When I was a kid my next-door aunt and uncle volunteered to keep a parrot while its Seventh-Day Adventist owners were off on a mission tour in some distant land.
“Fibber” was great entertainment for us kids, talking up a storm, quoting Bible verses and singing “Amazing Grace.”
A couple of cousins (and I’m not naming names) thought it would be great fun to improve the bird’s vocabulary with a selection of four-letter words. Fibber was quick to learn.
When finally the missionaries returned, you could hear Fibber on the way to their car and at the top of his voice, happily chanting, “No, no, no, don’t say that word!”
***
Several years ago a good friend’s aunt died, and she volunteeered to adopt her beloved parrot, “Charlie.” Phone chats with this friend were impossible as the phone’s ring would set Charlie to screaming his head off.
That year I was invited for Thanksgiving dinner. Making my way down a dark hallway, I located the bathroom. Not bothering to shut the door as everyone else was at the far end of the house, I had just sat down.
“HEL-LOOO!”
In the darkness I had not seen Charlie’s cage on the adjacent wall. The entire gathering, save one, thought it hilariously funny.
***
It gave me pleasure then to read the following anecdote in Barbara Walters’ memoir, “Audition.”
When Hugh Downs was new to the “Today” show, and Barbara was a writer, the program had to move from its location in the RCA Building’s Exhibition Hall after a rival TV manufacturer complained that RCA’s products could be seen in the background.
The show’s set eventually was moved to the Florida Development Commission’s office where palm trees, caged mynah birds and mannequins clad in short shorts had to be stashed in a storeroom each night to make ready for “Today’s” early morning broadcast. Cramped for space in those early days, the storage room doubled as the show’s “green room.”
As then U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy waited to be interviewed, a voice came from behind a palm tree:
“Who are you?”
“I’m Robert Kennedy.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Robert Kennedy,” the president’s brother said again.
“Who are you?”
Kennedy whirled around and snapped, “I told you, damn it, I’m Robert Kennedy!”
“And with that,” Walters writes, “Kennedy stormed onto the set, his face red, his hands shaking, as he sat for his interview.”
***
“Fibber” was great entertainment for us kids, talking up a storm, quoting Bible verses and singing “Amazing Grace.”
A couple of cousins (and I’m not naming names) thought it would be great fun to improve the bird’s vocabulary with a selection of four-letter words. Fibber was quick to learn.
When finally the missionaries returned, you could hear Fibber on the way to their car and at the top of his voice, happily chanting, “No, no, no, don’t say that word!”
***
Several years ago a good friend’s aunt died, and she volunteeered to adopt her beloved parrot, “Charlie.” Phone chats with this friend were impossible as the phone’s ring would set Charlie to screaming his head off.
That year I was invited for Thanksgiving dinner. Making my way down a dark hallway, I located the bathroom. Not bothering to shut the door as everyone else was at the far end of the house, I had just sat down.
“HEL-LOOO!”
In the darkness I had not seen Charlie’s cage on the adjacent wall. The entire gathering, save one, thought it hilariously funny.
***
It gave me pleasure then to read the following anecdote in Barbara Walters’ memoir, “Audition.”
When Hugh Downs was new to the “Today” show, and Barbara was a writer, the program had to move from its location in the RCA Building’s Exhibition Hall after a rival TV manufacturer complained that RCA’s products could be seen in the background.
The show’s set eventually was moved to the Florida Development Commission’s office where palm trees, caged mynah birds and mannequins clad in short shorts had to be stashed in a storeroom each night to make ready for “Today’s” early morning broadcast. Cramped for space in those early days, the storage room doubled as the show’s “green room.”
As then U.S. Attorney General Robert Kennedy waited to be interviewed, a voice came from behind a palm tree:
“Who are you?”
“I’m Robert Kennedy.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Robert Kennedy,” the president’s brother said again.
“Who are you?”
Kennedy whirled around and snapped, “I told you, damn it, I’m Robert Kennedy!”
“And with that,” Walters writes, “Kennedy stormed onto the set, his face red, his hands shaking, as he sat for his interview.”
***
Have a great holiday! Got any good bird stories to share?
"Zack." Art by Ladd Frazier, my son.
9 comments:
Peeper was a Lutino Cockatiel found by Frodo apparently lost in the wilds of Piedmont Park in Atlanta. Peeper was so named because of the one word, in English, discernible in her vocabulary. She pronounced her name as if it were a song. As time passed, Frodo was advised to get her a mate. In came "Sydney," and Peeper never said another word.
Frodo has never been sure what that meant, but once she died, Sydney amazingly added the word "Peeper" into his chatter.
Sweet.
These were pretty good.
Here is my bird story... A friend bought a parot at a yard sale and quickly found that the bird swore and cursed non stop. This behavior infuriated the new owner and finally resulted in the owner sticking the parot in the freezer for a few minutes.
This treatment left the bird terrorized and promising never to swear again. The parot had only one question.
"What did the chicken do?"
