Oscar and Boo's Story.
Or How We Got From 2 To 17.-
Several people have ask how Oscar and Boo became an
item in the gossip columns....so, to try and answer that
we turned to their handler and manager, Waydar.
Well gosh, blushing and looking down, twisting my toe in dirt....I, we, er, ummmm...when we decided to settle and leave our life on the road and the rollin' bird cage, we were in Florida. We stayed at an RV Campground from Sept till the end of Dec. About Christmas as we drove around looking at the decorations we saw a 'For Lease' sign in a yard. Hummmm, when you have a 40 foot bus, it's hard to find a place in a city where you can park it without running afoul of the law. Most neighborhoods don't like or want an RV parking in their 'hood. Never mind that it might cost more then most homes.
This place with the sign had a nice cement pad behind the house and a perfect place to land the bus. I called the phone number on the sign and met the agent at the house. My first question to him was can we park the bus without a problem. He said yes. We paid our money and took the keys on Jan 1st, 2001.
So we along with our two (2) parrots, Puter Nandy and Scooter CAG, moved in. We had no furniture as it had been stored in a warehouse in Texas for the past 3 and half years. The warehouse place in TX said it would be the 21st before our furniture would arrive in Florida. We had lived in our coach of 340 square feet for the past 3 1/2 years and suddenly our den had 777 square feet. Ok enough about the why, now on to more important stuff....
As we drove around looking at the new 'hood, we spotted a large cage in a neighbors back yard with some kind of green parrot inside. The next few days we watched the parrot as we drove by on our way to the stores and etc. The parronts were in the yard one evening so we pulled over and stopped...walked over and introduced ourselves and looked at that green parrot. Hey wait, there's 2 parrots in there, and one is little bitty.
Found out the large one was a Mealie Amazon and the other one was a Greencheekie, and their names were Oscar and Boo. They sure looked strange together. But hey, what did we know?? As time went on, we visited on a regular basis. The parronts came down and saw our two and we talked and visited even more. It's nearing the end of January and the plot thickens..... I read a post from Lusia looking to place 2 Tiels... The man that owns them doesn't have enough time to spend with them and he wants to find them a good home. They're about 40 miles north of us. We drive up and meet him at his office and take Squiggie and Big Al home with us.
A couple of days later I read a post from Debi (Deatbird 2) about 4 rescue parrots in New Orleans really needing a home. Mz Sherry and I talk it over and decide we have the room, the time, and the funds to care for these rescues. Details are worked out by email and phone calls and we are all set for the rescue.
Feb 3rd we arrive in 'Nawrlins and meet Debi at a Wal-Mart parking lot. We're in the bus so it's hard to find a place to park, you RV'ers know what I mean. Debi arrives and we get in her car for a short drive to her place where the birds are. She has 4...Jack Nanday, Sal Greencheek, Stevie Ray Tiel, and Sam Cherryhead. Debi warns us about Sam...he's a bad biter and hates women.
We take them back to our coach and Debi asked if we're interested in a Lovie....she knew of a woman looking to place one. Sure, what's one more and small at that. She drives off and returns in about 15 min with Lucy the Lovie. I reach in and pick up her cage and she bites my finger, the little Dragon Beak!! I don't drop the cage and she don't let go...Owieeeeoooo! Mz Sherry is able to save me with a band-aid and no tranfusion. It was my lucky day.
We get back to Florida and in the space of a week, we go from a 2 bird family to 9. Wow, nine birds. We'll be cleaning cages all the time I tell Mz Sherry.
Now with the 9 birds we say no more...yeah right!!! We continue seeing Oscar and Boo as we drive by. We stop every now and then to visit. The Orlando Bird Fair comes along in April and we drive over. Right off Mz Sherry sees a bird that will soon become number 10. Yep, Cher Sun....just a year old. OK...no more, ten is enough. Next week we go to the bird show at Jacksonville.....and I had made a slight remark several week before I sure did like the Blue and Gold Macaws, they were so pretty. Well Mz Sherry spots a breeder from Georgia that raises Caws and they had a baby female that wouldn't be ready till sometime in June/July. Perfect....that could be my July b/d present. I have a nice wife huh? You bet I do....!!
