I swear, there must be meetings planning this shit. It never seems to fail that when I attempt to focus my attention on something, whether I am reading or working on the computer, someone or something (hold on, the dog is whining to go out )

(Nope, false alarm, she just wanted to sniff and look out the open door) where was I. Oh yeah, someone or something interupts me because whatever it is they want must be deemed far more important than anything I could possibly be doing. With people, if I roll my eyes in that "what do you want/need now" look or don't immediately focus all my attention and efforts on their issue, then suddenly I'm the asshole.

Wife, co-workers, Bosses, (the pets), all do it and it is about to drive me crazy. I actually think I may have lost some of my ability to concentrate because since I am always anticipating being interupted, I never really get deep into concentrating on what I am doing. It's no wonder that I crave silence and being alone. My ideal vacation is a cabin in the woods with no one for miles with a well stocked pantry.

Ken

This is why I hunt in the mountains, this why I get up at 0600 on weekends.

Solitude and silence. I love my family but do not understand my satisfaction with being alone quietly.

The crapper and the riding mower are the last two quiet bastions of the married man.

I feel you. But believe me on these two items: It won't always be like this, and you will miss this.

I feel for you Ken..I have a cat who deems that anything it needs or wants is way more important than what I'm doing

You may be my long-lost brother.

I have two habits that alleviate the problem to some degree:

1. I'm up 2-3 hours before anybody else in the house. I get my sanity fix early. Most days it lasts well enough to avoid issues. Most days.

2. This one only works if you're retired, unfortunately, but...I take LOOOOOOONG solo rides on my motorcycle. A car would work as well for the solitude aspect, but wouldn't be as much fun IMHO.

(2) obviously doesn't work in the Winter. By this time of year, I'm pretty well fed up with the human race in general, especially since reasonable riding weather doesn't really kick in for another 4-6 weeks.

When temperatures permit, I substitute a few hours in the garage grinding, welding and beating on stuff with a BFH. That works because my wife hates the smell of welding smoke and grinding dust and avoids the garage in general. She will come out and poke her head in long enough to announce a phone call. I've been known to have a tantrum over that and suggest physiologically unlikely things the caller can do with their telephone.

Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after. - Henry David Thoreau