Anticipation

If you know me at all, you know how much I loooooove walnuts, and that getting walnuts in my dish every morning is the high point of my day. So I really can’t explain how it happened that the other morning I somehow missed the chance to eat my walnuts before I went outside with my person to mow the lawn. It wasn’t until I was zipped inside my carrier and on the way out the door on my person’s back that I remembered. I knew those little walnut bits were in my food dish just waiting to be eaten and I hadn’t yet tasted even one and here we were going outside and getting ready to mow the lawn. Normally I enjoy helping my person mow the lawn. While she pushes the mower back and forth, back and forth, I ride in my carrier and survey the land. I watch out for dumb robins and squawk at the neighbor when she walks to the end of her driveway to get the newspaper and squawk at any joggers or cyclists who happen to pass by and just generally keep an eye on things, but that morning it was really hard to pay attention to all those things because all I could think about was those lonely little walnuts back inside in my food dish just waiting for me to eat them. As my person pushed the mower towards the road, I pictured those walnuts in my mind. As she pushed the mower back towards the woods, I thought about how they would taste. I was thinking so hard about those walnuts that I almost forgot to squawk at the neighbor when she came outside. When we finished mowing the lawn, my person put the mower back into the shed and we came inside the house and she let me out of my carrier. I scrambled as fast as my little parrot feet could carry me up my person’s arm, into my cage, and over to my perch, which is right next to my food dish. I stuck my beak right in the dish and picked up a piece of walnut. Mmmmmmmm. That walnut sure tasted good. Anticipation makes the best condiment.

On an’ on an’ on

That gray parrot Trouble is here for a visit again, and chatting up a storm, as always. “Hiya, bird!” “Ain’t it cool!” “Apple and a grape.” And on and on and on all day long. What a show off! Well, I can beep like a microwave oven just as well as she can! This visit, she’s added something new to her repertoire: she squawks just like me. I have to admit she does it quite well. Her squawks sound almost the same as mine. However, I’m not sure what she means by it. Is she making me fun of me? Or is imitation the sincerest form of flattery? It sure is confusing being a parrot who is being parroted by another parrot.

Spider

The other day while we were gardening, my person and I discovered a huge, I mean HUGE, spider in among the vegetables. It had interesting bright yellow and black markings. It had made a web that stretched from the mini pumpkin plants to the bean plants and was sitting right in the middle of it. My person said it was waiting for insects to come by and get caught in the web so it could eat them. That made me wonder. Why go through all that work spinning a web and then waiting for an insect to come by just to have a snack, when looking in your food dish for a bite to eat is so much easier? That’s what I do when I’m hungry. I guess there’s just no explaining spiders.

Hummers

My person and I enjoy watching the hummingbirds at the feeder. We frequently see them there, feeding or swooping around. At first we thought a lot of different hummingbirds were feeding at the feeder, then one day we figured out what was really happening. A lot of different hummingbirds do come to the feeder, but there’s one of them, a male, who acts like the feeder is his. Whenever another bird tries to feed there, he swoops in and chases it away. Then he perches on the feeder and eats to his heart’s content. Then he flies away and perches in the birch tree nearby where he can keep his beady little eye on the feeder and make sure no other bird gets to eat there. Now that we know what is going on, we see it happen frequently. That bossy little guy is often hanging out nearby, in the birch tree or sometimes the hydrangea bush, protecting “his” feeder. My person is a little bit upset about this. She says she intended the feeder to be for all the hummingbirds, not just one greedy one. But I think I can understand why he’s acting that way. I mean, if another parrot tried to stick his beak into my food dish, you can be sure I would squawk at the top of my voice and chase him away. I mean, after all, your food dish is your food dish, right? What could be more important than that?

Career Plans

Do you know what you want to be when you grow up? I’m thinking shepherd might be a fun job. The other day, my person and I were watching a movie and every once in a while a whole bunch of sheep would show up on the screen, all baaing and bleating. Naturally, I squawked like crazy when I saw them because that’s what I always do when I see strange animals, but also because I really enjoyed their baaing and bleating sounds. I can appreciate any animal that makes interesting sounds. So I was thinking, if I were a shepherd I could baa and bleat with the sheep all day and then I would squawk and they would go where I told them to go. I think it would be a great job. What about you? Would you like to be a shepherd? What kind of job would you like to have?
(7/31/10)

Gardening

I’ve been helping my person with the gardening recently. It’s a pleasant way to spend a summer afternoon. I sit in my carrier in the grass while my person weeds the vegetables and checks to see if any beans are ready to be picked yet. There are so many things to watch in a garden. First of all, there are lots of little creatures like lady bugs and spiders crawling around on the leaves. I can see bees collecting pollen from the squash blossoms and dumb robins hopping around on the grass. I can hear lots of birds singing in the woods. I can keep an eye on the sunflowers (and I’m happy to report they are still growing strong and several are ready to bloom) and watch the pea pods grow. I can’t wait till the peas are ripe. I just love eating peas right from the pod. I love eating green beans, too, because they have delicious seeds inside them. The garden is full of so many wonderful things (as long as the deer and woodchucks stay away).

Hold On!

I just love holding things. That’s because I’m a parrot and we parrots have special feet that are made for climbing and holding. I use my feet to hold my food while I eat, but I also like to hold things for fun and relaxation. My absolute favorite toy in the whole wide world is my toothbrush, which hangs from the top of my cage. I stand on my perch on one foot and hold my toothbrush with the other foot while I squawk and chirp and chatter for hours. It’s so much fun! I also like to hold plastic milk bottle caps. Sometimes I chew them, but other times I just like to sit on my perch holding a plastic cap in my foot. Holding things is really fun, don’t you think?