New Year's Resolutions

Well, it’s resolution time again. For the new year, I resolve to do my duty as a pet parrot as well as I can. That means:
- keeping predators away from the house and, especially, my cage
- keeping the microwave oven entertained by beeping along with it
- helping out with the laundry by perching on the drying rack and chewing the clothes
as they dry
- keeping my person company by following her everywhere around the house
- getting inside the refrigerator and raiding the walnut stash.
OK, that last one isn’t exactly a duty but, still, it is a resolution. What about you? What are your resolutions for the new year?

Movies

As a general rule, I don’t pay much attention to TV or movies. They just don’t have much that attracts me. My person watches a lot of movies and I like to sit with her while she does that, but I don’t usually watch with her. Instead I spend that time in more productive activities such as chewing holes in her socks or picking up crumbs off the table. However, recently my person brought home some Harry Potter movies and, unlike other movies, these ones are extremely interesting. They have lots and lots of wonderful sounds and we parrots just love interesting sounds. When a Harry Potter movie is on, I sit on my person’s knee and chatter, whoop, beep, and squawk right along with the movie. It’s so much fun. I can’t think of a more enjoyable way to spend an evening than squawking and whooping along with a Harry Potter movie. What about you? What kinds of movies do you like?

Cereal

That shiny new refrigerator that moved in with us last August turns out to be a pretty nice fellow. It’s lot more generous than that stingy coffeepot, for one thing. Not only does it have walnuts inside, but on top it has a whole stash of cereal, and I just loooooove cereal. I don’t know why it took me so long to notice, but I finally realized that the refrigerator keeps a bag of whole grain flakes on its top. Whole grain flakes are my favorite, so you can imagine what I did as soon as I spied that bag. I flew right up there and starting chewing off a corner to get at those lovely crunchy flakes inside. It didn’t take long, and soon I was munching away. Then, wouldn’t you know it, my person saw what I was doing and took me away from there and put me back in my cage. Hmmmph!!! It’s true that I have cereal in my food dish in my cage, but it’s much more fun to eat it out of the bag, don’t you think? Oh , well, I’m sure I’ll find another chance soon to sneak back to that bag and continue my munching.

Scary Weather

Well, it’s that time of year again, scary snow time. It fell all day yesterday. Now I don’t mind so much not being able to go outside because I really don’t like being in an outside that’s all white. I feel much safer where everything’s green. But that’s not the worst part of snow. The worst part of snow is when it starts acting all predatory and slides off the roof and hits the ground with a big “whuuump!!” Then I have to go flying all around the room to find a safe corner to hide in and then squawk and squawk with all my might to keep that predatory snow away from my cage and my room. You’ve really got to let the snow know who’s boss, otherwise it might just come inside and eat you up. Yep, I’ve certainly got my work cut out for the winter, with all that squawking I have to do to keep the snow away.

Clementines

There’s at least one good thing about winter and that’s clementines. My person just brought home a box full of them from the store. Clementines are so much fun to eat. I stick my beak into a slice and suck up all the juice. Mmmmmmm, juicy! Then, after we’ve eaten all the clementines, I get to play in the box. Chewing up the box is almost as fun as eating the fruit. What about you? Do you like clementines? What kind of fruit do you like to eat in the winter?

Favorite Word

Although I am fond of a number of words, I think I can say without a doubt that my favorite one of all is “treat.” Now that’s a word that really makes my feathers stand up. As soon as I hear my person say it, I run or fly as fast as I can to the perch next to my food dish. I get so excited that I can hardly wait for my person to take a seed treat out of the plastic container and put it in my dish. Then I grab it with my foot and nibble and nibble and nibble……Yummy! A seed treat sure tastes good. I know exactly which shelf the treats are kept on, and anytime my person goes near it, I get a little bit excited. But I have to hear the word “treat” before I know for sure that one is on its way to my dish. What about you? What is your favorite word?

A Useful Piece of Equipment

My person has a printer on her desk, right behind the computer, and I find it to be a very useful piece of equipment. For one thing, I can entertain myself for hours on end chewing the little plastic buttons that sit all along the left-hand edge of the printer’s top. That’s almost as much fun as chewing the little plastic buttons off the TV remote control, which is just about my all-time favorite thing to do. The other thing the printer is good for is that by climbing on top of it, I can reach the books that my person keeps behind it. So far, I’ve chewed along the top edges of several of the books and am working my way through the back cover of one of them. I’m almost half-way through with it now, and when I’m done with that, there will be the whole inside of the book to chew up! The other thing I can reach by standing on top of the printer is the pen holder. It’s really fun to pull pens out of the can and drop them behind the printer. And when I’m lucky enough to find a nice chewy wooden pencil in there, then I can really have a chew fest. Of course, when pencil splinters or stray pens or pieces of chewed-up book just happen to fall inside the printer, then there are paper jams and my person gets kind of upset. I don’t know why, though. I mean, it’s not as if the best part about a printer is the printing. There’s just so much more that you can do with it.

Toasty Poetry

My Friend, the Toaster Oven
by Shadow

The toaster oven makes a sound
That’s music to my ears:
Tick tick tick tick, tick tick tick tick,
then bling! and toast appears.

Sometimes the toaster oven’s cold
But it can change, I know,
‘Cause other times the oven’s warm
And has a bright orange glow.

