Yum Yum at her finest. She’s been staring at me, standing just two feet away, uttering small sounds for a long time. Then she finally says, “Let’s go down stairs”. I say, “All right.” I reluctantly put down my knitting, pause my podcast, stand up, and head downstairs.
When I stop to turn around to see if she’s coming, she sits down and looks at me as if to say, “What? Do you want something from me?”. She won’t budge. This look says, “Make me.”
I leave her there. Maybe in two minutes or fifteen, she follows wagging her tail and smiling triumphantly. I don’t understand the rules, but somehow, I know she has won.
We play this game every day. Why? I wonder. She won’t say.
This inevitably happens with Yum Yum and me. There was a march of heavy rain storms today with a few cloud breaks. Yum Yum and I dressed in our raincoats and went out to walk, of necessity.
After half a block, the clouds opened and drenched us while Yum took her time carefully, sniffing out a perfect spot to relieve herself. By the time we were back in the house, we were sopping wet.
I had decided to fry some cod for an early dinner. I prepped the fish and decided to make a beer batter. These days,opening cans or bottles is best left to Han or Nori, but the fish I wanted wouldn’t wait.
I held the bottle of IPA in my right hand, as tightly as I could, while I tried to pry off the cap with my left. The cap popped off surprisingly. I could easily predict what happened next…. my hand holding the beer, uncontrollably lurched to the right spilling the beer onto the counter, into the tray holding the toaster and coffee pot, then spreading a river onto the floor.
Fortunately, there was just enough beer to make the batter… but that’s not all. While reaching for a large bottle of oil in which to fry the fish, I misjudged the height in which to clear other objects in front of the bottle. It squarely hit the pour over cone, holding this mornings coffee grounds. Not quite dry, the grounds spilled out onto the counter, then bounced down onto the floor, spreading grounds here and there and everywhere.
By this time, I felt hot and sweaty and had lost my appetite for the fish. I cooked it anyway, but it held little charm. I ate a few pieces and now only want to clear the dishes and go to bed. Maybe that’s the safest place for me.
Yum Yum doesn”t like to be cold but prefers the luxuriant scarves that cover and offer the warmth needed on a pre-autumnal day of grey clouds and damp streets.
She might stay here all day in her reverie of summer days… who’s extreme heat also is not to her liking.
She longs for spring days that neither intensely burn nor send chills through her sensitive constitution.
I will provide the lush environment that pleases her.
We had some repairmen from the electric company doing some work at the house today. Of course, Yum Yum the dog, would prefer that they weren’t here. So, she’s at the door checking their work and barking at them.
I was texting somebody using voice to text and this is what the voice recorder picked up when Yum Yum started to bark at them.
“Rock rock, eagle rock. Water, Water. It’s about 11, right? What, what, what?”
eyeamdust 