Articles, essays, and features about Piper.
Whenever we watch Seahawks’ games at home and they score a touchdown, my husband and I each raise both our arms straight up in the air, the official signal for a TD, but adding twists back and forth, rather than loudly celebrating. We began doing this when we had our…
In the continuing saga of Where In The World Is Piper?, there is one car ride in particular that has become an annual tradition for him. My husband and I support local fire departments by purchasing ham and chicken dinners from multiple fire companies in the area, whenever they are…
Every Columbus Day weekend, the bird store where we purchase Piper’s food and toys has a 30% off everything sale, the event is called Parrot Palooza. Although we had stocked up on both in July, we made the drive to Bird Paradise in Burlington, New Jersey to at least buy…
Although it is Halloween, I assure you that Piper does not need an exorcism. Like most parrots, Piper can turn his head around 180 degrees due to his flexible neck and greater number of neck vertebrae than humans. This allows parrots in the wild to scan their surroundings for predators…
There are times when Piper looks like he holds the secret to the universe, that he knows everything that mankind does not but desperately wants to. In 19 years of life, Piper has somehow obtained the wisdom of the ages, from the beginning of time until infinity and beyond. I…
My husband and I clean Piper’s mansion (we never call it a cage) every Sunday morning. One week, before we got that started, Mister Rain and I were doing a few other things on our To Do lists. My husband was outside, Piper was screaming at the top of his…
Faster than mom and dad. More powerful than a sharp beak. Able to lift tall boxes with a single oomph. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s a bird! #sisterrain #alittlesightalotofheart #piper #birdmom #conure #parrot #bird #conuresofinstagram #parrotsofinstagram #birdsofinstagram #parrotlife #instaparrot #adoptdontshop #ahelpingwingparrotrescue #itssuperpiper
Upside down or right side up, Piper is always 100% Piper. Whether he is playing or cuddling, squawking or sitting quietly, in every moment of his life he is authentically Piper. Even though he can still surprise me, I can directly tie any new action back to who he is…
Whenever we plan a trip, the first thing we do is secure a sitter for Piper. We have a handful of wonderful women who take great care of Piper. It is still difficult to leave him but it is only because I will miss him, not because I am worried…
As I wrote about in “Spoiled Water” (click here), my husband occasionally takes Piper on a car ride when he goes to our favorite farm stand or a location where he doesn’t have to leave the car and Piper alone. At a McDonald’s drive-through to get coffee for him and…
