Happiness is a Snuggle

~ Jenny

I live with two dogs and a drop-in cat. We all spend a lot of time snoozing. But sometimes the snooze turns into a snuggle, and I’ll wake up to find a poodle or a dachshund curled up against me like a furry hot water bottle, the soft thump of a little heart against my side. It’s the most comforting thing in the world, to gather another living thing to you and be glad that you’re together. I highly recommend sunggling for happiness.

What made you happy this week?

62 thoughts on “Happiness is a Snuggle”

  1. This is very timely. My son woke up at his usual time (early, but later than me) and said “I’m cold, let’s stay here on the couch and snuggle instead of watching TV.”

    And now he is asleep, lightly snoring with his head on my chest.” He’s 8 (and a half! he would say) and even though he *is* kind of heavy I wouldn’t trade it for anything, especially knowing this kind of snuggle time is limited.

  2. My DH comments when Stanley decides to snuggle with him at night. It’s quite the occasion. Usually, Stanley joins Teddy in pinning down my legs. After his mid-nighttime ramble, Teddy will usually return and snuggle up against my hip or waist, so I have to wake him when I leave the bed.

    I’ve been watching the various birds feeding out back. I’m happy that several bluebirds have decided to live in the neighborhood.

  3. I miss having my dog snuggle with me. His arthritis keeps him on his dog bed rather than up on the couch.

    We took our annual excursion to see some manatees. It is not far from my cancer hospital and we go during my January checkup. It is now 15 months of no cancer growth and 3 months of no chemo. It is great to feel normal.

    2. Being done with chemo is one of he best feelings in the world! So glad for your improved health!

  4. I would be certifiable by now if it weren’t for my cats. I live alone and my friends are all in their 70s so the only physical affection I receive is from my old cat Mabel who never leaves my lap, and my 20lb terror Loki who will put up with snuggling for about a minute before giving me a nip and leaping away.
    I, too, have bluebirds! I’ve had 2 pr of Western Bluebirds at my water bowl for a few weeks now. The sight of them makes me very happy.

  6. We had a big windy storm yesterday. Standing by the crashing sea watching the gulls soar on the wind made me happy. Sighting a red cardinal in a bush made me happy. It’s been a very down week until Friday, when I came up for air. The storm, and the sun today are both great mood enhancers. I painted a still life of some green peppers, and when I figure out how to post to Instagram, I’ll put them up.
    We’ve been very lucky in Maine, but the numbers are going up and up, crossing my fingers that my parents can get their vaccinations this month.

  7. This seems to be a wonderful animal day, so I’ll mention Fatso.

    There was this robin who showed up, four or five years ago, perched on one of our bird feeding stumps looking sad and alone and discombobulated by our first big snowstorm of the winter.

    We’d seen flocks of robins the month or two previous, all more or less packing up and heading off as the lawn mowers stopped and the leaves fell down. We assumed they were headed for warmer states, as all robins do, so what was this poor lone thing doing in the obviousness of winter, up on a surface where we never saw any robins?

    Turned out he was looking for these huge red dried cherries that were part of the mix in the 40-pound birdseed bags we’d started buying. When he found one, he’d pounce on it and peck until he realized it was too big to swallow and too hardfrozen to take apart, at which point he’d hop to another place looking for a better one.

    We began pulling the cherries out of the bags and saving them, and I’d cut them up and put pieces out each morning when I first saw him. And as the winter got longer and longer, colder and colder, we started putting out warm water in a plant saucer with a perching rock in the middle. Fatso would wait in the coldest mornings above the saucer spot, and when the warm stuff was set out, he’d perch on the rock, fluffed up to the size of a softball, which was how we started calling him by a name we wouldn’t have uttered previously, but that he had made a term of endearment for us.

    He survived the long cold winter with us, and he’s been back (much slimmer!) every spring or fall, sometimes with a shy companion who’d fly off to hide when we hurried out to place hoarded cherry bits on the stumps for him. He still perched above in the favored spots, chirping back at us and diving down to grab every red chunk before flying off to hang with the shy one — the missus, we thought?

    We hadn’t seen him since spring, and thought maybe he’d reached the end of his migrating, but last week there was again a lone robin perched outside the back window staring inside. I still had some frozen cherries (which were no longer to be found in the birdseed bags these days) from the freezer which I microwaved a bit, then cut into pieces and brought out to the main stump. Down he flew, scarfed them all up, and flew away chirping happily.

