sandra902

my interest in having a birdy came well before big daddy's interest. but we took our time talking it over and researching and talking talking talking. and as you said miss empress, if you cannot agree on a pet, how can you agree on children? but we are oldy-weds so it is much easier for us to find that common ground. and as the planets aligned for us to rescue/adopt merlin, big daddy became more and more accustomed to the idea. when he understood that (as EVER) all the dirty work was to be mine and all the glory his, it made it easier. and again, as the planets aligned, it is big daddy that young merlin prefers. so it has worked out wonderfully and we could not be more happy. but as you are making a 50-yr committment to this bird, you must take ample time to get your heads in order beforehand. so the time you spend working this out beforehand will really pay off after your birdy comes home. and for us, we are Rescue People so it was more appealing for us to recsue a bird than to get a baby. but that too is a very personal decision to be made. not to be too calculating, it could be a little bargaining chip if you need one...

what did you hang that swing from?

miss empress what is this your man does not want a grey? what are his objections? go ahead and let's take this to another post so we keep this topic 'on topic'

lessons from Mr Merlin 1. parrot time is akin to eternal time. human patience does not compare to the requirements of parrot time. 2. humans are trainable beings and can be quite amusing and useful at times. 3. No Matter What tomorrow is another day. 4. yellow is a good color for toys. 5. express your opinion NOW for it might change in a moment. 6. Heaven is real. it can send you a mum who adores you and it can help you hang another day til that perfect home comes along. pay attention humans! 7. make more toys. yellow please. 8. when in doubt, go spud. (that is what we call it when merl hits the deck at an imagined threat)

welcome kushka! first of all get that kitty spayed right away. our katz were naughty tinklers because they had pyometra because we didn't spay them right away. nextly, you have done well by coming to the forum before your birdy comes home. i think i found the forum in june or july last and did not get mr merlin until october. so it was a great resource for me to get my head around such a brand new experience of being a birdbrain. when all those questions are whirling around your mind at 3AM it is so nice to have a reliable resource to draw upon. again, welcome and we look forward to hearing all about your birdy when it comes home. -s PS merlin says 'oodle'

so are you bringing home a youngun? or a re-homed adult? i have found many times rescue org's have an overload of cages you might be able to find a good one reasonably priced. how exciting for you! yes i remember it well all the anxiety i felt before young merly came home. but that is part of the fun too i will admit. charge up the camera! and pop over to farm and fleet and pick up an air cleaner while you're at it... -s<br><br>Post edited by: sandra902, at: 2008/05/30 01:48

i'm a big fan of animal rescue. my merlin who is a prodigy, a joy and a wonder, is a gift from heaven. and talk about baggage! ha ha ha ha ha don't we humans have OUR quirks that our kritters need to sort out? that road goes both ways that's for sure. but life at the monkey house is truly sweet with our little group of kritters. each one is loved and accepted and they love and accept us as well.

young mr merlin loves the 'verboten' game so much that he plays it quite often now. (see thread: merlin learns the word no) he will take 3 'verbotens' to get to the 'good boy!' payoff. and now he is even heard to say to himself: 'hey!...verboten....GOOD BOY' while he is alone. he has even been saying it when he is on the other side of the cage and forgets i am there. he gets so jiggy and wild when he is winding up for a verboten that it is hard to correct him with any conviction as i am busy stifling my own laughter. that got me into trouble in dog obedience class also. and here is a big milestone for our merly. he lets big daddy stroke his beak. the other day he mouthed daddy's finger and then said 'whoa-oh' and let go. i am thinking it'll be big daddy that can get him to step up so i am coaching him and we shall see what those two boys come up with in the end.

i love the eragon series! good choice of name for your little gal.

hello and welcome to the forums! i too have a rescued grey, merlin, who just turned the august age of 4 this week. he had a pretty tough start in life, but is really blossoming into his true clowny self. he is a joy and a wonder every day. whatever did i do with myself before he came home i ask! your little fella sounds like a dandy. he is way ahead of merl as far as handling and such. merlin enforces a rather strict 'no touchy birdy' policy which we will one day overcome. in the meantime we have lots of ways to enjoy each others' company. keep us posted as to your progress -- and when you think about it, 10 is still pretty young considering the life spans of these little kraazy ones. again, welcome aboard, there is a wealth of information here on any subject you might encounter with your grey.

dear friends, please consider consulting your local parrot rescue group if you are interested in adopting/re-homing a grey. your friend -sandra

can't quite recall how we established may 14th as merly's b-day but there it is written on my calendar. so a big happy b-day to my little grey man and many happy returns of the day to him and to us. maybe he will step up by the time he is 5....

a couple teething rattles i got weeks and weeks ago are still intact! even with hour after hour of merlin's determined attentions.

homer! what a great name. welcome to the forum too by the way. my sister used to live in NH. her husband taught at UNH. they were very happy there.

oh madi i really hesitated to ask what happened to your quaker especially when you said he was tragically lost. i am so sorry that happened! merlin's foster home has a young lab and a cat. they too are very careful about who is out and when. but thankfully merlin was very interested in inga (my german shepherd) and inga was very gently interested in merlin. they met the one time and merl has me all to himself in my secure office. one of my katz is so tremendously untrustworthy that she does not even get to SEE merlin!

