A second cup of coffee!

This morning, my usual 5:00am routine of getting up; having breakfast; going downstairs (basement) to work on railway stuff until around 7:00-8:00am was not meant to be! As I was getting my 5:00am breakfast, Ray was standing next to me.

This was unusual because he usually doesn’t stir until he hears me switching off lights in the basement. When I come back upstairs between 7:00-8:00am, he is waiting for me to let him out and get his breakfast for him.

Why the difference? Outside was very dark; very noisy; and had erratic flashing lights! Our hot, humid and extremely dry spell of weather was being interrupted by quite an impressive storm!

Ray always goes outside to pee before he has his breakfast so, just in case he really had to go, I opened the back door (at 5:00am!). He stood in the doorway studying the outside scene. It was not raining at that time, but there were lots of rolling thunder sounds. He turned and went back inside and lay down near Carol’s bedroom door and the storm continued.

I decided not to go downstairs as I would not necessarily know if Ray changed his mind and decided going outside was quite critical. While he has never shown any signs of excessive concern with thunder noises, he is clearly uncomfortable and I wanted to be sensitive to that fact and “be there” just in case!

After my 5:00am breakfast, I therefore decided to boot up my laptop and catch up with Blogging stuff and all went well until around 7:00am when Ray came in to see me. It was his time! As soon as I got up, he started walking towards the back door but, just as he reached it, there was a huge flash of lightning and the sky just lit up.  As I was about to open the door, there was a very impressive and very loud roll of thunder which went on… and on… and on… so I waited. A few moments later, I opened the door and Ray walked out onto our back porch and stopped. I knew he had to go (as no doubt did he) so with a”Go pee buddy! Go pee!” and a gentle prod on his rear, he went off into the garden and performed as necessary.

Back inside his expected breakfast routine was completed, and he returned to guarding Carol’s door!

Living a part of his early life as a stray would, I assume,  have forced him to adapt to extreme weather conditions a little. I would imagine that he would have looked for a shelter of some sort and just waited it out. Living with us obviously takes away that necessity but, I guess like us, there is always that sense that this is a force with daunting potential.

It is now almost 8:30am…….. and it is still very dark outside. I bet our rain barrels are both full, and the garden is probably thinking it’s in heaven! Ray is probably thinking “When is Colin going to make some toast and have his second cup of coffee?” That is the routine after all!

37 thoughts on “A second cup of coffee!”

  2. They keep promising rain around here, but they break their promise every time!! I will go out in a lightning storm if Mom lets me. She is more afraid of the thunder and lightning than I am, so we usually wait it out. Like Ray – I do not like disturbances in my routine!

    Love and licks,
    Cupcake

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  4. Our rain is pouring down by the bucketful since yesterday. Poor Genis has to dress up in a jacket every time he has to “go”. Luckily, so far, we haven’t experienced thunderclaps, but my goodness, the water is running down the downpipes onto the driveway and across the lawn in a steady stream.

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  7. Aw, it’s great you are so sensitive to Ray’s needs. Even the most stoic of dogs will react in extreme weather conditions. My first dog, Lady, was absolutely bomb proof, but one evening my young daughter was standing outside on the stoep when from nowhere came a tremendous clap of thunder. My daughter screamed in surprise, and Lady barked – not because she was scared, but she barked at the thunder to protect her “puppy”, my daughter! 🙂
    Thank goodness I’ve only had one dog sensitive to thunder and lightning.
    And I hope Carol is recovering well?

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  8. Our Sheltie hates storms, she has to be right by your side. Glad that Ray can have shelter now from the storms!
    A second cup of coffee? I just can’t get away from the “mug” references this morning can I? Just hope it was able to hold your coffee! 🙂

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  9. Hi Ray. I understand about the toast. Whenever Dad has his hot dog at breakfast (he can’t eat sausage) I get my “schnauzer portion,” which is a bite off both ends. Of course, this isn’t every day like your toast, but I always hope.

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  10. Rain, glorious rain! Wish we would get some to knock back the heat. I know cats are good at finding shelter in storms and probably dogs too. It’s nice that at this point in his life he doesn’t have to worry about that. His biggest worry is that you will forget to eat your toast.

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