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<p>EVERETT, Wash. &#8212; He&#8217;s 57 and a hairy house painter with a boozy past.</p><p>She&#8217;s 27 and a feathered fowl with a sassy attitude.</p><p>Man and macaw have been a couple for 17 years.</p><p>What&#8217;s up with that?</p><p>Rod Shafer and Sally, a rescue parrot, are seldom apart.</p><p>She stays clawed to his shoulder much of the time, almost as if they are conjoined. He talks to her. She squawks back.</p><p>&#8220;I take her to Walgreens with me. She rides on the shopping cart,&#8221; Shafer said. &#8220;I had her on the lawnmower yesterday. People stopped and were going, &#8216;What the heck? Look at that bird mowing the lawn.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>They make quite a pair, he with his long grayish-brown mane and she with bright blue and yellow plumage.</p><p>Sally sits on the handlebars of the chopper-style bicycle he pedals around town. It replaced the Harley motorcycle he rode before the two DUIs in four months he got three years ago.</p><p>&#8220;The whole time I was in jail I was thinking of nothing but my bird: How was she? Was she OK? I didn&#8217;t want to lose her,&#8221; he said.</p><p>She&#8217;s the key to his sobriety.</p><p>&#8220;She straightened me up. I don&#8217;t drink anymore so we&#8217;re good to go.&#8221;</p><p>Their favorite place is the park. Kids gather around, and he puts Sally on their arms &#8212; and asks that they please not put their little fingers near her mighty beak. So far, so good.</p><p>Shafer was a house painter until he retired seven years ago on disability because of back and knee issues. So he has a lot of free time to spend, alone, if not for Sally.</p><p>&#8220;Many nights we kick back in this chair,&#8221; he said. &#8220;She&#8217;s my comfort. She gets me out of my down moods. She treats me good. Nobody could ask for a better companion.&#8221;</p><p>The two weren&#8217;t always lovebirds.</p><p>&#8220;It took me four years to get used to Sally,&#8221; he said. &#8220;She bit me hard every day for four years. She took my right ear off.&#8221;</p><p>Not the whole thing, just the top. He pulls back his hair to reveal his jagged ear.</p><p>He&#8217;d never had a bird before Sally, who was abandoned by a neighbor of an ex-girlfriend.</p><p>&#8220;She was pretty wild,&#8221; he said of the long-tailed bird.</p><p>Sally entered his life as Sal.</p><p>&#8220;I thought she was a boy and called her Sal for almost 10 years,&#8221; he said. &#8220;The bird store lady said she was a girl. So I started calling her Sally. She started acting better.&#8221;</p><p>That was proof enough for him. The way she acted around his female company confirmed it. Sally doesn&#8217;t like to be the other woman.</p><p>&#8220;She&#8217;s jealous. She wants all the attention,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I haven&#8217;t had a girlfriend in a couple years because of her. She chases them out of here. She nibbles at their feet.&#8221;</p><p>Sally keeps him entertained. And vice versa.</p><p>&#8220;She likes to play catch a lot,&#8221; he said. &#8220;When she&#8217;s hungry she&#8217;ll grab my hand and try to pull me in the kitchen. She wants me to pet her all the time. She follows me around like a little dog. She loves her daddy so much.&#8221;</p><p>He blows her a kiss. She steadies her beady eyes on him.</p><p>Sometimes he goes places without her. If he&#8217;s gone too long, she seeks revenge by going through his dresser and tossing out his clothes. The drawers are pockmarked by peck marks.</p><p>Jaydyn Harn, 11, who lives in the apartment downstairs, likes to join them on outings.</p><p>&#8220;Everybody crowds around,&#8221; Jaydyn said.</p><p>Around the parrot, that is. &#8220;I&#8217;m not pretty enough,&#8221; the boy said.</p><p>He knows when Sally is home alone.</p><p>&#8220;When he leaves, oh boy, does she squawk,&#8221; he said. &#8220;She&#8217;s loud. She squawks &#8216;Rod, Rod, Rod.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Seems Sally has quite the vocabulary.</p><p>&#8220;She has kind of a potty mouth,&#8221; Shafer said. &#8220;She goes, &#8216;Hey baby, step up.&#8217; &#8216;Hey baby, show your girls.&#8217; Or she&#8217;ll sit there and say the f-word. Last night I got up about 3 o&#8217;clock to go to the restroom and she goes, &#8216;Good night, Sal.&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>She sleeps in her cage. They don&#8217;t share a bed. A chair, yes.