To Market, To Market

Because Janka is in heat, I had to leave her at home when I left for the Farmers' Market this evening. In her stead, I brought Shalom with me.

She was absolutely giddy with delight, chattering excitedly from her crate. Cockatese mixed with English. She eagerly co-operated with me when I slipped on her harness in the car, and charmed everyone's socks off at the market. Lommers was calm and relaxed despite the crowd, graciously accepting whatever attention that came her way. She kept sticking her head down my bag of chicken empanada, daintily pulling the paper edges aside and tilting her head, making sure it was still there for her enjoyment later.

I miss our outdoor excursions. I am sure she misses them too.

It has been a while since I brought Shalom along with me on a trip. If possible, Janka always accompanies me. Since the 60 lbs youngster can be a handful at times, I have to leave Shalom behind - oh, sanity! - unless Bryan is around. Or else, I can just imagine the chaos that will ensue if I have both rascals with me at the same time. Alone.

I tried walking a dog and a parrot once. The operative word being 'once'.

Sparky was an 100 lbs Husky-Shepherd mix, and delightfully polite. Shalom, being a 400 gm bird, while can't be relied on to be a saint, couldn't possibly cause much trouble damage to a human.

With that in mind, I decided to kill two birds with one stone, and leash both animals up for a nice stroll around the neighbourhood.

The only nice part about it was finally making it back home in one piece!

It started with a man walking his obnoxious dog on the other side of the street. Without warning, Sparky started to pull on his leash, panting and straining in an attempt to cross the road. It didn't help that the doggie hoodlum was trash-talking from the other side. Bracing with my feet, I ordered Sparky to sit while grasping the leash with two hands. Shalom, quietly perching on my shoulder, decided then to adjust my Oakleys.

So now I was struggling to control an excitable dog who weighed more than me, while wrestling my expensive glasses from the Beak of Doom. My lovely stroll deteriorated to me battling with a screaming bird, who by then was pulling beakfuls of hair out of my ponytail, while being dragged down the pavement by a 4-legged panting, drooling tractor.

And since then, I do not allow myself to be in a situation that will lead to sabotage ever again.

So, children, what is the morale of the story?

Never underestimate any animal's ability and cunning to take advantage of any situation, especially when it comes to human weakness.