Happy as Larry

We put a  ladder in Larry’s cage to he can get to his upstairs perch. He is 100% back to normal in every way, except that he still can’t climb. He’s taken to his ladder and spends lot of time on his upstairs perch, so I think he appreciates having the option. I also put some of his ‘toys’ back into his cage. I took them out when he couldn’t get upstairs as it seemed a bit mean for them to be dangling above him. I’m never sure whether he is playing with them or attacking them, but at least they are keeping him engaged!

I’d read that living with a parrot was living with a perpetual 2 year old. And I think it probably is. Larry throws tantrums – very loud tantrums, then things aren’t going his way or if he wants attention. If we have lunch outside and he feels abandoned, he’ll start squawking. He’ll also squawk loudly if he thinks something like the coffee grinder is getting more attention than him. And sometimes he’ll throw his food around. Parrots have sturdy metal food containers which are firmly attached to their cages, this is because given half a chance they’d be thowing them around.

This week has been the funny week with two holidays. I never quite get used to their being two national holidays one day apart just before Christmas – however, of course, it’s still just under four weeks before the big celebration. Most holidays here are fixed by date and not day. This means that they can fall at weekends. If a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday it’s not carried over to the Monday – it’s just bad luck it isn’t a normal working day. Instead, if a holiday is on a Tuesday or Thursday, the Monday or Friday are granted as ‘bridge’ days. It’s supposed to work out exactly, however I’ve always found it too confusing to work out. So when Christmas & New Year’s Day fall on a Sunday, people get no additional time off, but if May 1st was a Thursday, they’d get the extra day on the Friday. (thinking as I type – this would mean that there must be an equal spread of days on which holidays fall for this to be true…)

Unlike poor Carlisle, we’ve been weeks without rain. I think rain if forecast for next week, which will probably be good. I think I can count the number of days we’ve had rain since June on two hands – with fingers to spare. This must be one of the driest years since we’ve been here.

Winters are really very short here. The trouble is when they arrive we forget the fact that we still have the windows open during the day throughout December and sit outside comfortably in t-shirts.

The storks are heading back. There’s one that’s been around for a couple of weeks. There’s always one that comes back before the others. I wonder if it’s the same one every year…