Sammie, the African Grey again. My story:

When the terrorists struck New York, I was just a 3 month old, hand- fed baby, in the luggage compartment of an airliner, headed for New York City. My plane was forced to land at an airport in Youngstown, Ohio. The crew didn't know how long they would be grounded so called a local pet store and told them they had a baby bird on board that they didn't know how to care for and were afraid it would die and would they please take me? Of course, they did.

Three days later, Dianne was feeling depressed over the attacks and knew that going to a pet store always made her feel better. She was looking at the birds when one of the clerks started talking to her and mentioned that they had a baby Grey, in the "nursery." Did she want to see me? Yes! It was love at first site and they taught her how to feed me my formula (she got more on my body than in my mouth in the beginning ) but she worked really hard to learn so she could take me home.

Because of the circumstances of the time, Dianne at first named me Sam, as in Uncle Sam, but after having a DNA run on me, it became Sammie.

She's always sang God Bless America to me and put me on the floor and rubbed my back while she sang it. I become completely submissive with my head down and my fanny up in the air. I don't do that with any other song.

So, there it is. My story and I'm sticking to it!