Henry

A few days ago, we met Henry.
I'm not much of a cat person, and most cats are pretty boring, but Henry isn't normal and he's certainly not boring.
We were visiting a friend who will remain nameless - I don't think he's a spy, but there might be reason for him being searched for by spies, and I wouldn't want to put him in any danger. Certainly not if they were ninja spies, that usually doesn't go well.
Anyway, this is how Otis' first encounter with Henry went: "You know, I knew a cat once who looked just like you!" (Henry stares at him intensely, then miaows; I'm not entirely sure it was meant to be a word). Otis: "Can't you speak? Cat got your tongue? You're not much of a cat are you?" Henry gives him a long big grumpy stare with his massive eyes and bad-tempered face, then walks off.

Otis says he's never met a more obnoxious cat, but he keeps talking about him, so I believe Otis adores him. We will be visiting Henry again very soon, and then I will be able to get a better picture of what the two weirdest animals on the planet think of each other.

New Beginnings

As an update to life - although, please don't be insulted, I'm pretty sure your life is much more exciting than ours, and you're just reading this blog to be polite - Otis and I have emigrated. I guess we're allowed to say emigrate, as we left the land of dragons and are now in the land of gnomes.

It's pretty awesome so far, although we do miss our dragons, especially Ernibert. Have I told you about Ernibert? He claims to be the last dragon in Wales. He's not.

The move was quite crazy. On the way up (we went by coach), Otis insisted on sitting on the roof. After a long discussion with the coach driver, he got his way as usual, and so throughout the whole journey, we spoke through the roof. As soon as we entered the land of gnomes, it started raining - we had been expecting it, but Otis forgot, and got soaked through!

Although we are familiar with the area around here, we are now living in an area that is quite new to us. We explored a bit the other day, and Otis flew high above the trees and streets and houses and when he came back, he said it was all ugly and grey from the top. I asked how high he flew, and it would appear he flew above the clouds without realising it (you'd think you'd know when you're flying through a cloud, but not Otis!) and so he thought the whole place was grey!

Tomorrow we are going to the big centre of knowledge where I've enrolled to learn all about stuff, and Otis has decided he might want to learn about stuff too, although he told me that he knew pretty much everything already anyway. I asked him if he could tell me what pi was, and he said that of course he knew, but he wasn't going to tell me because people might think him a show-off. I doubt he understands the meaning of show-off, seeing as he's told everyone in the radius of 10 miles of our new home that he did a study on the King Owls of France.

As regards the brain study, unfortunately I wasn't able to bring my Owscannerbrain as it's quite heavy and I was scared it might break. I will however be working with some very clever people soon, and am hoping that we could maybe work together in finding out more of this strange little owl called Otis.
He's certainly very adorable. And now I will go and watch him in secret, as he tries to make friends with the house cat. He's telling her about the time he accidentally mistook a badger for a mouse ... where will this end!???

More diary entries

I think I spotted Otis somewhere on the hills, so I'm not so worried now, and have also found some more diary entries that made me giggle; I hope they make you giggle just as much :-):

"2nd September 2012

I nearly beat Fudge up yesterday, he's so annoying. I was just sitting in my old spot in the woods, and he comes flying over with his mates, and tells me that I can't sit there because it's his spot. As I proceeded to tell him about Ferdinand the Great of Swansea, the stupid pigeon rudely interrupted and said he wasn't interested in any of my made up facts and that if I didn't budge, he'd shoot me. I just looked at him indignantly and took off to the river to see if there was anything interesting to eat, having decided not to stoop to their level. But, I have made it my concern to cause an uprising and get this matter sorted. The woods should not be allowing such insolent beings in, they're a danger to all beings and birds, and need to be punished!

4th September 2012

Having discovered a potion to make me faster, I am planning a trip away to collect all the ingredients. Looks like lots of berries are involved. I'm not telling Frank, she'll come up with some good excuse to stop me from completing this mission.

Also, I have discovered that my great great Aunt Meryl is still alive. Must visit her soon before she dies. Unfortunately, I have no excuse not to go. Oh well, maybe I will gain some valuable information as to how to get rid of pigeons. 

 

 

 

Berry picking

Yesterday was a busy day; the hedge in the front of our house needed trimming (looots!), so we did. While I was pulling away brambles and getting scratched and bitten by thorns and thistles, I noticed Otis picking at some plant. Going over to see what mischief he was involved in this time, I noticed that he was eating berries - the red ones that you're not meant to eat. So I said to him, "Otis, you can't eat those, they're poisonous!" You will hopefully agree with me that this was a well-meaning way of looking after him, but Otis didn't see it like that. He glared at me and said something about him being an owl longer than I've been one, and then he flew away. That was yesterday and he's still not come back, I'm slightly concerned. Hopefully he's found some pigeon friend or something who will help him if he needs it.
Anyway, I'll keep you updated. If you see him, please let me know.

Diary entries

I stole Otis' diary (shh, don't tell him!) and found this hehe (I corrected the spelling mistakes and I just couldn't figure out what was meant by some of his sentences, so I just wrote what I thought Otis would have written, even if it makes little sense):

"23rd August 2012
Tweehoo, Fred is still gone, I think she's coming back next year, so I'm going to hang out with the pigeons a bit in the woods. They're awesome, Fudge used to be in the army but got kicked out for doing handstands when he was on duty. Poor thing, I think he was quite devastated when they did, he keeps talking about invading the squirrels' territory and shooting maggots. I think he's glad I'm here though, I can't wait to teach him a thing or two, he can thank his stars!
I went for a soar on the clouds in the other direction today and lost my way because the signs were all in Welsh, so I asked a badger which way. He said something but I couldn't figure out what it was, so I carried on for a bit as I was in no hurry. I found a massive lake that goes beyond what the eye can see, the air tasted weird and there were a lot of seagulls flying around. I hate seagulls, they're a common bunch and should be shot! I wish I was young enough to join the army, this country needs a bit of discipline, especially in tackling those seagull invaders! Luckily I found a pigeon who is acquainted with Fudge, so he showed me the way home. I need to ask Fudge to show me around as I have no idea where I'm going. In fact, I might write a letter of complaint to the government - these signs will not do! They also need to build more shops and perhaps a pub or two more. It's important to stay hydrated throughout the day, that's what Fred says. Anyway, got to go, Fudge is calling, I think he's in a spot of trouble and needs my help! Traaaa.

28th August 2012
Fred has come back and turned into Frank, though to be honest, I can hardly tell the difference. It seems there's a need to be Frank in the air, but it's all nonsense if you ask me! It also appears to be quite contagious, Fudge told me to go away and stick my head in a rabbit hole, just seconds after I'd saved him from a nest of maggots! Such ungrateful behaviour does not go in my good books, and so I am gladly staying away from the pigeons. At least, until one of them comes back and apologises, then I might contemplate paying them a quick visit. They're all a bunch of lunatics and not worth mentioning in a history book!
Anyway, got to go, just running the bath and I'm not sure how it switches off. Traaaa."

Haha, this is all I found, lovely Otis has only recently started writing a diary, so I've put it back where I found it and will be looking in regularly to see what he's written. This might also help with my quantitative analysis of his brain. Perhaps someone will even want to publish the report when it's finished. I very much doubt it though the way things are going (hence the need to be Frank). Otis, on the other hand, is having the time of his life! He claims to have become General in the army. I'm pretty sure that's not true though, as he's the thickest owl around and quite clumsy, especially when it comes to aiming at things.
Let's hope this next week will be full of exciting things for Otis to do so we can have a giggle!