I like the oven when it’s hot
And tasty toast’s in there,
But I will always be its friend
Even when cold and bare.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving is coming up this week, and it’s time to post my list of things I am thankful for:
* I am thankful for my carrier so I can go for walks in warm weather.
* I am thankful that I’m not a robin so I don’t have to eat worms and migrate.
* I am thankful for all the friends who come to visit and let me sit on their shoulder.
* I am thankful for gifts of plastic bottle caps, which I love to chew.
* I am thankful for walnuts in my food dish every morning.
* I am thankful for my morning cup of tea.
* I am thankful for everyone who visits this blog!
What about you? What are you thankful for? Please let us know in the comments.

Pencil Sharpener

Do you like pencil sharpeners? We have one in the house here with us, an electric one. Most of the time it’s a fairly quiet thing and just sits on the bookshelf minding its own business. But when it’s in the mood, it can be quite talkative. It whirrs and whirrs, then squeals and whines, and then whirrs some more. I love whirring and squealing along with it. In fact, we had a great time whirring and squealing together just this evening after dinner. Another thing we have in common is that we both love eating pencils. Though I have to say, that pencil sharpener is a bit fussy about the way it eats. It always has to make sure the pencil ends up with a fine point at the end. Me, I don’t care what the pencil looks like. I just chew and chew till I get tired of chewing, and if the pencil ends up round on one end and all splintery on the other, well, so what? I don’t think the pencil really cares how it looks. But I guess the pencil sharpener can eat pencils any way it likes. What about you? Do you have a pencil sharpener in your house?

Bad Mice

My person and I have been enjoying more Beatrix Potter stories recently. Today we read The Tale of Two Bad Mice. I was quite interested in the story since we have several bad mice of our own living here in the house with us. The bad mice in the story messed up a doll’s house and tried to eat the doll’s house food—those silly bad mice couldn’t figure out that it wasn’t real. We don’t have a doll’s house, but we have a real house with real food and our bad mice hoard the food in the silverware drawer, next to the nests they make of chewed-up cardboard and dryer lint. We parrots actually have great deal in common with mice since we also chew up things to make our nests, and when it comes to making messes, we are the champions. So I wonder, since parrots can chew things up and mess things up at least as well as mice can and are certainly a great deal cuter, why did Beatrix Potter write some many stories about mice and not even one about a parrot?

Dunking

I thought I’d blog about dunking today since a question came up about that recently. Yes, it’s true that I love to dunk. If there’s a cup of tea around, I start dunking—bits of bagels, pieces of shredded wheat, pellets, whatever I can get my beak on. Partly it’s to soften up the food for eating, but mostly it’s for the fun of watching the food float around in the tea cup. I only actually end up eating just a small portion of what I dunk. And it isn’t just me. Most parrots dunk. Give a parrot a water dish, and she (he) will start dunking away. Some parrots don’t stop at food but will put toys, pieces of paper, anything, into a water dish. Unfortunately, I don’t have a water dish in my cage anymore except on special occasions. My person replaced it with a water bottle. Hmmmm, I wonder why?

Things To Do

I am sorry I have not been blogging more frequently, but I have been so busy recently helping my person. The days just aren’t long enough for all the things I have to do! I have to sit on my person's shoulder and help her out with inspiration when she is working, of course, and I have to exercise with her every morning. I have to help her eat her meals, and make a mess while I’m doing that so she has something to clean up afterwards. On laundry days, I have to help hang the laundry. My other duties include keeping an eye on the toaster oven so that we know when toast is on the way, and responding to the microwave oven whenever it feels like beeping, and you just can’t tell when that will be. So you can see I am really kept on my toes. By the end of the day, I am just so exhausted. But I don’t mind. I am glad to do my part and help out wherever I can.

Caffeinated Poetry

My Friend, the Coffeepot
by Shadow

The coffeepot
Is very hot
It has water
Drip, drip, drop.

I snuggle near
So I can hear
The dripping sound
Right in my ear.

To watch, I choose,
As coffee brews
It never fails
Me to amuse.

More gurgles from the coffeepot

That coffeepot is at it again, just gurgling away. What a flirt! It gurgles so loudly, you can hear it all over the house. Sometimes when I’m relaxing in my cage enjoying a nice quiet preen, I hear that gurgling sound coming from the kitchen. “I’ve got water! I’ve got water!” it seems to be saying. And of course, I’ve got to drop what I’m doing, even if it’s something important like holding a walnut in my beak, and go check it out. I am a parrot, after all. As I’ve mentioned before, the sound of moving water is very hard to resist. But then when I cozy up next to the coffeepot, it just gurgles coyly and doesn’t let out even one drop of water. Humph! Next time I hear that old gurgling sound, I think I’ll just plug up my ears!

What’s a parrot to do?

This afternoon I was confronted with a dilemma while I was helping my person hang the laundry. Regular readers of this blog know how much I LOVE laundry. The good part about helping to hang the laundry is that I get to perch on top of the drying rack. Not only is it a comfortable perch, but it’s also covered with laundry. What could be more fun than that? Well, today, just as I was getting ready to perch on top of the clean, drying laundry, I heard a gurgling sound coming from the kitchen. I looked over and saw my friend the coffeepot staring at me with its bright red eye and making the most inviting noises. What parrot can resist the sound of gurgling water? But then there was the drying rack all covered with fresh, clean laundry. Laundry or coffeepot? Laundry or coffeepot? What’s a little green parrot to do in a situation like that? Well, finally I just couldn’t resist all that gurgling, so I flew over to the coffeepot and perched on the counter next to it. Of course, that coffeepot still hasn’t changed its selfish ways and won’t let me anywhere near its water, but it’s still pleasant to snuggle up next to it, feel its warmth, and enjoy the gurgling as the hot coffee drips into the pot. Believe me, I never thought I’d see the day when I’d choose the coffeepot, or anything, over laundry. But we parrots are such unpredictable creatures. Sometimes you just can’t tell what will strike a parrot’s fancy next, even if you are the parrot yourself.

