I went to the grocery store (you go every day here--I am NOT joking) to get something for dinner. Since I was going to get quite a few things, I took my Rolster. This is the method for transporting the groceries that are too heavy to carry or you don't have delivered. Yes!! They deliver groceries here. I have only done it once because the website is in French, so it's pretty time-consuming for me at this point. You can also shop in the store, then take your loot to the delivery station in the store, where they box it up and then deliver it to you later. This probably requires a pretty detailed conversation that might be difficult for me to mime, so I have not attempted this yet. I'm hoping to bring a French friend with me to help translate, but since I don't have a French friend with loads of free time to go to the grocery store with me, I'm rolling with my cart right now.
I got my groceries (Beef Tips with red wine!) and rolled along my way to wait for the bus. I had to wait for about 10 minutes--no problem until I got on the bus and noticed a bird had pooped on my Rolster!! Really?? Cleaned it off best I could on the bus and got the rest off at home. What are the odds that a bird comes to poop on my brand-new grocery cart out of all the people sitting and standing there waiting on a bus? There were probably at least 10 others that bird could poop on!! Maybe it was my stylish cart that caught his eye?
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| Too stylish for Paul. He was like, couldn't you get something more discreet?? I'm not rolling that thing!! |
Bird Poop, Part Deux
That afternoon, I sat down at my computer to write. It was a beautiful day yesterday--sunny and about 70 degrees, so I had my French doors open. (Not sure if they call them French doors here or not, I think they might just be windows...ha!) Anyway, we have big windows on either side of our living area, which is great considering we have no air conditioning. Since it was beautiful, I had both sides open.
Next thing I know, a huge pigeon has landed on my balcony (which is only about a foot wide) and is stuck there between the glass window and the railing on the balcony. I'm sure I don't have to explain to you how excited my dogs were about this situation. I closed the window as fast as I could so the bird wouldn't get in the house--yes, that has already happened once! So then the dogs are racing back and forth in front of the window trying to catch the pigeon, who poor thing, is trying despeately to fly away. Our railing is about 3-4 feet high, so the pigeon needed to fly straight up, then out over the railing to get away. As you can see, we put mesh after arriving due to the fact that our dogs can easily slip through the railing--we are on the 3rd floor, which is actually the 4th floor in the US. (They count the first floor as "0" here.)
The pigeon kept flying into the glass, the dogs were attacking the glass trying to get the pigeon and I was trying to catch both dogs. Max had his signature "yelp" going loud and proud. Coco was barking, too. I think she was excited that Max was excited. Putting the dogs into their crate would not be really helpful in this instance as that would cause Max to yelp louder with more enthusiasm. Of course, I stopped to snap some pictures...
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| CoCo is the excited blur! |
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| poor bird |
I finally got ahold of both dogs' collars and dragged them into the foyer and closed all the doors. Max continued to yelp and I continued to yell NO!! Be quiet!! I got my broom.
*2 asides to mention here: First, Max has already caught and killed a pigeon on the street about a month ago. I'm not sure how, I mean, he' s Yorkie, for crying out loud! The girls were walking the dogs and next thing, Katherine phones from downstairs and was hysterical, telling us to get downstairs right now!! Turns out, Max snuck under a big wrought iron fence and nabbed a pigeon and had it in his mouth. It was pretty disgusing, but he was proud. We bathed him like 3 times that night. Gross!!
Second, I am afraid of heights, so I had to get the girls to walk out on the balcony to put the mesh on the railing. I just can't go out there. and, no, I have not been up on the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame. Or anything else tall since I went up on the Hancock Place Building in Boston about 15 years ago. As soon as I got to the top, I got all panicked and went right back down.
I had to get the pigeon unstuck somehow, so I opened the window and stuck my broom out. Poor pigeon keeps trying to fly into my window for another 10 minutes while I poke at his feet with the broom. Finally, he latched on to the broom and I slowly lifted him up to the railing. I was a little worried something might be wrong with him, and when I lifted him up, he would just drop over the edge because he couldn't fly--I didn't really want to drop an injured bird on someone on the street--or my neighbor just below me who has a big balcony set up with a table and chairs...all that was going through my head and also the fact I had to actually step one foot out on my balcony. But, once he got over the railing, he flew right into the tree and acted like 2 dogs had never tried to kill him.
Woo-Hoo!!! Bird gone, dogs calm. But, of course, he left several "gifts" on my balcony.
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