When I got married in 1985 and moved into my husband's home; I joined two dogs, two cats, an eel in a big fish tank, and Waldo. I'd lived with cats and dogs before but never a bird. It was a difficult time in my life for me; new husband, pregnant, new animals around and I didn't know anything about birds. Don't think my husband did either; he just got it from some looney tune who lived behind us, who, now that I think about it, probably was dealing in illegal small animals and birds, but that's a whole other story.
So, Waldo had a big wrought iron cage and I wound up feeding him daily as he grew to dislike any males. I lived with him for 10 years like that; he in the cage, maybe a couple of toys around and locked in at all times. When we got divorced, he wound up going to my in-laws house and lived there for almost 17 years. I think on occasion, they let him out just to see him terrorize the dogs in the house.
When my father-in-law passed away in July of 2011, Waldo wound up coming back to live with me. I had given my beloved dog Sam to my ex-husband who has 6 other dogs and lives on 5 acres of land in Indiana, so it seemed only fair I took Waldo.
This time around though I was in a much different place in my life; it was just him and me. I started doing some research on the Internet (I'd like to think that when I moved in with him the first time that if the Internet was around, I would have checked out life with parrots; but it's history now.) One day, I went into Windy City Parrots in Chicago. I'm grateful that the proprietor give me so much information about life with parrots that day. The thing that impressed me, and that has changed Waldo's life the most, was letting me know that putting toys all around his cage was akin to leaves on trees. That birds are fearful of their predators and need camouflage and protection. Wow! that made such a difference in the little guy's life. I wove some newspaper strips around his food bowls and at various places around the cage. It was affirming to see just how much he enjoyed some privacy. He can hide if he wants, and he isn't just out in the open for anyone to see at any time.
Anyway, he has free reign now and even though he knows he can fly, he likes to walk around on the floors a lot. He squawks and whistles to the TV and LOVES white noise; any time the vacuum or juicer is on, he's whistling. I just realized he's into blondes. About 2 years ago, I had a blond friend over and as she sat on the couch, he walked across the floor from where his cage is and was down on the floor by her feet looking to get her attention. We just laughed and said "Waldo has a girlfriend." Again, a couple of weeks ago, a different blond friend was here and he was by her feet twice. That was really crazy, she had on these high boots, why he'd want to put himself in such a vulnerable position as to be on the floor is beyond me, but I think he was makin' time with these ladies. He's that kind of bird, he's got chutzpah!
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