Unexpected Visitor

It's never boring here.  We had an unexpected visitor yesterday.  It started right after church.  I was making the kids lunch when my parents showed up.  They had bought a cage and a stand for our pet parakeet, Sugar...but that's not the unexpected part.  As Ella and I were standing on the front porch waving good bye to my parents I saw something flying straight for my face.  I realized it was a bird, but thought surely it would change direction at the last minute.  But, no, it flew right into me and then landed on my rose bush.  I was sure it was a mockingbird.  The mockingbirds around here are pretty aggressive, and will even go after our cats if they feel they are threatening their nests.  But, to my surprise, it wasn't a mockingbird, or any kind of wild bird at all.  It was a green parrot.  He flew up onto my shoulder and started whistling and saying "pretty bird."  It was someone's pet!  

We had no idea where the bird came from.  We did, however, have several theories.  There was the logical...someone's pet escaped (thank you Kevin) to the not so logical.  As usual in this family, the not so logical far out weighed the logical.  Aidan's theory (mind you he really wanted to keep the bird and not find the owners) was that the owners of the bird were really old and died.  And, the owners' children were killed by snakes.  But, the bird escaped to come live with us.  His other theory was that the bird was my long lost childhood pet of which I had no memory (I do forget things a lot).  It had finally found me after all these years.  My mom's theory was that it had fallen out of a plane.  She was kidding, I think.  Mark's theory was my favorite.  He could not get over the coincidence that a bird mysteriously showed up on the same morning my parents just happened to bring us a bird cage.  He believed that my mom was throwing the bird out the window as they pulled out of the driveway.  He holds my parents responsible for all of the pets that we have acquired.  

We put the bird in the new cage, determined to find the owners (if they were still living!).  I have to say, I was really scared that we would end up with this bird.  Mark went to the pet store and started looking at larger cages.  Aidan started referring to it as his new pet.  The bird immediately attached himself to me, which was cute, but annoying.  She also pooped on my shoulder 3 times.  I was flattered that the bird bonded with me so quickly, but honestly, there is not a shortage in my life of clingy, pooping creatures.  

To top off our day of unexpected visitors, the doorbell rang around 9:00 last night.  Mark was not home, so I wasn't going to answer the door.  I didn't recognize the car out front.  But, they kept ringing the bell, and then started pounding on the door.  Aidan and I were both a little scared.  We tried calling Mark, but apparently, he had finally managed to pry his i-phone out of his hand because he was not answering.  I called our friend Linda, who just happened to be nearby, so she drove by the house.  She said it was a little girl.  It was the bird's owner.  Believe it or not, Kevin was right, the bird had escaped while she was taking out the trash.  The bird was very happy to see her friend.  And, I was very relieved to have one less thing to clean up after!  I was also relieved that the owners had not been killed by snakes.  It was a happy ending for everyone involved.  (except Aidan...he really wanted to keep that bird)