sandra902

oh my gosh i just scared poor merlin back into his cage with my raucous laughter! 'to serve and correct' oh man! that should be in my signature. brilliant! thank you LMG for the hearty horselaugh of the day!

and here i thought it was because of the grammar police! what a relief.

well CD that is a relief! yes keep us posted i for one will be very interested in how this turns out for you. hope your dreams come true! -s

look at that little rascally face! merly-man is getting one of those corn cobs pretty darn soon we'll see what kind of havoc he can wreak with it.

hi fowlgame! i don't know if i am talking out of turn but i am a very new greenhorn AG mamma. i am also active in animal rescue and used to foster pups between the shelter and their forever homes. perhaps if you became affiliated with your local parrot rescue you might get more hands on experience with a grey and maybe try fostering? i do not know if they do that in the bird world but i know in the cat and dog worlds it is a very helpful way to get to learn about the different breeds in a positive way. my merlin was fostered by my dear friend for a month or so before he came home to me and it was really helpful for merlin to be in a proper flock after his unpleasant environment. it was also helpful for me that my friend got to know him so well and was able to be a very good resource for me. like i said i don't know if i'm piping up where i don't belong but fostering has always worked for me. when i fostered pups it was very rewarding to be part of their transition and it was also rewarding to be able to be a resource for the forever home. just a thought as you do your research. and welcome to the forum, i have gotten lots of good advice and support here. -s

hi fowlgame! i don't know if i am talking out of turn but i am a very new greenhorn AG mamma. i am also active in animal rescue and used to foster pups between the shelter and their forever homes. perhaps if you became affiliated with your local parrot rescue you might get more hands on experience with a grey and maybe try fostering? i do not know if they do that in the bird world but i know in the cat and dog worlds it is a very helpful way to get to learn about the different breeds in a positive way. my merlin was fostered by my dear friend for a month or so before he came home to me and it was really helpful for merlin to be in a proper flock after his unpleasant environment. it was also helpful for me that my friend got to know him so well and was able to be a very good resource for me. like i said i don't know if i'm piping up where i don't belong but fostering has always worked for me. when i fostered pups it was very rewarding to be part of their transition and it was also rewarding to be able to be a resource for the forever home. just a thought as you do your research. and welcome to the forum, i have gotten lots of good advice and support here. -s

wow you guys Good Job! first of all thanks for rehoming, that is a topic near and dear to my heart and secondly what a fabulous birdy! to be so eager is a wonderful thing. i am a total and absolute greenhorn and have been given lots of good advice and support so you have come to the right place. and i have found new meanings and depth on the topic of patience. i am a cat & dog person and the concept of time is completely different than with birds. my merlin is certainly on his own timeline and i am learning to fit into that. welcome to the site and boy howdy we'd love to see pictures ASAP. and again, Well Done! -s

yes indeedy happy new year all! what a year 2007 was! mamma turned 50 got my first birdy life is sweet! -s

yes indeedy happy new year all! what a year 2007 was! mamma turned 50 got my first birdy life is sweet! -s

oodle-oo from merlin! it is such an endearing sound and absolutely irresistable! i always answer "ooodle-oo merlin!"

y'know CD i was wondering where you'd got off to. i really must say that is one big huge red flag wavin, thinking about a company that number 1: did not assist your relocation (it is customary to do so) and number 2: 'replaced you already'! i would be eminently thankful and breathing a huge sigh of relief to be rid of a company that treated you WRONG before you even started there! what a blessing you did not uproot your entire life and family for a company that had no ethics. granted you went through about 100 flaming hoops of fire but on the bright side when it is all said and done, you are still in your own house and in familiar surroundings and hey hey it's clean! so you'll be that much more at the ready next opportunity. now how are you making ends meet in the meantime? i always had real good luck with contract work.

i was just reflecting on new years resolutions yesterday during dish-doing time. that is usually my time of reflection. my resolution was to try and have the dishes done each nite before i go to bed. we'll see if i even make it to valentines day with that one!

miss tracy i love the name soldier! how very perfect for your brave little guy. give him regards from merlin and myself. i am watching your progress carefully as merlin also has a "No Touchy Birdy" policy and when he was in foster he did accept a sandy perch to step up on, but so far not so much here at the monkey house. when you are successful in this i would like to know every little thing you would like to tell me. i show him the sandy perch regularly and i show him my fingers and talk about mamma's hands not hurting little birdies and such. merly too allows me and The Hand to get about 12" away which i'm pretty happy with right now. at least he is not growling, squawking and hurling himself to the ground which i take as progress. so please do keep the updates coming as i am watching and learning from you. well done! and he looks pretty proud of himself up on that branch. do tell him how handsome he is from us.

i love toy building time! merlin supervises closely. i think that helps him to watch that way he isn't scared by a new toy. i have a picnic hamper full of stuff - beads, drinking straws, raffia, leather lace, and i spread it all out and away we go! lots of good deals out there in the thrift shops which is where i get my goodies.

ok so in the bird magazine they show those heating panels and warming bulbs. what is the collective opinion on those? man-oh-man my heart sank as i began to read your post. how relieved your little guy is home and dry!

