The Help That You Never Knew You Needed

To help means "to make it easier or possible for someone to do something by offering them one's services or resources".  That makes sense and it's a pretty straightforward concept.  Not one person can get through life without help, and we strive to help others in big and small ways every day.

We think of people helping people, but in our house, we get a lot of help from our non-person members of the family.  However, we must redefine their help slightly - "to make it harder and almost impossible for someone to do something by offering them one's mere presence".

Let's delve into this further with a few examples.


Rover

Rover was my first bird, gifted to me by my husband for my birthday.  She was a lovely baby cockatiel, still being hand-fed and very affectionate.  As she got older and reached maturity, she became VERY affectionate with her new life-partner, Shawn, but that's a story for another day.

A new decoration

Rover was allowed out of her cage for most of the day, and loved to explore.  This involved chewing books, chewing paper of any sort really, shitting on everything at every opportunity, and generally involving herself in our daily activities.  Rover liked to help Shawn in the shower by conserving water and having her bath with him.  Rover liked to help decorate the Christmas tree, and consequently ate some of the candy cane decorations, giving herself a beautiful lipstick coloured beak in the process.  Rover liked to help put together flat-pack furniture by standing EXACTLY where you needed to use your allen key.  Rover liked to help cook, and that almost got her boiled.  I don't think boiled cockatiel would make much of a meal.  Rover liked to help the cats eat their food, and would drive them away from their bowls with a hiss and a stern head-shake.  She was also helping them to lose weight.  Rover was a most helpful tiny bird and we loved her very much.

Manu

Please don't forget me!

Manu is a very helpful large dog.  Manu, as mentioned previously, is Shawn's number one Klingon.  Which means that Shawn gets help with everything - putting on socks and shoes being a particular favourite.  Shawn has now been driven to complete this task behind closed doors in the ensuite or walk in closet.  Manu likes to help his dad build the fire at night, proving that dodging big sloppy kisses helps with log placement, while tail wagging fans the flames.  Manu really, really likes to help pack for camping, by running backwards and forwards in front of you constantly, making sure that nothing is forgotten, most importantly himself. Manu likes to help bring in the groceries by sticking his big, wide, yellow, saggy skinned head into every bag, in case you forgot which one the meat was in.  Manu likes to help with cleaning, by eating his poo, Chamois' poo, cat poo and chicken poo.  And duck poo - he likes that too.



Purrkins helping Clawde with a supportive hug

Clawde and Purrkins

Clawde and Purrkins like to help by keeping the rodent population down, which we very much appreciate.  Clawde and Purrkins like to help me eat my dinner by stabbing at my legs with their weaponised feet until I drop them a tasty morsel.  Clawde and Purrkins like to keep me humble by reminding me that nothing I own will ever be completely free of cat fur.  Clawde and Purrkins like to help me stay warm in the winter with lots of kitten cuddles, which are equivalent to a nice soft hot water bottle.  Purrkins in particular likes to help with all things housework, his favourite being bed-making (see above point about cat fur).  Clawde and Purrkins like to help with our mental health by acting like complete idiots and making us laugh every day.

Chamois

Chamois never helps anyone - she's above all of that.
 

Don't know, don't care, rub my belly