Headlines

Do you read newspapers? I don’t very often, even though I have plenty of opportunity because my person uses them to line the bottom of my cage. However, I don’t generally find them particularly appealing unless, of course, they happen to mention interesting personages such as myself. And that’s just what happened this week. My person’s friend, Judy (who, by the way, is really nice and always lets me sit on her shoulder when she comes over to visit) writes a column for the local newspaper, the Vermont Standard. This week she just happened to mention me and my friend, Trouble (who is already a familiar figure to regular readers of this blog). Actually, she brought up a very important point—that now that the weather is so cold, Trouble and I are stuck inside for the next several months. Neighbors will not be seeing Trouble in her outdoor cage or me in my carrier for a while. But I know both us are looking forward to getting back outside next spring. Oh, fame! First a book inspired by me, and now my name in the headlines. If I weren’t such a modest bird, I’m afraid all this attention would go to my head.

Drinking

Now that the weather has turned cold and I can’t go outside in my carrier anymore, I have lots of time to sit inside and think. Recently I’ve been thinking about drinking. I think this is interesting because there are different ways to drink. Most of the time I drink water out of my water bottle. It hangs on the side of my cage and has a tube with a little ball inside. I push up the ball with my tongue and little drops of water come out. This is an OK way to drink, but not nearly as entertaining as drinking out of a glass. When my person is drinking from a glass, I pull on her ear until she lets me have a sip. Then I stick my head inside the glass and sip up the water with my tongue. It’s fun to drink this way. The other way to drink is when there is a cup of tea. I stand on the brim of the cup, dip my beak into the tea, and suck up a few drops at a time. It’s fun to try different ways to drink, don’t you think?

Story Time

As I’m sure I’ve mentioned before, I love to have stories read to me. My favorite book, of course, is If You Were a Parrot, by my favorite person, Katherine Rawson. But I like other stories, too. Recently my person has been reading Beatrix Potter stories to me. I just love the story of Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle. You wouldn’t think a smart and beautiful parrot like myself would have anything in common with a hedgehog like Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle, but it turns out that she loves laundry just as much as I do. Of course, she likes the washing and ironing part, while my favorite part is climbing the piles of folded laundry and messing them all up. Still, laundry is laundry. Also, I think Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle is very brave to iron. Me, I’m really scared of the iron. It looks like a very mean and vicious thing. I suppose all those prickles Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle has one her back help her feel safe. Anyhow, I’m looking forward to hearing more Beatrix Potter stories and meeting more interesting creatures in them. What about you? Do you like Beatrix Potter? What are some of your favorite stories?

Snack Time

Don’t you just love snack time? Today it’s peanut butter and raspberry jam on a bagel. I like the jam part best. I usually just eat the jam off the top and leave the peanut butter for my person. I like dunking pieces of the bagel in coffee, too. It’s a parrot thing. We love dunking. What about you? What kinds of snacks do you like?

Troublesome Poetry

My Friend, Trouble
by Shadow

Trouble is a parrot
Who’s very, very gray
Her face is white, her tail is red
She often comes to stay

Trouble is a parrot
Who’s very good at talking
She whistles, beeps, and chatters
But you’ll rarely hear her squawking

Trouble is a parrot
As such, she likes to chew
She passes time by splint’ring wood
Or shredding a book or two

Trouble is a parrot
Who really likes to eat
She’s happy when she starts the day
With peanuts in her beak

Trouble is a parrot
Whose beak is sharp and strong
And though she’s big and scary
One day we’ll get along.

September

September is going by so fast. It’s a pretty nice month, all things considered, and I’ll be sad when it says farewell. Here’s what I like about September:

*Ripe blackberries—mmmm, seedy!
*Corn on the cob—I love corn in any form, but it’s especially delicious eaten right off the cob. It’s kind of like eating sunflower seeds right out of the flower, which brings me to the next item on my list:
*Ripe sunflower seeds—YUM-MY!
*Pleasant weather for walks in my carrier

Here’s what I don’t like about September:

*The end of house guest season—less admiration and attention for me
*Cool weather is approaching—soon I won’t be able to go outside for walks in my carrier anymore until spring.

What about you? Do you like September?

The Latest Parrot Poetry

Migration (or not)
by Shadow

Robins travel twice a year
Seeking better weather
Winters south and summers north
They always fly together.

Parrots stay where they belong
In their jungle home
There they’ve got food and flock
They’ve no need to roam.

Migration

I haven’t seen any of those dumb robins around here lately. I guess they’ve already started migrating south for the winter. What a waste of energy, don’t you think, to fly all those miles looking for a place to spend the winter. Believe me, you won’t catch me migrating anywhere. I know that if I stay here all winter, I’ll be safe and warm and well fed in my cage. But those dumb robins think they have to fly thousand of miles every autumn and then thousands of miles back again every spring. Silly things. But what can you expect from a bird that eats worms?

Trouble’s Back . . .