Yes, Frodo, very sweet.
Good one, Papamoka. This is going to be FUN!
Here’s one:
An old farmer and his wife were very proud of their only son, a successful entrepreneur whose business took him to foreign lands. At Christmas the son sent the old couple an exotic bird, purchased on a recent trip to South America. On Christmas Day he called home, “How did you like the bird, Dad?”
“Oh, it was great,” the old farmer said. “Mother cooked it up with dressing and cranberry sauce.”
“You cooked it!?!?” the son exclaimed. “Oh, my God, that bird cost me $5,000 and could speak five languages.”
The old farmer replied, “He should have said something.”
My ex-boyfriend Ray (I guess you could call him X-ray) owned a Red-Headed Mexican Parrot. The lady that sold "Chi-Chi" (named after my favorite Mexican Restaurant at the time) was British. The bird would say "Hellooooo" with a delightful British accent. We tried and tried to teach it other words and phrases while trying to be patient with his slow learning. We thought "Hello" was the only thing he could say until I decided to come home through the sliding glass doors one day. There was a step that I would sometimes miss because it wasn't big enough to be an actual step but wasn't small enough to be considered level. I come through the door and tripped, falling to my knees and pulling down the blinds in the process. I am furious at myself and the fury quickly turned to Chi-Chi as I hear loud laughter coming from his cage. What was even worse, the laughter was mine. This gave me a whole new meaning to laughing at yourself. LOL.
My ex-boyfriend Ray (I guess you could call him X-ray) owned a Red-Headed Mexican Parrot. The lady that sold "Chi-Chi" (named after my favorite Mexican Restaurant at the time) was British. The bird would say "Hellooooo" with a delightful British accent. We tried and tried to teach it other words and phrases while trying to be patient with his slow learning. We thought "Hello" was the only thing he could say until I decided to come home through the sliding glass doors one day. There was a step that I would sometimes miss because it wasn't big enough to be an actual step but wasn't small enough to be considered level. I come through the door and tripped, falling to my knees and pulling down the blinds in the process. I am furious at myself and the fury quickly turned to Chi-Chi as I hear loud laughter coming from his cage. What was even worse, the laughter was mine. This gave me a whole new meaning to laughing at yourself. LOL.
A friend and her family have had a parrot named Mac for years. When they got a puppy named Petey, Mac soon learned to call “Here, Petey.” The puppy would run its legs off, look around, then go back and crawl on the couch with them. Mac liked messing with the puppy’s head.
One day a man came by to visit. When he rang the doorbell, he heard “Come on in.” He went in and stood in the living room thinking someone would come see who was there. It finally dawned on him that no one was home, and Mac had invited him in.
Hey B.J.,
I have a very sad bird story.
Taylor wanted a cockateil (beautiful birds) for his 5th birthday (1987), because his Aunt Martha, Preston Sr's sister had one,
So, we bought him one with the deal that he would be responsible for feeding and watering and changing out the cage. He kept his end of the deal for six years.
In 1993 we moved into our house on Greymont, and the bug man was coming so we put the bird in the laundry room and closed the door. The bug man sprayed and avoided the laundry room... so later that day we went in and got the bird to take him back upstairs, and he wasn't breathing right - very exaggerated breathing.
Taylor stayed with the bird all day, and at one point the bird's chest split wide open. It was heartbreaking. Taylor made a burial box and buried the bird in the side yard. So "Pee Wee" had a good life with a young boy who loved and cared for him until the bug man killed him with bug spray fumes........isn't that pitiful? To this day we rarely see any bugs in our house (We have never had the bug man spray again, and the funny thing is that bugs die in our house anyway). I guess Pee Wee's ghost flies around and kills the bugs. Strange, huh!
**** Story #1****
When Tiny's oldest son was a toddler, he wanted a parakeet like his Granny Grunt aka Grandma Gertie (Tiny's mother-in-law) had. The bird was named Teegee. As Tiny's son learned to talk, he talked to the bird. Teegee repeated every word.
Hubby was transferred to another city on his job and secured an upstairs apartment, but no pets were allowed. So Teegee went to stay with son's Aunt Mel-Mel and Uncle Jack until a place was found where Teegee could come home.
By the time that rolled around, Tiny could not have Teegee around her son for Teegee's vocabulary was to vulgar for a toddler's ears.
**** Story #2 *****
Tiny's youngest sister, husband and sons had a parrot they taught to talk. They also had a big Doberman.
One Sunday when there was a big family gathering with dinner and games, they decided to let the parrot out of his cage for a while. Too, the Doberman was allowed inside to roam around the house.
Eventually, the Doberman stretched out on the floor with his legs in the air for a moment. It took only a second for the parrot to show everyone how he could crack nuts.
That poor Doberman never again wanted to be in the same room when that wicked old bird was out of his cage.
I had an English teacher called Mrs. Bird. One day, as she was teaching, a bird flew into the window of the classroom. With that Mrs Bird jumped out of her skin.
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