I am not sure what is going on lately but I have been waking up at 5:00 a.m. every morning for the past couple of weeks. I don’t really need to be up until 6:00 or 6:30 a.m. so I know it’s not my alarm clock waking me up. It’s like I have an internal rooster crowing at me!
The sun isn’t even close to being up at 5:00 a.m. but I suddenly pop up wide awake and ready for the day. I threaten myself that if I am not back to sleep by 5:30 a.m., I am going to make myself get up and clean something!
Sometimes it works and sometimes I have a load of laundry done before a hint of light comes through the window. That’s all well and good until about 3:00 p.m., then I need a nap.
I can’t even blame the roosters in the barn as they made tasty treats for a fiery red fox last spring.
I am not feeling too bad about their demise. They were quite loud and I swear they would crow at the moon. I am sure the roosters would not be popular with the neighbors these beautiful fall evenings as most of them are probably keeping their doors and windows wide open. It’s hard to relax when a bird is “tooting” his horn and causing a fuss.
My hens still think we have a rooster as they sit and sit on their nests of eggs, hiding them in every corner and flowerpot in the barn. They seem so intent on hatching a brood of chicks I sometimes don’t have the heart to tell them “it’s not gonna happen girls – give it up.” I have to push them off and steal their eggs.
I should be thankful my internal clock is a rooster and not say a sloth…as they sleep about 18 hours a day. I wouldn’t get much done in six hours would I?
Imagine going to bed at 8:00 p.m. and waking up at 2 p.m.— just enough time to shower, eat breakfast, check Facebook, maybe get a walk in, then boom, you’re back to bed. No time to try new recipes, talk to friends or hold down a job. How long would it take you to read a novel?
I guess I will embrace my rooster self, get up early and make the most of my very long days. Lord knows there is always something to clean or a good book to read.
Favorite Rooster Joke:
What do you get when you cross a rooster with a duck?
A bird that gets up at the “quack” of dawn!
Taste of Home columnist Sandy (Anderson) Holthaus lives on a farm in South Haven, MN with her husband, Michael, and their children Zoe, Jack and Ben. Her heart remains on the North Shore where she grew up with her parents, Art and LaVonne Anderson of Schroeder. She enjoys writing about her childhood and mixes memories with delicious helpings of home-style recipes.
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