On pink clouds, orange cats and stupid birds

This morning was another beautiful start to a beautiful day.

Eddie gently (ahem - poetic license involved) nudged me from my slumber. The 5am sky was bright, tinged at the edges with fluffy pink clouds.

I like to be the first to wake. I like to drink my cup of tea (I know, second child, I allow myself a little latitude) slowly and alone.

My mind takes this time to arrange my day. It is the only time that I truly feel I have any control of it, and it is a fantasty that I can spin for hours.

Of course, I am generally joined after not too long by V and/or 'Salina. V is a "give me a double caffeine hit before small talk" sort of morning person, 'Salina has two morning modes - wide awake and bouncing or "why the heck am I out of bed?" lethargy.

But this morning - this morning I had just made my tea and sat at the computer to contemplate the emails and twitters and blogs that were available for respite through the day - I would say my "set for the day" meter was at about 35% when...

Well, one of the morning rituals is, of course, letting Eddie out after an evening of being locked in the house. I wait until it is daylight for this, as I figure it gives the local wildlife - especially the birds - a fighting chance. The fact that he is orange and therefore doesn't blend too much with foliage and lawn combined with the tinkly bell that accompanies his every move ups the odds even more, and his tally is rather paltry.

Paltry, but not zero. There are birds who are designed with self-preservation strategies and then there are birds who just ain't. Occasionally he chooses the latter...

This morning, he chose the latter. Of course, rather than capturing prey and dealing with it in the wilds of the back yard, Eddie is a social animal and would far rather share the delights of his expedition with the humans he most loves. Cue the sneaking it upstairs, bringing it into the living room and let it loose for a little sport.

Woke me up immediately, as you can imagine. Then he chased it into 'Salina's room. 'Salina has pretensions of being afraid of birds, so this was a lovely way for her to go from "sleeping" to "screaming". The domino effect of this was to rip V from horizontal to vertical. So the scenario - pregnant lady chasing cat chasing bird around the house with accompanying music of child eeking and husband adding a baseline of "what the..."

The time was 5.30am.

We rescued the bird, chastised the cat and - and that is how our Saturday started.

How is yours going?