    So Trump is leaving, depressed & furious, but our Fatso has appeared like a 2021 miracle, and we’re really happy after seeing him, still slim, six days in a row. Nothing but good times at the moment! 🙂

    Still oddly 7 but I am jinx.

  8. Although the peril our country is in makes me stressed and afraid, there are things happening that make me really happy.

    Biden’s COVID proposal makes me happy but what makes me really happy is realizing he can do nearly all of it (except minimum wage) with only 51 votes through a budget fast track procedure called reconciliation. He has to keep all the Dems on board but he doesn’t need Republicans.

    I live in Montgomery Cty bordering DC. All the neighboring law enforcements agencies have a mutual support deal and apparently the DC police were worried enough that they asked our county and others to be on alert. As a result when they asked for help at 1 our local police were there between 2 and 3, at the height of the insurrection. It’s very reassuring to realize the local agencies knew what they were doing and were not cutting white supremacists any slack when National Guard higher ups were at best struggling to figure out what to do and at worst deliberately withholding aid.

    Daniel Hodges, the policeman who got crushed in the door in the insurrection, makes me happy because he is not badly injured and he said “ If it wasn’t my job I would have done that for free. It was absolutely my pleasure to crush a white nationalist insurrection and I’m glad I was in a position to help. We’ll do it as many times as it takes.”

    Sonia Sotomayor swearing in Kamala Harris makes me happy.

    Trump being denied a military honors send off makes me happy. Petty, but happy.

    The amazing stupidity of the insurrectionists posting on social media makes me happy. Particularly the one who in the middle of her live post does an ad for her real estate company right before, also on the video, she goes into the Capitol thus breaking the law. That is the one who flew there on a private plane and now thinks they should all be pardoned. A lot of these cases will fall into the slam dunk category. And I don’t think Trump will pardon them because it makes his life more difficult and he could not care less about them.

    Big companies stopping political donations to Republicans that voted to overturn the electoral college vote makes me happy.

    On a personal note, my husband has now been home for 10 months straight with only 2 nights away to get our son from /deliver him to grad school. We are still happy. Since he has traveled at least a quarter of every year of our marriage for work, for 33 years, that’s a really good thing.

    Also my son’s roommates came back and the U handled the return safely so they didn’t give him COVID.

    Three more days….

    2. All the things in your post are making me happy, too, Debbie! And it’s been such a peaceful week with Twitter accounts being shut down! I feel my blood pressure dropping daily! I think that Madame Real Estate Lady’s license may possibly be questioned, as Texas seems to have some standards.

      Cats also do it for me: my own cat Polka Dot sleeps against my shoulder on a pillow and I can hear her ladylike barely-there snore. And one of my brother’s kittens, Sammy, hops up to my computer to keep me company and flops out to nap above the keyboard.

      I am also very happy because the Saqqara discovery includes the mortuary temple of Queen Nearit, who may be a newly-discovered wife of the Pharaoh Teti (Old Kingdom), or possibly may be a wife currently known by another name, or possibly the Queen of the West Pyramid — Teti had at least three or four major wives, three or possibly four sons, and at least nine daughters (all named after his mother, their grandmother, and quite a few described as the ‘king’s daughter of his body: the ‘king’s eldest daughter,’ which strongly suggests that they were daughters of different mothers).

      And I am happy because I discovered that my favorite book artist, Nishan Akgulian, has a website with a number of his works on it. He’s the only Modern artist I really like, and it’s mainly because of his wit and his book works. If you check the Past Illustrations page on his site, https://www.nishanakgulian.com/pastillustrations, and go about halfway down the page, you’ll start to see some of the book drawings. This time of year I’m always tickled by the North Pole Book Club, Santa and the reindeer winding down after the big night.

      1. Ah, I love that man’s art. Appreciate the Jane Austen quote which continues to get me through, “Ah! There is nothing like staying at home for real comfort.” Yes! for me, especially at holidays.

    3. Adding to the list, good bye to the Kushners especially for not letting the Secret Service agents use any of their six bathrooms. They had to either knock on a neighbors door (Obama’s being one) or drive to the nearest gas station. They probably should have parked an RV on the street. Anyway they are the people who would take a bullet for the president.

  9. A couple of afternoons in the garden and a long walk in the sun earlier in the week. Bumped into a couple of friends and then an acquaintance and her neighbour and enjoyed chatting to all of them, on my way to/from the allotment yesterday.

