Pet Week Continues

Cindy has pet week going on at her blog. Below are the stories of my cats and one of my dogs. Now we it only natural to follow with a bird. So here is the story of Grey Bird...and how a bird almost cost me my marriage.

Grey Bird is an African Grey which can talk...and talk he did. When I met him (he was my ex-husband's bird) he talked a little bit but with me being home and caring for him his vocabulary grew almost daily. Some good....some not so good. You really had to watch what you said around him because he would repeat things that you didn't even realize was said. Then I finally caught on that his cage was in the living room which is where the TV was and he was repeating things that were said on the TV. So it was a challenge with him to say the least.
Besides Grey Bird, I also cared for a crazy squirrel and a blue bird. Yes they were outside but that is because I had to keep shooing them out there. They come every day and the squirrel would jump on the screen as to say here I am and believe me that blue jay wasn't far behind. You had to be quick with the door or they would come in (and did a few times when I was slow). I ended up naming the squirrel Rupard and the blue jay was Mr Blue Jay. Every day I would have to shoo Rupard off the screen because I didn't want him to tear it and then I would go out with the peanuts and of course the two of them competed for every last nut as I played referee. This went on for months and months.
Then one day my (at the time) husband walked in the door after work and Grey Bird didn't say his usual "Hello Dummy" instead he said "Rupard get out of here". My husband said "what?" Grey Bird pipped up "Rupard get down". So my husband looks at me and says "Who the hell is Rupard?" I told him it was the squirrel and needless to say he didn't believe me at first. Thank goodness I already did the pages below as that convinced him Rupard was a squirrel.
(As you may have noted, I said ex-husband but the divorce had nothing to do with the bird.)
I often even to this day think of that crazy Grey Bird and wonder how he is doing. Wonder if they are taking care of him. I am sure Rupard has more screens to jump on. My neighbors were aware of him and his ways so I am sure someone else has given him his nuts. But sometimes when I go out on my porch I can hear the chattering of the squirrels and the call of the blue jays and my thoughts go back to the days of playing referee with my peanuts in hand.