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20071113

Ace has a girlfriend on the side.


(Ace takes over Bert’s blog).
Who wouldn't love her?  She always wants my attention and she’s so beautiful and sweet and kind and gentle and she loves me and keeps me smiling and entertained, nibbles on my ear, and she’s inexpensive to keep and doesn’t ever argue or disagree.
I was reclining in my 1974 Mustang chair with my feet up on the desk, knees slightly elevated, reading some City documents. I was perusing thru a stapled packet of papers when all of a sudden in a flash, a very dramatically "POP", over the top of the papers comes a Dove head from behind the papers with her beak hanging over the top of the papers. While she’s standing on my knees and on her toes, stretching, she stares at me. It was as if she was saying "Boooo" and waiting for my reaction. So I pretended I was scared and continued reading.
A minute later I had unfolded a blueprint and was holding it in the air in front of me looking at it when out of nowhere this Dove lands at the top and skillfully slides all the way down holding her wings up over her back as if she was downhill skiing saying "Wooooooo HooOOOooooo" as she lands in my lap. Then she looks up at me, smiling "DID you SEE what I just DID". She does this on purpose as I’ve seen her slide down slippery magazine covers too.










Out of a loose stack of 8.5x11 papers, she pulls one out and flings it on the floor "Wooooooo HooOOOoooo".
It’s not just what she does that’s so entertaining, it’s how she "talks" while doing it, she talks a LOT. Whenever she lands on something "Woooo Hooo Hooo Hooo hooooooo". If it was an especially risky or -daring maneuver she says "WOOOOooo HooOOOoooooo". Sometimes she just talks to herself with tiny little short muffled cooing sounds. Every time she lands on Ace it’s "Wooo Hooo Hooo Hooo Hooo HOOOooooooooooooo".


Her flying skills are amazing. She can hover like a helicopter or hummingbird, rise up and down and land almost anywhere. Also she has landing skills, like on the small round slippery plastic dome of Ace’s computer microscope. Very talented. She lands on the sloped arm of a lamp and slides down to the bottom "Wooooo HooOOOOooooooo".
Whenever Ace leaves the room after about 5 minutes she "yells" rather loudly and mournfully "Woo……. Hoo Hoo Hoo..oo..oo..o…o…." and sits on Ace's chair until Ace returns.
Ace hugs her a lot. One time, Ace hadn’t shaved for a few days and hugged her. Apparently she got stabbed in the eye with whiskers and walked around looking like a one eyed pirate (one eye closed) for an hour. Then she was fine.
Karen takes Spot in the shower with her to bathe. She doesn’t seem to care if she is in a torrential rain storm, she just sits quietly on the shower floor until it’s over then I dry her (the Dove) with a hair dryer, she seems to like that. Link = Wet-Spot Dry-Spot
She likes to peck at a sound activated Disco lite on Aces desk. Every time she pecks it flashes. One time it was not turned on and she stared at it and pecked harder and harder. Ace finally turned it on again, then she was happy.
I hope this gets to you cause now she's trying to pull wires out of the modem. She's tugging so hard.
She was standing on my hand, each foot on a different finger as I spread them. Her body sank lower and lower until she was doing the splits. No problem, she just sat there looking very uncomfortable but didn’t care.
Now she just finished her Yoga stretch routine, which she does about 5 times a day( Left wing left foot stretch, then Right wing/foot stretch, then both wings touching over her back, followed by a big eyes-closed yawn, and shakes her head slightly).
She can see out the windows but rarely pays any attention to the outside. Yesterday I was outside and looked toward the window and there she was resting on the window sill, motionless, kinda napping but watching me work in the yard, waiting for me to return. It was obvious she was a lonesome Dove.
She seems to know that pressing the "Eject" button on the keyboard will open the DVD drive, she turns to watch it open.
Now she’s on my shoulder nibbling on my ear.
She likes to walk around on the floor too and often goes for a stroll around the office, rearranging all the computer wires.
Ace has some "bird toys" on his desk for her. One is a garland of autumn leaves. She sometimes shapes them into a "nest" and naps between Ace and the monitor.






