Remember that scene in the Wizard of Oz where Dorothy and the Scarecrow come upon the rusted-up Tin Man? Remember how happy he looked when Dorothy lubricated his joints with the nearby oil can?

I had one of "those moments" this morning.

See, I take my last Stalevo pill of the day at around 8pm. Then I go to bed. I get up at around 4am, or whenever Raven and Shiloh decide the yard needs to be moistened. So, at that point, it's been 8 hours since the last pill.

This morning was particularly difficult. I struggled to get to my feet from sitting on the edge of the bed. I staggered to the door to get my robe as both dogs nudged my exposed backside with their cold, wet noses because I wasn't moving fast enough. (Raven's a border collie. Shiloh's a German shepherd. Their purpose in life? To "herd" things. I was being "herded" to the door.)

I was walking like Frankenstein -- stiff legged, short steps. I had to put my hands out to keep from toppling over as I made my way down the hallway to the front door. As I bent over to put a the leash on Raven (she gets to go out first -- she's the "senior dog"), I "kept going" and bumped my head on the doorknob. It hurt. Raven didn't care. She's seen it before.

The dogs did "their thing" with their usual early morning efficiency. (Both eyed our neighbor's trash cans in the driveway with suspicion -- my dogs think Osama lives next door. Actually, they're very nice people who would never attack America. My dogs think EVERYONE outside the immediate family is Al Qaeda.) I brought them back into the house and herded THEM this time -- back to the bedroom. They hopped up onto the bed and I slowly bent over to kiss my wife goodbye for the day. I put my hands onto the mattress to keep from falling onto her, which is not something I'm generally allowed to do at 4am on a weekday morning. She frowns on being fallen upon. Who wouldn't?

I stiff-legged my way back to the kitchen to prepare the morning coffee. When that was done, I grabbed "my morning three" -- that being a Prilosec, a Lopressor (for blood pressure) and a Stalevo. I downed them, and then adjourned to the porcelain convenience.

After doing in there what the dogs had done in the yard, I repaired to my office to do my morning Internet browsing. I generally check to see if the world is still "out there" before I go through the effort of getting ready for work. No sense going to work if the world isn't still "out there," right?

At about 4:25, I felt it. I've kinda gotten used to it... but this morning I could really feel it. My arms started to feel looser. My right hand slowly relaxed from its death grip on the mouse. I could feel the Stalevo kicking in.

It felt wonderful.

Now it's a bit after 8am. I still feel kinda stiff-legged, but that might have something to do with my daily half-hour on the "dreadmill" yesterday. Gonna give myself the day off from exercise, see how I feel this afternoon.

I've said it before, I'll say it again.

If I were to ever have another child -- I would name it "Stalevo."