Mommy, are you AWAKE?

Woody the Woodpecker

 

 

 

 

Seriously, I could use a little sleep.  On the days that I actually can sleep in something has to ruin my slumber party!  This morning it was the smoke detector wanting it's battery changed at 6 am no less.  I fought with it for a while and retreated to my bed and tried to ignore it.  That is easier said than done.  I handed the task over to Christopher, my husband.  He could get it off the wall but didn't figure out how to get the battery out, so he left it on the counter and trotted off to work.  After much frustration I attempted to open it many ways.  Then I did the womanly thing of reading the directions.  And to my surprise.....all I had to do was open the battery door.

This isn't the first time I have had a run in with the mommy only alarm clock.  It is usually Matilda, our cockerspaniel, wanting to go outside.  I know the kids hear her, but they have the uncanny ability to ignore her.  Right after the smoke detector Matilda wanted to go out.  Then the telephone starts ringing and my cell phone starts notifying me of messages.  So I am awake and begin thinking of a certain annoying pest that has irritated me to no end: the woodpecker.

You have only seen them in cartoons?  Really? Not me!  I have my own personal wood destroyer.  These guys are not little.  The picture above is on the fence beside my property.  That sucker is about a foot and half long.  He usually feeds off of the carpenter bee larva placed in my wood siding.  Since he has ruined my facets he has moved on to the fence.  I have been woke up by the the noise of him pecking on the house many times.  It really is louder than you think.  I would make loud noises so he would fly away, but he would always come right back.  Yes, I said he because only a man would annoy me that bad.  In the state of North Carolina there is nothing you can do to woodpeckers except try to frighten them away.  I am not saying I want the the thing dead, but I do not want my house ruined every year.  We have painted to prevent the bees from drilling, but eventually they do anyway.  We have tried every trick in the book.  For now he is gone, but I know he will be back.

If it isn't an annoyance waking me up it is a blessing.  I especially love it when I hear Asa say, "Mommy, are you awake?  My tummy is hungry for peanut butter and jelly."  The kid can consume major quantities of PB&J!  I love it when he snuggles close and asks me to turn on the cartoons real low so I can snooze for a few more minutes.  So I guess there are good alarms that you wrap your arms around and ones that you would rather do without.  No matter what I am thankful that I wake up each day.  Now I am off to replace a battery.