The O'Brien Family Pets a.k.a. Weird, True, and Freaky

Somehow our family seems to get pets with the most interesting personalities.   For instance, a parakeet, who we called Napoleon, would follow the children outside to "play" with them.  If the children were in the back yard, Napoleon would be in the back yard tree.  If they went to the side yard, the bird would hang out on that side of the house.  When they would come in the house he would eventually fly back inside with them, back to his cage.  When dad would come home and start eating dinner, the bird would fly over to him and beg.  He would also partake of dad's beer right from his glass!  (don't worry, he never drank too much.

We also had a cat named Latte.  Latte was similar in the fact that he would follow the kids around outside when they were playing or working.  He came whenever we were all together in the livingroom, as if he was one of the family, and would watch TV with us. We had to get rid of him, a year or two ago, because he was getting to old to move around.

Presently, we have an inherited a cockatiel that used to be our Uncle Dave's. He was a mean little thing, at first, but has now learned to behave, though he enjoys a peck or two at your hand  at rare times. It doesn't really hurt. He seems to like girls more than boys and he craves attention from my Mom. One time, when Mom refused to let him climb up on her, apparently hurt by the rebuff, he turned his back on her whenever she passed! It's as if he was a person. He likes when we talk to him, but you'd never know when he will let you draw near him, or turn his back on you. Sometimes it appeared that he read the newspaper in the bottom of his cage, because he would peer at it for a very long while. It's a wonder that we always end up with the most strange animal friends. Maybe, we inherited this from my Grandpa O'Brien, who has a variety of wild squirrels, peacocks, turkeys, cats, dogs, and raccoons that comes to his back door and eats the corn he sets out for them.

post written by Amy