    Spring will come, and life will get a lot better. And meanwhile there’s good food and books and TV – and my creative projects, when the day job allows.

  10. My little Sheltie doesn’t snuggle. Her foster mother says Tantaka is the only dog she knows that ‘purrs’. It’s a low pitched sort of hum she makes when I scratch around her ears. Hearing that makes me happy.

    I don’t like countdown clocks but I do like figuring out the number of hours left to events like the inauguration (now 71).

    Also, lotteries are really high. I don’t buy a ticket unless they’re over $450,000. I just have to take the chance in memory of my father who always purchased them.

    Nothing but good times ahead.

  11. Bah. Humbug. By mutual consent (we both feel “ooky”) the dotter and I have cancelled today’s Shop and Dine trip. She has to go out to pick up meds later anyway, so she’ll swing by a steakhouse and McD’s for grub.

    I was thinking about opening the door a crack and kidnapping one of her dogs for a while.

  12. My previously sick kitty seems to be doing fine. Not as cuddly to day as he sometimes is on a Sunday, but he is well, so I am not complaining. If I do my back exercises that involve lying on the floor, he is sure to join me, so I do have the ultimate incitement.

    Boss is going to be away from the office for 2 1/2 months. Have a lot of “I’ll do that when she’s gone” things to catch up on, but at least it should be CALM, so I am looking forward to that.

  13. I’m almost done with a super complicated cable coat project. I have a three day weekend and I’m taking Inauguration Day off so in case anything blows up, at least I don’t have to pretend to care about work. I’m having fun online chat times and am going to watch an online play tonight.

  14. Both of my indoor cats are currently deigning to sleep with me, which makes for cozy nights, and that makes me happy.

    We are experiencing snow, which is pretty and looks lovely on the trees, so that makes me happy. I went out for groceries earlier, so I can stay inside and enjoy it.

    Mostly I’m happy because I have finally, after months of nothing, have a prose piece that wants to be written. I’ve had poems come, and I’m happy for them, but I’ve missed essays.

    Also will be happy once Joe and Kamala are officially inaugurated Wed.

  15. The sun is out again. Lots of stuff cleaned out from storage. My friend’s brother has survived COVID and getting better, back home. Hoping he doesn’t become a long hauler.

  16. Getting my internet back online has made me very happy indeed! It’s been out for the past five days and a technician had to come and replace some hardware this morning, but we are finally back online and thus winning at life.

    My territory has announced that we will be accepting another international repatriation flight next month, which could mean more work for me. That would make me happy enough, but it also means that more Aussies can come home. I was supposed to work on a repatriation flight over Christmas/ New Years, but it was cancelled with three days’ notice because of an outbreak in Sydney. All those poor people who were so close to getting home, suddenly shut out again, and finding out on Christmas eve – it was heartbreaking. But new flights are being scheduled, and they should be first on the list for them. That makes me happy.

    1. Looking forward to it. I’ve gotten out of the habit of (non-writing) creativity. Actually, I’m out of the habit of writing creativity too, and the two tend to feed each other, so that would explain a lot.

      1. I’m going to join in this year and I am very excited about it! I started following you on Instagram and I am thinking about what I want my challenge to be.

  18. Having read several excellent books recently, I find myself looking for quality on the screen too. Watched Forrest Gump (never saw it before), wow! Then watched Saving Private Ryan (never saw it before, due to descriptions of first 20 minutes), incredibly impressed. Also, I won’t watch it again, too gut-wrenching. But it makes me happy to have seen these incredible films. Now looking forward to Brokeback Mountain.

  19. I’m happy to know I’m not being pathetic. I slipped on some gravel on New Year’s Eve (fortunately in my bathers, so I didn’t ruin my favourite pants) and tore a calf muscle, terribly uncomfortable. Fast forward a week or so and it’s not really improving, my Physio thinks there may be bony injury. I hit my GP up for a leg X-ray and it turns out my very innocuous fall has resulted in a broken fibula. I feel a bit like Spike Milligan “I told you I was sick”.
    Not so happy that my husband is flying back to work on Tuesday. He’ll be back mid-March, it seems a long way off. I have him stockpiling dog food, people food and wine, just enough to tide me over for the next non-driving month.

    Nothing but good times ahead.

