One of my pet peeves is when Lion says, “All you have to do….” Oh. Is that all? Other phrases that annoy me are: at the end of the day, it is what it is and it’s to die for. New ones sprang up recently in conjunction with COVID 19. “In these uncertain times…” seems to be the most popular.

Since we’ve been home together 24/7, Lion has been using “are we ever gonna..?” As in, “are we ever gonna use the prickly jock strap?” and “are we ever gonna play?” Ever? Well, I’m sure somewhere in the vastness of “ever” we’ll do it. I know he means he’s looking forward to it or he’s anxious to do it soon, but it seems like we haven’t done anything in eons. Yesterday he asked if we were ever going to do anything sexual. I’m sure he meant before dinner. It was coming up on 6 and we’d been lounging in bed, sort of napping, while watching TV for a few hours.

I did agree to play with him six days out of seven and to make an effort to do it early, but does that mean we can’t ever do things after dinner? “Are we ever gonna play later on?” is a question I should ask him. To me, his asking for sex makes it seem like he’s always thinking about it. I know he isn’t, but it sure sounds that way.

I don’t know why, but it’s taking me a bit to get my head wrapped around playing early. It shouldn’t. As I’ve said, when we first started seeing each other, we played during the day. When I moved in with him, play generally happened in the evening. Work and life took over the day. After dinner we’d settle in and we’d snuggle and play. The only daytime play we seemed to do was in the sling. I don’t know why the sling was during the day. I don’t know why I find it so odd to play during the day now. Aside from Lion still working, we don’t have much structure to our days. In a few weeks, we won’t have any structure at all.

Maybe I need to set an appointment in my head. Three o’clock is sex time. Done. Of course, Lion will ask if he misses that three o’clock appointment, does that mean it won’t happen? In the evening, if he’s snoozing, many times he wakes up too late to do anything. He gets annoyed when I tell him it’s too late. He asks why his snoozing negates play time. It doesn’t necessarily, but what if I was ready to play early that night and he wasn’t and now when he’s ready, I’m not? I guess the simple answer is that I should be able to play with him whenever he’s ready to play. What else am I doing? If I don’t have to be turned on to do it then there’s nothing stopping me from playing at any time.

Obviously, that’s not feasible. I’m not going to drop everything just because he wants to play and he shouldn’t drop everything just because I want to play with him. If three o’clock doesn’t work on a given day, then we’ll do it at a time that does work. I’m just suggesting something to get my mind accustomed to the idea of playing in the afternoon.

It feels a little like we are living on the edge of the world. We are isolated in our little house in the rest of the world is virtually unreachable. It’s not a bad feeling. It feels cozy. Just the two of us marooned in something drifting in a sea of deadly creatures. If we stay inside, they can’t get us. We’re especially safe if we put our heads under the covers.

Yesterday, we ordered two small air-conditioners. Our old house had central air. This one has none. Now if the weather gets hot we can turn them on or move into our camper which is safely docked in the backyard. There is little risk making the dash from house to the camper. Our backyard is clear of any possible disease spreaders. Mrs. Lion found instructions on how to make masks, so if we have to venture out we’ll have some protection. Yesterday I found some surgical masks in China on dhgate.com. For less than 60 bucks I bought 100, three-ply masks. They aren’t good enough for medical personnel but will do the trick nicely for us. Mrs. Lion found instructions on how to make a mask using an old T-shirt (here’s the link). If you line the homemade mask with a coffee filter, you get additional protection and a nice disposable way to keep it clean.

Speaking of coffee filters, I got the coffeepot ready yesterday without any prompting from my lioness. I proudly told her about it. She told me I was a good boy. She also intimated that there is a chance I might find myself under her paddle today anyway. I suppose it’s time. She needs some practice figuring out how to provide a more thorough spanking without causing bleeding. It may be the toy or it might be my position. As I recall, when in the milking position there was no bleeding. Spanking was also much more painful. But as she sometimes says, “That’s a Lion problem.”

I wonder if she will remember to use her prickly jockstrap or other toys this time. I’m writing this early on Saturday afternoon. She has a lot of time to make me miserable. The effects of the sleeping pill seem to have worn off. I admit that I’m a bit horny. Writing about spanking always does that to me. It also turns me on thinking about her using some of her nasty toys on me. All except those dollhouse clothespins. They are too awful to anticipate with pleasure.

It’s too bad we don’t have our sling set up. Anal is much easier for Mrs. Lion when I am hanging in the sling. I like it too. There still a lot of stuff to clear up in the room where we plan to set it up.

Sometime in the next week or two, I’ll need to be waxed. Mrs. Lion doesn’t really like doing it but she knows I’m happier without fur. It’s probably time to begin anal activity too. I guess I’ll find out.

It’s hard writing about our activity when we’re not doing anything. Instead of reporting on what happens to me, I find myself sharing wishful thinking. Sometimes this makes useful fodder for Mrs. Lion’s thoughts. Other times it might make her feel a little bit unhappy that she thinks I am not feeling well enough cared for. The record, I don’t feel a bit neglected. I’m delighted just being with my lioness. If I start to act a little antsy, I’m pretty sure I’ll get to feel an intense five or 10 minutes with her paddle. She has a way of calming me down.

We had a fairly busy day yesterday. We drove about an hour to retrieve our camper. This is only the second time I’ve tried to park it in our narrow driveway. It actually went better this time. I won’t say it was without incident. It took me a few tries before I got it where I wanted it. It’s all set up and the fridge is on so we can have a little more food delivered if we need to.

