Forget Coyote: Betty is the REAL Trickster!
Yes, "Original Prankster" should really be playing as the soundtrack to this post, because that's what Betty is.
"Little Trickster" is one of my many nicknames for her (others are Betty Boop, Nurse Betty, Apple Brown Betty, etc, etc.)
*Betty earned her nickname due to her uncanny-able-to-trick-anyone ability to throw her voice and imitate a door being rapped upon. This has cause much weeping and gnashing of teeth, as I would so love to name her the obvious name now, due to this peculiar habit of hers: Lenore. We cannot rename her however, as I have already discussed in an earlier post. Perhaps I could satisfy myself by saying, "She's pulling a Lenore again" when she does her little knocking trick.
She is SO good at this that, even though Brent has heard her do it on multiple occasions, he was still up looking for the UPS guy the other morning when Betty was throwing her voice and pretending someone was knocking on door. I was sleeping off a headache and horrific week of work on the couch and remember looking up to find Brent baffled and amused, "It was the damn bird! It sounded exactly like the door!" I felt his pain. Even though I hear her do her Lenore shtick all the time when I lie on the couch in the morning trying to fall asleep there for a bit so she gets more used to me, I will still question myself every time she does it, wondering if I need to be getting up to go open a door.
*We suspect Betty's former owners may have been the couple who, the male component of which, kept us up all night in Mammoth Cave National Park Hotel (we were supposed to have a cabin, but there had been a freeze and the pipes were shot for the time being so they gave us a room instead and it was an adjoining room where you can hear things, often, quite easily through the door) farting and burping so loud we were unable to sleep. Oh, and smoking, too, as I remember, the smoke, pouring under the adjoining door. Brent complained the next morning and got us all our money back for he room. (It gets better.)
Later that day, we decided to follow the NPS signs to Lincolns Birthplace. We hadn't planned to go see it and it was, quite frankly out of our way. Quite frankly, it was out of anyone's way. But that's what traveling is about: going out of your way to see what it is so many people miss every day swooshing and whooshing by on the safe, manicured interstates.
We got there, to Lincoln's birthplace and were headed out of the visitor center and to the building that contained the cabin where Lincoln was said to have been born. As we exited the visitor center a giant belch shakes the earth below our feet, the leaves on the trees flutter, a bunny ducks in its burrow.
I look disgusted, but can't help laughing. Brent says, kidding, "Must be the couple from Mammoth Cave."
We look up at the source of the seismic activity: It IS the couple from Mammoth Cave.
(Now THIS is why you go on vacation. Not silly, I'm going to fly to Florida and drink 'til I need to be on a transplant list vacations...I'm aware that should have all been hyphenated, but I'm too lazy right now, but REAL trips and wanderings.)
So, back to Betty.
*She burps. No, she doesn't REALLY belch, she just pretends to burp, and she does it a LOT. So, I'm starting to think her former owners and "couple from Mammoth Cave" may be related. Yes, we have a burping parrot.
*I don't know if she picked it up here (we live on a VERY busy street: hurray for a half-acre lot and a completely fenced in lot at that!) and I'm not sure if maybe garbage trucks would have put it in reverse or if, in their CONSTANT prowling of the hill we live on, the snow plows have ever backed up for any reason, but wherever she picked it up, Betty does a spot on imitation of a truck backing up. She's SO funny!
*The other day I thought we had a message on our answering machine that needed listening to. No, it was just Betty sitting in her cage imitating the sound the machine makes when there's an unlistened to message. She'll do it just for fun and she also does it most times when the phone rings.
*Last night when we were all upstairs getting kids in bed and getting ready for work (me) Betty was downstairs putting on a tremendous show, obviously wanting our attention, singing one song after another, making all these different clicking noises, various knocking noises that weren't door-knock noises, whistling various songs I wasn't able to recognize then, and then she gave a big wolf whistle and said, for the first time since she's been with us, "Pretty bird!"
*Oh, she also makes a big smooch noise like a kiss noise. It's very cute.
Every day she opens up a little bit more. When I came home this morning as soon as I opened her cage I started singing "Peace Train" to her and she instantly was rocking out and then I sang "Dani California" to her and danced and she rocked out right along with me. It's so amazing.
