A sunny day for rest and recovery at Sycamore Grove Recreation Area along the Sacramento River, south of Red Bluff CA.
We spent the day re-organizing the van, shifting non-essentials to harder to reach storage.
The main task of the day, however, was trying to keep Charlotte awake. She slept from Seattle to Brookings, Oregon then slept all day at Harris Beach, then all day while traveling to Red Bluff. She is now totally nocturnal.
Jen has speculated that crawling under the covers of the bed and sleeping all day is her coping mechanism for dealing with something she doesn’t understand. (I know the feeling. I have felt like doing that since, oh say, November 7, 2024, “make this go away and then I will wake up.”)
Charlotte wakes up after dark about the time we are ready for sleep. That is when she wants to play, crunches her kibble, and generally frolicks about the van, periodically thumping to the floor. (If she thinks she will be allowed on the kitchen counters when she gets home, she is mistaken.)
She sits on or marches on top of me, sits on my head, purrs in my face (sounds like a 10 hp outboard motor), meticulously grooms herself, and/or generally demands attention.
She is ready to sleep when we are making coffee. She artfully burrows under the bedding. The coverlet and top sheet hang over the aisle side of each bed so she stands under them and pulls herself into the bed between the sheets. Then it’s goodbye until evening.
So the day four task was to get her up and keep her that way. It took both of us to extricate her from the bedding and get her into her harness and hooked to the leash.
We took her outside the van and attached the leash to a chair. She looked around and apparently thought “nope” and bounded back into the van. When the slack ran out on the lead, she walked out of the “Escape Proof” harness and borrowed back between the sheets. End of story.
At least now we don’t worry about leaving the van door open (there’s also a screen door) because we know she isn’t going anywhere.
Last night I took a Tylenol p.m. and that helped, but woke up eight times during the night according to the sleep monitor.