She spends most of her time sitting on the back of the keyboard pecking at keys but often will settle down there, fluffs herself up and take a nap. Ace just nudges her to get at the top keys.
Ace has a floating keyboard, tensioned to support the two keyboards. At 5 ounces Spot is just heavy enough to hop on it and ride it down like an elevator and she does this frequently ("Woooo HooOOOooo" she says). She likes to nap on the back of Ace’s chair too.
If Ace hasn’t paid attention to her for a while, she flies in front of Ace’s face brushing him with her wingtip, then lands in front and stares back ("Wooo Hooo", "I’m here").
She LOVES rubber bands and shakes them violently until they are totally dead then she tosses them as far as she can ("Woo Hoo hooo hooo" as she congratulates herself). I'll just pick up the 5 pens, 2 flashlights, several paper clips, an insulator, a bottle cap, 3 pieces of wire, a key chain, 2 batteries, an empty box, several keys, string, and 2 rubber bands that she threw on the floor, then back to work.
Now she’s pecking at the cursor (Ha ha I keep moving it)…
The 100% totally pure white Dove is named Spot because… I can never find her when I walk into the room. She finds some tiny places to hide sometimes, so I just glance around looking for the white Spot in the room.
Ace’s wife Karen came into Ace’s office and says to Ace "It’s hard to take you seriously with a bird sitting on your head". Karen brought Ace a plate of "Pilaf " with lots of natural grains (Looks just like birdseed) and Spot insisted it was for her, kept trying to hop on to the edge of the plate ("Woo HOO HOO HOO"), very persistent.







On my desk there is a Dove perch supported by two vertical bars about 2-1/2" apart. She could have easily walked around it but… Noooooo, she has to struggle to squeeze and squirm and twist between the bars almost gets stuck, but then Wooooo HooOOOoooo on the other side (" I did it"). Show-off.  She loves a challenge.
She seems to understand the word "Treat" because she then zooms down to Ace’s hand. Or, sometimes she sits in front of Ace and silently STARES at the treat container (She makes it quite clear) until Ace finally gives her some treats.
Today she learned to say a new word…. A very very quiet "mmmmmm….". I’m not sure yet but I think it means "Good, or Great, or Fine, OK"…
Sometimes she sits on Ace’s hand while he’s typing… she just goes along for the ride swaying back and forth as Ace’s hands move around, it seems to be a challenge for her. Then she’ll walk up his arm usually to his shoulder and takes a nap.
Now she’s settling down on the keyboard above the number pad and fluffing up, and her eyes tell me she is getting very sleepy and ready for another of her many daily naps. Now her eyes are closed. She fluffs up to nearly twice her normal size. Sound asleep. She takes afternoon "Siesta’s" of about 1 to 2 hours a few times each day. She is SOOOooooo sound asleep now. In case you’re wondering, no, she doesn’t snore.







If you’re still reading this…. I could go on writing indefinitely because she is non-stop active always finding new and creative ways to make Ace smile and laugh. She’s such a sweetie.

37 comments:

  1. Yes, Spot is a sweetie, and yes I was still reading when you stopped. lol Why not?? Some of us entertain ourselves scanning your yard for chickens.. Not exactly life in the fast lane but we've already been there.

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  2. Beautiful beautiful! Thankssssssss!
    whatta beautiful image is it when you're in yard and Dove is watching you motionless. It shows that when she can see you by her eyes, she's so calm and her heart is full of confidence. But when she can't see you then she yells mournfully for you to come back. It remembers me a new born child that she wants to play and examin all the things around just by herself. But she also wants her mama and papa also watch her as she's playing. When she feels nobody's there she feel loansome and burst into cry, yells for her mom or papa to come near her and hug her.
    I wish there was a published book about Dove, or Bert stories. It'll be the best seller book of the year. Kiss for Dove! Can I hug her too? If she can hear my sound or read my comment please tell her that I love her too much, then she'll no longer feel loansome.
    I like that photo dove's sitting on your hand most of all and looking so cute and charm to the camera! Oh! She has beautiful eyes. Her eyes are full of truthfulness.

