In the morning, Phoebe and I played pretty hardcore with one of his favorite toys — a pickleball. Normally, he takes a morning and/or early afternoon nap on my shoulder.

But right after playtime, I took him outside to his tree, where he did a little bit of bark chewing and sat listening to the outdoor birds. I noticed he has a lot of flight feathers coming in, although some of them are showing signs of mutilation.

After tree time, I took him to Rosebud Cafe. There was a line indoors, so I didn’t take him inside right away. Normally when that happens, he’ll protest and indicate to me that he wants to go inside. This time, he didn’t object when we sat down outside next to the window. He spent a few minutes watching his friends working, but then he started doing his naptime routine — getting puffy, doing some light grooming, getting very close to my face.

Then he full-on turned his head around and started sleeping on my shoulder. He does this all the time at home, but I think this might be the first time he napped outside at the cafe.

One of our friends, Justin, came out to see us. Phoebe barely moved, and instead made quiet squawks every minute or so to remind us that he was still here and part of the conversation. He evidently felt very comfortable, otherwise he wouldn’t have continued to nap with a person nearby.

I took him inside the cafe just before it closed so he could say hi to his other friends. He got a little too excited and started vocalizing. Our friends who work there are used to it, but I don’t want to bother the customers who aren’t aware that they’re sharing store space with a bird. So I took him outside again as soon as I could. One of his other friends, Stephanie, gave him scratches on his wing. He’s not used to that, but he also didn’t object.

Around dinnertime, one of our neighbors brought some food for us. The only thing I thought Phoebe could eat was a lettuce leaf. It’s crunchy and shreddable, which he normally likes. On the downside, it’s a vegetable. Like a 5-year-old child, Phoebe understands that he can hold out for better food than vegetables.

I tried to give him the lettuce, but he instead turned his head upside down and started scratching it. That means “I want you to also scratch my head” in Phoebe speak. It’s also strategic. The subtext is: “Whatever you want me to do, I’m not doing it. So since we both like scratching my head, let’s agree to do that.”

He does this all the time when, for example, I’m clearly about to put him to bed. Or if I want to move him from one perch to another. Suddenly, it’s head scratch o’clock instead of whatever I was planning.