. . . and she’s talking up a storm, like always. Blah blah blah. Here’s something I don’t get about that bird. You give her a blackberry, a nice fresh seedy blackberry, and what does she do? She throws it on the floor! All those lovely seeds just tossed away. And she calls herself a parrot. Humph!!!!!!!!

A feast for the eye . . . and beak!

Flowers

Do you like flowers? I do. At least I like sunflowers. I especially like the ones with large centers because…guess why…those are the ones with the most seeds. My person grows all different kinds of sunflowers in her garden, and they all have delicious seeds. Usually she puts a sunflower in my cage and I get to eat all the seeds out of the center. The best way to eat seeds is right out of the flower, don’t you think? They just seem to taste better that way. What about you? What kinds of flowers do you like?

Chewing

Do you ever get in one of those moods where you just have to chew things? I’ve been feeling very chewy lately and have chewed up several old notebooks. Tearing the cardboard covers to little bits is particularly fun. I’ve taken some bites out of book covers too, but that doesn’t seem to make my person very happy. I’ve also managed to get my beak on a pencil or two recently. Pencils are just about my absolute favorite thing to chew. Of course, I have to toss a lot of pens out of the pen holder to find the pencils that are hiding in there. I also enjoy chewing up popsicle sticks, plastic bottle caps, mouse pads (that’s another one that seems to upset my person—picky, picky), the tips of shoelaces, and of course shredding paper is really fun, too. What about you? What do you like to chew?

Lost Friend

Wouldn’t you know it? No sooner do I find out that the refrigerator’s the place where the walnuts have been hiding than it disappears. That old refrigerator is gone. Completely gone. I miss it, and not just for the walnuts. It was quite a talkative thing, always making lovely groaning and squeaking sounds. I always enjoyed listening to its rantings and ravings. Now there is a new one in its place, and I have to admit it’s quite a fine looking thing, very bright and clean. It’s not such a talker, though, just emits a quiet hum. So we’ll just have to wait and see if it’s friendly or not, if it also has walnuts and, if so, whether or not it likes sharing. I’ll let you know what I find out.

I Found Them!

I did it! I finally found out where the walnuts are kept! It happened like this: While I was paying a brief visit to the kitchen today, my person opened the refrigerator door. That's when I saw them. They were sitting right there on the top shelf, as plain as the beak on your face, right under a brightly shining light bulb. They smiled and winked at me through their plastic wrapping and seemed to be saying, "Come eat us now!" So I stepped onto the refrigerator shelf - that sure felt cold on my toes - and was just reaching out my beak to touch the plastic wrapping when my person grabbed me out of there and slammed the door shut. What a party pooper! Oh, well. At least now I know where the walnuts are. I bet I can get the refrigerator to let me in again. It seems to be a pleasant creature, quite friendly and ... well, not warm, but friendly, anyhow. I don't think it would mind sharing a few walnuts. I'll keep you posted.

Heat Wave

After a summer of many cold, rainy days, we’re finally having our summer heat wave, with temperatures in the 90s. I can really feel it when I’m out for my daily walk in my carrier, and I sure enjoy a spritz of cold water on my feet when I get home. How about you? How do you like to cool off when the weather is hot?

By the way, the blackberries are finally ripe, and I am enjoying blackberry jam on toast. Love those seeds!

Busy, busy, busy

I have not been blogging as much as I'd like recently. I just have so much else to do! One of my main duties is to sit on my person's shoulder while she works and give her inspiration. She's been working a lot lately, and I've been very busy inspiring her. Also since she's been so busy with work, she doesn't have much time to help me with this blog. OK, I'll admit it, I need her help with the typing part. If you had feet like mine, you'd need help managing a keyboard, too. Feet like what?, you say. Well, if you have to ask that, clearly you haven't read one of my greatest inspirings, If You Were a Parrot. Check it out here. You'll find out what my feet look like and why, why I need to chew so much, and lots of other interesting things about the life of a parrot. Happy reading!

More Trouble

Trouble the gray parrot is back for a visit and talking as much as ever. All day long it's, "Ain't it cool! Ain't it cool!" Ain't what cool? I'd like to know. When she's not saying that, she's saying "What a good girl!" or asking for an apple and a grape. What's the point of all that talking? Personally, I think a nice, simple phrase such as "Pretty bird!" says it all.

Trouble and I do have a few things in common, however. While I'm eating my breakfast walnuts, she's eating her breakfast peanuts. While I shred my way through "Gone With the Wind," she shreds her way through "Pride and Prejudice." I guess you've gotta give some credit to a bird with such literary tastes as that.

Summer Days

There hasn't been a whole lot happening around the parrot cage recently, just enjoying the lazy days of summer...morning walks in my carrier...afternoons relaxing in my cage with a dish of pellets...chewing up some plastic bottle caps...waiting for the blackberries to ripen.... I've finally gotten back to "Gone With the Wind" and am chewing my way through the second half. It shreds so well! What about you? How do you like to spend summer days? What books have you been enjoying recently?

Coffeepot

Well, I finally did get to pay a short visit to the kitchen the other day. While I was there, I met the coffeepot. At first it seemed so friendly, sitting there on the counter emanating warmth and making such delightful bubbling and gurgling sounds. I could tell it was filled with water, and we parrots love the sound of moving water. But that coffeepot turned out to be a selfish old thing and wouldn’t let me get anywhere near its water at all. I poked my beak all around it, everywhere I could reach, but it wouldn’t share even one drop of water with me. What a meanie.

