I paid a $5 fee to get an alarm clock feature for my phone. Actually, it has several clockly capabilities, but its primary purpose is alarm clock. I needn't have bothered. See, I have dogs. Well, I have a dog and Smang has a dog. But here, in my home, there are dogs. And these dogs are apparently on a strict dietary schedule. Because every morning, without fail, we get up by 7:45am, because they're hungry. It begins when Brownie comes to my bedside and starts to whimper. Then, she'll start her piercing "HEY!" bark. Which, in turn, reminds Lucy that she hasn't eaten in 14 hours. 14! Never mind that she was sleeping for 13.5 of the hours. So, Lucy will get up and go start to scratch on the door to where the food is kept. The ruckus will go on until I get up, and provide food. Immediately after they eat breakfast, they're both anxious to head to the backyard and check out any interesting developments that may have occurred since their last trip out there. And by this time, I am wide awake, and working on some coffee.

*sigh* I wish I could teach the dogs to revel in the beauty of sleeping in.