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.