An ordinary morning...

4:49 am
I wake up, completely and abruptly wide awake and bushy tailed, at 4:49 am. I'm ready to have philosophical discussions and to tackle the house cleaning all at the same time. My master can only grunt. Where's the fairness?! Since no one here is willing to chat at this hour, apart from our dog, I will tackle the cleaning.

5:08 am
Putting the dog outside, I gather the dishes left out by the kids and the messy roommate. They are all incorrigible. We have tried, honest. I gather the random rubbish they have left all over. I toss the keepables up the stairs and litter their doorways with it. This gives me an evil glee; payback for making me pick it up. I tenderly pick up my master's rubbish that HE left all over, since he is also incorrigible. I put it away nicely. By thinking saintly thoughts, I refrain from throwing it at him while he sleeps.

5:53 am
Vacuuming and walking around bent over double has made me sweaty. I hop in the shower before everyone else in the house gets up and starts pounding on the door and whimpering that their bladders will burst. I feign sympathy for their plight, and advise them to pee out in the yard. Like the dog. I brush my teeth and do my hair, slather on body lotion and grin at my reflection in the mirror, practicing looking either sultry or slightly eccentric, depending on my mood.

6:18 am
I get Master a glass of fresh water, and start his coffee. I slip back into bed with him as he dozes lightly, knowing that he is just about ready to wake up. As the coffee percolates and the scent slowly starts to revive him, I nestle naked against him and start to kiss and caress him. I whisper how much I love him... and if we're not in a rush, what I'd like him to do to me. Sometimes I slip down deep under the blankets and begin to pleasure him. I know as soon as this wakes him a little more, he'll have to dash to the bathroom. I'm so bad, but in such a blamesless way.

6:33 am
I've been ordered to find clean clothes for him. If I've been good with the laundry, I smugly show him it's already laid out for him. If I've been negligent with the laundry, I dive into piles of clothing and deep into drawers, and almost always come up triumphant with wearables. In either case, it's my job to run ahead and check that no one else is using the bathroom, and to hurry them out if they are. Then I finish making his fresh coffee, pour it into his favourite mug, and take it to the bathroom for him so he can enjoy it with his cigarette.

6:43 am
I have gotten myself dressed and ready to go to work. It's an hour and a half drive there, so I need to leave soon. As Master comes back to our room, he bends me over and gives me a few whacks with his hand, his paddle, his crop, his cane, or with whatever he can find lying within arms' reach. I giggle, squirm, squeal, and go "mmmmm!". He's a very powerfully built man, and his blows would knock me over if he weren't so gentle. But not so gentle that I don't feel some of those patty-whacks for the rest of the morning as I drive in to work.

7:02 am
We both go out the front door together and enter Master's woodworking shop. This place is definitely what you'd call a "Man-Cave". Antlers, bleached deer skulls, a mummified racoon penis (really!), cured hides--these are displayed alongside power tools of every variety, boards of rare and expensive woods, half-finished works of wood-art waiting to be sanded, and, inexplicably, a collection of fishing rods and musical instruments. I'm not allowed to clean up in here, and I never go in without him. It's like some sacred place where the layers of wood dust must never be disturbed. I really like it in here; there is a kind of peacefulness in it.

7:12 am
We sit having a smoke together in the wood shop. Although he's still sleepy and could have slept in, he never misses getting up with me. He says that seeing me off to work is very important to him, and he has never allowed me to leave without this morning ritual. Despite my anxiety about having to leave momentarily, I am floating in his love for me, and mine for him. We chat about the coming day and he tells me if he wants me to do any errands after work before I come home. He shows me some of his newest wood working, or tells me he's going fishing today. He looks so happy and this gives me the strength to say goodbye to him and face the workday. Later, he'll call me at work to tell me about some enormous fish that he almost landed, or about the mink that tried to steal his entire stringer of perch, or about anything else that happened. I can't wait to get home.