Happy Thanksgiving - Meal by Dave

[danmcq]

First, I want to wish all in the USA here a Happy Thanksgiving. I also wish the others in countries that do not observe it well wishes and happiness to you on this day.

 

It is a time to reflect on the most valuable thing in our lives. That is our Family, Friends and loved ones. When you strip away everything else away you may have in life, it is these people we love dearly that is the one thing money or possessions can not fill the hole in our hearts that only they can and of course our extended human family members, namely our pets of all kinds.

 

What a lonely and sad world it would be, if you had all the possessions and money one could wish for, but have no one to call "Friend" or "Family".

 

With that thought in mind, I wish Dave a very happy Thanksgiving, as he helped us all through last years with advice only he, the "Guru of all Guru's" when it comes to helping us with our Greys and other Parrots.

 

Dave wrote this last year at this time and I wanted to resurrect it. It is just to valuable not to re-post it again. We have printed it and posted it on our refrigerator for guidance today :-)

 

Happy Thanksgiving - A meal prepared by Dave and what the rest of us to expect this morning:

 

""Ingredients:

 

One turkey

Corn pudding

Green beans

Stuffing

Sweet potatoes

Mashed potatoes with gravy

Cranberry sauce

Hot rolls

Relish tray

Pumpkin pie

Whipped cream

Hot coffee

Get up early in the morning & have a cup of coffee. It's going to be a long day, so place your Parrot on a perch nearby to keep you company while you prepare the meal.

 

Remove Parrot from kitchen counter and return him to perch.

 

Prepare stuffing, and remove Parrot from edge of stuffing bowl and return him to perch.

 

Stuff turkey & place it in the roasting pan, and remove Parrot from edge of pan and return him to perch. Have another cup of coffee to steady your nerves.

 

Remove Parrot's head from turkey cavity and return him to perch, and re-stuff the turkey.

 

Prepare relish tray, and remember to make twice as much so that you'll have a regular size serving after the Parrot has eaten his fill. Remove Parrot from kitchen counter and return him to perch.

 

Prepare cranberry sauce, discard berries accidentally flung to the floor by Parrot.

 

Peel potatoes, remove Parrot from edge of potato bowl and return him to perch.

 

Arrange sweet potatoes in a pan & cover with brown sugar & mini marshmallows. Remove Parrot from edge of pan and return him to perch. Replace missing marshmallows.

 

Brew another pot of coffee. While it is brewing, clean up the torn filter. Pry coffee bean from Parrot's beak. Have another cup of coffee & remove Parrot from kitchen counter and return him to perch.

 

When time to serve the meal:

 

Place roasted turkey on a large platter, and cover beak marks with strategically placed sprigs of parsley.

 

Put mashed potatoes into serving bowl, re-whip at last minute to conceal beak marks and claw prints.

 

Place pan of sweet potatoes on sideboard, forget presentation as there's no way to hide the areas of missing marshmallows.

 

Put rolls in decorative basket, remove Parrot from side of basket and return him to perch.

 

Remove beaked rolls, serve what's left.

 

Set a stick of butter out on the counter to soften -- think better and return it to the refrigerator.

 

Wipe down counter to remove mashed potato claw tracks. Remove Parrot from kitchen counter and return him to perch.

 

Cut the pie into serving slices. Wipe whipped cream off Parrot's beak and place large dollops of remaining whipped cream on pie

slices.

 

Whole slices are then served to guests, beaked-out portions should be reserved for host & hostess.

 

Place Parrot inside cage & lock the door.

 

Sit down to a nice relaxing dinner with your family -- accompanied by plaintive cries of "WANT DINNER!" from the other room.

 

Happy Holidays!!

---------

Dave""<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2008/11/27 15:01

[judygram]

danmcq wrote:

With that thought in mind, I wish Dave a very happy Thanksgiving, as he helped us all through last years with advice only he, the "Guru of all Guru's" when it comes to helping us with our Greys and other Parrots.

 

Thanks Dan for reposting this for us to enjoy another year, I loved it then and love it now, it is so appropriate.

