It’s really getting hard to sleep around here.  Coleman, our one and a half year old boy cat has his own personal schedule that he keeps no matter what.  Our area is fairly rural, so we let him come and go at will.  He disappears during the day and comes home at dark, completely covered in dirt.  He’s primarily white with a few black spots so the red dirt shows up well.

    He has a habit of making noise around four in the morning to let us know that he wants out.  He’ll get up on the night table and walk on the telephone, then across my head or chest.  After a few minutes of this, my wife or I will get up and let him out.  This has been going on for quite some time.  However, now he’s added a new twist to it.  He has learned to turn the light on.  We have one of those bed side lamps that you touch to turn on.  It has a dim, medium and bright setting, so each touch changes the brightness.  Coleman will walk across the head of the bed and touch the light a couple of times.  So, when the light comes on, you know it’s time to let the cat out.  If you don’t respond to him, he’ll flash it on and off a couple of times to get your attention.  Talk about irritating!