title of blog

Honey, I'm Home's Morning Mantra ~~ Be the kind of woman that when your feet hit the floor each morning the devil says, "Oh NO, She's up!"

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Lettuce Alone (pardon the pun) ~~

The stories about my mother could fill a book, and here’s a short one for today, but this one involves one of my dear pets. His name was Rocky, and he was an English parakeet.  The English variety is much larger than the American, and not that the American is any slouch in smartness, but the English is astoundingly bright. First, before I get into the story, let me show you the difference in size of these 2 birds. and the blue one is only to show the color of my Rocky who was a brilliant turquoise:

                           english next to american budgie   mostlikerocky                  

I spent many a month working on Rocky’s vocabulary and his understanding of everything in the household.  That first little sentence of, “Pretty birdddd”, took 6 months and sounded like a cross between a human voice and a whistle. But when Rocky realized that he’d actually spoken, well, that boy started a race on words and sentences that couldn’t be matched.  Every single day, there were more and more complete sentences, demands, questions, kisses, and then the culmination of his talent, imitations.  He could imitate me, my father, or my mother perfectly, and this is where the story begins.

Rocky was always allowed the run, or should I say fly, of the house. He loved my Cocker Spaniel, Winnie, and my big yellow cat, who never, ever tried to hurt him. One day, Rocky was zipping around the house as usual when he saw Mom in the kitchen washing dishes. He landed on a chair at the kitchen table which was directly behind Mom and so she couldn’t see him and had no idea he was even there.  So Mom was washing, rinsing, and humming a tune, when all of a sudden this voice said in a polite way, “I want some lettuce”.  Without missing a beat, Mom replied, “I’m sorry, TC (my dad’s name), but my hands are all wet. I’ll get it in a few minutes”.  With that, the voice gets more belligerent and says louder, “I SAID I want some lettuce!”.  My mother blew a gasket at the tone of voice and said very loudly back, “And I said I’d get it later. If you want it so much now, then get it yourself! Gosh!”  The next sound we heard was the sound of a bird laughing like crazy in my father’s voice. Mom was now even more put out and starts a sentence, “What in the world is the matter……” as she turns to see none other than my beloved Rocky bobbing his head up and down in such self satisfaction.  My father and I heard the entire conversation from the living room and it took everything we had not to make a sound and double over in convulsive laughter.  We always said that Rocky was one smart cookie of a bird and really knew the value of a good joke.  I should have put him on stage in Vegas.

smile_wink

Later, gators  XOXOXO

19 comments:

  1. Very cool customer, that Rocky - I didn't know there were English and American versions of parakeets - I thought they were all from some vaguely defined hot place. I got to play your Mom's part in a far more embarrassing interation with a parrot: Tumwell's sister Shar had a parrot that talked and on one of my first visits back to Tum's home town I met Tum's very elderly Aunt Elizabeth at Shar's house. Aunt E not only WAS old, she looked the very picture of 'old', thin with snowy white hair, and she had a sort of elderly thready voice. of course I was trying to make a good impression on all of Tum's family and after an hour or so at Shar's house, Tum and I were leaving and everyone was saying goodbye. After the goodbyes finished we got outside on the porch, I heard one last thready, really creaky-sounding "Goodbye" called out from the interior of the house and I sang out, "Goodbye, Aunt Elizabeth!" - to the parrot. Tum's family was a lot like mine - they never let me live it down, although I was never quite sure how Aunt E felt...

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  2. HAHAHAHAAAAAA, PRICELESS story, David!
    (and hey, since you were here, I've now fixed the blasted typos, so you missed the corrections, lol)

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  3. Nice story! I'm afraid my only experiences with birds are the ones "flipped at me" in salute to some stupid move on my behalf while driving!

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  4. I love this story. I have never been around a talking parakeet so I wasn't sure if that was fact or fiction. I am happy to know that it is true.
    xox

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  5. what a funny story! I bet that bird was a blast to have around the house :) My mom had a singing canary and it sang just beautifully!
    Thanks for sharing!

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  6. oh my goodness you had me in stitches, I was laughing so hard.. what a fantastic story..and wonderful happy memory.
    thank you for the smiles today.. will be thinking of Rocky for most the day.. and laughing..
    have a marvelous day.. softest of hugs..

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  7. My blue parakeet Pepper was an excellent talker. The first phrase he learned was "Watch out for the snaaaaaakes!" as we lived in FL and there was usually one sunning o the front porch stoop. He could not hold a candle to Ricky though, as much as he talked.
    xox

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  8. I never shared space with a parakeet--as far as I can recall (I think my folks had one when I was quite young, but that was a lifetime ago).

    They seem to be as intelligent as they are beautiful! And your story about Rocky was priceless!!!

    What a grand fellow he must've been!

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  9. My MIL had a parakeet that cleared it's throat just like she did! Also said "PEOPLE". Great story Jen.

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  10. I buy the tea, a black tea with genuine cherry in it for flavor, at a European goods store in Charlotte WHEN I can. If they happen to have any, I buy it ALL. Every time I can. It's expensive and comes from Sri Lanka but sold thru Russia, and on to this store where every chance I get, I buy it. Oh it is SO good.
    xox

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  11. Please tell Lucy the link didn't work. :-(

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  12. That's frickin' HILARIOUS! That's kinda creepy, though, that a bird could come up with that...

    I had a dog named Rocky. He couldn't talk but he managed to communicate quite well. He sure ruled our roost!

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  13. I've never heard a parakeet talk, but a lot of company there for ya'll. Great story.

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  14. I love your stories, Jenny! Can only imagine you and your dad listening to that; how funny!! :)

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  15. What a lovely story i was in that kitchen looking at your mums back and seeing the bird on the chair....classic
    xxxx

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  16. What a terrific story! Talk about something that would have been great on video! I truly appreciated the cheer this morning! Thanks for visiting my space as well...I do have some video but it's pretty limited...someday it may be better...I'm sure hoping so!

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  17. God I love your stories! That Rocky story was priceless!

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  18. Great story! I love the title. Sounds like something I might come up with. (Don't let DavidShag see that I ended a sentence with a preposition.)

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  19. OMG that is INSANE! lol Oh I wish you had that on video. lol Rocky sounds like a hoot!

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