It seems there’s some universal force of attraction between Sancho and chocolate.
I’ve previously talked about his earlier (very expensive) run-ins where he managed to eat fairly large quantities.
This time, he wore it.
Each night Danita and I enjoy our ritual hot chocolate.
(We’ve managed to devise a special recipe which is shared below.)
One day this week, Danita was in the process of sitting down on the couch and picking up her cup of chocolate on the way down while Sancho was simultaneously jumping up onto the couch into his favourite spot – sitting between Danita and me.
As these events occurred in the same time and space the inevitable consequence was; Sancho wore the hot chocolate.
Thankfully, he has a lot of fur and so the heat wasn’t an issue.
What was an issue was the fact that the house we’re in has off-white carpets (with “off” being the operative word).
This resulted in chocolate dripping off Sancho and the coffee table, large puddles of chocolate on the carpet and a spray of chocolate across the beige coloured couch.
Also, Sancho’s response to being wet is to give himself a good shake – with the effect that he proceeded to spray chocolate across the room.
First thing I did was to grab him and to carry him outside – while trying to avoid being covered in brown liquid myself.
Then help Danita save the lounge room: the coffee table spill was still dripping onto the carpet and the instructions for cleaning up carpet spills is “don’t rub, just dab”.
Of course dabbing up a cup full of hot brown liquid while trying to prevent it spreading is challenging.
Paper towels get very soggy very quickly and carrying them out of the room can leave a trail of drips.
(The thought had occurred to me to take a photo of Sancho to be used in this post – always looking for new topics and this had to be something to feature – but I figured if I spent time photographing Sancho while Danita was trying to clean up the spill it would have serious consequences for our relationship.)
A large roll of paper towel later the spread of liquid was under control but chocolate on beige carpet and couch isn’t a good look, especially when it’s someone else’s house.
Danita worked away at it with carpet cleaner – with a seriously toxic smell – and so on a cold winter night (and it was a cold night) we’re madly airing the house to get rid of the fumes.
By now it was time to retrieve Sancho.
He’d discovered that the stuff on his back was appealing and had started channeling a cat by giving himself a good clean.
That was abruptly curtailed when he was unceremoniously carted off to the nearest sink to be rinsed off.
Thankfully, he quite enjoys being washed and that part of the proceedings went relatively well.
While it wasn’t his fault, he wasn’t being ‘naughty’ or malicious in any way, he did end up in the ‘doghouse’ for a few days, from Danita’s perspective.
Of course she’s talking to him again (civilly) and all’s well.
The couch got cleaned up very well but the carpet still bears evidence of abuse.
Not so subtle directives from the Universe
This event has had some useful consequences.
For some time we’ve been talking about getting someone in to sanitise the carpets, beds and lounge suite.
This was primarily a response to the allergic reactions the three of us have been experiencing for some time; sneezing, itchy eyes – the usual stuff which makes for an ad for a range of medication.
Sancho has been suffering as well and we suspect it’s because he lives in constant contact with the carpet.
Anyway, we’d been talking about doing this for some time and had never quite managed to organise anything.
Chocolate stained carpet in someone else’s house is a great motivator to get someone in to do a serious clean.
So, we’ve finally booked that in.
I often talk about the Universe sending messages when you’re getting off-track from what is right for you.
It starts with grains of sand then pebbles, then boulders, then a Mack truck – eventually you WILL get the message (even if it takes multiple lifetimes to do so).
In this case, I’ve been saying for some time that the house we’re in is trying to kill us and we need to get it sanitised.
This has finally motivated us to get it down – NOW!
Our Fabulous Hot Chocolate Recipe
2 cups milk (can use rice milk or soy)
4 heaped teaspoons of cocoa or cacao (cocoa tends to give a richer result)
Splash of vanilla
Sprinkle of cinnamon
Sprinkle of cayenne pepper (less than the cinnamon)
Cover the container and microwave for 2 minutes.
Stir and microwave again
If it isn’t warm enough do another 2 minutes
If you don’t like using the microwave I recommend heating it in the oven.
Heating on the stove works but you get a slightly different consistency.
Once it’s hot enough put into cups and add a splash of Cointreau – more than the vanilla 🙂
Sit down and enjoy (after avoiding the dog).