Wednesday, March 30, 2016

CHILDREN OF THE NIGHT




Listen to them, the children of the night.
What music they make!

Dracula
Bram Stoker

I've been nocturnal for as long as I can remember - - and when I try to sleep, I'm a hopeless insomniac.

Hungarian heritage? Possible vampirism?? It's undoubtedly something in my blood (no Dracula puns intended). Some people rise and shine with the morning sun. I don't feel alive until after dark. I'm never fully awake until midnight. I dread daybreak.

So where am I going with this subject?
Absolutely nowhere. It simply crossed my mind tonight, during a several-hours-long battle with insomnia.

I went to bed extremely early tonight - which means before midnight. My Big Plan (capitalized for emphasis) was to drive to town. This wasn't intended to be a pleasure excursion, but rather a necessary one. I need a new vacuum cleaner. Pronto.

The more I tried to sleep, the more I turned and tossed. The more I tossed and turned, the wider awake I became. The wider awake I became, the more I dreaded the agonizing prospect of piloting those excruciatingly endless winding mountain roads.

My back hurts, Big Time. I also have a monumental kink in my neck (had it for days). Probably should buy new pillows, along with the vacuum cleaner. 

Bosco was hogging all the covers. No need for alarm. Bosco's a cat. Not a lover. (just thought I'd clear that up in case you were in doubt)

Come to think of it, I probably did have a lover named Bosco somewhere along the line - - long ago during my reckless whiskey and hashish days..... Or was that Bozo?
(sometimes I like to throw in an unexpected punch, just to knock my critics for a loop) 

An owl was emitting spooky Halloweenish hoots near my bedroom window. At least I think it was an owl....

I finally got up, went into the kitchen, made a sandwich and a cup of coffee. At 3:00 a.m. 
Caffeine is the last thing I need. I'm already wired for sound.

At around 4:00 a pack of coyotes wandered in from the forest just behind the house - howling, yelping, growling, shrieking with demonic enthusiasm. 

There were a lot of them, much more than usual, and they came very close to my back door. I turned on the back porch light. When they finally moved to a safer distance, I stepped outside to have a look. They were already just a murky blur in the darkness.

When the coyotes are very close in large numbers, their presence is blood-curdling - - not to mention goose bump inducing - - but I love the excitement. There's an intoxicating satisfaction about being alone in the wilderness at night. It lends romance to nocturnality and intrigue to insomnia.

Spell Check informs me that nocturnality doesn't exist. I say bullshit! Look in the dictionary. Spel czech iz rong!!

So, where was I?

It's nearly dawn now and I'm still not sleepy. My Big Plan for Wednesday has been thwarted by insomnia. I can't go on Thursday, due to predicted Big Storms (capitalized for emphasis). The vacuum cleaner will have to wait. And I have no regrets.

I'm going back to bed.


Afterthought:
This crappy post probably shouldn't have been written. If you'd rather see pictures, check out my two previous posts.

 

27 comments:

  1. We have foxes in the uk not coyotes and they have a strange cry when mating season comes along
    Not as frightening as your coyotes, but eerie

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never knew that foxes made strange sounds.

      Believe it or not, I've heard MICE make strange noises when my cats are chasing them. It's sort of a hissing sound.

      Delete
  2. great post-some of my late night,can't sleep posts are my best. I had a lover named Mustapha once but we were in prison together so that doesn't really count does it? ha ha ha ha ha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Prison lovers count.
      Just don't mention them on a resume.......

      Delete
  3. I too have insomnia some nights...but I am not hungarian, nor am I a vampire. but I LOVE bela's dracula; those are the first words he speaks in the movie.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I have definite vampiric tendencies.

    Nobody ever said that "children of the night" line more perfectly than Bela.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Jon,

    I am sorry, I am one of those dreadful morning people. You'd think with my history I'd be a child of the night as well, but a lot of years of day jobs knocked that out of me. So far we've had no coyotes on our doorstep...yet.

    Larry

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Days jobs are indeed the culprit. Most of my jobs have been night jobs
      I suppose I'd rather have a coyote on my doorstep than a Girl Scout selling cookies....

      Delete
  6. Being that near to the coyotes must define an adrenaline rush!
    Color me guilty: I, too, am a morning person.... all but stumbling if I'm still vertical after 9. Except(!) I love shorter days and darkened commutes.

    In all seriousness, I hope your sleep cycle rights itself soon!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I admittedly know some very nice, normal morning people. Most nocturnal people are......shall we say quirky?

      In all seriousness, I've never had a regular sleep cycle. Which undoubtedly explains why I'm moody, irritable, paranoid, unconventional, and irritatingly unique.

