10/06/2026
Hello Farm Friends! Every day around here is like living with a bunch of circus clowns because the shenanigans never end.
I had just got back from picking up some produce. I went into the house to change clothes before starting the daily feeding process. When I entered the front door, Big Cash dog, the Mastiff mix, followed me inside and trotted behind me. As we passed Mr. Cooper, the Blue and Gold McCaw bird, he was hanging on the outside of his cage about two feet from the floor. He had a stuffed animal he was trying to pull out from between the cage bars. As I walked past, I looked at Mr. Cooper trying to destroy the stuffed animal and said, “You are a goober Mr. Cooper”. He ignored me and kept tugging on the stuffed animal.
I walked into the other room to slip on my overalls, when Mr. Cooper started to scream, I mean loudly. The noise level was deafening. You would have thought a Howler Monkey was in the other room howling since their howls reach 150 decibels. Mr. Cooper bird was mad he couldn’t squeeze stuffed animal man through the cage bars and was screaming. This caused Cash dog to start woofing at Mr. Cooper. His barks sound like he is saying “roof” so one of his nicknames is “roofer”.
I stepped into the room and told them both to quit acting like jaybirds. I told Cooper bird to quit screaming, and I told Cash dog to quit roofing. As I said this, Cash dog, who was facing the bird cage barking, quickly spun around to look at me. His nub of a tail was now right in front of Cooper bird’s face when he turned facing me. Not known to miss an opportunity, Cooper bird reached out, and snatched Cash dog’s tail in his beak, and chomped down. In a billionth of a second, Cash screamed, and leapt straight up in the air. When he did, he yanked Cooper bird slap off the cage. He came off so fast I was afraid it snatched Cooper birds feet off his body since he was hanging on ahold of the cage bars. As Cash dog raced past me yelping, Cooper bird was hanging off Cash dogs butt bouncing up and down and flapping his wings profusely. He wouldn’t let go of Cash’s nub of a tail. In a split second they raced past me and headed to the other room. I took off after them hollering “STOP” in rapid succession. I thought Cash would spin around and gobble Cooper bird up. As Cash dog took the turn, to head to the outside door, he skidded into the couch and smacked it hard. This caused Cooper bird to go flying onto the floor. I watched as he tucked and rolled a few times. I ran to grab Cooper bird when I heard Cash dog slam into the front screen door. It popped open and out the door he ran still yelping at the top of his lungs.
I ran and picked up Cooper bird. He was in shock and shaking as I carried him back to his cage. I checked him out. He still had both of his legs attached, so I felt a lot better as I placed him on a perch. He just sat and stared at me wide eyed. I said, “What in the Sam Hill were you thinking when you snatched ahold of Cash dog’s tail?” I told him you are lucky he didn’t hurt you. He just sat and stared at me, with a look on his face that said, what the heck just happened.
Then I walked back into the other room to go check on Cash dog to be sure he was ok. As I exited the screen door and onto the porch I looked down and said, “Huckleberry”. There were metal pieces lying on the porch. Cash dog hit the screen door so hard to get outside, he destroyed the door latch, and it fell apart onto the front porch. I had just replaced that door latch last week where the dogs broke it a few weeks ago. Now I have to replace it again.
After I picked up the latch pieces, I headed down the front steps calling for Cash. I knew he couldn’t go far because the gate was closed at the bottom of the stairs. Cash was nowhere to be seen. Then I walked out of the gate to see if he was in the yard anywhere. That’s when I looked to the right and said “Huckleberry” again. The entire fence to the right of the porch was lying down on the ground, about 20 feet of it. Cash dog apparently tried climbing over it or ran into it and knocked it down. The fence just laid there looking up at me from the walkway. I couldn’t believe it.
I finally found him and he was lying in the yard with a couple of other dogs. He sat there telling them how the grim reaper had come for him, but he ran and got away. I hated to break up the story, but I had to check on Cash’s nub. Upon examination, it was ok. You could tell where the bird had clamped down but there was still a nub. Cooper hadn’t bitten it off. There was a minor abrasion but no bleeding. I went and got the red coat spray and gave it a dose.
Just another day around here. I have a door latch and fence to fix but everyone is alright. I’ll just add it to my ever growing “around to it” list.
Remember, if you have the power to make one animal happy today, do it. The world needs to see more of this.