We have 10 in the house, soon to be 11 when the babycaw comes home. Everything runs smooth till the middle of May when the neighbor visits and says she's looking for a home for Oscar and Boo. She has children in school and she works part time and don't have time for the 2 parrots. She wanted $600 for both of them and all their things, 2 cages, toys, food, etc. I said sure we'd take them not knowing what we were really getting, but we would make them a home. On May 25th a knock on the door. She's there and said Oscar and Boo were coming. Looked out at the street, and there on a red Radio Flyer wagon, sat Oscar and Boo. I rolled them in and our relationship started. Oscar looked at me and said 'Hi Oscar...Oscar's a good boy, Hi Boo!' Right there Mz Sherry and I melted and we were under his spell. And we still are. We now have 12 in number, with one to go. So in June I met the breeders in Jacksonville to pick up baby Makaya, the new Blue and Gold. Now we have the full house 13. No more birds. As the days go by, the DNA on Makaya says she is a he...so Mayaka became Mack.
I had told Linda M that Mz Sherry wanted a female U2 and if she ever found one let us know. She found a couple of different ones but were males and Sherry didn't think she could handle a rootin tootin male, so we passed. The end of July Linda M writes she has found a female U2 needing to be rehomed, and to get in touch with Kathy J in Detroit. Details were worked out and I left home at 8 AM on Tues and Wed morning at 9, I picked up Angelica U2 and Baby the Jenday. I just missed Sherry 'Chiaowl' as she had picked up Bay and 4 Lovies. I hate that I missed her. And...I missed getting to meet Kathy as she was out when I called. She returned the call but by then I was in Ohio. Hey, I don't mess around. I was home by 5:30 PM Thursday. I called Mz Sherry and told her to step out in the drive and meet her new daughter. She came out and screamed "She's beautiful!!" And folks she really is that. This tells how we arrived at the 'Fabulous 15' but not much about Oscar and the Boo Girl.
When Oscar and Boo arrived they each had a cage they slept in at night, but shared a big cage during the day. Soon we bought a playgym for them for their day use. Each morning we would open their cage doors and they would come out, climb to the floor and walk to the playgym and climb up. They spent the whole day on the gym sitting by each other, just like the picx you see now. Their cages set side by side, and at night they would be next to each other as close as they could be with just the wire between them. We talked about letting them room together since they spent every day with each other. So one night I let Boo go into the cage with Oscar. He said "Hi Boo" and raised his wing and she snuggled up under it very close to him. That is how they sleep every night, very close together. They still make their trek from the cage to the playgym every morning, and back to their cage at night. With Boo only having one foot, she does fly some. She'll fly off the gym to the middle of their room, land, then look back and wait on Oscar. He flies off and lands by her and they walk to the cage together. Oscar has the strongest foot grip of any of the flock here. He has a terrific amount of strength in his toes.
Oscar is our most gentle member, so loving and caring. But he can give a pretty loud Zon trill when he's in the mood. He has never given either one of us a bite. When you start to pick him up, he will lightly growl and take your finger in his mouth and hold it but never apply any pressure. Little Boo girl is afraid of hands so we try not to handle her any more then necessary. We just talk to her and more or less let her be. No use stressing her. She's a lot better then when she first came here. If you walked up to her she would fly away, now she no longer tries to get away. She really gets nervous if I take Oscar off the playgym for a shower or just to play with him. She doesn't like me messing with her partner. When I put Oscar back on the stand, she runs over and acts like he's been gone for weeks and is just so happy to see him. I could spend the whole day watching and photographing the two of them, but then I'd miss all the other birds and what they do. Each one is different and each one is so special. Mz Sherry and I each try to spend time with each one sometimes during the day one on one. We're very lucky that all the flock seem to get along pretty well as some of our photos show. I know some of you get tired of all the picx I post, but when you have 15....well, that's lots of photo opportunities and we think we have a super great flock. Hope all y'all enjoy them as much as we do. Now you know some more of the story.
Created: 2002:
Last Updated: Jan 01, 2004