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Dominic and the cat!

Betrisher

Well-known member
Jun 3, 2013
4,253
177
Newcastle, NSW, Australia
Parrots
Dominic: Galah(RIP: 1981-2018); The Lovies: Four Blue Masked Lovebirds; Barney and Madge (The Beaks): Alexandrines; Miss Rosetta Stone: Little Corella
Well! I knew the day would come eventually, but I got a real surprise at the outcome!

I was sitting at the kitchen table with my Hunn, companionably munching on Vegemite sandwiches. Dominic, as usual, was perched on top of his fridge, having not long finished his own lunch of pellets and greens. When I'm at home alone, I usually share with Dommie, giving him a few crumbs from whatever I'm having. Today, I forgot, being deep in conversation with my Hunn.

Suddenly, Dominic lost his temper and a) raised his hat to its fullest extent and let out an ear-splitting squawk and b) leaped from the fridge and alighted on the table between Hunn and me. A flurry of junk mail went everywhere as Dom achieved his objective, which was the remains of Hunn's Vegemite sandwich nestled happily on his plate. Having achieved a great gollop of bread crust, Dominic then exerted his ownership over the table by galloping across to shift my hands off it. He does this whenever he's feeling a bit stressed or put-upon, so it doesn't worry me. We smiled benignly at Dommie and continued munching on our sandwiches and discussing the brilliance of Joan Baez, whom we were listening to on the radio.

Without the slightest warning, Seamus, our red-headed cat jumped up onto the table. I'm embarrassed to say that he always does that - despite any amount of yelling or bellowing or spraying him with water, the darned cat just insinuates himself onto the table when everyone's otherwise occupied and before you know it, he's snoring away and enjoying the Sleep of the Just.

Not today.

In the exact moment Seamus landed on his table, Dominic raised his hat again, spread his wings to their fullest extent and raced to take a healthy chomp out of Seamus' nose!!! Poor Seamus let out a screech to wake the dead and the last I saw of him, he was racing up the back yard like a bat outta hell. Dominic, on the other hand, did an almost comical lap of victory around his table, hat raised and wings extended. How I wish I'd had a camera to record his shenanigans!

The upshot of this story, though, is that every time Dominic let out his usual 'I'm just checking on you' calls this afternoon, Seamus shot out the back door and up the back yard. I think a Learning Experience has occurred in my home today. Seamus has never been very keen to approach Dominic and now I believe he'll be even less so. You'll be pleased to hear no blood was shed, but Seamus has a tender spot on his face where Dommie's beak hit home, poor baby.
 
ROFLMAO @ the visual here, Trish! Hilarious!!!!

How dare you and Hunn forget about sharing your yummies with The Dominator...I mean Dominic. :21: I am visualizing all the mail going all over the place. LOL.

I wish I could have seen Seamus' face when Dommi made that run for him, hat up and all. :11:

So, do you think Seamus will try the table again? :54:
 
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Seamus will not be approaching the table in the near future, Wendy dear. In fact, he's asleep on the printer as I type (he's normally snoring on the table at this time of night). I'll do my utmost to get video of Dommie galloping across the table with evil intent - he's absolutely hilarious - or would be, if you didn't know how his bite feels! The look on Seamus as Dom attacked him was priceless: I could almost see one of his nine lives passing before his eyes. LOLOL! :D
 
Hilarious visual, Trish! I was already highly amused at Dommie hijacking his share of your Hunn's sandwich and proclaiming himself the master of the table. I feel bad for Seamus, he must have been shocked to be treated so badly in his own domain but I admit I was ROFL at Dommie's victory lap around the table with his hat held high.
 
Ah yes, the color red to Dominic is sure to incite excitement! Great story, glad Seamus was merely chastised and uninjured!

Do your birds enjoy Vegemite?
 
That is hysterical, Trish! Wouldn't it be awesome if Dommie trained Seamus to stay off the table after all this time? My oldest cat is 19, and until we moved into this house this year, she never got onto tables or counters, now we can't keep her off. Maybe Dommie should come visit his Auntie Terry and teach her what's what:)
I have always been dying to try Vegemite...ever since that Men At Work song..lol.
What does it taste like?
 
Haha, that'll teach you to forget Dommie's snack Trish... and teach Seamus to jump on the table again! I had to laugh at how Seamus shot out the back door everytime he heard Dominic after that! :D

Terry, "ever since hearing the Men at Work song" ROTFL! I also have wondered what Vegemite tastes like...
 
I have/had a friend who lived in Perth,Australia,we "met" years ago playing backgammon on the WGC <World Gaming Community>..We were good friends for 15 years or so,talked via Skype or sometimes even long distance telly calls,she passed away a few years back from ovarian cancer :eek:
Anyway,Janet and I would snail-mail stuff to each other,me,sending her Conneticut "Scratchie" lotto tickets,and she would send me some Australian yummys..cookies and such..and I asked her about vegemite..from my understanding its like our "margarine"..she was going to send me some but unfortunately that never happened :(

I liked her Aussie "speak"...everything had an "ee" at the end..i.e "brekky" for breakfast..mossy for mosquito's..scratchie's.....you get the idea...sighhhhhhh :eek:

Jim
 
I howled. What a funny story, especially since no permanent damage was done other than to poor Kitty's nerves. I especially like Dommie's "hat." We usually tell Rocky to "put his head down" when he's displaying, but I like "hat" more.
 
