A Thought About My Bird

I love my parrot, even though he's not too fond of me.

We've had him now for about 12 years. This is relatively a short time since they live to be 80+ years. I figured having a parrot that lives that long would be ok since I can just 'Will' him to one of my kids and will never have to deal with him dying. This is a big issue for me. I don't handle death well.

I had a cat 35 years ago, that died in my arms and I have refused to ever have another pet ....except for the hamsters the kids have had. I figured "how attached could I possibly get to a rat without a tail, I hate rats!"

Turns out, very! As each one of them was dying I took them to work in a box so they didn't have to be alone. I cried for most of the day over each one of them and I think my co-workers thought I was crazy.  I was devastated.....over a rodent! How sad am I? So suffice it to say I hope to be long gone before my parrot is. I don't know how I would weather that one. I'm crazy about him.

I've tried so hard though to get this thing to love me back, but it only has eyes for my daughter Michelle (this is typical for this type of bird). At least I know which one of my kids to 'Will' him to. He lives to see her walk by his cage. She on the other hand pays no mind to him. He calls her, waits for her, sings for her, talks for her. She couldn't care less.

I, on the other hand, want so badly for him to contend for my attention like that. I feed him, bath him, clean his cage, take him for grooming and for his check ups; give him treats, have spent countless hours teaching him to talk, sing, whistle, cheer etc. I could never list everything he says but here are few just to give you an idea.

He sings all of "Jesus Loves Me" from beginning to end. He sings all of "Happy Birthday" and part of the "Hallelujah Chorus"; he laughs just like me; whistles the theme from the Andy Griffith show and calls "Martha!" the dead hamster that's now been buried in the back yard for over 5 years now. He calls the kids incessantly, to the point that no one comes when I call because they've tuned out my voice....the bird sounds exactly like me.

He's a huge Maple Leafs fan and yells "Go Leafs Go.  Well, ok I'm the leafs fan and he just picked that up. He loves to pretend to answer the phone when it rings; plays 'peek a boo'; all food is called 'pasta' to him; he throws his food at you if he wants your attention and he always asks if you want to sing before he breaks out into song. Oh and he loves blond women. Maybe that's why I don't appeal to him.

He has three cages, an out door cage, the largest being over 5ft long, and every toy under the sun.  He is spoiled rotten, makes big messes all the time, talks back to me, does nothing I ask and walks all over me all the time.

Hmmmm, now that I think about it, he fits right in around here.

I'll keep trying to win him over but that's all I have to say about it for now.