 

Dave really is the "Guru of all Guru's" here on this forum, he has helped so many with his straight up advice, he tells it like it is and we are all so lucky to have him here and I am truly blessed to call him one of my best friends.:kiss:

[casper]

Thankyou for your kind wishes Dan. I hope everyone takes the time to reflect on friends, families and the important things in life.

 

I would like to take the opportunity to thank everyone on here for their friendship, help and guidance since becoming a member here, you truly are my second family!

 

Dave is such a wonderful person, his knowledge is outstanding and he has helped so many people on this forum! A big thankyou and a big hug from me Dave!

 

Thanks for re-posting this thread Dan, it is wonderful!

 

Have a great day everyone!

 

Caroline.

[Toni]

Thanx Dan for that post.Thats the absolute truth though.haha.Happy Thanksgiving to you and to your family Dan.

[cflanny]

Thanks Dan and Happy Thanksgiving everyone!! Hope your day is wonderful:)

[Carolyn]

Thanks for the re-posting, I had never seen it before. And a special thanks to Dave for writing it in the first place.

 

Carolyn & Mika:woohoo:

[Dave007]

Geez, I'm blushing. Now I can see that Dn has a secret file where he puts all of the past goodies. SOOOOO sneaky. Well anyway, thanks for the nice things you've been saying. it's a nice thing to read on Thanksgiving. So just remember that so many here have new birds but don't think for a second that you won't suffer the same reactions from your new birds. They all know what they smell and see and it's your duty to share your goodies with those pain in the ass birds. And also, don't expect any thank yous. They feel that it's owed to them simply because they put up with you all year long. Next chore..get ready for Xmas. Believe me, they're waiting and can get very impatient.

[Luvparrots]

Very thoughtful of you to re-post this Thanksgiving Recipe Dan and to Dave for first posting it; and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you for your kindness and help. Such a great family!!!

[EFGriffith]

That was really freakin' cute =)

[Talon]

Well, thanks to you guys, I just relived my entire day........:pinch:

 

That is sooo true!

[danmcq]

Penny - Hopefully it was a good one for you. ;-) :-)

 

Our Day went exactly as Dave described, which we were prepared for and expected, like last year.

 

It was a GreYt time with family to included the Parrots of course. I was actually shocked at how friendly Dayo was with a few family members that he acted as if he had known them since a chick. My Brother thought it was really cute as Dayo enjoyed a new zip-up string tied collar sweatshirt he just paid $60 for. He didn't realize that in the first 2 minutes, Dayo had stripped the clear protective ends off his string ties and bent his zipper handle in half. :-) He then asked me to remove Dayo, then he went and took his sweat shirt off and wanted Dayo back!! I was shocked to say the least at his reaction. I think I have atleast one family member that is now interest in becoming a Parrot owner.

 

They were also highly amused as Dayo sat perched on my shoulder for the Thanksgiving meal and politely helped himself to my plate and as the gentleman he is, very eloquently used my sleeve as a napkin when he need a beak wipe. :-)

 

I hope all other forum members that celebrated it had a wonderful day also. :-)

[Laurie]

Thank you soooo much for re-posting Dave's "Thanksgiving Meal" post - hilarious!

And so true! I think my favorite line is the one about cleaning up the cranberries "accidentally" flung to the floor.

Hope you all are having a great holiday weekend!

[spookyhurst]

I've also seen this titled, "How to stuff your Parrot for Christmas" so we better bump it back to the top. Is Dave the original author of this? I've seen it on many sites, but it usually says "Author unknown.

 

And to make this even more Christmasy, here's "How to Wrap Gifts with a Parrot in the House." I don't know who the original author is:

 

1. Clear large space on table for wrapping your special gifts.

 

2. Go to cupboard and collect bag in which gifts are contained, and shut the door.

 

3. Open the door and remove bird from cupboard.

 

4. Go to closet and retrieve rolls of wrapping paper.

 

5. Go back and remove bird from closet.

 

6. Go to drawer, and collect transparent sticky tape, ribbons, scissors,

labels, etc. . .

