Snakes and Feathers

A family member has taken their little family away for two days well deserved R & R so we’re babysitting their talking bird. I mean it’s not much of a conversationalist, their little feathered friend, and its entire arsenal of witty banter consists of a  “Hey, sexy!’ and a wolf whistle.

Worse thing about having their feathered squawker here isn’t the constant noise, but the destruction of my good standing in the community. I fear I might gain something of a reputation because the skinny chicken is constantly wolf whistling so passing women, who can’t see that it’s only a bird, will think someone here is a bit of a perve. And as I’m the only male in the house over 7 I have no doubt who the fingers will be pointed at.I’ve never had a talking bird before, and I must say, I will be glad when they come home and take it back. It never shuts up!

Not that these family members don’t deserve a break. They’ve been working flat stick on renovations and landscaping lately and need some time away from ‘to do’ lists and snakes.

The mention of snakes isn’t random.

They’ve been having all sorts of slithery visitors at their place up on the hill. A few weeks back they jumped up into the roof cavity to sort out the noise keeping their kids awake and discovered eight green snakes. More disturbing were a couple of red belly blacks outside their back doors not long after.

One snake even put a dint in their car! Although the details are a little sketchy, it seems the snake jumped out in front of their car and, in their hurry to get away, they backed into a ditch.

So, to summarize  it’s like being at the reptile enclosure at Australia Zoo at their place, and all this legless (but not in a good way) and  fork-tongued activity has resulted in some extensive tree lobbing and bobcating all around their house, which has resulted in their need to get away for a break.

“I’d want to get away for longer than two days,” Tracey told me. She doesn’t like snakes. Personally I’m reserving judgement – I’ve never tried one. Probably tastes like chicken.

Anyway, because we’re the sort of family members who aren’t afraid to dive in and get our fingers dirty, we’re doing our bit too, not just looking after this silly talking bird but trying to teach it something useful.

That’s right, the entire Devereaux household is pulling together, taking it in turns standing in front of the cage saying things like ‘Did you hear something?’ and ‘SNAKE!’ We figure it can act as a sort of early warning system.

Or just freak them out.

It’s our little way of saying. ‘thank you’.