Rainy Day Weather

It wasn't rainy in the morning, but the sky grew progressively darker. By the time I went for my after lunch walk, it was beginning to look stormy.

The hawks tried to finish up last minute hunting.

The sky over our ribbon of private road became a very dark shade of greyish blue.

Bow was not happy. He hated it when the rain started to come down  and the thunder sounded. But, surprisingly, after a brief display at the weather gods, he asked to play with the iPhone. As long as he was making faces at the screen and taking selfies, the weather did not phase him.

After a while, Bow got very sleepy. It was dark in the pen, and he had his fill of sticking his tongue out at the camera, so he lay down on his blanket, with one foot on my leg, and started to fall asleep. Every once in a while the sound of distant thunder made him open his eyes, but he was not too worried.

Napping in the Lap of Nature

When the weather is nice, Bow enjoys being outdoors so much that he chooses to stay out most of the day. Yesterday was warm, there was a gentle breeze, and the birds were serenading all day long. Bow came in for meals and snacks, but other than that, he just wanted to stay outside, even during nap time.

There are many health benefits to taking a nap. It's a way to recharge and de-stress, and if you take a short nap in the afternoon, then it will eventually also help you to sleep better at night. Bow does not need to be told this. He takes a nap every afternoon. But there is nothing like a nap outside in the very lap of nature!

When the birds are serenading, repeating the same line of music over and over again, this is the perfect ambient noise, the one we evolved to sleep to.

Even if you start out wide awake, eventually as the breeze caresses your face and the birds repeat the same flourish of notes, your lids will grow heavy.

You will be lulled into a sense of security, knowing that if any predator were to approach, the birds and the dogs who are keeping watch over you will sound the alarm.

There is nothing to worry about. You are safe and snug and loved and cared for. The birds are telling you that.

Yesterday afternoon was the perfect day for an outdoor nap. Conditions were optimal. There was nothing to worry about and nothing to fear, as the birds stood watch over Bow.

Bow took full advantage of the opportunity, as who wouldn't? 

Today is another day. The skies are overcast and dark clouds are threatening. The birds in the front yard are still singing, but they are not saying "all is well". 

Instead, they are chirping: "It's going to rain! It's going to rain!" I predict that Bow will take his nap indoors today. But while it lasted, yesterday was the perfect day for a nap in the lap of nature.

Nap Time

"Does he nap?" people used to ask me, when I told them that I spend twelve hours a day with Bow. When I answered "yes" they would then ask: "Well, then you must get a lot done when he is asleep?" And I would sigh and answer: "Not really. He wakes up if I am not there and gets into all sorts of mischief. He needs me to be right there. And I need to rest, too. We end up napping together."

Well, that was then. Bow was much smaller. He was more dependent. These days, while Bow and I still nap in the afternoon, we don't always nap at the same time, and Bow is so secure in knowing I am there for him, that he does not need to be in tactile contact with me to go to sleep.

Take yesterday, for instance. Bow was in and out of the inner pens, because it was a fairly nice day, though not too warm. Bow went out and watched the dogs at play, displayed at them and interacted with Leo, the youngest.

But then afterwards, in the afternoon, after spending some time out of doors, he asked to go inside, requested and got his tattered rug, and promptly curled up and went to sleep. He looked so cute lying there like that, with a content half-open mouthed smile, that I wanted to snap his picture.

But to do that I needed to unlatch the door that separated us. I was afraid the sound would wake him up, but it didn't.

His sleep was so sound, that I got my pictures, then went to the other side of the pen and got some work done on the computer.

This does not mean that I didn't get a nap yesterday afternoon, too. But I got mine when Bow was playing with the  dogs!  You see, it does get easier raising a chimp, after a while. You just have to hang in there and wait for the change to come from his side.