Meet the Talker.......

The talker sometimes drives me crazy! Her name is Nika and she has been part of our family for over 22 years. African Grey parrots are known for there talking ability and she certainly keeps us well entertained. Much like a child, she finally starting talking when she was about a year old, and hasn’t stopped since.

Nika loves scolding Rico, our Orange-wing Amazon parrot, when SHE thinks he is too noisy or asking Diva our dog if she wants to go outside. She certainly rules the other animals, or at least tries. She doesn’t bother with Samantha our cat much, just now and then we hear a kitty cry. But, again if you hear Nika saying “bad, bad”, we known that Sam is up to no good, and Sam is almost always up to no good.

Nika is so good a mimicking voices, often the dog and my husband think I’m talking to them, not the parrot talking to them in my voice. Nika is currently into phone rings, thanks to all the political phone calls. She is so good, the only way you can tell if it is our phone ringing is to be in the same room as the phone, she especially loves ringing the phone when I’m outside.
Another of her favorites is the microwave oven and the stove timers. She only makes the noises when the appliance is being used, I wish I had a nickel for each time the beep has gone off, just to rush in, to discover it’s the talker, not the timer. Nika talks in my voice, my husbands voice, and other family members voices. She can whistle the “Charge of the Light Brigade", and still talks about other animals that have left this world.

I often hear my Daughter talking, my Grandson crying, my Mother-in-Laws voice, my Step-Mothers laughter, Uncle Pettie’s deep, deep voice, and so much more. Nika really is entertaining, except on occasion when I want peace and quite, and she wants to talk. Nika always says “bye” as I leave for work, and “see you later” when my husband leaves.

Nika loves to eat, and will ask for toast in the morning. A habit she acquired from my Mother-in-Law, and considering my Mother-in-Law wanted her to say ” thank you”, Nika always says “thank you, thank you” so she could have her toast. At night it’s “want a peanut”, so she gets her peanuts.

I’ll never forget one Sunday morning many years ago, when my husband and I could not decide who was going to make breakfast, next we hear “I can cook” from the kitchen. With a talker like Nika you need to be careful what you say, no off colored words, all it takes is one time, and you might be hearing that word for a very, very long time into the future. Years ago, one of the talk shows had a guest that used a word I will refer to as a gutter word, the next word out of Nika was this word. I couldn’t believe what she repeated, thank heaven it was the only time she repeated this discussing word.

I wouldn't trade her,I enjoy her company, as well as all the fond memories when I hear her use all the different voices and phrases of family members that are not around to share our laughter.