Woke with the sunrise this morning. I did that intentionally. I know that if I open an eye in the morning and it’s dark, I don’t want to get up. My brain literally tells me that I need more sleep, even if my alarm is buzzing that I’ve had at least 7 and a half hours of sleep or more. I always feel groggy this way. But if there’s sunlight, I’m instantly awake.

Except I actually woke up a few minutes before sunrise, so there was light, and I was awake.

Since the pets weren’t bugging me, I did some reading and worked on mindset — that reset I mentioned yesterday. Then I got up and took care of the pets, got my coffee, and set down to write. After that, I moved onto painting. I even spent time varnishing and cataloguing some of the work I’ve been doing over the last few weeks that I hadn’t had a chance to finish. I’m excited to see how it fits into the whole routine of getting it posted to the website. I’m really trying to get photographing, cataloguing, and listing all into a system that’s easy to maintain. I want a nice flow. I think I finally have that all going. At least it feels like the right direction.

I even got to sit outside and work on the cataloguing there while my dogs kept me company. Merlin was having fun trying to catch squirrels who wanted to go up the tree by where he was. Kreeli, well, she enjoys being outside, but she’s starting to act like nothing is comfortable for her these days. She loves sitting in the sun and sleeping in the shade. But it might just have been a touch too cold for her today. She’s 15 and she is losing her hair. Even though she was wearing her sweater, Shih Tzu’s have issues regulating their body temperature. With her balding, I worry about her getting too cold.

After we all went in, it was time for the dogs to have a bath. Kreeli isn’t a big fan of baths (though she does love to wallow in mud if she gets a chance), but wearing the sweater like she does, I want to make sure she doesn’t get too matted up with what little fur she does have. In getting her wet, she always looks so small and fragile.

When she was out of the bath, she ran around kicking up a storm and rubbing herself against everything she could. Kevin tried to brush her out, but she wasn’t having any of that. She even wrestled with Merlin a little tonight, spunky little thing. She’s tired now and looks like a little white cloud. I always wonder how much time we have left with her. She’s old, but she still seems to enjoy life. And food. I hope she makes to at least to the first snowfall. Every year, she sees snow, bounds into, and plants her face full into it. She comes up with snow packed onto her whiskers and beard.

As for Merlin, he doesn’t normally enjoy baths. He usually stands still and shakes as if he’s expecting to be beaten. Worst thing ever. Today, however, I was just talking him through the bath trying to keep him relaxed. He actually started wagging his tail and enjoyed being soaped up. He even waited for the condition. Usually he’s trying to get out of the tub at that point and I’m struggling to keep him in. Not today. I even got to rinse him extra long. I was stunned. I think it’s beginning to realize that a bath isn’t a bad thing and that it can be a time for bonding.

But, he’s still a Terrier. Once he was out and toweled off, he tried running for the bedrooms so he could dry himself all over the blankets and sheets. To his surprise, he found all the bedroom doors closed. He was excited about his double treats. I told Kevin to give Merlin extra because he’d been so good. Then, after I was done cleaning up the bathroom, Merlin had to run around and try to roll everywhere just to show me how dramatic he was. He’s asleep now too (grin).

I invested some time this evening into my classes and learning. Now I might be off to watch some television and sketch for a bit. Or I might go read. I haven’t decided yet. I could get wild and do both. Most likely I will do just that.

Yeah, it’s always an adventure!