Oooooo! Sometimes I just get sooo mad!

Don't you just hate it when you're in your cage squawking and squawking to be let out and no one pays any attention to you? Sometimes I get left in my cage while my person is working in the kitchen. Well, I love kitchen work too. I love to listen to the sound of running water when the dishes are being washed, and it's so much fun to poke my beak into all the different food that is being prepared. I also enjoy having the opportunity to chat with the microwave oven or watch bread toasting in the toaster oven. And I know if I just get the chance to do some exploring in there, I'll be able to figure out where the walnuts are kept. But does my person let me share in all those fun activities? Nooooo. I squawk and squawk and squawk but she acts like she doesn't hear me. I ring my bell and squawk some more, but it doesn't do any good. You'd think she doesn't want me in the kitchen at all. Could it be the poking-the-beak-into-the-food thing?
Nah.

The Latest Parrot Poetry

I’m Glad
by Shadow

I’m glad that I shall never be
A robin living in a tree
Up and singing before dawn
Seeking worms out on the lawn
Outside whether rain or sun
That’s a life that is not fun
Inside I am snug and warm
My cage protects me from all harm
Food is always in my dish.
I have all a bird could wish

Best Berries

July is my favorite month of the whole year because that's the month when the wild black raspberries are ripe. They grow all along the edge of the field, and my person and I have been picking them every day this week. I love all kinds of berries (I'm a bird, after all), but wild black raspberries are the best berries of all. They're so tasty and seedy! Next to a walnut, there's no better way to start the day than with a black raspberry in your beak. Don't you agree?

Trouble!

We have another kind of house guest this week--Trouble, the parrot from down the road. She's a big gray parrot and boy, does she talk up a storm. All day long it's: Wanna an apple and a grape. Happy bird! Ready for breakfast? Hello! Hello! And on and on. What's the point of talking so much when you can squawk, I say.

House Guests

Do you like house guests? I love house guests! That's because they always give me a lot of attention. They tell me what a pretty bird I am and let me sit on their shoulders and squawk in their ears. They scratch my head and give me treats. Most of them are like that. Once in a while we have a guest who doesn't seem to want to come near me. I don't get it because I really am a friendly bird. I mean, sometimes I squawk a bit loudly and on occasion I bite, but it doesn't really mean anything. But what can you do? Anyhow, most house guests are very friendly with me. What about you? What do you do when guests come to your house?

Alone

Do you like being alone? I don't. That's because we parrots are flock animals so we don't feel happy if we're away from the flock. Fortunately, my person spends a lot of time with me, but when she leaves the house, she leaves me all alone in my cage. Then I have to find a way to pass the time. For a while it's all right. I eat some pellets and hold my toothbrush and ring my bell. I might chew a popsicle stick or a bottle cap, and I always take a bath in my water dish. But if my person still hasn't come back after I've finished doing all those things, then I don't like it. I sit on my perch and keep my ears cocked so I can hear her the minute she opens the kitchen door. Then I squawk with joy. I feel so happy when my person comes home and I don't have to be alone anymore. What about you? What do you do when you're alone?

Dog Poetry

Today I'd like to share a poem by a dog I know, Cody. What a minute, I hear you saying, you're letting a DOG on your blog? It's true that I feel it's my duty to squawk at every dog I see, and I certainly prefer dogs to keep their distance. Nevertheless, I feel it's important to recognize talent, whatever the source. And now, without further ado, here's Cody.

A Dog's Life
by Cody

Sniff, sniff, sniff,
I catch a fragrant whiff
Of juicy bone sitting all alone
Inside my dish. . . as if!

Creak, creak, creak,
I hear the can opener squeak,
And I can tell the meaty smell
Of dog food. What a reek!

Jingle, jingle, jingle,
The sound of keys makes me tingle,
To the park in the car, it's not very far.
With other dogs I'll mingle.

Gush, gush, gush,
Into the bath the water does rush.
I'll jump into the tub and get a good rub,
Then fluff out my curls with a brush.

Still More Parrot Poetry

Adaptation
by Shadow

Preen and eat, preen and eat,
This is how I use my beak.
I use my feet to hold my food.
Seeds and nuts taste really good.
High on a branch I take a seat.
I climb up with my beak and feet.
Up in the sky I like to sail.
I fly with help of wings and tail.
My feathers keep me dry and warm
Through almost any kind of storm.
For jungle habitat I'm styled.
I’m well-equipped for life in the wild.

Chilly Weather

We've been having too many cold, rainy days this summer. Luckily, I always wear my nice warm down jacket, which does a good job of keeping off the chill. But, I'll be happy when real summer weather finally arrives and I can go outside in my carrier everyday. I'll keep my down jacket on, though. What about you? How do you stay warm on chilly days?

Berries

One of the best things about summer, besides going outside in my carrier, is eating fresh berries. I love to eat berries. I guess that's not surprising, considering that I'm a bird. The thing that's so good about berries is that they're full of seeds. Strawberries are especially fun to eat because all the seeds are on the outside of the berry. I scrape off each tiny strawberry seed with the very tip of my beak. YUMMY! Seeds are so tasty! What about you? Do you like eating berries? Do you like seeds?