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Vegemite tastes (to most Australians) sublime! It's kind of like solidified Bovril or beef stock. Sort of... It's very salty and has a strong flavour, so you only use a tiny amount if you haven't been brought up on the stuff (mothers rub it on babies' gums to help with teething). The very best way to eat vege is on hot buttered crumpets or toast, but it also makes a decent cold sandwich. It's made out of the by-products of making beer and is based on yeast, so it's full of B-vitamins and therefore great for one's demeanour. I'd love to send some to all my birdie friends, but the cost of postage is ridiculous compared to the value of a small amount of Vegemite. In the UK, you can get a product called Marmite, but it pales in comparison with the stronger-flavoured Vegemite.

The birds don't enjoy Vegemite because I always make sure I've munched it off the bit of bread I give them. Vege is far too salty for my precious phloque!

Jim, Australians are inveterate nicknamers and abusers of the Queen's English and I am no exception. We don't just add 'ee' to words, we also add 'o'. Hence you get 'smoko' (smoke break), 'Johnno' (person called John), 'Davo' (person called David) and 'bottlo' (bottle-shop or drive-through liquor store). In terms of nicknames, you get 'Slim' (a gentleman who has lost the Battle of the Bulge), 'Curly' (a gentleman whose hair loss is complete), 'Blue' (a gentleman with red hair) and 'Stretch' (a gentleman whose height is somewhat less than average).

We also like to commemorate our National Wildlife in our vernacular as well. So a 'cockatoo' or 'cocky' is someone who keeps a lookout for the police while a criminal act is in progress (just as a flock of cockies in the wild will have various sentries posted at the outskirts of the flock). A 'galah' is a reckless or larrikin type of person, just as galahs are the comedians of the birdie world. A 'dingo' is low-life or scavenger, just as the aboriginal wild dog is. 'Flat out like a lizard drinkin'' means exactly that. The commonest reptiles in Oz are the goannas or monitor lizards. In order to drink, they must flatten themselves out in order to use the large muscles at the sides of their torsos in order to suck in water. A 'flat out' person is one who is working at his fullest capacity.

Just FYI, McDonald's is 'Macca's' and Kentucky Fried Chicken is 'Chucky Fried' (NB. to 'chuck' is to vomit).

As a pointless addition to this post, I'd just like to remark on a growing tendency among young Australian parents to name their children after states or towns in the US. Hence you get 'Dakota', 'Montana', 'Cheyenne' (or worse, 'Shy-anne'!!!), 'Madison' etc etc etc. Now this is fine, except that I don't understand why people don't christen their kids from their own cultural heritage. Why don't we get aussie kids named 'Tasmania' or 'Queensland' or, indeed, 'Northern Territory'? I've never known of a child named 'Bulahdelah' or 'Yarramalong' or 'Tibooburra'. Why not? I wonder whether, as a cultural exchange, some of the US parents might start naming their kids after Australian states and cities just to maintain a kind of balance, y'know?
 
American parents are naming their kids Dakota and Madison, too. I would not be surprised if i met a Tibooburra, either.
 
Just checked, Vegemite imported from Australia is readily available in the U.S via a well known internet purveyor! It may also be stocked in an internationally themed store in various states with a mathematical theme as part of the name!

Loved your fascinating insight into Australian culture, Trish. Amazing indeed your brethren are keen to name their children after U.S. states and towns. If I were about to have a child or another parrot, would consider naming it Qantas, the great national airline of Australia. (Kudos to those who know why there is no "u" in Qantas!)
 
We've got a 50/50 split between vegemite and marmite lovers. Nearly thought I had them sold when we had the marmite shortage.....

I love it when the birds teach the cats - very helpful! We adopted a 2yr old moggy from the SPCA before we had Henry. I sent the daughter and the husband out to choose a kitten because I thought they'd be easier to train if they grew up with the birds, so I was a little dumbfounded when they came back with this cat.

Turns out, the cat is awesome, and Henry had no worries asserting the power of his beak within his first week here. Now they're fine in each others company, albeit supervised. As I type on my bed, Henry is on my knee, Ethyl on my shoulder, Duncan (poodle) at my feet and the cat curled up on the pillow next to me.
 
I howled. What a funny story, especially since no permanent damage was done other than to poor Kitty's nerves. I especially like Dommie's "hat." We usually tell Rocky to "put his head down" when he's displaying, but I like "hat" more.

I also got a kick out of the "hat" thing :p It is very appropriate for our 'too's now that I think about it.

Years ago,we had a cat also. His name was P.I.T.A < I'm sure you can figure out what that stood for lol> And one day,We were in the living room and Smokey was on her roof top <her house sat on the floor> and Pita was walking around Smokes house,with his tail high in the sky.
He came around to the front of Smokes house,and Smokes leaned out as he wandered by,and grabbed a beakful of tail fur! :eek:
That poor cat took off like a rocket as Smokey was yelling to him "DAMN CAT!!!...GO!!!!"
seriously,I almost pooped myself lol.

Jim
 
LOL! During his first weeks with us, Rocky 'Too gave Jack the mutt a lump on the head because Jack got too close and on his nerves. He didn't break the skin, but Jack had a goose egg (as my mom called such things) for a couple of days. Thus did The King of All Toos establish who was boss. Jack is a large dog and I was worried about what he might do, but while he continues to believe he's in charge of us and our other dog and everything else, he concedes that he is NOT in charge of Rocky.
 
Thanks so much for the info, Scott, I can get it here in Canada as well from Amazon!
 

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