I went to bed. I tossed and turned forever. I finally fell asleep.

Myu kicked me in the face, which was just annoying enough to engage my brain slightly. I noticed bright lightning flashing and thunder rumbling. That was annoying enough to engage my kidneys, which immediately started sending messages to my slightly awake brain stating they were full and needed a trip to the bathroom.

I grabbed my cell phone off the nightstand and opened it to see what time it was. Like a vampire suddenly caught in daylight, I was blinded by the obnoxiously bright pink display … pink and Hello Kitty in nature. I think I even hissed at it. By squinting as much as possible, I was finally able to discern the time: 5:14 am. Well, damn. I could have gotten 15 more minutes of sleep, if the stupid cat hadn’t kicked me in the face!

There was no ignoring the kidneys, so I stumbled to the bathroom. While doing my business, I hear loud noises like a pile of concrete bricks and tiles being knocked over and tumbling down … concrete bricks and tiles the likes of which I used to close up the under-house access point just outside the wall by the toilet. I wouldn’t think the weather had anything to do with them falling down, seeing as they have sat in place through much worse storms. My gut instinct suggested Peyton the Possum was tired of being out in the rain. Whatever had just moved under the house by way of my careful blockage had to be both determined and large. Those bricks and tiles are not light in weight, which is why I used them to block that entrance. There’s only one critter big enough, determined enough, and downright mean enough to tear down a brick wall to get out of the rain, and that critter would be Peyton. Wonderful. I have a possum under my house again.

The weather isn’t too awful at the moment. There’s a lot of rain, thunder and lightning. If I hear so much as one hailstone on the roof, I suppose I will have to run out and bodily protect my Earthboxes, because we didn’t put them back up on the porch yet. I’d really like it if those two banana peppers achieved maturity, and the tomato plant in the box is the biggest and healthiest one I have. So, please … no hail.

Our alarms keep going off. It’s time for me to stumble into the kitchen and make the morning coffee. My plan today, as soon as Lin is out of the house, is to clean up the mess from last night’s chili-fest and work on that canvas that is taking forever to finish. It’s the reason I was having problems sleeping. I know how I want to proceed, and I want to proceed right now. I believe I have been inspired somewhat by Rauschenberg’s death.

Or I want to go back to bed. I guess I’ll make that determination after a cup of morning coffee.