I would like to introduce you to Zoey. He is a 6 year old Molluccan Cockatoo and my resident toddler. When my daughter ’80 was teaching grade school we would take Zoey for a visit to her class and all the kids thought he was a “Big Pink Chicken”….hence the title. In the wild, Molluccans can live up to 80 years and they have the intelligence and attitude of a 2 to 5 year old. Let me repeat that for you…I live with something capable of having the terrible two’s for 80 years. Zoey will outlive me so kids prepare yourself…. your in for a bumpy ride in about 20 years. Why do I say he’s a toddler….. well let me tell you.
1) Zoey likes to cuddle…he is a little love sponge and makes me laugh. He is a clown and likes looking at the world from any position except right side up.
2) Zoey has a limited vocabulary. He says in a small childlike voice..hello and hi. He also mumbles under his breath….I don’t know what yet, but I hope it is not swear words.
3) Zoey plays with his food and throws it on occasion to the floor or at a handy person who happens to be walking by. He also eats with his feet like many toddlers out there….come on admit it…Cheerios.
4) Zoey likes to sing (more like squawking at 2000 decibles) and dance. His favorite music is Trance and Drum and Bass (what my son listens to 24/7).
5) Zoey can be sweet one minute and then in the next minute he gets an attitude and becomes uncooprative. He will even have a tantrum….how do you reason with a Cockatoo…. you can’t… anymore than you can with a toddler.
6) Zoey gets time outs when he can’t behave and sulks in his cage room like any 2 year old.
7) Zoey has a bedtime and likes to be tucked in but if you let him stay up late he gets grumpy. If you turn on the light or talk too loud and wake him up….Zoey starts complaining and yelling at you. Okay that ones more like me.
8) Zoey likes Cheerios and Zwieback toast for snack time.
9) Zoey is bright and inquisitive. He likes to play with toys he finds…like envelopes and soda straws or the grandkid’s sippy cups instead of manufactured bird toys.
10) Zoey loves his mommy and thinks she is the bestest mommy in the whole world. See, I told you…. just like a toddler.
We love you. We miss you. You were a good dog and a fine friend.
passions and soapboxes 
Comment Cravings….
There has been talk around the blogging community lately about blogger’s neurosis. Most of them have been very funny and light hearted, only a few have been serious. All kidding aside I suffer from several of these neurosis…one of which I am going to speak of in this post. I feel it is the most serious because it compromises my integrity. I am speaking about C.C.H.S.
“ The inability to discard worthless comments even though they appear to have no value is known as compulsive comment hoarding syndrome.”
Yes, I am not ashamed to admit it, I am a recovering compulsive comment hoarder. I would see comments in my editor and get giddy. I would give an immediate response of course hoping to open a comment dialog. This was so innocent in the beginning but soon I began checking for comments every hour of the day. It didn’t matter what they said as long as they were there. When this was not enough and I needed to find a bigger fix, I started going to other blogs and leaving comments with links to generate more commenter traffic (if you leave one for them they will leave one for you). One day I was sitting at my computer…. waiting for a comment as usual…. when one came in. I read it and checked it closely…. it was from a new reader….he said I was just what he was looking for and that he would be back…. my heart soared… finally a “FOLLOWER”….alas I noticed the comment was in my spam file. I have always deleted spam but for a moment I hesitated… cursor hovering over the delete button. Would it be so bad I thought…. I haven’t had one comment all day and I really really need this… I was sweating and my mouth went dry…Approve…. Delete… I couldn’t decide. That’s when I knew I had a problem.
From that moment I no longer obsess about comments (not much anyway…just on Tuesdays or Thursdays). I still crave them but not to excess (20 or 30 per post is usually fine). I only leave real comments on other bloggers sites now and do not expect them to reciprocate ( they could if they want to…it’s only nice). I never hesitate to delete spam now and I never will again…do any of you suffer from this. I eagerly await your comments…………………………………still waiting. Uh oh!