I tell you what, if you get up too early, your day’s over before it starts.

The cat boys woke me at 2-ish this morning. I got up anyway. Dougy made sure I couldn’t slip back into sleep by walking on me, then swishing his tail in my face. Then he jumped off my bed, put his front paws on my mattress, and stuck his face in my face. Cat whiskers get you every time! They tickle, man, they tickle! Andy hangs out by the door. His brother is the wake up maestro of the two, so he lets Dougy do the deed.

OK, I got up. I think the cats thought that meant it was “breakfast for kitties” time. I fooled them. I held out till a little before 3 AM, the usual time they eat. We aren’t starting a 2 o’clock feeding in this household!!! Andy protested; Dougy caught a few z’s. I caught up on some editing on this blog and tried to find a missing video file on my computer. I usually eat breakfast after I feed the boys, but 2 AM is not a time I feel like eating!

“Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Clementine…!”

Andy and Dougy fed, I had to convince myself I felt like making something for myself for breakfast, something like pancakes or biscuits. I settled for peanut butter toast (with no jelly or jam); a new cereal that looks like someone ran out of a full serving of Cheerios, so they mixed in some granola; coffee; and a special treat of Clementine juice instead of cranberry juice. (Those who know me know I am very enthusiastic about these little Clementine oranges! The juice is a bit more tart than navel orange juice, which I prefer.)

Of course, even though they’d just eaten their breakfast, the boys had to come over and watch me make mine. Hint-hint! Andy tosses in some pathetic starving kitten sounds with his performance, which includes big kitten eyes and opening a cabinet door where, I guess, he’s looking for food. Maybe he’s just annoying me instead.

Regardless, there is a routine. Andy wants what I’m fixing, so I let him sniff it. He recoils in horror that anyone would want Clementine juice or coffee, but seems a bit too interested in the peanut butter toast. I have to pull the interesting foods back fast or have kitty whiskers on them. Ha! I never feed the boys human food, even milk, based on recommendations from their veterinarian, but Andy still begs while Dougy snoozes in the background “just in case”….

Dougy catches some z’s while Andy bugs me for a past “feed-the-kitties” snack.

I used up the last of the roasted coffee beans to make coffee this morning so roasted a batch after I had breakfast. The roast take 21 minutes for the darkness I like, and the little roaster makes a batch good for one large mug of coffee for three and a half days. I just roast one batch at a time because the fire alarms in my apartment are too sensitive. As it is, I turn on ceiling fans, the stove hood vent fan, and open a door to make sure roasting fumes don’t trigger the alarm. Tedious!

The 21 minutes the roast takes works out to be just right for the time I need to wash the dishes, which oftentimes include the previous night’s dishes and cooking vessels. It did this morning. Dirty dishes washed and dried, I start the day with a clean slate. That lasts a short time, of course!

When the coffee roaster completes the roast, the unit needs to cool down before I transfer the coffee beans to a container, then the beans need to rest till the next day to develop their full flavor. By 4 AM, this last business was completed, and I finished my tasks for the day! On to the computer to catch up on YouTube, facebook, and this blog. That’s done and it’s only 9:20 AM.

Tomorrow morning, 3 AM will come at 4 AM, thanks to the return to standard time. I’d love to sleep in that extra hour, but I suspect the cat brothers will wake me up at 2 AM again. They never get it straight: “Spring forward, fall back. Or is it Spring back, fall forward? These humans are crazy! Our stomachs say it’s ‘feed the kitties’ time. Wake him up!”