Day one, Day too many

So Cindy made the drive up to Punta Gorda to pick up Elsa yesterday.  The trip went well except for the part where some tire shrapnel from a tractor trailer hit the Prius.  Elsa slept most of the way.  I got reports and pictures during the day of how she was doing.  Cindy said Elsa was very nervous when she first got in the house which is not surprising, everything is brand new.

Of course I was anxious to get home and see the new addition.  She greeted me cautiously, you could tell she was timid.  Despite her apprehension she spent most of the night mostly following Cindy around.  You can tell that she is used to having to contend for food since the shelter she was at had 17 other dogs in the mix.  Everytime either of us were doing things in the kitchen Elsa was right there hoping it meant food for her.

Cindy had her out in the yard on a leash to see how she would do with the chickens.  She seemed a bit scared of the birds and the chickens didn’t seem to really care about her.  Elsa also got to play with the neighbors new puppy Shadow.  It seems like they will  really have fun being play buddies.  Cindy said they had a blast.

Katie stopped over to meet Elsa last night as well.  There are some definite similarities to one of her dogs, Tank.  She thought Elsa was adorable as well.  As the night went on I could tell Elsa was feeling a bit more at ease.  It was almost like she couldn’t believe that all this stuff was hers.  Of course Cindy was all smiles.  Having a 9 month old dog in the house will certainly make her days more interesting and fun.

So when it came time for bed Cindy had planned to have Elsa sleep in the crate that she bought in the bedroom.  She was told at the shelter Elsa was used to being crated.  I was in bed first, feeling exhausted (more on that later).  When Elsa came into the bedroom and saw me in bed she wasted little time before she vaulted herself over me and staked out her own spot in the middle.  She looked so cute and content that Cindy quickly scrapped the plan to put her in the crate.

Cindy’s biggest issue with a dog in the bed is it causing her to wake up.  When Sadie is in the bed she is quite disruptive with her heavy breathing and moving around.  Well Elsa was the opposite.  I hardly noticed she was in bed, she just laid there quietly.  This morning Cindy reported the same thing, she really had no disruptions from the dog all night which is cool. Tonight things get more interesting since I am picking up Sadie to stay through the weekend.  I think they will get along well but Sadie does insist on being number one in the attention scale, something I am sure she will let Elsa know in short order.

Anyway, for the first day I think Elsa did great and I don’t see any glaring red flags so far that would be big issues down the road.  She is a little sweetheart.

So I have yet another annoying sleep issue going on.  For close to two weeks I have been automatically waking up between 5 and 6 am without an alarm.  It doesn’t matter how late I am up the night before or how exhausted I am, something in my head is firing off during that 60 minute window.  It feels like it is contributing to my overall sense of being worn down.  Yesterday at the gym I basically tapped out in the middle of my workout, I just felt like shit.

Just like most things nowadays, I attribute most of it to just another wonderful side effect of growing older.  I recall quite clearly the issues my mom had with sleep and assume I will be battling some of those same challenges as I progress further into old fartdom.  It’s no fun getting old.