Food is Love!

 

Our friend Lauren dropped like a rock.   Down she went with some virus. It knocked her flat. Her downfall has been my gain, however. It means that I get to see Shiprock first thing in the morning for a couple of days.  We prance around for the requisite 45 or 50 seconds just to make the neighbours think we are young and spry…then we slow to our crawl and take a walk together. How lovely it is  to see Shipper  twice in one week when we can really enjoy each other’s company.  Usually we meet on the fly!  Sorry Lauren that you are ill; thanks Shiprock for agreeing to go for a morning march to the Boomerang.

Owner feeds me the same food every single morning  and evening of my life.  Recently she’s been kind and given me a couple bones to gnaw.  Of course I’ve broken teeth before and am one of the few dogs who has had to have a root canal to fix the damage. If she were smart she’d never give me a bone….but she’s kind and lovely and wonderful and sweet so bones it is.   (there owner…do I get another one, I just talked you up so nicely).  My favourite thing to do is lie on my mat on the patio with a big bone between my paws and gnaw and savour for as long as I can  make it last.  Sometimes I can make that bone completely disappear. 

Understanding humans is not my forte. I know they don’t eat the same dried out food every day of their life…they enjoy VARIETY. (like I wouldn’t?) With curly haired away I sniff a lot of soups simmering on the stove.  I guess they are hearty and warming in this cold weather.  She has been known to put warm broth on my kibble but that is a rarity; it has to be darn cold for that to happen! However, I live for those moments.  Milk on my food is another delight.   It brings back tender memories of being with my mother eons ago--before I was thrown to the wolves, so to speak.

Ahhhh  maaaamaaaaa….where are you now?   Surely you have gone to greener pastures.    Just hearing the word reminds me of that El Divo song about Mama and regrets for words unsaid and actions undone.  Oh I feel a tear forming  behind my left eye.

Owner has gone on a tear.  She is cooking up a storm.  Curly haired is not so sure about all this baking taking place when he’s not around to eat it; but hey, isn’t he on a diet of some sorts?  Isn’t she? Oh right…all this food is heading out the door.   That cake does look good with its honey ginger icing but I’m not a sugar kind of dog.  Wait a minute, I get it now.  The one concession owner has been making re this diet is that she is allowed to have some Chai every day….she just found a way to turn it into a thickly iced cake!  Smart woman!!  She says it is going to book club tonight since they have an Indian themed meal planned.  How would she know?  She reads a lot but I never saw her crack open the book club book once. Hopefully Monica lets her stay when she sees the cake. (Did I mention that I’m kind of crazy about Monica…couldn’t keep from snuggling up to her when she came to movie night….she mustn’t have liked it because she never came back; in fact she left town!)

The chowder is for Lauren.  Everyone needs hot soup when they are feeling under the weather.  Owner always says you make your family where you find it.  We obviously never find ours very often as they are scattered all over the globe.   Whenever we move we have to make a new family for holiday dinners and special events.  I guess being sick counts as a special event as owner plans to load our friend up with a big meal.  Even I could be talked into a bowl of crab chowder with shrimp.  Heck you don’t even have to talk me into the fresh bread…I will just snag some of that off the counter when she’s not looking.  Don taught me how. Making bread is a messy process but well worth it in the end.  Our condo sure smells good today.  Lying outside isn’t an option.  I prefer to lie here and think about my old family.  Not one clue exists as to where my brothers and sisters ended up.  Luckily Shipper, Zak, Eloise, Chloe, and Cowboy, when he’s around, were willing to let me into their dog pack when they got to know my stellar qualities.

The oven is heating up.  The bread is going in. Now we can relax and just sit here salivating.  Oh right…nothing is for me.  Whatever,  I did have that bone.  If owner really wants to shed a few pounds she should go on my diet….same menu, same quantity every day of her life.  Taping her thumbs to her palms would teach her how NOT to get into the pantry!  She’d be hard pressed to put  on any weight then.  I could market the process…..Casey’s Sure Fire Diet Plan.   Wonder if humans would go for it.

Hang on there owner…..what’s that big bone doing out beside the food going to Lauren. Food is love and I love Shipper.  Maybe I just like him.  When you just like someone you don’t give them bones.    He’s not sick.   This is a step above and beyond the call of duty.  Please rethink this.  If I could just find somewhere in this damn condo to dig a hole, I could bury the thing for later!  Gotta run.  See ya later.