I'm on call at work this week. That means that when server maintenance gets schedule, I'm the one that gets to do it. And server maintenance is always done starting at midnight. I got two maintenance tasks this week.

When I know I'm going to have to get up at midnight to do work, I sleep downstairs on the futon. I figure there's no reason to ruin Nancy's sleep just because I'm going to have to get up in the middle of the night. One of the advantages of sleeping on the futon is that I get to experience a different set of snuggle-cats.

Harri, Amelia, and Tabitha have all decided that the bedroom is "Some Other Cat's Territory". Not one of them will climb up on the bed to snuggle with a human. But as soon as someone goes to bed downstairs, it's all different. Tuesday night I had Harri curled up at my feet, Amelia by my chest, Sammy slept on my pillow a good part of the night, and Tabitha was usually curled up near Amelia when I looked.

Last night I had Amelia by my feet and Harri by my chest. When I got up at 11:50 Harri followed me to the living room and perched on my shoulders as I logged in from the laptop and brought 2 new servers online. She then followed me back to bed and curled up against my chest again. She didn't want to let me out of her sight. I'm sure it was so she could protect me from those nasty, dangerous nighttime greeblings.

I woke up several times during the wee hours of the morning when the wind got particularly loud. There's nothing quite like stretching out in bed, listening to the wind howl outside the window, pulling your blankets a little bit closer and rubbing a purring little kitty who has declared herself to be your personal guardian. It was very difficult to get out of bed this morning.

Copyright © Dan Mahoney
April 10, 2008