Dr. Guess-Who-Clementine!

Guess who you should not ask to help

with Christmas cards?

Clementine is doing very well, now a year since I adopted her. Her diet was about average when I got her, but she has slowly become a much better eater, not just with new foods but with new ways of preparing them and, therefore, new food textures. She no longer shuns mushy food, which has greatly increased her sweet potato, cooked mash, and squash intake! She was fairly well adjusted when I got her, and has remained so. Very rarely, or rather never, is she in a bad mood, and shows her age less than Lola and Miss Patty. Yes, she has some joint inflammation and a bit of plucking under one of her wings, but quite good really. All in all, Clementine is still just as fabulous as ever. My sanity, eh, not so much. Clementine is a talented mimic. Really talented. So talented, in fact, that she has become my resident household ghost.

In general, she leaves actual talking to the other parrots. No, Clementine specializes in those subtle noises that generally accompany having someone else in the house- distance voices that are incredibly realistic, cars driving up, doors creaking, even people walking around. She will do this if you are standing next to her, or if you are in the next room or upstairs, so she is certainly not a closet talker  She just has a deep appreciate for the subtle. One that might, in fact, drive me insane as I check the door for the 5th time thinking it is Gwen whining to come in. Or jump once again when she uses her most human of voices at a moment you are least expecting. I think she likes making me jump. She must. Because while I cannot fully describe why her ghost talking is so much more, well, rattling, than any of my other parrots- trust me, it is. And she practices a lot. So she is only getting better.

Really, what was wrong with a simple, loud and clear, hello? Or the telephone ringing? Or even the dogs barking,as Alasdair is doing outside in the above picture. Nice, loud, simple noises. Conversations like frank. Basic stuff.

Jokes aside, to (for once) be perfectly honest, Clementine's noises get very little reaction from me, hardly any, aside from the door checking, which rarely works any more. They do make me notice, but usually when I am not in the room, and only because of how good they are, rather than because I think robbers have actually broken into the basement- my dogs are way to bark happy to miss an event like that, it is all they live for, that and dinner anyway. And I do not think looking up from my knitting counts as enough of a reaction, either. So I think she has just developed a fascination with sounding as good as she can for her own interest, rather than mine. Although it does thoroughly confuse the occasional guest I get, which is very frustrating for them, not being as sedate as I am when it comes to odd noises from parrots. But then, I enjoy that quite a bit too, so I guess we are just both terrible.