 

7. Lay out gifts and wrapping materials on the table to enable wrapping strategy to be developed.

 

8. Go back to the drawer to get string and remove bird that has been in the drawer since last visit to collect string.

 

9. Remove gifts from bag.

 

10. Remove bird from bag.

 

11. Open box to check gift, remove bird from box, replace gift.

 

12. Lay out paper to enable cutting to size.

 

13. Try to smooth out paper, realize bird is underneath and remove bird.

 

14. Cut the paper to size, keeping the cutting line straight.

 

15. Throw away first sheet as bird chased the scissors, and tore the paper.

 

16. Cut second sheet of paper to size -- by putting bird in the bag the gift came in.

 

17. Place gift on paper.

 

18. Lift up edges of paper to seal in present. Wonder why edges don't reach.

Realize bird is between present and paper. Remove bird.

 

19. Place object on paper, to hold in place while tearing transparent sticky tape.

 

20. Spend ten minutes carefully trying to remove transparent sticky tape from bird with pair of small nail scissors.

 

21. Seal paper with sticky tape, making corners as neat as possible.

 

22. Look for roll of ribbon. Chase bird down hall to retrieve ribbon.

 

23. Try to wrap gift with ribbon in a two directional turn.

 

24. Re-roll ribbon and remove paper, which is now torn due to bird's enthusiastic ribbon chase.

 

25. Repeat steps 12-21 until you reach last sheet of wrapping paper.

 

26. Decide to skip steps 13-17 to save time and reduce risk of losing last sheet of paper. Retrieve old cardboard box that is the right size for sheet of wrapping paper.

 

27. Put gift in box, and tie down with string.

 

28. Remove string, open box and remove bird.

 

29. Put all packing materials in bag with gift and head for room with a lock on the door.

 

30. Once inside lockable room, lock the door and start over by laying out wrapping paper and materials.

 

31. Remove bird from box, unlock door, put bird outside door, close and lock again.

 

32. Repeat previous step as often as is necessary (until you can hear bird outside door).

 

33. Lay out last sheet of paper. (This will be difficult in the small area of the toilet, but do your best).

 

34. Discover bird has already chewed the paper. Unlock door go out and hunt through various cupboards, looking for sheet of last year's paper. Remember that you haven't got any left because bird helped you wrap gifts last year, too.

 

35. Return to lockable room, lock door, sit on toilet lid and try to make torn sheet of paper look presentable.

 

36. Seal box, wrap with wrapping paper and repair by very carefully sealing with sticky tape. Tie up with ribbon and decorate with bows to hide worst areas.

 

37. Label. Sit back and admire your handiwork, congratulate yourself on completing a difficult job.

 

38. Unlock door, and go to kitchen to pour yourself a drink and feed bird.

 

39. Spend 15 minutes looking for bird before reaching obvious conclusion.

 

40. Unwrap present, untie box and remove bird.

 

41. Go to store and buy a gift bag.

[danmcq]

LOL - Good one Spooky!!!

 

Now we have one for Christmas to post annually. :-)

[she]

Nice one spooky, I loved it.

[spookyhurst]

Nikko has a playgym in the kitchen, and we recently built a large kitchen island that is just a hop over for her. Yesterday, I was trying to make cheesecake, and Nikko was much like the bird described below. I don't know how many times I've removed parrot from counter/drawer/cupboard/side of bowl and returned to perch :silly:.<br><br>Post edited by: spookyhurst, at: 2008/12/22 17:10

[Dave007]

No Spooky

The one you just put in isn't my work but I'll add it to the festivities . Nothing like the complete package

Merry Xmas

[Lyric]

You guys put a smile on my face this morning reading this. Seems greys are the same everywhere- helpful to the point of utter unhelpfulness! Wishing you all the joys of the holidays and much fun with your fids this Christmas.

[Nychsa]

Oh my Dan - thanks for keeping the Daveisms alive! That is a hoot! And how true!!! I swear when there is something Bella is interested in she turns into a thousand feet, wings and beaks!

[judygram]

I like that expression Terri, Daveisms, he is too funny for words and keeps me laughing with all his funny business but then that is what gets me thru the days.

[casper]

Pen to paper Dave, could you write the next one for maybe Valentines day or Easter? Gives you plenty of time! My Keeko's hatchdate is Feb 14th as well so I will look forward to your work of art:whistle:

[spookyhurst]

Nikko "helping" build the kitchen island: