Breaking Cat News by Georgia Dunn for August 09, 2024

I think she just found a friend for life!

Burt has been known to exaggerate . . . from time to time.

The Admiral is a SUPERSTAR! Look at those moves! Caring for birds, step one. Don’t have cats. Unless they are look but don’t touch cats like my girls are.

An owl, you say…

Even better for Mrs. Tidy. Not only a bird to talk to but an actual human who will pay some attention to her.

Does any creature get along with that owl?

There we go, see? Georgia thought of all these things like the smart storyteller she is. #InGeorgiaWeTrust

I was reading a novel, and a woman inherits a Gray Parrot after her mother dies. She notes that the bird is very old, 16. I thought, “Uh, no. That’s not old for that species at all.”

Who does not like a happy ending? Admiral Crackers is pretty cool, hopefully the Admiral will brighten up Mrs. Tidy’s life and home. Perhaps he will offer some sage comments about Mr. Tidy as well!

I just finished reading the latest book in the Meg Langslaw mystery series. One of the subplots has Meg’s grandfather attempting to “deprogram” a group of parrots who have been over exposed to a recording of George Carlin’s infamous, “Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television” routine. (Don’t worry. Readers are not exposed to the words. The author assumes we all know what those words are.)

They can have playdates. Then Burt can post a chyron saying “Something Wicket This Way Comes!”

An owl? Have we heard of an owl?

And what about Gutter? Is Starfish Squeaker doomed? More threads need tidying up.

This could work out very well.

She gets a Human friend too! I think that takes her up to… one regular one?

O.T. – Georgia youtube drawing video of Burt, Sophie and Natasha

For those who are new to BCN, we never actually met the man. We didn’t find out about him until he moved out of the apartment where Tommy and Sophie currently live. The brief story arc starts here:

2022/01/24

Dr. Scuttles had a Twitter account for awhile. I’m not sure if he still posts to it or not. I didn’t save the link because I could never access Twitter. Maybe somebody can help me out with that.

Awww good. Also yeah I can see why crackers is a decent chap

Sadly, Admiral Crackers is likely to pick up “Mmmmm Hmmmmm” from Uncommunicative Man …

Now the real question: Can Admiral Crackers tie his own tie?

Perhaps he knows German, French, and Latin? An interesting mix.

Animal Crackers was a good song by Melonie

Yes, Most of the time parrots outlive their Owners.

My daughter related a story about her parrot, Petie. He really loves going after cat tails. When he sees one swishing around low to the ground, he gets out of his cage and goes to grab them. She has three cats, and they aren’t happy about that.

Hello dear cat friends, special greetings to the antipodes. You all are aware of the Kea, New Zealand’s least favourite parrot, known for its intelligence, curiousity and yes, destructiveness. Parrots are high maintenance pets and can be highly destructive when bored. They make a lot of mess when fed and require lots of attention. Keeping them in a cage or tied to a perch is not good enough, it is animal cruelty and some parrots react to this mental stress by plucking out their feathers. So let us remember, this is fiction, a forced denouement to bring about a happy ending and no real parrot shoud ever be exposed to a future with someone lik Mrs. T.

Can parrots be housetrained? I had a friend who had a parrot and it always wore a diaper.

Hard to gets along eh. Owl bets on who that is.

Awww do we get to meet Wicket’s man?

Awwwwww! How exciting, we may be finally going to meet That Man. And maybe have another visit with his irascible charges?

This is very sweet, though I hope Mrs. Tidy is aware of birds’, um, bathroom habits.

Odd thought, even though her cleanliness/neatness/organization behavior seemed pathological … maybe the Admiral will help her to loosen up. Maybe some of her behavior was result of her unresolved grief from losing her beloved Pomegranate. This may also change the dynamic between her and Mr. Tidy. Maybe he had checked out because of her behavior … Admiral Crackers may be good for both of them!

Glad she’s getting lessons in how to care for THIS animal properly!!

Seriously, Burt?

Who is this friend? I don’t recall Wicket going home with anybody. Quite intriguing!

Oh, oh, oh

For the longest time

Oh, oh, oh

For the longest

I’m that voice you’re hearing, Admiral

And the greatest miracle of all

Is how I need you

And how you needed me, too

That hasn’t happened for the longest time

I don’t care what consequence it brings

I have been a fool, now learning things

I want you so bad

I think you ought to know that

I intend to love you for the longest time

/ Billy Joel

Panel four – Sophie breathes a quiet sigh of relief. Not going back to that tidy heckhole.

