another Piece

Morning all my Greats~~~!

I watched a Parrot talking today on Good Morning America. It reminded me of our talking birds and I thought you might like to hear about them.

Our life with birds began with a canary that the next door neighbor gave me as the neighbor was getting to old to care for it. They called it Dickie...Well Dickie Bird just didn't fit the little yellow guy. He was a timid little bird and a beautiful singer. I named him Timothy.

Ronnie was one that roamed the Spokane River banks with a fishing pole and one day he came home with a Crow. The crow had an injured leg and he held it high under his feathers and hopped about on one leg. Ronnie named him Mac. Now Mac didn't talk but he was a wonderful pet. He hopped about with Ronnie everytime he was in the yard and he never hopped away. They would dig worms for Mac to eat together. He rode everywhere on Ronnie's bike handles and would wait outside on the bike while Ronnie ran errands etc. When Ronnie went to Scout camp we took Mac down to Nat Park and gave him to their bird zoo. He had a nice big cage to live in and we would go visit him. One day the cage was filled with black feathers and Mac was gone. Everyone missed Mac. Ronnie was sad.

The next summer Ronnie was down at the river again and some boys were shooting at MagPies. Now a Magpie is a beautiful black and and white bird a little bigger than crows. These boys shot the mom and there were four babies in the nest without a mom anymore. Ronnie brought them all home and we tried to keep them alive but three of them died. Ronnie kept the last one and we called it Maggie as we thought she acted like a girl bird. Maggie wouldn't let anyone take her out of the huge cage in the back yard but Ronnie. I thought it would be fun to try and teach Maggie to talk. People kept saying they had to spit the bird's tongue before they could talk. I didn't believe that. Everyday I would go out to the cage and talk to Maggie...What a smart bird she was. Before the summer was over she could say Ronnie, Water, and then Happy Birthday. Was everyone surprised when she would start calling Ronnie when he'd be out of sight. Then she would say...Ronnie eeeeeee....wat.....errrrrrrrrrr. It was so loud the entire neighborhood would hear it. She didn't stop until Ronnie brought water to her. Then I thought it would be fun to teach her Merry Christmas. It was so funny...it would be a hundred degrees outside and Maggie was screaming Merry Christmas to everything and everyone. Ronnie was just about our of high school by this time and leaving for the Marines. We had to do something about Maggie as she wouldn't let anyone else take her out of the cage. Ronnie decided to take her to the river and turn her loose with other Magpies. This he did and we all missed her. One day I was talking to someone on the phone about some PTA thing at school and this gal said...the darnedest thing is happening. There's a magpie in a tree outside my window and I swear it's hollering Merry Christmas. I must be going crazy. I told her to try and keep it there and I found Ronnie and told him maggie didn't stay by the river. He took off to get Maggie. Maggie flew right to him and back in the cage was Maggies screaming Ronnieeeeeeeeeee. It was now close to Marine time so we decided to take Maggie out to Northwest Seed and they put her in a special cage in the bird room but she wouldn't talk until one of us went out. Chuck, your great grandpa who's in Heaven , had taught her to eat hamburger so if someone gave her the meat she would talk. One week end, Ron was now in the Marines, the girls and I went out to visit Maggie...she was gone. They had promised Ron they wouldn't sell her and he would come get her when he was out of the service. They didn't keep their promise and they sold her to someone. We never got to hear Maggie call for Ronnie again.



Mac and Maggie wasn't all of our bird life. Ronnie had a parakeet named Chipper. He was an inside bird. He rode around on Ronnie's shoulder all the time when he was home. They were together a long time and Chipper did little tricks and things. One night Ronnie was

was reading in bed and Chipper was playing on the bed. Ronnie forgot Chipper was out of the cage and turned off the light and went tosleep. The next morning Ronnie was crying hard and ran upstairs and put a little warm, green dead bird in my hands. Chipper was smothered in the blankets that night. This was the last time that Ron has had birds that I know of. He now has fish and dogs.



Now the girls also had parakeets...about five of them and they also did cute things. They were let out in the family room long enough to play around with their toys and they would all climb in this big pan filled with water and takes their baths. They would really have a big splashy time. Eventually the birds were all gone.



I had many canaries come and go. Just before I moved where I am now I had three. Yogie, Gusto, Thomas. Beautiful singers. They would call whenever I would walk into the house. They would ask to be covered up when they wanted to go to bed at night...they always knew when it was bath time and they would get a big piece of Endive to eat and play with.



All of our birds were precious pets and little souls that added a lot of spirit to our lives. If any of you ever have a pet..treat it well, enjoy it, and learn from it. Your pet will teach you love in a whole new way that you'll never forget....