at the oddest of hours

I slept for several hours and maybe one more last night, I think, awakening to the barking of a neighborhood of dogs shortly before dawn. The same dogs I do not hear during the day, me wanting to sing 'do you hear what I hear' to the rightful owner at 1 am, 2:30am and 3:15 am (on the nose).

Like clockwork, they make themselves known, each bark distinctive. So often I sit outside and listen, turning my head in the direction of the barking, constant and steady, until I find myself slumped over in a chair with saliva drooling down my left neck,waking to the thump of the morning newspaper,
shivering,
me wondering where I am until I here the bark again, again and another again.