Yard Work

Do you like yard work? I do because I love anything that involves being outside. My favorite kind of yard work is mowing the lawn. It’s really fun to ride in my carrier, back and forth, back and forth, while my person mows the lawn. While she goes in one direction, I get to watch what’s happening on the road. In the other direction, I can watch what’s going on in the woods. There’s always something interesting to see—cars, bicycles, chipmunks, all kinds of birds, lots and lots of things. When the neighbor comes out to pick up the newspaper, I get to squawk at her. (It’s a parrot thing.) What about you? What kind of yard work do you enjoy doing?

Paper Shredder

I had an interesting conversation with the paper shredder the other night while it was eating its dinner. As it gobbled up sheet after sheet of paper (what an appetite!), it made the loveliest whirring and whining sounds. I joined right in with my squawks, chirps, and whoops. We had a grand old time. I didn't even mind the paper shredder's bad manners, talking with its mouth full like that, because it's such an entertaining conversationalist.

Woodpecker

A woodpecker comes to eat at our suet feeder sometimes. Now there's a bird I can relate to. Not the pounding on trees part--What's that about?--but have you ever noticed a woodpecker's feet? They're very similar to parrot feet, with two toes facing front and two toes facing back. Woodpeckers are climbing birds, just like parrots. So you know they've gotta be nice birds. While they are lacking in the brilliant colors of a parrot, they make up for it with the pretty black and white patterns of their feathers. But all that pounding and tapping on trees? Why make a noise like that when you can squawk, I say.

Dumb and Dumber

That dumb robin is at it again. I guess attacking its reflection in the picture window wasn't enough. (Read about that here.) Now it's also going after the car, especially the rear view mirrors. It also sometimes flies right at the kitchen window. You'd think it would've figured out by now that there's no other robin there. Believe me, you would never catch a parrot doing a silly thing like that. First of all, we parrots know the difference between the real and the merely reflective. Second of all, why chase away another member of your own species? After all, our survival depends on the flock. There's just no figuring out a robin.

Cozy Evenings

I just love a cozy evening at home. Don't you? I sit on my person's knee and preen my feathers. If I'm in the mood for conversation, I say "Pretty bird! Pretty bird!!" and make my chattering parrot noises. If my person is reading a book, I might take a few bites out of the pages. Then I go back to preening. It's a cozy way to pass the time. What about you? How do you like to spend an evening at home?

More Parrot Poetry

Parrot Lunch
by Shadow

Chewing on a cracker,
Crunch, crunch, crunch.
Eating apple slices,
Munch, munch, munch.
Millet spray in my cage,
Bunch, bunch, bunch.
Eating off my person's plate,
Lunch, lunch, lunch!

conversations

A cold and rainy day. . . which means I can't go outside in my carrier. What a disappointment. To pass the time, this morning I struck up a conversation with the microwave oven. It went like this:
m.o.: Beep!
me: Beep!
m.o.: Beep!
me: Beep!
m.o.: Beep!
me: Beep!
m.o: Beep!
me: Beep!
m.o.:
me: Beep!
m.o.:
me: Beep!
Well, obviously that old oven got tired of talking after a while, but it was great while it lasted. We parrots always appreciate a good conversation.

State Birds

Do you know the official bird of your state? You can find out here. There are some nice birds on the list, like chickadees and cardinals, and even those dumb robins show up on it a few times but, can you believe it, there's not one parrot on that list. Not one. What's the point of having state birds if not even one of them can be a parrot?

Tea (again)

I love tea! I've already blogged about drinking tea, but of course there's so much more you can do with tea than just drink it. For example, I always peek over the brim of the mug and take a look at my reflection in the tea. I'm a such a pretty bird! I also enjoy dropping my pellets in the tea and watching them float around. It's fun to dunk bread in it, too. My person doesn't really like it when I drop things in her tea. She's one of those creatures who thinks that tea is just for drinking. What a lack of imagination!

Toys

One of the best things about being a parrot is living in a cage full of toys. We parrots are playful creatures, and we just love our toys. One of my favorites is plastic bottle caps. They are really fun to chew, and I also enjoy piling them up in my food dish. Most people who know me know how much I love bottle caps and often give them to me as presents. Another favorite toy of mine is my toothbrush. It hangs from the top of my cage. I just love holding my toothbrush! What about you? What are some of your favorite toys?

Outside Sounds

Another beautiful spring day, outside for a walk in my carrier. As a parrot, one of my greatest interests is sounds, but I particularly enjoy hearing the outside spring sounds after a long winter of sitting inside and listening to the rumbling furnace. These are some sounds I heard today: water rushing, cars whooshing, chickadees making their chickadee sounds, a woodpecker tapping, wind swooshing through pine needles, a dog barking. What about you? What sounds do you enjoy hearing in the spring?

Reflections

A robin comes tapping at our window fairly regularly. It's trying to tell the other robin to go away, but of course there is no other robin. It's just a reflection in the glass. That silly robin can't figure it out and it keeps tapping and tapping. I remember the first time I saw a mirror. I ran around to the other side to look for the other parrot, but I realized my mistake right away. I'm no dumb robin. We parrots are very quick learners.

Animals With Feathers

I saw the funniest thing this morning as I was looking out the window. A bunch of turkeys were walking through the woods behind the house......just walking slowly along in a line, funny fat things. Turkeys are strange creatures. First of all, any parrot could tell you that hanging out on the ground like that is just asking for trouble. You might as well squawk at the top of your lungs:"Here I am, predators! Come eat me now!" And second of all, those dull brown feathers! Not pretty. I suppose at this time of year they're useful camouflage, but I'll bet that as spring moves along and things start turning green, those turkeys will be wishing they had pretty green parrot feathers to help them hide from predators. I'm sure glad I'm a smart, pretty parrot and not a dumb, brown turkey walking through the woods.

