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.