I do hope Mrs Tidy asked Mr Tidy first.

Meanwhile, Back on the Nile

Harbormaster Antef: The Temple Owls are here to play basketball. We can go to the game to meet them.

McCaw Parrot: I’d like that. I used to play hoops when I was much younger.

Antef: And here’s Lupinium. He can tell you more about Wicket and the Owls.

Lupinium: Hi! I hear you are the new Lookout for the good ship Red Planet Spider.

McCaw: That’s right. It can be pretty exciting sometimes.

Lupinium: We can talk about it over a game of hoops.

McCaw: Sounds great.

Enter Wicket

Wicket: Great to meet a fellow avian. I understand you are interested in basketball.

McCaw: I played a few games in my youth. I even played one on one and three on three.

Wicket: Sounds like someone I’d like on my team. Would you be interested in playing in the Happy Healthy Hospital tournament?

McCaw: Sounds great.

As the saying goes “Birds of a feather…”

Then, Admiral Crackers, began to sing-‘That look, of love, is in her eeeyyyyyees!’

Maybe a romance will happen!

That should be 100 years not 1,000.

I recall Winston Churchill’s parrot dying in the early 2010’s!

A thousand years, huh? I assume that’s in cat years then. :P

Admiral Crackers….could his name be inspired by the Shirley Temple song ‘Animal Crackers in my soup’?

Yeah, I don’t see any animal getting along with the Wicket for long.

Where is the starfish squeaker?

In my town a local celebrity was a parrot, who rode on a special perch on the back of his person’s bike. He loved people, would sit on your arm (or head), and was just a delight. He died at about 41 years of age of avian flu, having outlived 1 previous owner.

I do wonder – Since Admiral Crackers is the first non-human we’ve met from a species that IRL is able to speak human-intelligible languages, how many of his responses are in English and how many are what non-Doctor Doolittle types would consider random squawks?

While Tidy Lady might have found a friend for life, everyone seems to be overlooking the fact that birds are very messy.

Mrs Tidy and feather dust…. Oh my! The poor Roomba! As someone who took care of my elderly father’s birds for him for 10 yrs, I can say with authority that birds shed a LOT of dust. Tons of it. Feathers are the least of the issue, it’s dander + well, feather dust. I can’t help but grin at thinking the punishment for stealing Sophie is going to really fit the crime.

“Destry, find me a recipe for roasted squab.”

“Polly want syntax.”

Possible plot twist: Mr. Tidy loves parrots and has always wanted one. He and Mrs. Tidy (re)bond over their new pet.

They do live a long time, just not a 1000 years.

We had a blind owl at the refuge I used to volunteer at. Poor sweetie had cataracts so bad the veterinarian optician deemed them inoperable. She became so friendly we would give her ‘scritches’ like you do parrots, around her neck, et c and she would lean into them stretching and turning for better access to the attention.

I should mention she was caged alone as our other owls were outside in an enclosure that would’ve been unsafe for her.

Last tidbit. We called the owls “cat swallowers” as they would HISS at us whenever we were near :D

Wasn’t that owl Baba Mouse’s old sweet heart?

Oh my Cat, I didn’t know parrots live that long! That would explain his given name.

Who would get along with that conniving tyrant? He’s the epitome of bad news.

TANJ.

I hope this means we get to meet That Man!

Oh! Will we get to see That Man then?

I just remembered a story about Petey. Pete is a bird with strong opinions, especially when it comes to breakfast. He has a particular fondness for French toast. Bird seed? Not a chance. It must be French toast, or he’d make his displeasure known.

Owl, eh. Hmm…

“Doesn’t get along with his owl” ? Is that an owl we’ve met before ?

Lovely end to the story- waiting to see the return of the hero Raccons and mice!!

I think it was love at first sight.

Too many comments, gotta get up earlier

I hope all Orbsters are safe from the floods and tornados caused by Debby!

“Parrots live 1,000 years.”

It just seems like it.

Parrots are remarkably long-lived, though. There are many 70 or 80 year old parrots still around.

Everybody wins!

None of the parrots or other birds I know are very tidy. In fact, they can be quite messy.

Not all parrots live as long as macaws, but they can easily live up to 75 years or more. I recently gave my blue and gold macaw Pedro to a woman who had a couple others like him. Pedro began acting out after his neighbor in the next cage, a conure, died. Now Pedro is living his best life ever! (And he will definitely outlive me.)

1,000 years? Lol

Will Admiral Crackers fit into the decor of that immaculate, decorated-in-white house?