I enjoy waking up and not having to go to work.  So I do it three or four times a day.  ~Gene Perret

I don’t know anything about the author of this quote but the message strikes home with me :)  One of the first things I did when I retired was to take off my wrist watch and shut off the alarm clock. I had spent so much of my life to a slave of the clock I couldn’t get away from it fast enough. As it turns out I have never put the wrist watch back on over these eleven years but I do have to set the alarm from time to time. Most often that is to assure that I make a doctor’s appointment.

I do enjoy my afternoon nap but I don’t take three or four of them as Mr. Perret seems to. It is just nice to be able to shut down in the afternoon once in a while. This nap time has become a ritual for me. It goes something like this. I turn on the TV and pull up a DVR episode of something I have seen at least once before (that way it doesn’t pique my interest so much to keep me awake). I lay on the family room couch and my dog Beulah soon joins me.  Since Beulah is a full-sized Basset Hound she takes up much of the couch but most time she gives me enough to allow me to be somewhat comfortable. Since I am a person who can almost sleep standing up it doesn’t take me long to be in never never land. This condition usually lasts for between ten and thirty minutes. It seldom lasts any longer as that is about the amount of time that it takes Beulah to start kicking me during her dreams.

I don’t always get an opportunity to take a nap, especially during the summer months when the growing grass beckon to be mowed and the weeds shout out their dominance in my veggie garden. But, like Mr. Perret I certainly do enjoy them.