Next week, I'm going with my family on vacation to Avalon thanks to the gracious invitation of my sister-in-laws parents. The Hub, who has work lined up, is staying home. He also took in a "canine client". He's a full service handyman - he does dog sitting too!

The Hub is a real animal lover, and dogs aren't stupid. He can stomp and talk loudly all he wants, but dogs know a sucker when they see one. The next thing you know our intrepid handyman is no longer taking lunch breaks but taking his customer's dogs out on "potty breaks" and there are suspicious work stoppages weirdly coinciding with the family dog running around with its squeaky toy.

So, we have The Bernese Mountain Dog staying at our house again. She's a lovable dog, and she fits right in, but this time she came to us with a limp in her back leg. We got instructions about what to do, but, of course The Hub is worried about her.

Naturally, it's not like I can take the parrot on vacation with me. So, The Hub will have to take care of her too. Not that he minds or anything. I'm just worried that she'll suffer from separation anxiety.

Okay. I'm worried that I'll suffer from separation anxiety! There's an African proverb that says "Even a bird has weight, if it is only the weight of a feather". After about four weeks having having a parrot on my should for at least some part of every day, I'm really going to miss that small amount of weight.

There was an article in Bird Talk magazine a couple of issues ago about how to set up a web cam so you can see what your bird is doing while you're away. At the time, I thought "that's really over the top." Now I think it's a great idea.

I mean, I understand my attachment to Winston. He's as big as person, he thinks he IS a person....I tend to think of him as a four legged person with a very limited vocabulary. He's a mammal. I'm a mammal. Dogs have packs, people have families....it's been a match since time out of mind.

Clearly, though I am now part of a flock. And I'm about to migrate. By myself.

Who knew those little talons would be sharp enough to dig into my very heart so quickly?!?