Kleptothermia
Dec. 1st, 2009 06:31 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
home_and_awaySnuggling Mark, just now, I slipped hands beneath his shirt. His little belly, how I love to pet it. Usually this gesture is greeted with amused tolerance. But tonight?
"NO!" he shrieks, leaping away from me and hauling his shirt and sweater hems down.
I blink. This isn't the serious voice, this is the gremlin voice, but those hems mean business. "No?"
"NO CAN HAZ MA HEETZ!"
"Oh." I giggle. "I don't mean them to be cold, you know. It just happens."
"Let it happen over there." He's grinning now, though still out of reach. "J00 can haz ma heetz if I iz radi8n them, but NO CAN HAZ FRM SOURCE! I'Z USIN IT!"
It's that time of year again, you see. The temperature has dropped and stayed below 50F; my hands and feet will now feel as though we carved them from the azure heart of an iceberg. I forget they do this because I don't notice any joint stiffness or decreased dexterity, only that now I walk through the house aware of the warm spots. While we're cooking, Mark will remind me he's left one of the stove's eyes on; I'll already know, having been basking.
I forget that not everybody gets this way until I touch one of you who actually do all of what endotherms are supposed to, and things like this happen.
And now I'm fighting the urge to chase the man through the house with my Icy Hands of Doom splayed wide. I'm fighting the urge because I know where my beloved furnace sleeps, and I want a nice buffer of goodwill built up before I put my feet on his calves.
"NO!" he shrieks, leaping away from me and hauling his shirt and sweater hems down.
I blink. This isn't the serious voice, this is the gremlin voice, but those hems mean business. "No?"
"NO CAN HAZ MA HEETZ!"
"Oh." I giggle. "I don't mean them to be cold, you know. It just happens."
"Let it happen over there." He's grinning now, though still out of reach. "J00 can haz ma heetz if I iz radi8n them, but NO CAN HAZ FRM SOURCE! I'Z USIN IT!"
It's that time of year again, you see. The temperature has dropped and stayed below 50F; my hands and feet will now feel as though we carved them from the azure heart of an iceberg. I forget they do this because I don't notice any joint stiffness or decreased dexterity, only that now I walk through the house aware of the warm spots. While we're cooking, Mark will remind me he's left one of the stove's eyes on; I'll already know, having been basking.
I forget that not everybody gets this way until I touch one of you who actually do all of what endotherms are supposed to, and things like this happen.
And now I'm fighting the urge to chase the man through the house with my Icy Hands of Doom splayed wide. I'm fighting the urge because I know where my beloved furnace sleeps, and I want a nice buffer of goodwill built up before I put my feet on his calves.
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Date: 2009-12-02 12:57 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 01:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 02:39 pm (UTC)It always amazes me when someone's first reaction to my winter-hands is to stuff them into armpit or offer chest or cupped hands for warmth. Kindof a "omg, look at you so generous with your heat! Now I must feed you tea and cookies, and not exploit this generosity..."
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Date: 2009-12-02 05:10 pm (UTC)YES EXACTLY! I can't imagine having enough heat to just share like that! I never have enough in winter, it seems. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2009-12-04 02:46 am (UTC)Hmm... How far will I drive for tea and cookies?
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Date: 2009-12-04 01:07 pm (UTC)~13-15 hours, depending on whether you bypass the dreaded Virginia freeways.
What kind of tea and what kind of cookie, dear?
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Date: 2009-12-02 05:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 01:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-02 02:25 pm (UTC)MEEP!
Date: 2009-12-02 02:53 pm (UTC)Re: MEEP!
Date: 2009-12-02 03:08 pm (UTC)~sings~ Snakes do it; bats do it; even penguins on Antarctic spits do it. Let's do it! Let's huddle for heat!
(mmm, doesn't quite scan, but almost.)
no subject
Date: 2009-12-03 01:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-03 01:51 am (UTC)Confused...
Date: 2009-12-03 11:12 pm (UTC)On a side note, last time I visited Knoxville in December, I wore shorts. It was glorious.
Re: Confused...
Date: 2009-12-04 01:05 am (UTC)To Mark's credit, he doesn't flinch from my cold, cold feets as long as I remember to keep 'em still. It's just the pale and vulnerable belly he's so protective of.
As for Knoxville in December, all I can do is shake my head and remember throwing snowballs with Dae when we went up to Grand Rapids, MN that one May. Come to Alabama sometime; we make Knoxville look like the frozen north (well. At least until Thor decides to believe me that watching Huntsvillians drive in snow is the height of entertainment).