"Little Trickster" is one of my many nicknames for her (others are Betty Boop, Nurse Betty, Apple Brown Betty, etc, etc.)
*Betty earned her nickname due to her uncanny-able-to-trick-anyone ability to throw her voice and imitate a door being rapped upon. This has cause much weeping and gnashing of teeth, as I would so love to name her the obvious name now, due to this peculiar habit of hers: Lenore. We cannot rename her however, as I have already discussed in an earlier post. Perhaps I could satisfy myself by saying, "She's pulling a Lenore again" when she does her little knocking trick.
She is SO good at this that, even though Brent has heard her do it on multiple occasions, he was still up looking for the UPS guy the other morning when Betty was throwing her voice and pretending someone was knocking on door. I was sleeping off a headache and horrific week of work on the couch and remember looking up to find Brent baffled and amused, "It was the damn bird! It sounded exactly like the door!" I felt his pain. Even though I hear her do her Lenore shtick all the time when I lie on the couch in the morning trying to fall asleep there for a bit so she gets more used to me, I will still question myself every time she does it, wondering if I need to be getting up to go open a door.
*We suspect Betty's former owners may have been the couple who, the male component of which, kept us up all night in Mammoth Cave National Park Hotel (we were supposed to have a cabin, but there had been a freeze and the pipes were shot for the time being so they gave us a room instead and it was an adjoining room where you can hear things, often, quite easily through the door) farting and burping so loud we were unable to sleep. Oh, and smoking, too, as I remember, the smoke, pouring under the adjoining door. Brent complained the next morning and got us all our money back for he room. (It gets better.)
Later that day, we decided to follow the NPS signs to Lincolns Birthplace. We hadn't planned to go see it and it was, quite frankly out of our way. Quite frankly, it was out of anyone's way. But that's what traveling is about: going out of your way to see what it is so many people miss every day swooshing and whooshing by on the safe, manicured interstates.
We got there, to Lincoln's birthplace and were headed out of the visitor center and to the building that contained the cabin where Lincoln was said to have been born. As we exited the visitor center a giant belch shakes the earth below our feet, the leaves on the trees flutter, a bunny ducks in its burrow.
I look disgusted, but can't help laughing. Brent says, kidding, "Must be the couple from Mammoth Cave."
We look up at the source of the seismic activity: It IS the couple from Mammoth Cave.
(Now THIS is why you go on vacation. Not silly, I'm going to fly to Florida and drink 'til I need to be on a transplant list vacations...I'm aware that should have all been hyphenated, but I'm too lazy right now, but REAL trips and wanderings.)
So, back to Betty.
*She burps. No, she doesn't REALLY belch, she just pretends to burp, and she does it a LOT. So, I'm starting to think her former owners and "couple from Mammoth Cave" may be related. Yes, we have a burping parrot.
*I don't know if she picked it up here (we live on a VERY busy street: hurray for a half-acre lot and a completely fenced in lot at that!) and I'm not sure if maybe garbage trucks would have put it in reverse or if, in their CONSTANT prowling of the hill we live on, the snow plows have ever backed up for any reason, but wherever she picked it up, Betty does a spot on imitation of a truck backing up. She's SO funny!
*The other day I thought we had a message on our answering machine that needed listening to. No, it was just Betty sitting in her cage imitating the sound the machine makes when there's an unlistened to message. She'll do it just for fun and she also does it most times when the phone rings.
*Last night when we were all upstairs getting kids in bed and getting ready for work (me) Betty was downstairs putting on a tremendous show, obviously wanting our attention, singing one song after another, making all these different clicking noises, various knocking noises that weren't door-knock noises, whistling various songs I wasn't able to recognize then, and then she gave a big wolf whistle and said, for the first time since she's been with us, "Pretty bird!"
*Oh, she also makes a big smooch noise like a kiss noise. It's very cute.
Every day she opens up a little bit more. When I came home this morning as soon as I opened her cage I started singing "Peace Train" to her and she instantly was rocking out and then I sang "Dani California" to her and danced and she rocked out right along with me. It's so amazing.