Lion had some work to do and I puttered around the house. We were both pretty tired. I made dinner while he took a shower. While I was cleaning up after dinner, I noticed he hadn’t put the coffee pot together. I decided to be generous and remind him. Between not sleeping, getting the news that he’ll soon be furloughed and venturing out for the first time in a month, I figured he didn’t need to be punished. He said he knew he needed to do it but he’d been so tired and had so many things going on he hadn’t done it yet. He promised to do it while I was showering.

At that point it didn’t really matter to me if he did it or not. He hadn’t. I decided not to punish him. It was done. It’s not such a monumental task that I couldn’t have done it in the morning. There are times I tell him the food spilling rule is suspended if I realize it’s a meal that he can’t help but make a mess. That’s the thing with our rules. We deal with his transgressions and we move on. I don’t keep poking at him about doing it. We do joke about it sometimes, but I would never be mean about it. Salsa has a way of jumping onto his shirt. He knows it. I know it. It’s sort of funny. I may tell him to be careful when we sit down in a Mexican restaurant but it’s not mean. It’s not like we’re at a bar and I tell him not to get drunk like he did last time when he made a fool of himself with the waitress. (That never happened. Just an example.)

I try to be reasonable with the rules. I’m sure Lion thinks I’m too lenient. I knew Lion hadn’t had his coffee break yesterday. We were getting the camper. I knew he was working most of the afternoon. I knew he was tired. What would have been gained by punishing him? It wouldn’t have made me feel any better. It wouldn’t have made him feel any better. If I can’t make decisions like that then what’s the point of being in charge?

Today is another matter. He took a sleeping pill last night and got a decent amount of sleep. I think he’s actually napping right now. It’s not a workday. We aren’t going anywhere. I won’t be so generous about the coffee pot today. [Lion — After I woke up (at nearly noon) got washed and shaved, the first thing I did was prepare the coffeepot for tomorrow morning. Mrs. Lion is let me know that she is not in a charitable mood today.]

jockstrap with points
This is the leather prickly jock.

We picked up our camper yesterday. It was a little scary because it was the first time I was out of the house in over a month. We were very careful and avoided any close contact with other people. We got our camper and is safely parked in our backyard. We had a concern that when the repair shop closed for a month, today was their last day, the unguarded camper might be vandalized or robbed.

Now we’re back in the house safely away from COVID-19. During our drive, I asked Mrs. Lion if she was going to use the prickly jockstrap she had out the other day. She said she would. She also said that I probably would have hated it if she made me wear it on our trip to get our camper. I agreed and said that I would certainly be willing to do it if she wanted. Actually, it might have been fun. We have a lot of toys some of which have not been used yet. I’m hoping that play will become a regular part of our day. It will certainly break the monotony of being home 24 hours a day.

Neither of us slept very well on Thursday night. I think it was partly because our bedroom was getting too warm. Mrs. Lion, the dog, and I throw off enough heat to keep the room warmer than comfortable for sleeping. I still don’t have many details about being furloughed. There are still two weeks to work all the details out. Mrs. Lion’s office informed her that they plan to be closed until May 1. I think that’s pretty optimistic. I would be surprised if we get out before July 1.

During our work call today, I learned that there are vast disparities between how much different states pay for unemployment compensation. For example, Florida pays a maximum of $275 a week. Washington, where we live has a maximum of $790.New York is in the middle at $504. Depending on your regular salary, the compensation can be less. I don’t think the cost-of-living is that different to justify such wide disparity. If you add the federal weekly supplement of $600, it is a little easier to take in those low-paying states. That extra money will put us fairly close to our earnings when we work. We are lucky to be in a state with such generous benefits.

Mrs. Lion and I are also lucky because our employers consider us furloughed, which means that we continue receiving our normal benefits. Mrs. Lion’s job comes with health and dental insurance. Her employer is paying their share plus hers for the duration. My employer is doing the same. We have a much larger selection of benefits. Nobody is sure right now what will be covered beyond health, dental, and vision. We have FSA’s and HSA’s, as well as 401(k)s and employer-paid pensions.

I think that we both worry a little bit that somehow our jobs will be missing in action at the end of this. We both have assurances from our employers that this would not happen. More than half the workforce in my company is made up of contractors. This was an intentional move to protect full-time people. It gets a little tricky because some of the contractors we hire have skills that none of our FTE’s possess. Then it comes down to deciding whether we bring in the contractors or discontinue the projects that require special skills.

It’s all a matter of scale. Smaller businesses, like the practice my wife works for, have a lot less flexibility in terms of financial survival. Even very large companies, like mine, don’t have endless pools of cash. It’s unlikely they will go out of business, but it’s extremely likely they will return from this crisis smaller than when they went in.

All this uncertainty doesn’t even take into account that some of us might get sick. That’s a whole other worry. COVID-19 can be very deadly to many people. A recent study by the University of Washington revealed that at least 40% of the people who were put on respirators either die or can never be taken off. Some of the feedback from the field suggests the number with COVID-19 could be even higher. We’re going to work very hard to stay out of the hospital. I had my bad year in 2019. Fate owes me a break this year.

This is the stuff that keeps me up at night. I suspect similar thoughts are on Mrs. Lion’s mind too. Somehow we have to get past it and start having some fun. Let’s party like it’s the end of the world.