new feathered friend

a few months ago we lost one of our brids. poor baby. but she lived a good life and was a good little buddy.

since then however, the remaining bonnie bird, hadn't been quite the same. the once docile and almost friendly pied cockateil, became an eating, sleeping, YELLING machine. oh my god with the YELLING. if you have heard the call of a female cockatiel you would immediately commiserate with the torture that was going on here. you would also immediately wonder why we both haven't thrown ourselves over a very large cliff.

the yelling was becoming constant during all of her waking hours. she would yell so long and so loudly that briggs would sit in the living room an howl along with her. it was like the saddest country song you've ever heard. (which i totally should have video taped and uploaded for your viewing pleasure but did not- ah diss). we were dealing with it, figuring that she was still calling for her lost mate, but the CONSTANT YELLING became a serious issue when the neighbors started to comment.

first there was a comment on the dog howling song, which was actually kind of funny. it was this discussion with the neighbor that we learned that briggs does this during the middle of the day when we're not home. i always thought he was putting on a show for us. however, then there was the "hunt it down and kill it" comment. that was less funny.

i felt terrible that we were subjecting the neighborhood to the YELLING. so we made some preparations, and i talked to one of my coworkers who happen to have a lonely cockatiel as well. this weekend we welcomed charlie bird to the murphy home.

charlie bird is also a lutino cockatiel (same as baby bird) and is about as friendly as baby bird (not very) and came equipped with her own bird condo. charlie is not very fond of the camera, but she is neat and clean and quiet. we will see how this goes, but i can attest to having the quietest sunday morning we've had in weeks/months/FOREVER.

in an update since i wrote this post 2 days ago...the honeymoon is over. the YELLING has resumed full force. when will it end?

seagull short story

i once watched a seagull open a paper sandwich bag, pull out a wrapped twinkey, open the twinkey wrapper, throw it up in the air and swallow it whole. no joke.

this is my dad's other favorite story to tell people. i just thought i'd tell you in advance.

childhood memory: the nana & the segul

some of you have probably heard this story before. i remember it every once in a while, usually when someone is talking about disney world or birds. both items have come up recently.

i was 9 years old and in the 4th grade. my family had graciously received a trip to disney world from the starlight foundation. my brother was 5. my sister was 2. my parents invited my nana to come along to help with us youngsters. the 6 of us were in orlando for a week.

we visited all the attractions. the castle, the character breakfast, the indiana jones show at MGM studios. then we spent one day at seaworld. we met shamu, petted dolphins (ok probably not petted), looked at penguins...all that good stuff. in the afternoon my dad bought everyone in the family a soft serve ice cream cone (twist with jimmies please). anyway, this was a big deal. ice cream in a cone didn't happen every day. it certainly didn't happen when we were out at a park where simple ice cream treats cost 5 times their actual value.

my dad handed me my cone. i walked away from the kiosk and toward a bench where my mother was sitting with my sibs. i stopped to take the first lick of my ice cream. at the very moment i went to stick my toung out a seagull swooped down and landed right on top of my ice cream. i'm sure i must have shrieked but i don't really recall as i was startled to say the least. the bird flew off leaving a foot print on the top of my ice cream.

i was shocked and before i knew what was happening my grandmother appeared beside me. as quickly as she could, she reached across me, grabbed the cone and threw it to the ground with all her down east yankee might (which gives nanas the power of 10+ nanas). it was at this moment that my dad turned around. all he saw was the SPLATT! ice cream everywhere.

chaos ensued. seagulls began to descend from all corners of not just seaworld, but from all of orlando and probably all of florida. they picked at each crumb of the cone and licked the sidewalk dry. within moments there was not a trace of my ice cream anywhere.

fearing that the nana had finally had a mental break from reality and that his sisters would blame him solely, my dad came running. with arms flailing he demanded to know why the nana had stolen my $45 ice cream cone and savagely smashed it to the ground.

eventually she explained what happened. my mother corroborated her story. i stood there silently unable to get a word in edgewise as the nana reenacted the event several times over. each time i am sure i cringed at the thought of my icea cream hitting the ground. at some point he decided to believe her story. i just stood there, silent. everyone else finished their cones and started walking toward the next exhibit.

i never did get an ice cream that day, i still don't trust seagulls and this is one of my dad's favorite stories to tell people.

crazy story for the birds

earlier today i received a tweet from wbur that mentioned that "on point" would be about pigeons today. i was driving home this evening from a little dinner with my work ladies and they were replaying the show. people were calling in to tell their pigeon stories. apparently pigeons were sort of a popular pet for kids growing up in boston back in the 40's. who knew?

this woman called in with a story about her dad. apparently he had a pigeon with an eye patch who would sit on his shoulder and go with him everywhere. i sort of wish we could get bonnie bird to rock that trick. how awesome would that be?

unfortunately his mother hated the pigeon. she admitted to growing so sick of the pigeon that one day she commandeered the bird and not only did she make a squab soup out of it she fed her son his pet for dinner! he didn't find this out until he was a grown man with kids of his own. how much therapy do you need after that? i suspect a lot.

bye bye baby

friday morning peace

ah-hem

1. snow- enough already- not feeling it- be gone before somebody drops a house on you!


2. sickness- you have pretty much gotten your grimey hand on everyone I know-enough already!

3. BIRD- point finger and yell BIRD- its a parking lot thing


update on 3/22- there is still much too much snow on the ground for spring. sickness listend and has pretty much disappeared. note to blog- buy a bird book.