A week of housesitting in Brittany - Days 11 to 17

Brian with Lexy dog

A week has flown by, the weather hasn’t been great but this has given us the perfect opportunity to stay in with all the fluffies, which we’ve loved.

We’ve had little walks with Lexy, did try with Pasha but she just shakes and trembles as she believes she might be taken back to her previous life on the puppy farm.

We were honoured to meet Noodles, the third cat, who hadn’t been seen for five weeks, though this is a normal occurrence. I assumed this meant she was a fraidy cat, but no, she loved tickles, was hungry but certainly not skinny, so where she goes, who knows?

Noodles cat eating with Murphy cat, looked on by Belle cat 

Lexy is so full of affection she doesn’t want to sit by you, but absolutely on top of you, she is also a bit of a jealous dog, doesn’t want to miss out when love is being given to anyone else. This works to our advantage occasionally when Alfie bird is being a bit much as she ‘protects ‘ you from him with a little snap or paw, not that this really puts Alfie off, on one evening he faced off all four indoor furries, chewing on ears and tails, getting the odd swipe, but really not being phased at all. Lexy has spent every night in our room in theory on her bed, but always ending up on ours at some point. Pasha is such a Sweetie, scared of cuddles, being stroked can hurt her neck, doesn’t know how stairs work, but loves a little dance of joy, pattering her tiny feet with tail wagging 19 to the dozen

Alfie parrot facing off Lexy dog

Cocky Alfie parrot thinks he owns the place

Belle snuggles up on the sofa, but it’s Murphy who has taken a shine to me, coming to sit on my knee of an evening for fuss and attention. It’s lovely to see him and Lexy together as lots of fussing goes on between them too. We had prawns for dinner the other night, never has one dinner had so much attention from four animals. It was a lovely simple dinner, but one we will never enjoy as much again.

Alfie parrot tormenting a sleeping Belle cat

The star of the show though is obviously Alfie, even if it is like caring for a toddler, not being able to take your eyes off him for a second, at least, unlike a toddler you can lock him in his cage occasionally. He comes out in the morning once cats are fed, and outdoor animals have been dealt with, for breakfast. He has no interest in fruit (chocolate is his treat) but has decided that perhaps cornflakes and milk are interesting, better than with yoghurt anyway. Though pretty much everything is interesting, Crocs, the elastic at the bottom of my trousers. Glasses, necklaces, the zip of my fleece. Ears, facial moles and drinking glasses, either with or without fluid.

He'll chew anything he can get his beak round!

Oh and buttons, buttons on remote controls, computers and on the oven. He sounds like a terror, and he is, and it might have put Brian off wanting one, but for a fortnight he’s a delight. Open his cage door, let him make his own way out, usually to the top of the lounge door before flying into the kitchen and whichever shoulder he fancies, food preparation is really interesting, he didn’t worry about me prepping a chicken for roasting, well it was naked I guess..... He then hops and flies around alternating between cute and irritating. Good as gold though if you put your hand out he’ll step onto it to be placed on a shoulder or back in his cage. What we weren’t quite expecting was the poop though, in quantity and colour, very green and all over the place. I’ve got indoor clothes and going out clothes, how I’ll manage to get away with all clean clothes I’m not quite sure!

Murphy cat and Lexy dog enjoy some chilling time together

That’s probably it for indoor animals, except for the tiny little mouse under the bedside cabinet last night that vanished before we could catch him!

Outside animals are also entertaining, goats in the shed, on the shed, on the pig, coming to be handfed some bread. Lizzie the pig snores and snuffles occasionally making her way out for a drink but she doesn’t do a lot, though does enjoy being tickled behind the ear or between the shoulder blades. The geese trail around en masse, keeping guard, though not much goes near them. Bedtime is easy, if the timing is right, doves and brown chickens are away, herd the duck in with the brown chickens by which time the geese have taken themselves away with the roosters, just leaving the goats, pig and two chickens to put themselves away, the goats have chewed the door so they can come and go as they please!

You have to be quick in this house. Brian cooked cheese straws that Alfie parrot swooped in to try

The undivided attention of two dogs and two cats as food is handed out

So has it all been about the animals? Not quite, we had guests in the two gites on Saturday night, the local couple who had booked them for the christening of their son popped in just to have a look, I thought I understood that they were coming back to cook for everyone for the evening, so we were very confused when they didn’t arrive till 02.00am, fortunately we didn’t wait up for them!

Andrew fitting a new satellite dish (so we can watch Strictly!)

We’ve had Andrew the satellite man round twice to fix the satellite, hopefully for good this time, new dish and LNB. He’s a great bloke, really interesting, but boy, can he talk, but is this a problem for us? No. We were invited out for drinks and dinner with Debbie and Ken and big Tom the plumber, few drinks in town before pizza, except the pizzeria was shut, so they’d cooked a fab spaghetti bolognese. The wine was freely flowing much to the detriment of the following day, but hey, it was a bit miserable anyway.

While Murphy cat gets the concentrated rays from the old dish

Big Tom has been round to sort out the radiators as for some reason the noise of the pump has started reverberating through our bedroom, turning the pump off would have done as far as we are concerned, but the radiators needed doing. We left him to it and went to Dinan for the day, couldn’t hang about as it was market day and we’d overslept, well it doesn’t get light till after 08.00. The weather forecast was finally improved. Thoroughly enjoyable walk round the old town, walls and port along with a galette (savoury pancake) for lunch in Crêperie Ahna, we must eat out a little more often.

One week down, one to go.

And Belle enjoys the sun on the bench out front

Out in the farmyard

Goats enjoying being hand fed

But we can't tempt Lizzie pig out very often. You can just see her black body through the window 

A day out in historic Dinan

The old Medievil walls of Dinan

Dinan port on the river Rance

Inside the splendid Eglise Sant-Malo (48.4547605,-2.0482018)