Wild n Whacky

Pet Sitting

A few short whiles ago my wife and a neighbor had a chat. This itself is nothing abnormal,. It was the content of that chat that caught my attention, for I know that even after the deed is done, that topic may not be over!

The neighbor is a good friend of ours and she has a ‘Lovebird’ ah ha! Yes you’ve got it already I see! ~ I wonder who is going to win that one when it arrives. ~ But I digress.

Brenda, our friend has had to go into the hospital for a procedure on her knee. The missus of course volunteered to look after Zsa Zsa, (an alias) no not that one! Gee I should get so lucky! Grrrrr. Ahem!

The wife then has really been in her element this last week. So much so, I feel like I’ve been given the bird! If you can pardon the pun.

Day one, Elizabeth went upstairs to check on our charge and get acquainted. When she came back she said, “I never knew lovebirds were so vicious “ to which my response was ‘they’re not but they can seem to be’.

“But she lunged at me when I put my hand close to & in the cage” The wife tries to demonstrate to me, using her hands, the birds clawing & lunging actions with its head and beak.

‘Well think about it, wouldn’t you whack anybody with a tire iron, if they tried coming into our home?’

“But she’s just a bird!”

‘Exactly’ I smile and try not to smirk, ‘they do like to play.’

I might add at this point that the missus worries even if the sun goes behind a cloud, in case it never comes back! So now when Elizabeth and Zsa Zsa have their little fencing game, I get a blow by blow description of all the ensuing activities that take place, on a daily basis.

Three days in a row now I have inherited a new very pretty feather. If this keeps up, soon I will have more feathers here that the bird has!
Today the missus tried to clean the perches, oh what a to-do that was, I think that’s where the last feather came from!


I remember the wife telling me once that when she lived up north, she used to pet sit different friends pets, amongst the other things she did. There’s been cats n dogs, and a snapping turtle used to visit quite often. She even has a turtle skull sitting on her desk. (no! not him)

Then there was the time she used to look after Barney the pet pig! Barney was great when he was small and a baby. Then he grew, and kept on growing to eventually be about 250lbs of bacon on the hoof!.

Barney was a playful pot-belly pig. A neighbor had bought it for his wife when she was sick with cancer. She loved pigs. ~ The husband though really detested them, as a consequence him and Barney didn’t get along too well at all.

Sometimes Elizabeth would get a call for help. Apparently Barney would be acting up, and here was the neighbor threatening that soon Barney would be ‘Pork Chops!’ my wife of course would hurry over there and settle the pig down. Baiting him with his favorite banana chips and green seedless grapes. ~ Barney was soon once more a happy pig, back where he was supposed to be and the guy, ~ persuaded to put away the frying pan!

~ While the missus was relating all this to me over a cup of tea, I smiled at a thought image I was having. ~

I could just picture Barney charging the neighbor and chasing him down the street with the lovebird, wings spread wide, screeching away perched between the ears of the rampant pig! ~ Olay!! ~

C’ya