Blogging Melodrama

Your commencing to tick me off! Your Feathership.

My Dad/Pop would say, "You know; just about the time I start to be able to stand him, he goes and does something that pisses me off." He was speaking of his younger brother, Glenn, but I'm starting to think the same thing about my male cockatiel, Popeye.

For those of you who don't know the background; Popeye was maimed by a macaw when he was just a wee lad; sprouting his flying wings. He made the mistake of landing on the BIG bird's perch, promptly loosing an eye. No one wanted to buy a deformed bird; so I was able to get him for $25.00; the going price for his coloring is around $150.00.
In the past three days alone: he's been chased down from atop the curtain rod at least twenty times. He went back behind the refrigerator twice. He crawled under the refrigerator once. And - Chewed up the corner pages of one of my Bibles ( he likes paper). Now I know he's doing the curtain climbing on purpose, because when I say his name and tell him to get down from there and be good. He looks at me, then climbs down to the top of his and Rosey's cage (house/bedroom). He will sit there for a few minutes watching me and going through his repetua of calls, whistles and phrases until he gets me to answer him and we carry on this bird conversation for a while then he quits. About the time I've forgotten about the curtain climbing episode, he goes back up as far as he can get before we repeat this interaction.

Meanwhile Rosey is watching all this; maybe taking notes, I don't know. She'll get tired of it and fly over to my shoulder and cuddle. Then he goes bonkers wanting her to come back; when she doesn't he either goes in his house and sulks or he'll fly over and join us. But if I ignore him or walk out of the room for any length of time; I'll find him at the top of the traverse rods over my patio sliding glass doors. (He coaxes Rosey up there with him so they can sit up there and play Eagle or something.)

When I come back out into the dining room and find him/them up there all I have to say is, GET DOWN OUT OF THERE! in a firm voice. Depending on how long I've been gone is how quickly he/they come down. I've had Rosey for five years, Popeye for one; so Rosey minds a lot better. But then she's a female too. I got her when she was a baby so I am more mom to her, but Popeye was a lot older when I got him. That six months with no mom and getting hurt means I'll have to spend more time working with him.

He's a talker and likes to whistle cool things and he uses that as a kid of 3 uses their own unique things to get their own way. That's one of the things I enjoy about cockatiels the most; they are so intelligent. Their actions and intelligence level is very close to toddlers around 3 or 4 years old. In some ways they are a bit thick, but that's just the species gap. I don't speak cockatiel well enough to understand the complete range of their conversations, but I can understand them as a rule; and they, me.

Today was early release and I had to be back at the school to drive my second run at 12:00 noon, so when I discovered them missing I didn't have time to go looking for them. When I got home at 1:30 p.m. Rosey was in the doorway of their house, on the chopstick perch I made to hold their cage door open for them. Popeye was nowhere to be found.

I called to him,"Popeyeeee? Where are you, you little shit? Popeyeeee! Come on now guy, where the heck are you."
I moved the boxes of cereal on the top of the fridge. Listened. Nothing. Not a peep from him; Rosey on the other hand was singing away; happy as a clam.
Again and again I called to him and he never answered once. Usually he does, or at least calls out to Rosey to guide him back to the cage when she leaves him somewhere. (Maybe they had a lovers quarrel...didn't get the horns trimmed or something; who knows with those two?)

"Okay you little brat!" I proceeded to pull the refrigerator out away from the wall. Things began falling everywhere so I was forced into removing everything from on top.There was the waffle iron, bottles of olive oil, vinegar, powdered ranch dressing, several assorted boxes of dry cereal, empty egg cartons I'm saving for my daughter to fill up with her farm fresh brown eggs, and a Tupperware container of dry rice. I was also forced to remove all the cookie sheets, oven rack, oven under liners, wire racks, brown paper sacks and pizza pans from along side the refrigerator.

Still silence, no chirp; nothing.

So I dragged, and pulled, and heaved and jiggled that heavy mother out away from the spot it took a shoe horn to put it in. I was about to loose my temper because it was stuck on a piece of busted linoleum; back in the corner. So I gave it one more %^&*( pull and guess who walks out from beside the fridge? He never said a peep. Just looked up at me with that sunken socket on the left side, and his snappy good eye on the right. He then shook out his feathers and continued walking through the hall and living room toward the ladder that leads up to his home and loving spouse.

He's probably up on top of the curtain rod as we speak.
Yep, I can relate; just about the time I start being able to stand him, he does something to tick me off.
One good thing; it put me in such a mood I cleaned behind the fridge, and rearranged all the furniture just for kicks.
I'm going to get even with him though....heh heh heh.... I'll start making him wear bird y diapers....LOL that will take all the fun out of climbing the curtains for him.

posted by Jan myrz @ 3:50 PM