Going Out

Well I have never claimed to have an exciting life. In fact, sometimes I prefer dull and boring since the latest "excitement" has included sick and hurt animals and thats not the excitement I'm looking for.

So since we really had no plans other then meeting friends online this weekend, John and I decided to venture out of the house for an hour or so and see what we could find.

Anything nature oriented was out of the question, Rain started falling in sheets once we left the house. So after dropping off a photo print order at the local drugstore we ventured out to the local pet store on what we affectionately call a "Bunny Run". (Bunnies are the feel good critter for me. Can't be depressed around a bunny!)

So off to the local pet store where the one lone bunny did not hold my attention for long, not when I saw this face...

"Are you my new Mommy?"

There is a reason baby cockatoos are cute. It's an evil plot to make me want to take them all home with me!! ARGH!

This aboslutly adorable baby Goffin Cockatoo melted my heart very quickly. To say "I want!" is an understatement.


Next to the Goffin was this fella...

"Hello, you want to take me home too don't cha."

This is a Cherry Head Conure, and from my experience with these guys at the store I worked in, they are m-e-s-s-y! They also tend to get cage bound quickly, which this guy, at the admission of the lady that works there, is on his way to being. :(

The star of the day though was this little beauty...

"Yes, Ohh and Ahhh you silly human woman, I -am- a pretty bird."

This is an Eastern Rosella Parakeet.  I have to admit I gasped and squeed just a little when I saw it. So pretty. Upon talking to the bird person I have been informed that these guys don't talk, (but they chirp really cutely) and they are not snuggle birds. IE. You can get them to step up but one that will let you pet and/or scratch it is very rare. :( Bummer.

But remember I said they chirp? Well it was so cute I took some film of it for you.



See I was thinking about you guys. XD Enjoy!

Friday Picture Post

It's been a rough month here, with everything that's happening there has been very little time to get out and actually enjoy ourselves. I have been busying myself with fractal making in the hopes of keeping my mind off some of the more traumatic incidents that have recently been daunting us. And on occasion snapping pictures of the animals when they do something that makes me smile. These are a few of those pictures.

Gunnar (front) and Scarlet (rear) were running around and playing until I pulled out the camera. Scarlet went for the instant sitting girl pose while Gunnar was curious as to what he might have been doing wrong at that moment.

Echo posing pretty for his close up.

This is London, one of the green-cheek conures we have here. She is pretty feisty and very brave for a smaller bird.

As I was feeding her London made a break for it and flew over to the kitchen window. Lou is outside watching the action and wondering if she'll get close enough to grab.

Slowly life is returning to normal, life moves on even if I don't really want to. So I will try and get out a little more and of course, take pictures to share with everyone.

See you guys next week, have a great Memorial Day Weekend!

Wait - What did you call me?

As I have said before, Kenya, our Congo African Grey prefers my husband to me. In fact if I were to suddenly disappear from the house I doubt highly that this would bother her much at all. Well, she might miss having someone to terrorize and lunge at when feeding time comes around.

Because of her rather intense mistrust/dislike of me, she doesn't talk much when I am the only one in the house, and defiantly not if I am in the same room as her. That is not to say that she doesn't make noise while John is at work. She whistles and calls the dogs, by name, on occasion. She also tosses her food out of her cage, one pellet at a time to lure the dogs in so she can get a closer look at them when she is bored.

Her favorite time to talk during the work day is while I am typing at the computer. For a few reasons, First and foremost, I am not in the same room as she is. This is important because she is not relaxed with only me in the room. I can ignore her or talk to her, it doesn't matter, she just does not trust me. The second reason is that even though I am not in the same room she can still see me, therefore making sure I am not trying to sneak up on her. The third reason seems to be her trigger though, they clackity-clack of the keyboard for what ever reason seems to make her want to talk. So the moment I start typing she starts chattering with hellos, good girl/boys and Whooos.

My typical morning routine for the last... oh lets say 6 months with her has gone something like this:

I wake up, roll out of bead and shuffle to the bedroom door and open it.
Kenya: John?

Me: No, I'm Mommy, not John.
I continue to shuffle in silence to the bathroom. Kenya makes no noise, echo stars his morning chorus of greetings, IE. Hello, Ole, and HI!
I come out of the bathroom and shuffle towards the living room.
Kenya: John?

Me: No, it's still Mommy.

Now remember, Greys are pretty swift on the uptake. If they want to learn a word they do it fast. Case in point, I was teaching Echo to say "I'm a little stinker." Because he is. Kenya picked up on stinker and thats all she wanted to learn, so now she just sing-songs stinker at any given moment. This happened in less then 2 days after I started, so yea, if she wants to know a word she learns it, fast. So any hopes that I had of her saying my name or addressing me at all flew out the window a long time ago.

So today, as I was sitting here typing an e-mail I was half listening to her babble when I heard this...
"I love you......Bobby." I have to admit my fingers tripped all over themselves and I had to close my eyes and listen closely because I knew she would say it again and she did, and it was Bobby and not Mommy, but hell, I was tearing up anyway because that is the first time in the last 4 years that she has acknowledged my existence with out drawing blood, or trying to.

And yea, I'm a sucker.

Time passes, Things Change

It's been a few weeks since my last post for a few reasons. The first being that we had a tragedy here that resulted in the loss of some of my dear feathered friends and the emergency hospitalization of 3 others. The second and slightly less traumatizing is that Blogger has changed their damn layout so much I am having a difficult time figuring it out. If you have not picked up on this yet, I don't take well to change, especially sudden and with out warning change.

So while I figure out how to navigate this new and "improved" site, hrmph, my posts may be a little sparse. And if anyone knows how to get the old style back, please for the love of pink and purple bunnies, tell me!