. I, of course, feel tremendous guilt. What do I tell Laurie (my partner) when she comes home from working a day in retail? "Well, honey, I walked the dogs, and then I napped for four hours." (Then I mumble something about the creative process)

Everyone has their struggles, I guess. When this all wraps up, and I meet my dad in the afterlife (I don't believe in an afterlife, but it works as a way to end this), he'll ask me what I accomplished. I'll shrug and tell him I had some great dreams, and for the lack of my own Magnus Opus, I blame the dogs.