The Return of the Ela-bed
After a month of waking up to Sid sleeping on my back, in my bed, where he definitely does not belong, I finally had enough. But, Sid, ever the fighter, refused to sleep in his own bed, on the floor.
It was then that Brian and I knew that it was time to reconstruct one of the most important inventions ever created by man, the pinnacle of humankind’s collective intelligence and creativity, and, therefore, certainly the best idea Brian and I have ever, and will ever, come up with:
The Ela-bed.
Yes, it was just over a year ago, back when we were still taking care of Sid and two other dogs at our old house in Glendale, California, that Brian and I combined a Rubbermaid bin and a dog bed to create the amazing elevated dog bed, which we coined “the Ela-bed.”
Designing the Ela-bed was a very organic process; once we pin-pointed the problem, the solution was so obvious, so perfect, it was as though somebody hit us over the head with a light bulb. The conversation went something like this:
Brian: Man, Jenn, we have so many stupid Rubbermaid bins in this house.
Me: (Absentmindedly twirling hair) Did you ever notice that the dogs seem a bit bored with their beds.
Brian: What are we going to do with all of these Rubbermaid bins?
Me: There’s gotta be some way to incorporate some more novel sleeping options.
Brian: (Frustrated sigh) Ah, forget it. I’ll just cover up this Rubbermaid bin with a dog bed.
Me: Hey! We should totally put one of the dog beds up on top of those stupid Rubbermaid bins!
Win-win!
The Ela-bed was an immediate hit among the canine inhabitants of the Glendale house, leading to many contentious disputes over who got to nap on the Ela-bed when, and thus leading to many comical canine-conceived solutions over Ela-bed access and ownership. For example:
There was the “She’s got to leave that blanket cave at some point” stand-off of mid-January 2010:
The “Well, I’ll just sleep on top of YOU, then” offensive of late-December, 2009:
And the inspirational “We’ll each take half” compromise of early-November, 2009:
Luckily, Sid won’t be fighting any other pups for access to the Ela-bed now that we’re in Brooklyn.
But, it isn’t just the novelty-factor that makes the Ela-bed so awesome. When you push the Ela-bed up next to the human bed, Sid gets to feel like he’s up with us without actually being on top of us. And for the first time in a month, I’m finally getting a good night’s sleep.
Tags: Ela-bed, Elly, epic battles, Rubbermaid bins, Sid
January 12th, 2011 at 6:53 am
If only that worked for cats. All 3 of mine compete for various places on top of me in the night so I often wake up with several body part pinned to the bed in various positions. It’s like sleeping with 3 midget wrestlers. I tried pushing their very expensive cat climber up next to the bed, but alas they won’t be dissuaded!
January 12th, 2011 at 12:01 pm
Hahaha, might I suggest you line the perimeter of your bed with tiny boxes and/or paper bags? My childhood cats – weighing in at 20lbs each and thus quite cumbersome in bed – could never resist sleeping inside a comically small box or curling up on a grocery bag.