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  3. Birds are amazing!! What a lovely little birdie... (Skippyjon, Jackson and Lucy The Cat think you should have named her Snack)

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  4. I Noticed a nice little bracelet, does Spot like to run (fly) around with Homing Pigeons?
    We have many mourning doves around here, that I like to talk with! I cup my hands to make
    a ocarina like whistle, the birds talk. I talk back, sometimes they get curious and come closer!
    I think that's just the ones that are really horny, and don't care if I have feathers or not!

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  5. awwww! She has so much personality. She is purdy too!

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  6. Spot is the way she is because of all the love and attention you give her... she loves you, just as much as you love her.

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  7. jgigi -
    Thanks for reading all the way thru, I know it's long but she does mean a lot to me and I feel selfish not to share her cuteness with others.
    The Chickens are somewhat entertaining at times but at a much slower pace (Not the fast lane) than a Dove. I'll tell the Chickens to put on a performance when you're watching them.

    Carolenablue - These domestic Doves cannot live in the wild. A predator can walk right up to them and they will not fly away. I didn't know before, but Doves are actually very popular as pets. I just found that my local pet store sells them.

    Shokolatty - There is most certainly a bond between us. We will likely take her with us if gone for any period of time. I Know she would feel content sitting on your finger too.

    Stefnee - I had a pet seagull once that amazed me, such a fine pet and companion. I never expedted it from a Dove, She is maybe the finest pet and companion I've ever had (um, what about the wife?)

    Duchamp - I'm told that Domestic Doves have NO sense of "homing" and that they would instantly get lost and quickly perish in the wild, therefore are restricted to the house/cage. Many/most pigeons are the same. Mostly, only the Homers return home. I wonder what you are saying to them that they want to mate?

    nessabates - She is overflowing with personality, I'm thankful when she's resting, gives me a break to get some work done.

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  8. katsblog - I feel that you are right, I DO love this little Dove an I'm sure she knows it. But then I try to give the same attention to the pigeons but they will not accept it. Hard to get "close" to them. Some of the chickens seem to have a bit of "affection" for Ace, but for most, it's just the food. Chickens and pigeons are just not emotional.

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  9. somehow I knew you were talking about ........you know who.......she is so sweet,,,,,,,hope you arent spoiling her too much......lol

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  10. Bert! Here I was, promising myself that there would be no more pets till I got a full time job or something and could afford to spoil them on my own, now you're making me want a Dove! Of all things! LOL

    Maybe one day ;)

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  11. Equinelady - Ya, Spot, and yes she is very spoiled but that's ok with me.

    Myticalme - They are very inexpensive to own and operate.They do need to be treated like a member of the family though and cannot be ignored... a liability but an easy one. Aw go ahead get one, you'll be happy you did. They live 15-25 years though. There are some great websites (google - "Ringneck dove" or "ringneck dove care").

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  12. I love the picture of her on Ace's head. She is a beautiful girl and clearly VERY loved!

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  13. Ah... someone is definitely in love. Makes me want a dove too. No no no... that does Not mea that Tat has permission to get one lol but the thought is rather nice.

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  14. When I lived on the Florida Panhandle I had nests in my attic...one for house wrens, one for pidgeons (or doves as they are called around here). I didn't intend to have these wondrful creatures living in my attic, they chose it and I wasn't about to seal off the entrance to their home. It was a nice warm place in the winter and a safe place to rear one's young. I was the one that beneifted the most from the relationship, though...at night and early in the morning, I would hear the gentle cooing of the doves..and in the spring, I could faintly hear the 'cheep cheep cheep' of the house wren's new offspring.

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  15. I just realized tht what we have down here are called Mourning Doves (or is it Morning Doves?)...they can sound so mournful at times. Not like a loon, though..thre is something haunting in the cry of a loon....