so about a week or so ago i wound up with a miserable atomic sinus infection. i even went to the clinic which is something i only do under great insistence by big daddy. well along with that went a huge case of laryngitis which lasted an entire week! during that whole time the best i could do was a little whisper. lots of coughing too. well you can imagine what ol' merl has now picked up! big daddy was outside my office and "heard me coughing" although he knew for a fact that i was in bed. it was merlin imitating my coughing. well we thought it charming and funny and left it at that. yesterday my voice finally started coming back consistently (beyond the croak it had been the day before) and i was up in the office working away, talking to merlin who seemed happy someone was again answering his little ooots and oodle-oos. then while he was giving his toys hell (which is when he is most vocal) i heard him in some sort of respiratory distress! oh man i start thinking where can i take this guy on christmas day! he'll never make it to the avian vet 2 counties away! oh man oh man oh man... ...til i realized he was now imitating my whisper! rascal! but what a relief i can tell you what.

sppoky that is too funny! oh my gosh here is something from today's paper (they have huge editing problems) it was a lovely tribute to a local gentleman who recently passed away. on and on it went and all was very well-said, really summed him up nicely and then towards the end of the article it said "...he had a rye sense of humor..." AAAUGH! and to top it off the subject of the article was an educator! you know folks i really don't look for this stuff it just pops out at me really!

ooohh good point about the peroxide, i did not know that...glad i asked! and as far as the bits all over, well, we call this the monkey house anyway so i guess i wasn't too worried about bits. not to mention he throws food around anyway so i'm constantly sweeping up anyhow...but yes those little bits could get stuck in his throat. glad i asked! i'll just make trivets then.

oh my goodness i have a funny story about being a bad speller! well you-all might not find it as funny as i do but here goes. i used to work for a very colorful person (former employees call him 'satan') and to label him a psycho is not so far from the truth. anyway, one of his little customs was that each employee spent a time on the 'hot seat' meaning nothing this person could every do during this time was right or good or reasonable. it could last for a day, a week, a month; you never knew. we all learned to laugh amongst ourselves about taking our turns on the hot seat. well it was my turn and one day he decided he was going to make me cry. that is a very difficult thing to do because i have a very good self image overall and believe we are all entitled to our opinions and so i do not take a great deal personally from most people. so here he comes and closes the door to my office and launches into his litany of all my faults and this and that. to which i replied 'that is your opinion and you are entitled to it' and generally did not offer defensive replies or explanations for his accusations. so he was becoming more and more frustrated that he could not make me cry or get me upset and became more and more desperate. he tossed one out: 'the men don't like you' to which i responded 'you didn't hire me for the men to like me, you hired me to tackle certain tasks.' the last jab which only made me laugh was 'well i'm happy your dog died'. how pathetic! so we closed our interview with 'i know you have never been a pet-lover' so after this was over i went to my buddy's office and related this entire episode to her and as we were shaking our heads and laughing she said to me, 'sandra, what could he have possibly said that would have shaken you up?' and the first thing that popped into my head and out of my mouth was 'if he called me a bad speller' so now all these years later we are still calling each other 'bad speller' when we want to get a rise out of each other.

hello i am wondering if wine corks (natural ones not the plastic stopper kind) pose a problem to greys. i did a search of this site and came up with zero results. mr merlin loves to destroy his toys and since i have a great number of wine corks (i offer no explanation as to WHY) i thought maybe if i strung them along with leather and beads he might get a bang out of destroying them too. let me know if i should not do this otherwise i'm getting out the drill and having a ball!. i find i have to rebuild his toy almost every day and he is always very interested in watching me do this. so at least i've found something we can do together. stay warm and dry we are in the midst of a slush and ice storm here in the midwest. (edited to correct a spelling error!)<br><br>Post edited by: sandra902, at: 2007/12/11 20:11

yep it's either that or my dancing! ha ha ha like elaine on seinfeld i guess.

hooray! let's have some fun with this!

tee hee hee no harm done! i was laughing with one of my more challenging accounts yesterday that thanks to them i'll never get alzheimers due to the mental challenges they always present. so really i should be thanking YOU for helping me avoid alzheimers as well!

hi everyone i hope i word this kindly and not primly or school-marm-y. there is a big difference between "accept" and "except" and it is puzzling when reading posts to run across "excepting" when one really means "accepting". now i know i'm living in a glass house since i refuse to use proper capitalization when writing in a casual forum so if i have a couple jabs coming i'll take them gracefully. and i won't split hairs over correct use of the apostrophe and the difference between plural and possessive. when i read those things the writer's intent is clear so i only shudder for a moment and read on. so please do not think i scour everyone's posts for incoorect usage, i certainly don't, it's just that the "except" and "accept" kind of leaps out at me. hope i didn't dig myself a big hole, have a great day and keep writing!

i find merlin really pays attention to my hairstyle. i usually have it in a ponytail or braid and the few times i wore it down he was having trouble processing that the voice of mamma was coming out of the witch-lady's face. so maybe the sweatshirt really does remind him of the wing-clipper. i'm sure the christmas tree lights are affecting him too. he sounds like my merl, suspicious of everything, thinks any change will bring immediate death to unsuspecting birdies.