Toaster Oven

Toaster ovens are funny things. At times they can be quite attractive. They make a lovely ticking sound and glow a nice warm orange and then - ding! - delicious hot toast pops out. But other times they can be dull as stone no matter what you do. Just this afternoon I tried to strike up a conversation with the toaster oven, but it just sat there in silence. Not one tick or ding did it make. I stared and stared through the glass window, but it was all dark and cold inside and I couldn't see any toast. I don't get it - so friendly and generous when it wants to be, but other times so aloof. We parrots aren't like that at all. We are very sociable creatures. True, sometimes we bite, but we always appreciate good company.

Outside

Oh, happy day! I have been dreaming of this all through the long, cold winter, and today it happened--I FINALLY got to go outside for a walk in my carrier. How good it felt to be outside! It was warm and sunny and the sky was blue and the streams were full of sparkling water and the air was fresh. . . . . .It was wonderful. I think spring is my favorite time of year because it is so exciting to go outside in my carrier after being inside all winter. What about you? What do you like about spring?

Animals Without Feathers

We've had some wild animals of the fur-bearing kind visiting around here recently. I saw some deer in the woods behind the house the other day. They were walking slowly through the woods nibbling on things and I just watched them quietly. But when I saw a woodchuck sniffing around the shed, I let out some really loud squawks that sent that fat old thing waddling as fast as it could down the driveway. That was really funny. We parrots are never so clumsy when we want to move fast. We fly elegantly away. Last year at out old house I often saw foxes in the yard, but I haven't seen any foxes around here yet. What about you? Have you seen any fur-bearing wild animals recently?

Parrot Poetry

Ode to a Walnut
by Shadow

I think it is my fondest wish
To find a walnut in my dish,
A walnut with its skin so brown
Sitting there without a sound.
I'd bite into it with my beak
And taste the nut's delicious meat.
Eating nuts is a true pleasure.
Walnuts are my greatest treasure.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I love this holiday even though I don't have a drop of Irish blood in me. (I'm actually of South American extraction.) I love it because it's all about green, and that's my favorite color. I always wear green on St. Patrick's Day. Actually, I wear green everyday. I say: If you can wear green, why wear any other color? What about you? What do you like about St. Patrick's Day? Tell us about it in the comments.

Chinese Restaurants

I like Chinese restaurants, but not because of the food they serve. I've never actually had the opportunity to taste Chinese food, though I'm sure I'd like it because I understand it involves a lot of rice and I love rice. The reason I like Chinese restaurants is because when my person visits one, she brings home the chopsticks for me to play with. Chopsticks make really good chew toys, almost as good as milk bottle caps. What about you? Do you like chopsticks? What kinds of restaurants do you like?

Clementines

There's at least one good thing about winter, and that's clementines. I'm so happy when my person brings a box of them home. I love sinking my beak into a clementine slice and sucking up the juice. It's so tasty! After we've eaten all the clementines, I get to play in the box. That's really fun. My person puts toys and pieces of paper in the box for me, and I step in and chew away. Then I chew down all the sides of the box. It usually takes me a couple of weeks to chew through the entire box, working on it a little bit everyday. Sucking clementine juice and chewing clementine boxes are really fun winter pastimes. Do you like clementines? What about clementine boxes?

Places to Play

One of my favorite places to play is the trash can. It's usually full of paper, and I just love chewing and shredding paper. I could spend all afternoon chewing my way through a trash can full of paper. What about you? Where do you like to play?

P.S. My person asked me to tell you that even though I call it a trash can, it's really a recycling can. She does NOT take that paper to the landfill. She takes it to the recycling center. I after I'm through shredding it, that is.

Freaking out!

Man, oh, man, I've been so freaked out all week. First, a whole lot of snow fell on Sunday. Then, we had a lot of warm sunny, weather, and you know what snow gets like in weather like that. It just can't sit still. All week long that pesky snow has been sliding off the roof, right by my window. It won't stop. All day long it's slide, thump! slide, thump! slide, thump! Man, does that freak me out!I have to squawk and flap my wings all over the place. Fortunately, it's all fallen off the roof now. Phew! Let's hope it stays that way.

Eating Sandwiches

I love sandwiches, mainly because they have a lot of bread and I just love bread. When a plate with a sandwich on it is set near me, I get to work right away nibbling away at the bread. It's very tasty. While I nibble, I scatter bread crumbs everywhere because that's how we parrots eat. We always drop at least half our food on the ground. It's a parrot thing. Even though I mostly focus on the bread part, sometimes I take a nibble or two at the inside of the sandwich. If it's just peanut butter, I won't go anywhere near it. I can't stand peanut butter. But if it's berry jam, what a treat! Berry jam is filled with tiny seeds, and I just love seeds. A strawberry jam sandwich is just about the best kind of lunch I can think of. What about you? What kinds of sandwiches do you like?

More Snow!