  21. I have a question for a future Writing post.

    If smirks and smirking are reserved for bad guys, or usable by good guys only if immediately followed by an apology, what about The Rolling of One’s Eyes. In Huston’s Uptime Pride and Downtime Prejudice, Our Heroine (Mary) rolls her eyes six or eight times in twenty or so chapters. Then in chapter 21,

    He ignored her friendly greeting. “Mistress Russo, this is a serious matter, and it must be treated seriously. I am here to examine you for signs of demonic possession.”

    Mary rolled her eyes in disgust and frustration. “Aw, for…” Jacob took a step back, and she heard Maria gasp. Father Huntsha’s face was neutral. Mary looked about, confused. “What?”

    “She rolled her eyes, Father!” exclaimed Jacob, worry creeping into his voice.

    Mary looked at him as she took another bite of chicken. “It’s what I do when I’m faced with bullshit, Jacob.” She spoke as she chewed.

    Father Huntsha held up his hand. “It’s also a sign of demonic possession.”

    “Rolling of eyes is a sign of demonic possession?” She swallowed her bite. “If that’s the case, Father, every teenager in Grantville is a demon.” She glared at the two men, but did not roll her eyes again, even though her eyeballs itched with the desire. She took a sip of wine and turned in her chair to face them.

    I noticed in Whiskey Rebellion. Liliana Hart, that Addison Holmes plays craps with her eyeballs as well, rolling her eyes at least twice per chapter.

    Is there some emotion or attitude for which eye rolling is the only suitable expression? How should it be used, and how often

    1. It’s funny and endearing when kids do it. It’s like the polite version of “oh mom, I can’t believe you just SAID that….”

      jinx and/or the number Seven

      1. Endearing? In the story, I suspect some elder – a priest or magistrate – got fed up with eye rolls and declared them symptoms of demonic possession. I don’t remember seeing it in any of my other reading, but it sure seems logical. And like weighing the same as a duck on rigged scales, it’d let you burn someone you wanted to burn anyway. It would also ensure the peasants don’t make eye contact lest you see all the eye rolling going on.

  22. Another animal story:

    Our neighbours have a nectar bottle for birds (feeding NZ Native birds can be tricky but heavily diluted sugar water can be ok under some circumstances). This means that native parrots (Kaka) show up on their balcony frequently making skarking noises and just generally being entertaining.

    I keep a planter of perpetual spinach on our balcony and I tend to hurl the stalks out into the native bush off our balcony when I pick the leaves. About a month ago I nearly winged a kaka with a stalk (didn’t actually threaten his flight, just surprised him)…at which point he jumped onto our balcony to stare at me and bounce up and down.

    Since then he’s showed up multiple times to bounce up and down our balcony and he is a delight every time (I know it’s the same kaka because his band is organge and yellow).

    I don’t know if he’s amused or annoyed but I love the fact he shows up.

    http://nzbirdsonline.org.nz/species/kaka

      1. I decided he’s sworn revenge…nothing quite like having my partner call out
        “your nemesis is heree”

        Also he does seem to poop on our balcony a lot.

  23. My cat is the snuggliest cat I have ever had. He is also the only boy cat I have ever had. The girls have all tolerated a bit of snuggling, but there comes a time when they have had enough. Harry could happily snuggle for the rest of his life. And his purr is loud enough to run you over.

    1. Sounds just like ds who’s much more into snuggling than his sister.

      My mother when learning her first grandchild would be a boy was less than thrilled (no boy in the family so far). She wouldn’t have had to worry, he’s the cuddly one, the soft-hearted goofball and she totally lost her heart on first sight (he also totally charmed the nurses as a newborn).

      Long story short: never underestimated the snuggle potential of males 🙂

    2. I’ve found that male cats are the more snuggly, wanting for affection. Females are glad to have you around, but would just as soon do their own thing.

  24. Our Labradoodle, Poppy, is a snuggler. I had a bad migraine one day last week and she kept me company in bed all day. I often wake up in the middle of the night and it’s comforting to feel her little body curled against me.

    Classes started up last week and I’m particularly excited about my Sustainable Landscape Design class. We’re looking at resilience, lifecycle, and provenance of plant and other materials, aspects of horticulture that are near and dear to my heart. I will have to learn AutoCAD, which will be a challenge for my older, non-tech oriented brain.

    We finally had a decent snowfall and walking through the neighborhood and seeing families and kids building all types of snow sculptures. Our city is in strict lockdown and we’re not supposed to go outside except for essential shopping and exercise. In addition to snuggling, Poppy, loves to walk so we are talking full advantage to get outside.

