19 January 2009

I listen to the wind*

It was an interesting literary weekend. I had dinner Friday night with an Emmy-award-winning writer and watched TV tonight with an Oscar winner. It made my head spin in a good, happy way. More on both, later.

Sandwiched between the two was a Saturday night spent making homemade dog food by myself at home. I, a vegetarian spinster in her late forties, was hand-mincing poached chicken breasts when I thought "Oh crap. Now I've done it. I have become the crazy lady who lives by herself and cooks special meals for her dog."

Next up: crocheted house slippers.

********

The wind has been blowing so hard and for so long that it feels apocalyptic. If this were a movie, the wind would stand for some important concept the screenwriter was trying to drive home...lost hopes! the end of innocence! the march of history!

But this is real life and there is no important concept. There is just this damned wind.

The damned part comes in because I live in this odd little old house that has the water heater outside up against the east wall in a galvanized zinc box about the size of a fat man's coffin. When the wind blows hard enough, the box flexes and slams against the house, making a sound not unlike the typani drum in a symphony.

This is annoying to me and certainly enough to interrupt my sleep a bit, but it makes Goldie lose her mind. It freaks the poor dog out so bad that she can't eat, can't rest, paces around relentlessly, licking her chops and velcroing herself to my legs. She tried to climb in the shower with me this morning and to frantically bury one of her squeaky hedgehog toys this afternoon.

To relieve her stress, she is having a slumber party at the grandparents' house tonight. (The grandparents who had their 63rd wedding anniversary today!)

*********


*Cat Stevens, Jonniker.

11 comments:

Julie said...

I LOVE Diablo Cody. I used to read her MN blog before Candygirl even came out and remember running out to buy that book on a Friday and finishing it 24 hours later. SO happy for her success.

Count Mockula said...

I just wanted to say that I didn't need the footnote; I was singing the song the second I saw the title. Of course, I am a closet Cat Stevens junkie.

mar said...

you can make slippers out of goldie's fur. i have a pair of dog-hair slippers from one of the russian students when i was in grad school...
sorry for the wind. north dakota is insanely windy, so i feel like i understand.
and cool for the fun weekend companions.

Karen Bodkin said...

She tried to climb in the shower with you? That nearly broke my heart! It made me giggle a little too, being the owner of a neurotic dog and all. Ruffy is a good 80-90lbs and thinks she's a lap dog, especially during a thunderstorm.

thailandchani said...

Wind! Yecht!


~*

Kizz said...

I feel less alone now. I spent a decent chunk of my evening parceling out my pets' vitamins, medications, potions and powders into those weekly pill keepers for easier mixing into their food.

Oh yeah, it's a mystery why I'm single.

flutter said...

63 years! that is amazing!

Anonymous said...

It was nice meeting you on Sunday.

Anonymous said...

Homemade dog food and crocheted house slippers used to be the spinster test, but now so many young married women are doing those things that they've become unreliable indicators. So let me ask you this: do you have any butter mints in your house?

SUEB0B said...

flurrious LOL!!!! My great-grandmother had butter mints and ribbon candy!

Lunch Buckets said...

Maybe one of those cool crocheted toilet paper roll hider dolls. You know, when you're done with your slippers.

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