Sleeping Out

I've said that if I could live an extra 10 years I'd be grateful to spend them all in bed.  It's not what you may be thinking.  I just like to sleep and sleeping in has always been a hobby of mine. There are few things better for me than waking up and seeing the clock approaching noon. For me the best hours of the day are between 11:00 pm and 3:00 am. Or at least they were before I got a job that requires me to be up before 5:00 am.

I don't think I have insomnia, but I have had my share of sleepless nights due either to too much caffeine or the fact that sometimes my mind won't settle down and let me rest. Thankfully those days seem to be behind me.  Early to bed and early to rise, plus sweating all morning and early afternoon in the sun, makes me want to get in bed by 9:00pm. It seems like there are still 24 hours in a day ( that's right isn't it? I'm not so good with  the math) but now my body seems to be running on solar batteries.  I think I've seem more sunrises in the last three weeks than I've seen in the past 49 years.

Getting up with the birds also has other advantages.  Mainly, most of the other animals are getting up too and the park where I'm now working is crawling (sometimes literally) with animals. I have been taking my camera to work but I've yet to have it ready for when I come upon some of the deer, rabbits, foxes, turkeys, turtles or countless other species that inhabit Quiet Waters. Having grown up in the country most of this wildlife is not new to me but there's something comforting about seeing all this and knowing that humming metropolises like Washington DC and Baltimore are less that an hour away.

I'm still learning the ropes and rhythms of park life but I expect at some point soon I'll be ready to document some of the wonders of nature I see everyday.  For now I'll just have to be satisfied with seeing it all first hand.