Alan P5age wrote:My grandmother has a Westie and it used to come bounding up and say "Hello, Hello, Hello". It was intriguing as it sounded exactly like a parrot speaks; the same "recorded" quality to the sound. It made me think a little about animal comprehension and the fact they may be more intelligent than we give them credit for.
Oddly enough the habit stopped when Gramps died. It was obviously something she associated with him.
One thing about this area is the number of village lunches / dinners which are almost invariably excellent value. Just got home from one which was even better than average (which is pretty unbelievable. 15 euros - £12 for an aperitif, 7 courses plus wine and "champers" and preceded and followed by dancing to a live band) and then I saw that post. Of course in the third word the letter "h" got transposed with "w" (a problem with having dyslexia or whatever they call it) and I did a double take. Wow, wow, wow.
Hello, Hello, hello? Well, we have just decapitated Aloe Vera as her head got too big for her pots (we can still use the head for skin cream!), and every Friday night we foregather at the local Allo, Allo - yes, it does have ancient lino table covers, and it is just as the Germans left it except her with the bubbies has lost them!
It's just a habit ......................
I think I mentioned that we had a swarm of bees in the house. This is where JR moves on - please (we don't want you in hospital because Mr Kirby isn't around to sit beside you again).
I got it wrong - we had two swarms in the attic - one in each window. It got complicated. The first swarm split with a group keeping separate from the queen which is most unusual - we couldn't get them all in the special carrying hive easily so we left them overnight. The second hive was OK - moved in with no problem but we had to wait until early morning to ensure we got the foragers and guards.
Next morning the swarms had merged again (we still don't know if there is one or two queens) but both were out of the boxes and up by the skylight. (There is a word for that which is too polite for most female company). So we put a carryiong hive by the skylight and at last inspection everything looked good but we must wait until after dark to get the foragers and guards; lets hope.
I am working with an experienced beekeeper who has been wearing mask, boots, gloves - and still got stung. I have no mask, wear trainers, dark clothing (a no-no) and gloves only when my hands are actually carrying bees, have had bees walking over my face and in my hair and not a sting. (Oh, I am full on anti-histamine so they can't hurt me anyway!).
I think I'll keep the bees so somebody ask JR to give me lessons!
SWMBO is unhappy. there is a plague almost on ancient Egyptian proportions - we have snakes in and around the house - two Western Whip snakes and one viper in the house in the last few days plus a couple outside as well. At least they were small- 8 inches long or less. At least we don't have the other animals that friends have.