More snow fell last night. At this rate it will be forever before spring is here and I can go outside in my carrier. Right now a large piece of snow is hanging off the roof. I don't like that at all because I know any minute now it will go sliding off the roof and land on the ground with a big thump! Then I will have to squawk my head off to keep that scary thump-making thing away from my room and my cage. Snow is so scary! And so white. I don't like that color at all. Things are so much nicer when the outside is green. That's a nice, safe color. And a pretty one, too, if I do say so myself. But I don't like white at all and I certainly don't like scary snow. What about you? How do you feel about snow?

Talking

A question I am often asked is, "Do you talk?" Personally, I prefer blogging to talking, in human language, that is. I do spend a good deal of the day squawking in parrot language. There are many parrots who enjoy talking in human language and are quite good at it. My true love, Quentie, for example, is a very talented talker. He likes to say, "How's my quaker?" (His species is quaker parrot.)He also says "Want some broccoli." Both of us just love to eat broccoli. He even says, "Polly wanna cracker!" Quentie can say a lot of things in human language, and so can a lot of other parrots. Then there are parrots like myself who prefer using parrot language most of the time. I do have one human language phrase that I enjoy saying: Pretty bird! I repeat that phrase often, but that's about the only human phrase I use. After all, once you've said Pretty bird! what more is there to say?
What about you? What kinds of things do you like to say?

Parrot Valentine

Since Valentine's Day is coming up soon, I thought I'd post this picture of me with my Valentine, Quentie. My godmother, Abbie Emmanuel, took this picture of us. Even though I left Quentie behind in the city, I will never forget him. He will always be my Valentine. I just love preening him. That's how we parrots show affection to each other.

Winter Reading

Lots of people like to spend cold winter days sitting cozily by the fire with a good book. We parrots enjoy a good book too. Right now my person is re-reading Gone With the Wind. She says I can have her copy when she's finished because it's very old and the covers have come off and the pages are falling out. I'm really looking forward to it because there's nothing I enjoy more than chewing my way through a good book. This one promises to be a great one - it looks like it has lots and lots of pages. My favorite kinds of books are the fat ones with a lot of pages. What about you? What kinds of books do you like?

More Mail

I've got more mail!

Dear Shadow,
I've heard that parrots are very smart. Is that true? How smart are you?
Smarty Pants.

Dear SP,
Of course it's true! We parrots are very smart. I have learned many things in my years living with people. I have leaned where my food is kept and when it's time for bed and I know all my person's routines and I always know what she wants me to do, though I don't always do it. Parrots can learn to do tricks and to understand many things. I have a very high PQ (Parrot Quotient). How about you, Smarty Pants? Do you want to find out if you are as smart as a parrot? You can take the Parrot Quotient quiz here. Let me know how you do.
Shadow

Still Winter

It's still winter! I sure wish it was spring so I could go outside for walks in my carrier. On the other hand, I guess I am glad I have a nice warm inside to spend the winter in. Sometimes I look out the window to watch the chickadees and goldfinches at the feeder. When I see them there with their feathers all fluffed up, I know it must be really cold out there. So then I go back to my cage and eat my apples and pellets, then settle on my perch for a nap. I dream about warm weather and spring. I can't wait!

Hot Tea

A mug of hot tea on a cold winter afternoon is a pleasant thing, don’t you think? I love to stand on the rim of the mug and feel the warm steam rising up through my feathers. Then, I dip the very tip of my beak into the mug and catch a drop of tea. I lick the tea drop off my beak with the end of my black tongue. Yummmmmmmmmmy. Warm tea tastes and feels so good. Chamomile is my favorite kind. What about you? What do you like to drink on a cold winter day?

I’ve Got Mail!

I often get asked questions about being a parrot, so today I thought I’d share some of the questions and answers with you.

Dear Shadow,
Why do you squawk so much?
Just Wondering

Dear Just Wondering,
The short answer is: I squawk because I’m a parrot. The long answer is: To communicate my feelings, needs, and desires. For example, I squawk if I see something scary looking, to let the rest of the flock know that danger is near. I squawk when I am happy because my person has come home or has put a seed treat in my dish. I squawk when I am angry. That’s usually when I am shut inside my cage and want to get out. These are just some of the reasons, but you can see how important squawking is to a parrot. It’s a very useful skill to have.

Dear Shadow,
You seem very youthful.
How old are you, anyway?
Curious

Dear Curious,
I was born in April of 1997, so I am almost 12 years old. That’s middle aged for a parrot of my species, but I have a very youthful spirit.

That’s all the mail I‘ll share for today. There will be more soon, so check back. If you have any questions for me, leave a comment or e mail me: parrot97 at earthlink dot net.

Movies

Do you like movies? I like to watch them sometimes. I like movies where people laugh because I love the sound of laughter. When I hear people laughing in a movie, I laugh right along with them. Sometimes I hear birds chirping in movies. When I was little, I thought they were real birds and I used to chirp back at them. I don’t do that anymore. I know it’s just a movie. So, movies are OK, but given a choice, I think I’d rather chew a book. What about you? Do like movies or books better? What kinds of movies do you like?

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?

Parrot New Year’s Resolutions

This year, I resolve to be the best parrot I can be. I resolve to squawk as much and as well as I can. I resolve to sit on my perch and preen my feathers daily. I resolve to squawk and splash as much as I can when I take a bath. I resolve to eat seed treats often. I resolve to scatter crumbs everywhere whenever I eat. I resolve to chew every chewable thing that comes my way. I resolve to be cute and cuddly and ask for head scratches all the time. In short, I resolve to be a parrot. Hey, I already am. What’s with this New Year’s resolution business, anyway?