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  16. I don't think we have doves here (not that kind anyhow). Your dove is so full of personality and i can totally believe what you say about it always talking, thats how my neighbour ducks are too. What a gorgeous blog, I could have read it forever.

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  17. Bamabelle - Oops the comment is NOT here, I got distracted and ... didn't post it'

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  18. LOL! Ya think? Tell that Dove to behave herself so Bert can get his work done!

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  19. Iri ani - Spot communicates very well, I pretty much know what she wants, or how she feels. Mostly she sounds just like a very happy child.

    Whew, was outside working before it started raining/snowing too hard, had to come back in now.

    Bamabelle - You're lucky to have the mourning Doves around. Sometimes the build nests under our eves too

    Yes, you're right, the Spot the Dove is worse than babysitting a 3 yr old kid, always into something, or else she falls asleep on my hand and I (silly me) just sit there holding her till she is thru with her nap.

    What I wrote was... Doves are Cousins of Pigeons, in the same family but of course Pigeons are larger and have a different beak. They both sound pretty much the same. Pigeons aren't quite as tame unless you spend a LOT of time with them. Doves are naturally human friendly. Ringneck Doves (Spot) are domestic only and cannot live in the wild. Mourning doves of course live outside naturally. Ringnecks are also known as the "laughing" Dove cause it does sound exactly like a laugh, I always feel like she is laughing AT me, but when she calls for me, it does sound a little sad. She has quite a few words/expressions in her vocabulary, all slightly different. My favorite is "WOOOOoooo HoooOOOOoooooo" when she's successfully done something daring.

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  20. Oh that is interesting about the difference between the pigeons and the doves. Now I finally know!

    This is what I like about Multiply... I don't have to be told that you've responded to comments... it comes back to me anyway! Isn't that great?

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  21. Tint - I congratulate Multiply. They did a fantastic job of designing their product.. and it works perfectly, efficiently and fast. Yahoo should take lessons from them. It's obvious that 360 was designed piecemeal the modules don't communicate well with each other at all, slow cumbersom and error prone. I bet their maintenance costs are astronomical, that's why they're scrapping and starting over from scratch. Maybe? they'll get it right this time? They should hire the folks at Multiply. We'll see.

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  22. I'm waiting, but not holding my breath. I must blog the changes to their privacy policy I saw. They're no longer guaranteeing our personal info, which can, according to them, be made public at any time. They've always had security issues, but I feel that is overstepping the mark. I'm happy here now. I like that they're so 'in touch' with the users. We suggest something, they take it seriously. We have problems, they deal with it. What a change!

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  23. I find my Simone to be good company for me although she is a cockatiel and not a dove. Glad to see you are making it over to the new place. I can not change light bulbs over here either.

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  24. so very coo..t your friendly feathered friend..u could start a new trend..a flocking fetish of birdicious porportions! defeating those fancies with foot absorptions!

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  25. Tint - Hmmm, well I didn't give them my real name anyway. I'm sure they will get it even more fine tuned with our requests.

    Skeezicks - My daughter had a cockatiel but she didn't pay enough attention to it.. it was just a bird. This Dove, Spot, reminds me of a cockatiel because she is so interactive with humans.

    redangel1 - ONe never knows... Now I find out that Doves are indeed a very favorite pet. Not uncommon at all. Everything I've read about them is true, they are excellent companions and like people very much. Foot absorptions? Someone has foot absorptions?

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  26. I can understand letting the dove sleep on yur fingre. My late DH used to think I was strange because I REFUSED to get up when I had a kitty napping in my lap...but then he couldn't understand why the kitties always wnted to sleep in my lap and avoided his. Duh! Do YOU like being awakened in the middle fo good nap and/or dream?

    So, is Bert jealous of Ace's obsession with Spot??? After all, Bert was the cock of the walk, so to speak, till SHE came along....

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  27. bamabelle - I suspect Bert IS jealous and knows something is going on...? But Spot never gets outside and Bert never gets inside so they will never know about each other.