hi madisimmons, you can go to walmart and in the pharmacy area, in the laxative section, down towards the floor, you'll find aloe vera juice 1 gallon $7.99 while you're there you can get an empty spray bottle to put the juice in. don't dilute it but do refrigerate after opening. go ahead and search this site for lots more good info on aloe spraying. you'll find all you'll need to know.

miss carol what dark days you have all been through! won't you please give my warmest thanks to vet #1. without his good care you would have lost precious hours and we would not be reading such happy news from you. please thank him from the old gray mare in wisconsin. well done, you guys.

re: talking: merlin talks a LOT but usually when he is alone and playing with his toys. he used to talk and play while i was in the room but he has stopped that for now. i had changed the lightbulb over to one of those UVA/UVB bulbs and i guess it makes everything appear differently to him. but he just the other day did give one of his toys merry hell and said a couple syllables while i was in the room. so yes, any sort of change will make them behave differently. and how wonderful she stepped up for you! AND a head-scritchy. i am happily envious and a milestone maybe we will reach one day. PS merlin plucks his chest feathers but we are hoping he might respond to aloe vera spritzing. if not, so be it, we love him with or without chest feathers. as long as he is happy and just plucking because they itch, not because he is distressed.

hello and welcome aboard! thank you for taking in your little sweetie. i too am am adoptive parront and it has its joys and sorrows. there is a lot of really good info here on the boards and lots of helpful people who can walk you through the steps your birdy will be making in adjusting to her new home and mamma. merlin has been home since october and progress is s-l-o-w-w-w but every day brings a new little treat of some sort from him. we certainly have had to change our thinking from kat and dog time over to parrot time which is more eternal than immediate. do you get to visit your birdy right now? tell us more about your family - pets? children? our children are grown and we have 2 katz and one dog. even though merlin was meant to be my birdy, he has taken a real liking to big daddy. that does not disappoint me at all in fact i am relieved that he likes somebody. he treats me like i'm the devil's daughter mostly but it is not all bad. he likes to interact with me fron a distance. we have our little games that we play together and he supervises toy-making time. but enough about me! we really want to hear all about you and your big day fast approaching! whereabouts do you live? i am in the midwest between milwaukee and chicago. merlin says 'oodle'

aw shucks guys thank you. when bon and i all those months ago were talking about miss lucy i had hesitated taking on another birdy since i did not have merlin to where i thought he should be. but there you go, merlin is where he is and he has come a long way since october and he and i will continue to figure things out. bon and i are thinking about taking that susan friedman online course this summmer if we can get in. miss lisaM also recommended it highly. merly got his daddy in trouble while i was gone. i had typed up 2 pages of directions of what to do when and why. so imagine my irritation when i came home and found grapes in his kibble dish! invariably i had to take big daddy to task for this grievous error! and when BD assured me nearly on his mother's grave that he did not put fresh fruit in the kibble dish i had to reflect...hmmm those grapes did seem a bit the worse for the wear, kinda chewed up come to think of it...so in merlin's rascally little way, he chewed up his grapes and then deposited them in his kibble dish. and i did get a great big wing flappin from young merl when i came home, he really gave it the gas for quite a long time. so all is well at the monkey house.

well i'm home. empty handed. but not unhappy. miss lucy quickly and decisively decided she did NOT like me on ANY level and did everything possible to repel all intruders. and she maintained her strong opinion the next morning as well. so respecting her opinion, i had a wonderful time with my friend and her flock and even got to meet lisaM from this very forum! miss lisaM can attest to miss lucy's high disregard for me. it was rather extraordinary really. but c'est la vie, it's about the bird and not about sandra so there you have it. that perfect match is out there for miss lucy, we just have to find her or him. i think a gentle man would do well for her. so here i am with my merlin flapping away happily on his cage -- flapping in a good and happy way, lisaM if you are out there -- not an angry and aggressive way like lovely lucy did! too bad about the price of gas but i still had a great (but short) time with my friend and it was worth the trip to meet our own lisaM too!

we are switching from 'no' to 'verboten' so we'll see how long before merly picks up 'verboten' i will report back. -s

welcome di and how exciting for you! my merlin saw a mirror but it broke my heart because he kept going behind it to find that new friend who was on the other side. i had a full length mirror propped up against the wall so i could watch merlin from my desk when he first came home out of rescue. he was not all that comfortable at first with my facing him or when i turned around so i used the mirror until he was used to sharing the room with me. but now i have no need of it and i am glad to put it away so he will not see it. but yes it is true some birdies really like mirrors, it just hurt my feelings to see merly looking for a pal that did not exist. tell us more about you and your birdy-to-be!

oh oh siobhan, looks like you and me are going straight to quarantine!

thanks again everyone, i was hesitant to say anything til lucy actually came home...didn't want to jynx it you know...lots can happen between times. miss lucy is a lively female eclectus, she likes to be handled, loves to be in the middle of all the action, dances to american idol, we think she wound up in rescue because she is a squawker. that is toning down though so i am sure the squawking will continue to diminish with plenty of attention, which she will certainly have. i am reading up as i can on squawking and we'll see how we do. and yes our merl is a joy and a wonder every day. he makes me so happy i only hope i make him a fraction as happy (i think i'm doing OK). he is the little king which i am sure he was definitely NOT before he came to rescue. he still has his limits but don't we all. if he stayed just as he is right now we couldn't love him any less or any more.