Read Pickles The Parrot Returns: My Continued Adventures with a Bird Brain for Free Online Page A

It can only be made in the fall and most of the ingredients
are found in our yard. You can easily substitute items that are not
available to you but cotoneaster berries, mountain ash berries,
wild rose hips (or domestic) can usually be found Just about
anywhere - in the wild or in your neighbor's yards. Just make sure
pesticides haven't been used. And don't worry about picking out
every single small twig or leaf, otherwise it's very finicky work
and not necessary. Make sure to save the pumpkin seeds from the
fresh pumpkin - you will be adding them to the bread but save the
rest to feed to your bird over the next few days.
    All the ingredients are beneficial to health,
and rose hips and mountain ash berries are rich in vitamin C.
    This makes a fairly large batch, 9 X 11 pan,
and you want it to be almost of bread dough consistency. Depending
on the ingredients you substitute, you may need to add more water
or more flour for proper consistency.
    1/2 cup chopped pumpkin (birdie bite
size)
    1 cup steamed & mashed pumpkin
    1/2 cup cotoneaster berries
    1/2 cup rose hips
    1 cup mountain ash berries
    1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (reserved from fresh
pumpkin)
    1/2 cup pomegranate seeds & juice (
or 1 small)
    4 cups whole-wheat flour
    1 cup grape juice
    1 1/2 cup water
    (optional - cloves, if your bird likes them,
Pickles doesn't)

    Mix the berries, seeds and chopped pumpkin
with the mashed pumpkin. Add flour, mix well. Add juice and water
and stir until doughy consistency. Place in 9 X 11 cake pan,
lightly greased with canola oil. Bake at 350 degrees for 60
minutes.

Pip PipCheerios

    1/8 cup of cheerios
    1/8 cup of grape nuts
    1/8 cup of chex
    1/8 cup of brown or cane sugar
    1 cup of soy milk or juice
    (substitute any of the cereal if you
like)

    Extra cheerios for topping – 1 per cookie

    1/4 cup of chopped almonds
    ¼ cup of pecans
    ¼ cup of pinenuts
    (substitute any of the nuts if you like)

    ¼ cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
    ¼ cup corn meal (or other flour)
    1 tsp each of sesame seeds
    1 tsp of canola oil
    1 beaten egg

    Mix all ingredients together.  At this
point the mixture should be a little wet so you want to leave it
for about 10 minutes for the Cheerios to soak. After that, it
should be almost crumbly in texture.  If too wet, add more
cornflour or other flour.
    Drop by teaspoon onto baking sheet and push
one whole dry cheerio into the centre of each cookie.
    Bake at 350 for 7 to 10 minutes, or until
starting to brown on edges.  Should make about 50 cookies.

Sweet Potato Burrito

    Bake or microwave one sweet potato – poke
holes in it first. Peel the potato after it is cooked, or scoop out
the flesh. Mash the potato with just enough fresh juice to make a
paste.
    Use a rolling pin to flatten some 12-grain
slice of bread (or whole wheat, or whatever you like to use) then
spread the potato paste on the bread.
    Cut the bread slices into strips anywhere
from 1 to 2 inches wide. Roll the strips up tightly and voila!

Chapter 4
Dogs Are Chumps

    “ I decided I wanted a grass
hut but then I thought - no, because my dog would eat it to keep
from puking.  So I decided a mud hut would be
better.”
    “ I dreamed that I ran up and
kicked my little dog, Neeka, in the butt and my foot got stuck and
he dragged me round and round the yard.  I was scared but when
I woke up, I realized how stupid my dream was cuz I'd never kick my
dog in the butt.  I'd bite him.”
    “ Neeka the dog was sneezin'
his nose.  He looked like some kinda cartoon dog, he's so
funny.  He couldn't stop so I got right down on the bottom of
my playstand for a front row seat.  I was laughing and
laughing until all the sneezing and laughing got mom's attention
and she came in the room.  That's when the fun
ended.”
    “ Neeka thinks food grows out
of the kitchen tiles when mom or dad is cooking.  He sits
there staring at the floor, just waiting for something to pop
up.  Dumb dog.  Everybody knows food grows out of
bowls.”
    “ Okay mom, so you