Me & My Budgie - "Tinker"

Tinker
We have a 6-yr-old parakeet named Tinker. He has survived 3 cat attacks and being locked in a refrigerator fo 2 hours. He has a very large vocabulary, about 40 words, like his name "Tinker", "mr. naughtypants", "come here", and he has an awfully high opinion of himself, too! He sits in front of his mirror and says "pretty, pretty, pretty bird." Sometimes he says it 5 or 10 times! I have many stories I could tell, but I will share the refrigerator incident with you.
I was cooking dinner one night (yes, I cook, stop your laughing right now) and Tinker was on my head. He was watching me go back and forth to the refrigerator and get food out to prepare, and I guess he figured out that is where the "treats" come from. He flew off of my head back to the living room (so I thought), and I finished my dinner. About 2 hours later, I got up to get another Dr. Pepper, opened the fridge door, and there was Tinker, puffed up into a ball, just chirping to himself! I held out my hand, and he jumped on it while I figured out how he got in there... when I walk away from the fridge, the door closes automatically, he must have slipped in there before the door closed all the way! I aksed him if the light stayed on when the door was shut, and he just looked at me and said "Daaaady's baby". He just had his 6th birthday last july, and he is going to be around for a lot more.
- Submitted by Ron Ladwig