When I worked in petro-chem construction it usually involved a long drive and kicked off at six so I had to get up between three and four. Didn't matter if I had showered before bed the night before, my day started with a shower or hot bath. Fixed my lunch, drove to work to be there about fifteen minutes early.
Anytime somebody wanted to get together for a weekend project they usually claimed as early as I wanted to start was fine. "Dawn?" Usually some crawfishing about then, nobody really planned to kick off a weekend project by getting up at 3:30 or 4:00 on the weekend and working light was often five or five thirty in the summer. That was when I explained that dawn didn't crack until about 8:30 or 9:00 around my place on the weekend. Turned out that is what they had in mind!
As a teenager I had a chow dog. This was the best pard I ever had. Five or six days a week I rolled out of bed at four AM to go open a business across town at five. First thing I did was let the dog out. Come Sunday I got to sleep in till seven, didn't open until eight. Well I could have slept in if the chow hadn't been huffing in my face from two inches away at 4:05! Ignore that for a few minutes and get a full throated bark in the face from two inches away from my nose! Try ignoring that.
This was the smartest dog I ever owned, probably understood over a thousand words of English. Could speak casually to him and he would know what I had said. Of course he was a chow. Always told people he was the smartest dog I ever saw. Asked him if he wanted to come with me or not, and he always did or he didn't. He was always ready to go but he was hilarious, tell him to do something he didn't want to and at the second or third time he would do it but in super slow motion with every muscle groaning in protest. Anyway, as smart as he was and being with me 24/7 for life from the time he was three months old except on some jobs I'm quite sure he knew when Sunday's were, he just didn't care!
These days I'm tired and retired. When I'm up way before dawn it usually involves a gun or fishing pole. For awhile a camera. I used to do the outdoor photography thing and I loved going to maybe the second biggest wading bird rookery in North America in the hours before dawn. Listening to the sounds, watching the activities at first light, by the time a few other people arrived I had enjoyed three or four hours to myself. Comes to running a chainsaw, trees move slowly enough I can usually chase them down if I get to them by nine or ten o-clock. The only time I get up early in the summer is for a project that is gonna be a hard long all day sucker or to beat the heat for the first few hours on a particularly hot job.
Hu
