A Good Cup of Coffee

Do you like coffee? I do. Sipping coffee can really brighten up the day. It's different from tea. When there's a cup of tea around, I like to sit on the rim of the cup, dip my beak in, and lick the little drops of tea off the end of my beak. Whether it's herb tea or black tea, it's a very tasty drink. Coffee, on the other hand, is not so tasty. That's why I let my person do all the tasting. She sips the coffee and I sit on her shoulder and make little sipping and gurgling noises while she drinks. It's really fun. I like anything that makes a good sound, and sipping coffee is one of the funnest sounds I know.

A Friend

I had a nice little chat with the microwave oven today.
"Beep!" said the oven.
"Beep!" I replied.
There's just something about that microwave oven that I feel like I can talk with it in a way that I can't with anyone else. It's important to have friends like that, don't you think?

I love the paper shredder!

I LOVE talking with the paper shredder. It always has so many interesting things to say. Well, OK, it really only says one thing -- Whirr! -- but it sounds so cool when it says it. We have the most fun conversations: Whirr! Squawk! Whirr! Squawk! Whirr! Squawk! The only problem is that when I try to cozy up to the paper shredder, my person always pulls me away. "That paper shredder has a bite sharper than yours," she tells me. Hmm. I find that hard to believe.

Sounds

Do you like sounds? As a professional parrot, I’m quite interested in them. Even though I mention sounds quite frequently in this blog, I thought it would be fun to devote an entire blog post to them since there are always so many interesting ones around. For example, right now I can hear the refrigerator humming and the occasional car whooshing by down on the road. Just a few minutes ago, I was listening to one of my favorite morning sounds—the coffeepot gurgling as it brews fresh coffee. There’s just something so wonderful and watery about that sound that is so attractive to me. Then there are all the different beeps—the microwave oven, the bread machine, the telephone being dialed. I also enjoy the sounds my person makes when she drinks and chews. Of course, I can’t understand why she has to be such a noisy eater and drinker. We parrots eat and drink very quietly. But whatever the reason, the sounds are fun and I make them right along with her. But my favoritest sound of all is the sound of my person getting up in the morning. It is a quiet and gentle sound but portends so much—the cover will come off my cage, my person will be there and, most of all, there will be fresh walnuts in my dish.
(9/26/11)

Winter Sounds

Winter can get pretty boring around here. It’s too cold to go for walks in my carrier, so I just stay inside day after day, week after week. I pass the time by listening to the sounds all around me. It’s a quiet time of year, but here are some sounds I hear often: the furnace turning on and the hot air coming out of the heater; the washing machine agitating; the hum of the refrigerator; cars whooshing by; snowplows scraping snow off the road; a distant train whistle. Well, now that I’ve listed them, I guess there are a lot of sounds to listen to in winter. But I can’t wait for spring so I can go outside and listen to the birds and insects. What about you? What sounds do you hear in the winter?

Sounds

I love sounds. Well, I guess that must be because I’m parrot. There are lots of interesting sounds to hear, but my favorite sounds of all are beeps. There are a couple of beepers living in our house. The microwave oven is a great beeper when it wants to be, but it isn’t a very good conversationalist. It’s quiet most of the time. The phone is much easier to talk to. Whenever it jumps off the receiver and starts dialing, I’m right there, beeping along with it. Do you like beeps? What sounds do you like?