    I sent small parcels to my nieces in the US and included small bags of Christmas cookies. Because of school and the pandemic, I made many fewer cookies than usual and didn’t send any out before Christmas. My eldest niece did a cute IG story thanking me for her cookies. It’s nice to know that my cookies are a family tradition and bring smiles to my adult nieces.

    1. I follow Nigel Dunnett and James Hitchmough on Instagram: they teach landscape design at Sheffield University, and have pioneered sustainable, naturalistic landscape design in urban areas. Mostly UK, of course, but also international projects. Hitchmough, especially, features his travels to places like Kyrgistan, looking for new plants for these projects. Can get a bit technical, but always interesting.

  25. I have not been able to log onto this site from my favourites links. I thought something had happened like another hack.

    I checked on twitter and followed someone’s link, and lo! I am here and very happy to see that all is as well as can be. So I ma happy to be here.

    I am very happy that our Command Council evaluated information and our president announced that school opening will be delayed.

    I’m happy that I’m happier. Enough to start looking at the plan for the next year and few years forward. Map out either staying in education or leaving. If leaving, go where, do what?

    The pandemic put a few more things in perspective, so the aim is to live in the moment but have various plans for the future.

    This is making me feel good.

  26. Half of my Friday vacation day got torpedoed by an excessive volume of work and no reasonable way to delegate, but I was offline by 2:00 and in the yard by 3:00. Over the weekend, put in nearly 6 hours of garden work. I am sore, tired, and happy. Big progress made.

    Also happy because with all of that done, I still have all of today Off. And the husband made a seafood paella last night which was yum.

  27. Happiness is a 2 cuddly cats who get very impatient for me to get my breakfast and get to my chair in the morning so I can put my blanket on my lap for them.

    Yesterday happiness was also a Zoom birthday party. One of my friends turned 50 this year and her teenage daughter arranged the party for her since most of us old people don’t use Zoom. It was so much fun. The group of us have been friends for many years. Cori and I went to school together, Lisa and Sheryl went to school together in another town. Cori and Lisa were in Air Cadets and met in camp and Sheryl and I worked together when we all lived in the other town.

    This is not a snuggle or a fun Zoom party but it was (sort of) happiness:

    https://www.instagram.com/p/CKDJfCOlkHu/
    https://www.instagram.com/p/CKDJISWle2N/

    I also did a load of socks and left the water in the laundry sink so Paul could be as grossed out as I was. It’s the little things that keep a marriage going.

    I also seem to be pushing on full steam ahead with the cleaning and organizing binge I’m on which is very good news for my house and my mental health. I am still working on my project list, so far it’s limited to inside-the-house projects not outside-the-house projects. It’s still a good sized list.

  28. I found a dentist that is not a sadist today. Four fillings and I hurt less than the last cleaning with my previous dentist. Its a bit of a drive but if this gets me to stop dragging my feet… then HOORAY!

  29. I was called back for an focused mammogram and an ultrasound and I am happy that everything is normal.

    Not that I am morbid or anything, but I spent the last week since I was notified that I needed more tests, planning out who wants what of my stuff right now because my husband would have enough to worry about trying to plan his own meals and taking care of this monster house since I was obviously going to drop dead. Now I am thinking that maybe I really should do that cleaning. My copper mold collection (43 pieces) has not seen the light of day since we remodeled three years ago. And do I really want to go back to buying copper cleaner in a 4 pound tub?

  30. Last year I was called back the day after my regular mammogram because they couldn’t quite read it confidently. Happily the second time, a couple of days later, showed nothing of any interest, long may that continue. But it is enough to give a good fright.

  31. Saturday evening out of the blue I got a text from an old friend. We were colleagues and then roommates back in the day. She moved away, so we don’t see each other that often anymore. We ended up talking for more than an hour on the phone and saying to each other again, as we do every few years, “we should do this more often!” Neither of us are phone talkers and neither of us needs constant contact to remain friends, but we probably do leave it a bit too long between conversations.

    Anyway, that was all the happiness I needed this week. I’ll be happy next week at 12:00:01pm.

  32. Followup:
    I finished Fire on the Rio Grande and switched from new stuff to old… Artificial Condition, Murderbot Diaries. I find the following: “If a bot with a brain the size of a transport could roll its eyes, that was what ART was doing.” What does that mean?!?

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