    "YOU let the dog out, I can't I have a cat on my lap"...is common in our house. In fact it's a great excuse to not do a lot of things around the house. Hmmmm.

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  28. Hmmm...so if Bert never goes in the house, he must have a remote terminal out in the chicken house so he can blog?

    Oh man! I thought I was the only person who said, "I can't, I have a cat in my lap! Surely you don't want me to disturb The Baby?"

    They also don't like to sleep with people who toss and turn a lot...which is shame because on a cold morning, it is really nice to wake up with a kitty blanket that pretty much covers you from head to toe, sealing in ALL bodily warmth, and discouraging you from getting out of bed.....

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  29. Bamabelle - Bert, Wireless. Laptop. DSL.

    We both try to lure the cat onto our lap so we won't have to get up.
    Tuna is not allowed to sleep with us except at the foot of the bed on the bed (his bed is there). He would keep waking us otherwise (MEOW MEOW, pounce pounce). The TV is our alarm clock in the morning. He's allowed to harrass us when the TV comes on. He's totally trained to stay away until then (Good kitty, good kitty). TV = cat.

    Diesel the 100# German Shepherd is not allowed to sleep in our room either so he sleeps in the hall with his head inside our room. Close enough.

    Spot sleeps in her castle (cage) and the chickens in their Chickie Condo outside.

    It all works.

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  30. Wish I were as wise as you, Oh Great One. Up till The Great Flea Invasion this summer, the cats were allowed to sleep anywhere they wanted. Now they are relegated to four rooms...none of which have 'people' beds tht mide harbor eggs, larvae, etc. Hopefully we will have enough cold weather this winter that the fleas won't survive...but living next door to a cow pasture (and I DO mean RIGHT next door),makes it difficult to control the little vampires.

    The Beast sleeps in his crate at the foot of my bed most of the time because he is my protector. However, he also has crate in the spare room because he gets upset when he hears mom's 'friend' making her cry out...and he can't tell what in the heck is going on in the Big Bed, but he knows it can't be good from the sound of things......

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  31. My daughter is having flea wars for the past few years. They are ready to move elsewhere cause they tried just everything and can't get rid of them. Apparently their yard (rural area) is infested, they've sprayed, etc no luck. The dog Must use the yard.. and it's fleas all over again no matter how they clean, dip, shave, or sandblast the dog. Any ideas?

    So the beast gets upset hearing you in "trouble" in bed? Have you tried duct tape? (for YOU, not on the dog). OR maybe you should find him a beastette to put in the crate with him, then he wouldn't notice that you were... um... well ... "responding" ?

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  32. Well, the best way to kep the lfeas under control is to just water your yard often. If that isn't practical, you can just fight the good fight, like I did...treat the yard with spray and granules, treat the house with spray and fog (no critters inside for hours while this is going on), Treat the critters with Advantix/Frontline...and bathe the dog every 2-3 days with an expensive pet shampoo that dries fast and doesn't cause skin irritation. It also helps not to have carpet for them to breed in any more than necessary.

    Hmmm...duct tape. Might complete the old wrist restraint ensemble very nicely...but I'd still put the Beast in the crate in the spare room.

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  33. OK, I'll tell my daughter about getting rid of FLeas.

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  34. I am glad you have such a nice little pet to keep you company. I love my pets. I like my plants too. They are not as good company, but they are easier to take care of! They never get fleas either. Only ants.

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  35. This is delightful. What a nice place to visit, away from the madness of the world.
    Ace, Dove, the world is a better place for having such inter species love in it.

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  36. Thank you SO much Bert for sending me the link to this... I can't remember when I was last so enchanted and entertained by a blog. :)

    I might have asked you before, but have you read "Birdy" by William Wharton? The basic synopsis is a young man shellshocked in the (Vietnam? I can't recall...) war, and currently in an asylum, thinking he's a bird. There are entire chapters in the book where he IS (or is dreaming that he actually is?) a canary. His description of being a bird, seeing things from a bird's eye view, is fascinating.

    Thanks again ~ I thoroughly enjoyed this!

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