Older and Better with Shelly

So our beloved cockatiel died a few months ago at age 26. In the words of my son, our bird had a good West County life. However, my husband began missing his little friend. He was the only one in the house that actually listened to him and talked back. We have three cats so we really weren’t planning on acquiring another two-winged friend. But the house was so quiet. We missed his chirping.   Our bird was always happy to see us.   He loved it when we came home from shopping or dinner with friends. He could hear us pulling into the driveway and would start chirping before we even got our car into the garage. Unlike our kids, he always was welcoming to his parents. We enjoyed him so much that we decided to get another one, a cockatiel. So we decided to visit a pet shop. A friend had given us our first bird, so going through a pet store would be a whole new experience. After doing some research we found a shop that sold all sorts of birds. They...

OK I wanted to do this for a long time. But I don’t want to ignite a riot over one of my blogs. But I couldn’t hold it in any longer. Don’t want to offend anybody but here I go… For years people have debated who are smarter cats or dogs? Of course whatever animal you have, you think he or she is the more brilliant one. I’ve had cats for 50+ years and I can tell you, they’re smarter. They’re smarter than a fifth grader, they’re smarter than humans, they are smarter than anybody. Who else do you know who can lounge around, sleep most of the day, and not get a heart condition, diabetes or just fat? Who do you know that can throw up at will and have somebody clean up after them? Who do you know that is allowed to share your bed with you, and even sleep on your head? Who do you know that can convince you with two soulful eyes to share your dinner with them, after they’ve had their own. Who do you know that when they cry like a baby they get immediate at...