</p><p>He often includes Sally in the conversation. She responds with a squawk as if she understands what he is saying. Maybe she does.</p><p>&#8220;She loves strawberry ice cream,&#8221; he said, then turns to her. &#8220;Like that strawberry, huh, Sally? You&#8217;re a spoiled little girl, yes you are, huh?&#8221;</p><p>Squawk.</p><p>He credits her with finding happiness without getting plastered.</p><p>&#8220;I didn&#8217;t think I could do that every day after drinking for years and years,&#8221; he said. &#8220;I still had the urge so I started going to bars and drinking root beer and seeing everyone with sober eyes and was like, &#8216;Was I like that?&#8217;&#8221;</p><p>Of course, he takes Sally to the bar with him. She enjoys a shot of pineapple juice and chews the ice he gives her from his root beer.</p><p>He turns to Sally.</p><p>&#8220;Are you happy that your daddy isn&#8217;t drinking anymore?&#8221;</p><p>Squawk.</p><p>&#8220;You know what they say, &#8216;If you love a bird, set it free. If it wants to be with you, it will come back,&#8217;&#8221; he said. &#8220;If she wants to take off, she can. She chooses to hang out with me. It&#8217;s unconditional love.&#8221;</p><style>
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<div class="neCaption">Retired house painter Rod Shafer stops in front of his apartment house in April after a short ride with Sally, who appears to appreciate a gentle massage between the wings. The parrot helps the 57-year-old recovering alcoholic maintain his sobriety. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/web1_AP18136844574214.jpg</photo0><caption0>Retired house painter Rod Shafer stops in front of his apartment house in April after a short ride with Sally, who appears to appreciate a gentle massage between the wings. The parrot helps the 57-year-old recovering alcoholic maintain his sobriety. </caption0><photoCredit0>Dan Bates | The Herald via AP </photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/web1_AP18136844684534.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Accompanied by Sally, who likes riding the mower, the bicycle and just about anything else that moves, Rod Shafer mows the lawn outside his house in north Everett, Wash.  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/web1_AP18136844684534.jpg</photo1><caption1>Accompanied by Sally, who likes riding the mower, the bicycle and just about anything else that moves, Rod Shafer mows the lawn outside his house in north Everett, Wash.  </caption1><photoCredit1>Dan Bates | The Herald via AP </photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/web1_AP18136844611969.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">At a downtown bar in Everett, Wash., Rod Shafer watches his young neighbor, Jaydyn Harn, 11, practice shooting pool while he sips root beer and keeps a glass of pineapple juice in the other hand for Sally, his rescue parrot.  </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/web1_AP18136844611969.jpg</photo2><caption2>At a downtown bar in Everett, Wash., Rod Shafer watches his young neighbor, Jaydyn Harn, 11, practice shooting pool while he sips root beer and keeps a glass of pineapple juice in the other hand for Sally, his rescue parrot.  </caption2><photoCredit2>Dan Bates | The Herald via AP </photoCredit2></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/web1_AP18136844756596.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Retired house painter Rod Shafer cruises through a north Everett, Wash., neighborhood on his chopper-style bicycle with his closest companion Sally, 27, sitting on the handlebars, enjoying the sights. Shafer, a recovering alcoholic, has had the bird for 17 years, and the two have become inseparable. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo3>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/web1_AP18136844756596.jpg</photo3><caption3>Retired house painter Rod Shafer cruises through a north Everett, Wash., neighborhood on his chopper-style bicycle with his closest companion Sally, 27, sitting on the handlebars, enjoying the sights. Shafer, a recovering alcoholic, has had the bird for 17 years, and the two have become inseparable. </caption3><photoCredit3>Dan Bates | The Herald via AP </photoCredit3></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Andrea Brown</p><p>The Daily Herald via AP</p></bylineMeta></div>

Everett, Wash., man and 27-year-old pet macaw are inseparable