SLEEPING DOGS, NAPPING CATS & A SLUMBERING SWINE....

Our final Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap for the month of January 2021 has at least one of each and a State Fair pig, too.
We’ve been in this pandemic thing for so long, that you’d think we’d be able to figure out that we could sleep more and sleep better. Nope. Not if you’re a dedicated insomniac.
I’ve been trying to learn to sleep from expert sleepers: The Senator, my feline confidante, and Wendy, a formerly unwanted apartment dog who is just about the sweetest canine ever to romp homeless on the streets of Dallas.
Perhaps these photos and their explanations will help you defeat insomnia or encourage you to turn to your slumbering critter for authoritative tips on nodding off as if you have no fears and fully expect to win Lotto Texas.

That opening photo, from 2015, shows the wonderful Wendy (officially Wednesday Louise Wagstaff Arden — famous name in U.S. cinema) who fell asleep on Martha’s lap and demonstrates how a dangling set of front legs can help guide you into a nap.
Wendy is Martha’s dog. My effectivespeakerspouse Martha rescued her and Wendy appreciates the noble deed. She was an unwanted dog in an apartment complex. Martha spotted her and talked two teenagers who were indifferent about her into handing her over. Martha can be very persuasive — that’s why we’ve been married 29 years.
Back to slumber. Next, we have a hind-leg dangling photo of my personal feline advisor and financial consultant, The Senator. Out like a light in 2016 on an arm of the couch — he’s a wonderful fellow who, when I stir and wake him in the night, firmly bites me to remind me to be still. 
A couple of nights ago he bit me on the point of my right elbow as I tried to adjust a pillow. I hugged him, said I was sorry and he jumped to the floor and padded off down the hall. He was gone a couple of hours. I think he might have been watching a movie. Cat’s like entertainment.
There are times when I find myself reading while my dog, Porche Noel (found on the porch at Christmas), crawls up on my shoulders and snores into my ear.
No idea where she came from, but when she arrived all those years ago she rasped when she tried to bark, her collar was so tight she was choking, she walked with a horrible limp (injury affects her hip and leg to this day), she was painfully rib-counting thin and starving to the point of fighting for food — our other dogs stood back and said, “It’s yours! There’s more food in the pantry” She got over all of that but the weak leg. Hugging her and having her hug back and wag that tail -- it's all one great reward for a human. She’s the best. But aren’t they all!
Oh, yeah, there’s that photo of Porche on the back of the couch while Martha naps under the warmth of Kittie Leigh the Formerly Front Porch Feral Kitten and, Martha’s dog Wendy.
Because we have dogs and cats and no farm animals, I always enjoy a visit to the Children’s Petting Zoo at the State Fair of Texas — well, not recently, of course. Darn that virus.
So one day at the 2014 Fair, I was in the petting zoo and snapped this photo of a sleeping momma pig. I don’t know what kind. But while she was ignoring the crowd and loudly snoozing, a little ol’ piglet decided to take advantage of momma’s nap.
So we have Sleeping Dogs, Napping Cats and Slumbering Swine for this edition of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap. I find them all to be very comforting. And I miss not seeing State Fair pigs. Wait’ll this fall’s fair (Sept. 24-Oct. 21) —as fast as January went, the Fair’ll be here any minute now!
[LARRY NOTE: Please send photos of your delightfully snoozing critters (i.e., The Senator and his pretty paws) to [email protected] and we’ll post them in our internationally read weekend feature, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap. You’ll be encouraging people to open their homes to animals they can love. And you’ll be helping insomniacs believe they, too, can sleep, maybe, if they can lease an Afternoon Nap Pig Pen at the State Fair.]
— Offer nap advice or reasons not to sleep in 2021 by clicking on ‘comments’ below or by emailing [email protected] and put “Wake up and read my note” in the subject line. —-