HeatherStrella

Dan...I love it!! Your Dayo sounds like loads of fun. I like the "whoops, I sneezed"...LOL. AnnaBella started saying "pfft(fart sound) whoopsie)...LOL..she must have gotten it from a cartoon or something because we don't do that...we say "scuse me"...LOL. :lol: Tycos_mom, it sounds like Tyco is fun to watch too. I like to teach movie lines too. I taught AB to say "tell me about it, stud"...my favorite movie..."GREASE"... B) Anybody else with vocab diary?????

danmcq wrote: Yes, Dan, she does. I can't think of any right now, but I know she's done it. One thing she does that amazes me is when she's watching TV with us. If something sad happens, she'll say "Ohhhhhh"...(her voice starts a little high then goes very low)it's really cute...but strange too...how does she know? The music on the TV? Our reactions? She understands what's going on in the movie/show? How does she know a lot of the things she knows. Sometimes she finishes my sentences...or she'll answer my husband if he asks a yes/no question of me. SHE answers!! Not always right...but she knows to say "yes" or "no".. Dan, I'd love to see your list!! Tigerlily, if you do start a diary, I hope I can see it. I just loved watching your grey the other day. "Oh dear me" after she "sneezes"...that was so darned cute!!!!!

AnnaBella is so funny. She picks up words and phrases from us pretty quickly just by us talking to each other or talking to her. I work in an elementary school so some of the things I say to her are a bit childish. Sometimes I'll say "okie dokie artichokie"...and sometimes I call her "turkey lurkey" when she's being a brat...or a diva. I don't say them together...I don't think. Anyway...she now says "okie dokie turkey lurkey"...lol. Sometimes she'll try to say "okie dokie artichokie", but the last word comes out a bit jumbled...it's a tongue twister, I guess. She's such a blessing in my life...it's always so fun to hear the new things she's learned. She's learned about 400-500 words/phrases. Of course, she doesn't say all of them all the time...she goes in cycles...she used to say "hiya hotlips" all the time (I taught her that, we don't say that to each other...LOL)...and now she hardly ever says it. So, that's all...I just wanted to share...she's just so funny. Do you guys keep a journal of what your birds say? I'd love some ideas of phrases to teach her. I was thinking about teaching her "hit the road, Jack"..:side:

Here's a website that might help explain things... http://www.alexfoundation.org/index2.html Dr. Pepperberg had a very loving relationship with Alex. He was treated VERY well by her and her staff.

She's wonderful!! She reminds me of AnnaBella...in fact, AnnaBella watched the video too...she was quite fascinated with her. I love the "oh dear me"...

Awww..I love Quakers...I soooo want one! I'm jealous. :side: P.S. I see a little furry creature on the left of the third picture...what kind of dog is that? It kinda looks like a Schnauzer..I have one..but she can't go near my birdie...she wants to eat her!! :ohmy:

I'm so sorry. I certainly can't say "I know how you feel"...I hope I never will. I know you said she was a plucker, but you also said that the last couple of months, you'd never seen her happier. YOU did that for her. It sounds like she died when she was very happy and she didn't suffer. She loved you and appreciated all you did for her, especially the last couple of months...she's probably watching over you now since you guys had such a special bond. Thank you for posting about it. It will certainly make me think about that sort of thing if it pops up in the future. Rest In Peace Coco... Love and Light to you...

Singing-"How much is that birrrrdie in da goooooooooooooooo" (long go, not goo) "Wanna come out baby girl?" Other stuff too but she says these over and over...and over.

AnnaBella likes to tease my dog(Mini Schnauzer), Sandy. From her swing, she'll chase Sandy out of the room. First, AnnaBella lunges at her...Sandy is on the couch about 5 feet away. This causes Sandy to get off the couch. Then AnnaBella stamps her feet and says "go on Sandy, get out"...and Sandy goes out of the room. AnnaBella is SOOO proud of herself after she does this...if she was human, she'd have a giant grin on her face...I can just tell. She constantly teases Sandy like this... I should tell you. If AnnaBella is off of her swing, Sandy has to be out of the room. Sandy wants to attack AnnaBella so we just won't take a chance...so, if AnnaBella flies to me or whatever, we will tell Sandy to get out of the room and block the entrance. But, Sandy is sometimes afraid of AnnaBella too...so she'll sometimes find a place to hide if AnnaBella is pretending that she's going to dive bomb her. AnnaBella is just a faker. Little turkey. AnnaBella has a giant vocabulary...if you want to see it, click on my site...it's there along with some old audio files. She's a great bird with an amazing sense of humor...she's constantly answering questions for me...saying "bless you" to a sneezer...laughing, and singing songs I've taught her...I haven't been able to teach her tricks, but she's a wiz with talking...

OMG sooo cute!! I can't wait to see him grow up...nice, quality photos too. Makes me want a baby ( fill in the blank-parrot )... lol

She's so sweet.

Caitb2007, he is sooo cute!! I can't wait to see him as he gets older. What a doll!

the headless bird..

