Back to South Carolina

Merry Post-Christmas and happy pre-New Year's.

The holiday came and went with visits from Barry and Mackenzie and Wendy and Sean.

Kocur freaks out when Wendy comes over. She's a chicken. Just like Thanksgiving, Wendy showed up and Kocur just started visibly shaking. She refused to socialize and eventally went outside, which she normally hates to do.

Eventually, she came back in but when Wendy went to leave she ran off into the computer room to hide. I called her and she cowered. She refused to come and even hid in the fireplace. I decided to torture her and went and picked her up and carried all 35 pounds of her to Wendy's truck so I could pretend she was going with her.

Boy, the sausage ball just quivered. She is such a spoiled monster.

She's going to be abandoned tomorrow, when I head back to South Carolina. Karen is catering one more huge party and needs help, and since I'm no longer going anywhere Jan. 3, so what the heck?

Zippy might tag along, but mostly to head up to Charlotte, but she's not sure yet. I have no idea when she'll decide whether or not to go, but she has until about 10 a.m. to figure it out.

I'm trying not to think further ahead than next week, because it's depressing. No job,no prospects. I have faith it will come together, but at the moment it's not something to dwell on.

I'll be back to Havana, inchallah, before the Chick-Fil-A bowl kickoff.

Again with the nephews

I'm done with South Carolina for the present and am back in Orlando babysitting nephews. Apparently we sent them back slightly damaged and Zippy and Papa aren't qualified to keep them for awhile.

It would help, of course, if the nephews would actually heed warnings, such as "If you're going to go outside, put on your shoes," but they don't.

Anyway, as it turns out, Zac ratted out Uncle Sean And His Motorbike Ride, so even though everyone in Havana has "Mud" attached to their name, I can now post the photos of the boys on their fairly tame ride.

So I'm now keeping them in Orlando, and God, it's going to be a long week. I've somehow already misplaced the gate opener thingie, and Chris is more freaked out than I am. Since I haven't been anywhere, it's got to be here. And since I have no money and no desire to wander around in Christmas traffic, I have no plans to leave the house. I figure it'll turn up.

The boys are asleep now, and I'm watching "The Men Who Stare at Goats." Amazingly odd. I'm amused at the Jedi references, but only because Ewan MacGregor is in it. And also because I understand some of the Arabic.

This week's plans are skimpy. I'm checking out some potential online purchases, but since I am again without a job, the possibilities are not exactly endless.

Yes, without a job. After I accepted the verbal offer and worked a month, it somehow went away. They reneged without much of a reason, not that it would matter. I'm trying not to get mired down in it or anything but it's dejecting.

I leave from Orlando either Thursday night or Friday morning and then go to Havana for Christmas. Shortly thereafter, I will go back to South Carolina to help with a party on Dec. 30. At first I didn't think I'd be able to, but since I have no job, I have no place to be Jan. 2, so why not?

The third photo here is from the Greenville opening of Ben's Yogurt Mountain store.

A rented mule

Right now, I am in North Augusta, SC, helping my aunt with her catering business. She's got eight parties in a 10-day span and needed an extra pair of willing hands to throw together some awesome food dishes.

Due to the fact I can work remotely and have hit all my known deadlines, I managed to become that rented mule. I've been put to work slicing, dicing, washing dishes and serving food at Christmas parties all around the North Augsta area (which, truthfully, equates to Augusta.)

In the process, I've eaten some good food, too. My God, have I eaten good food. The beef burgundy was to die for and I can't wait until lunch Sunday when I get to have leftovers from tonight's party -- herbed chicken.

We've dined out thrice and there's an upcoming visit to Chic-Fil-A to inhale one of those peppermint chocolate chip shakes.

I'm really having a blast here. Yes, it's been busy, but it's also been nice to catch up with my aunt and uncle and hear everything about family members I don't often see.

And the house is fabulous with great gardens. Kocur got to come and she is also having fun, but hers alternates with being terrified.

This ties in with Percy, Karen's dog. He's a Great Dane, with the emphasis on "Great." It's funny, because if dogs understood irony, Kocur would finally get she's being treated like she treated Bucky the chihuahua.

But she doesn't get it. What she gets is that Mama leaves her out in the cold a couple times a day so she can work, and when Mama frees Missy K from her pen (which is larger than my yard in Detroit), the Koke-a-Doke guilts Mama big time. She sits in my lap and just whines for 10 minutes.

I've tried to explain to her than when I let her out of the pen, she needs to remain calm and collected, because Percy has a *really strong* chase instinct. As soon as Kocur breaks into a trot, Percy is there to play.

He's just playing, but having your back nipped by a mouth as large as a football is a little terrifying if you only weigh 35 pounds, so Kocur takes exception and gets her little Mohawk up. Percy is just bewildered because he's just trying to play with his new toy.

They're really accustomed to each other now, but some things are trigger points -- like food.

Kokey guilted me into giving her a cookie one day, but, as is her pattern, she didn't eat it. She hoarded it, and I realized Percy was going to figure out she had one. So, I called him into the kitchen in order to be fair and give him one.

He got as far as Kocur's bed, where she was sitting and protecting her food. I kept calling Percy, and he just looked at me like, "Well, gee, you're calling me in there to get a cookie, but there's a perfectly good one sitting right here, and no one's eating it."

And he wolfed it down.

Oh, my, Kocur was SO mad. She jumped up and growled and tried to attack him, and of course he's just swallowed the cookie and looking at her like, "Gee, you weren't doing anything with it, what's the problem."

I tried to make it right by giving her another cookie, but two days later she still hasn't eaten it.

My girl dog is just so twisted.