      Delete
  7. I guess now is not a good time to tell you my secret??? I too am and always will be a night owl. Like you I definitely shine more at night. You would never believe I get up at 4:30 in the morning for work?!?!? I don't know how I do it either. No coyotes here, but I do hear fox here at night.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Anyone who can get up for work at 4:30 in the morning has my wholehearted admiration - - and sympathy.
      Nocturnal people are always extremely intriguing.
      And it's always best to look for foxes after dark......

      Delete
  8. "...coyotes wandered in from the forest just behind the house - howling, yelping, growling, shrieking with demonic enthusiasm." I've lived in places where those weren't coyotes, Jon. Doubtless you have too. I prefer coyotes to devolving lycanthropes. At least we've got woods between us and whatever godless horrors devour each other next door.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Geo, I keep trying to convince myself that they're coyotes. Unfortunately my potent imagination often disagrees with my intended logic....

      Delete
  9. I love the nights and the coyotes too. When I lived in San Antonio I wished I could mow the grass at night. I had a street light and two tall security lights so I could have. Guess the neighbors who slept normally and had to get up to go to work wouldn't have liked it.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It would be wonderful to mow the lawn at night - - as long as you didn't have to worry about coyotes or other stalking creatures of the night.

      Delete
  10. Need a new vacuum?

    That sucks!!! (or maybe it doesn't...)

    :-)

    -Andy

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Since I have a dirty mind, I should probably keep my thoughts to myself.

      My old vacuum is Kaput. I desperately need an expert sucker..... (somehow that doesn't sound right).

      Delete
  11. I am very familiar with those nights where you are trying to sleep because you have something you want or need to do during rest-of-the-world hours. A few years ago (3 now?) I found a way melatonin works for me. Nothing like it says. I have to take 10 mg at about 7pm in order to be in bed around 12-1am. Unless you have been a nightowl all your life and greeted the dawn often, people wouldn't understand that being to bed almost every night before 2am is totally being a "day person" to people like me. Sometimes I feel like a pod person, but it makes life a lot easier if you have appointments or need to buy a vacuum. I have gotten so used to it now that the rare times I get thrown off my usual spread of hours--which still happens--I feel off until things are back to my new normal. How does the melatonin work? No clue. But obviously it doesn't work it's magic on night people in 20-30 minutes--LOL! Not this one anyways. Took a while to notice it was doing anything. Oh, and when I did quit taking it so see what would happen--my hours went back to all over the place and I was up all night again. Just an FYI. Might not interest you or even work for you, anyways.

    ReplyDelete
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    1. I can fully identify with thinking I'm a daytime person if I go to bed at 2:00am.

      When I was young in California, I experimented with numerous things to help ,make me sleep. I probably tried melatonin but honestly can't remember. It would certainly be worth trying again.

      I do remember that I used L-tryptophan for a long time - until all of the horror scares started circulating about the negative side effects.

      Valerian root usually works well for me. I've used it very often to calm my nerves. It doesn't seem to be a potent sleep aid for me, but it helps to some extent.

      Delete
  12. I too am nocturnal. If it is not after midnight I'm not alive either. I think the wail of coyotes adds a touch of flavor to the mountain wilderness that captures it's allure. Which is why you embrace it. Sorry to hear about your back. REST it. I want you to know you made my day. I hate spell check so much I could scream. "Spel czech iz rong." (thank you)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nocturnal people are very special. We share a unique perspective - - a sensitivity and awareness that is completely absent in daytime people.

      I think my spine was seriously injured when I fell on the ice twice last winter - it never properly healed. And I already had a previous spine injury when I fell down the stairs about 20 years ago.

      Spell Check truly infuriates me. It seems like every other word I type is rudely underlined in red!!!

      Delete
  13. Jon,
    All that coyote activity would make me nervous Jon!
    Ron

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    Replies
    1. Ron, I think I'm more frightened of the ice and steep slopes!
      (well, lately it's been mud, not ice....)

      Delete
    2. Jon,
      You should be. Please don't fall. All you have to do is break something and you're done for. Especially out there in the wilderness like you are now.
      Ron

      Delete
  14. I grew up in the swamps of south Louisiana. We always had coyotes around. They were nothing to fear though. We had to worry more about the alligators near our house, in the swimming hole.
    After I grew up and became the cosmopolitan dandy that I am now, I am more frightened of some of the folks here, in New Orleans, than I was of the wildlife back home!!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I never knew there were coyotes in the swamps! The alligators would REALLY unnerve me. I don't think I'd venture outside....

      You're right, though - people are often much more frightening than critters in the wilds. One of the main reasons I came here was to get away from crazy people and extremely annoying neighbors.

      Delete

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