I thought it would be fun to start a thread where we could all post pics of our darlings from when they were babies (or when we got them) to now...Here's AnnaBella...as Harrison in the earlier pics...lol Day 1~ 3 months old. DOH~12/31/05 4/6/06 Still a baby...4/19/06 A little older..9/28/06 12/29/06...2 days shy of 1 year old 4/23/07~16 months old 11/23/07~my two favorite pics... 3/23/08~this one won a couple contests 6/29/08 My first in flight pic..lol 1/14/09~3 years + 2 weeks old And the last...since this is getting quite picture heavy... 4/8/09..almost 3 years to the day that we brought her home... I think it's cool to see how their eyes change...I hope you guys will post yours too!! Heather

Thanks for all the replies. We are thinking about getting a gun. We can't get an alarm system, we rent...although, I suppose we could ask the landlord. We'll be buying a house in the next year or so, so we'll definately get an alarm system when we move. I'm glad to hear pepper spray is non toxic...thanks!!!

Saturday night, my husband and I went to bed pretty late, 3:30am. I was almost asleep when we both heard and felt a loud bang. It sounded to both of us like someone kicked our front door in. We keep pepper spray in our room and another in the kitchen. We got the pepper spray long before we got AnnaBella. We live in a large 4 bedroom house so there's quite a distance between our room and the front door. He grabbed the pepper spray (it's actually Bear pepper spray in a very large can). He went out but found nothing, thank God!! There was no shoe print on the door or anything. As he went out, I was sitting up thinking about AnnaBella...if he had to spray someone, would AnnaBella be ok? She sleeps in her own room with the door shut. It's closer to the front door than we are. We need to replace the pepper spray because it's pretty old...but now we don't know if we should get it...but if we don't get that, what would we use for protection if something happened? We were thinking about sealing the door to her room better so that every time we shut the door, it would be as if we put a rooled up bath towel at the bottom..between the door and the floor. Then maybe the pepper spray would be a little safer for her?? This whole crime thing has scared the crap out of me. I saw on the news that they are cutting a lot of the sheriffs/police. Something like going from 40 sheriff on duty at one time to 9. People were talking about how crime is going to go up because criminals know there aren't enough cops around. Home invasion has always been my biggest fear...I cringe when I hear about that stuff on the news. The noise we heard was nothing. We have a couple kayaks in the backyard up against the house...on the other side of the wall is our bed. One of the kayaks fell...my husband says that's what the noise was. I'm not so sure...I actually felt the house shake. Whatever it was has got me thinking about what to do in an emergency. Even a fire...we've got a small crate in AnnaBella's closet ready to go if we need to get out in a hurry. In addition to my question about pepper spray, what other things can I do to prepare for an emergency that wouldn't harm AnnaBella? My husband and I are very able to get out a window...our dog is good...it's just AnnaBella that I worry about. Any suggestions? Sorry for rambling on...I'm still freaked out by what happened...I wish I could be sure it was the kayaks. :unsure: Thanks, Heather

Great post, Dave!! The first year I had AnnaBella, it was so life changing...I wondered if I did the right thing. It's a lot of work..everyday! It took about a year for me to get used to having her. Now I wouldn't trade her for anything. I think about her while I'm at work...I can't wait to get home to see her. I actually enjoy making sure she has a safe...fun...and interesting environment to live in. But, it did take a while for me to get used to it. Birds are not for everyone. I'm NOT a traveler...maybe a day trip here and there but for the most part, I like to be home....especially now because of AnnaBella. I love her to death.

HeatherStrella wrote: Oh my goodness...that was a while ago!! Thanks to The South Beach Diet, I lost a few pounds...this is me now: This is now AnnaBella...lol. Boy, that WAS a long time ago. I hate pictures of myself. I kinda like my face better with a little chunk in it. Ha. What did I mean by "I think I hold the record for the most pics in this thread...lol."???? I'm weird I guess. Ha

They're all such beauties! I miss my babies!! Nothing like a cat...a cat who wants to be owned by you that is.

Thanks, Char. I'll use your tips during our next "session".

I really enjoyed looking at your photos. Very nice. I'm curious, how did you get such a black background with your Grey, Whisper? I really liked those photos where it's dark in the background. I have over 200 photos of AnnaBella in my album but none are totally black in the background. I have a few where I used a black blanket, but I can tell. How do you do it if you're using a flash, especially an external flash? Thanks! Heather<br><br>Post edited by: HeatherStrella, at: 2009/06/14 07:16

Such a cutie!

I had two cats a long time ago...they were my babies. Rikki was especially close to my heart, as Lucy was a bit more of a loner. But I loved both of them dearly!! OH...and they were both girls. I know...weird. Rikki..my old bed buddy..my lil girl. This is Lucy...unfortunately, I had just started with photography when Lucy passed...you can see the camera with external flash in her eyes...ha.

Holy S**t! You really got me...lol.

I just HAD to play around with this..it's sooo much fun!! We should create a thread that's just for photo funia! What do you think?