Is This Thing Still On?

Sheesh - I think my blog might have expired. I haven't been near it in so long!

As you can see I haven't been able to post about my "secret project" yet due to circumstances beyond my control - but I am told it will be ready on the 9th, so I am keeping my fingers crossed!

In the mean time I hope to placate my readers - if there are any still out there - with this sweet photo of Indy.



We weren't sure that we were going to be able to keep her at first but of course the longer we dithered over that decision the more we became attached to her. She is a real sweetie pie. I think she is the most likely to learn to talk of the three of our parrots. We finally bought her a proper cage of her own a few weeks ago. She was so happy she immediately jumped into her water dish and took a bath! Plus she seems to have finally discovered her pellets and makes a ruckus crunching them with gusto.

I hope I don't jinx it but we have been very lucky with our birds. They are all quiet and well mannered for the most part. They rarely have screaming fits - even when we play Rock Band at high volume late into the night. In fact the only time they ever make a fuss is when Hubby gets up late on the weekends and their food isn't delivered as early as they are used to. But even then they kindly give him a good three hours before they start to protest.

Other than playing Rock Band and keeping this family fed, clothed and bathed I have been working on some needlepoint and reading.

Recently I read Patrick Mcgrath's Asylum which I thought was very good. Not super brilliant but good enough that I stayed up late reading when I should have gone to bed! I tend to like stories about crazy people though. Especially crazy psychiatrists. :) I liked this book in the same way that I like Ian McEwan if that makes any sense.

Also read John MacLachlan Gray's White Stone Day. It is a sequel to his other novel The Fiend in Human which I enjoyed. White Stone Day is a Victorian crime story which uses Lewis Carroll as a main character and a journalist in place of a detective - a good start but unfortunately I thought the plot was a but scattered and rather struggled to come together. If you haven't read the first novel I think you would be quite lost trying to get through this one. But his characters are very interesting so overall I enjoyed it and will probably read something else of his. I will definitely read another Macgrath.

The Handsomest Meyer's Parrot Ever

My Hubby took this awesome picture of Scooter the other day. Isn't he just the handsomest little rogue you ever laid eyes on?



Scootie is such a character. He loves to be snuggled and held but he is just like a hyper little boy. He has to rough house a teeny bit before he will give in to the love zone. He makes this funny snuffling sound and squirms all around and bites us a teeny bit then he is ready to be loved and he falls into the scritches trance. What a weirdo!

Indy

Our baby Senegal Indy is going to come home with us this coming weekend!



We visited her last weekend and at first she was in a rather grouchy mood. Apparently there had been quite a few babies going home that day and all the activity probably upset her.



She settled down pretty quickly though and started grinding her beak. (For those non-bird people out there, birds grind their beaks when they are happy. It's weird but cute.) Indy is extra cute when she grinds her beak because she combines it with a funny little tongue wiggle - hard to describe but I've never seen another bird do it! If you click on the above picture you can see her in mid-wiggle. :)



I'm a bit apprehensive about her meeting with Scooter for the first time. They have to be cage mates so the first impression just has to be a good one. I'm thinking about taking Scooter with us when we pick her up - he needs his nails trimmed anyway. That way they can meet outside of our home on more neutral territory. But I would be glad of any advice from other bird mom's out there on how to handle their first meeting.

Thanks to everyone who offered advice/opinions on the sidebar & Flickr. I've made some changes to the sidebar & Hubby pointed out some other Flickr options I might try...

Guess that's it for now!

Indy

This weekend we were lucky enough to be able to have time to go visit our Indy at the aviary. She is perching a little better now.



Indy got many scritches from the whole family. She seems fairly comfortable with people now. Baby Senegals are notorious for being nervous.



She was relaxed enough to lie on her back for me without really putting up any fuss.



Violet and her human mom were also there so we took a photo of the Violet and Indy together to commemorate their "playdate". (Doesn't this photo look like it is Scooter and Lucy in a parallel universe?) Isn't it funny that we both wore shirts that were almost the exact same color? I swear we didn't call each other to co-ordinate.



Violet will probably go to her new home soon so I am glad we were able to get this photo. :)

So much good fortune lately!

So many things have happened lately! So many posts to write! Knitting progress, sponsor kid news and new additions to our family are just waiting to be revealed. I will get caught up and post about it all as soon as I can manage to get photographs taken and uploaded.

So,to start off, meet Indy our new baby Senegal!



We put down a deposit - oh so many moons ago - and waited and waited and waited. Finally the Senegal babies arrived! We went to the bird store this weekend to make our choice since we were first on the list and had first pick.

Originally we were thinking we should get a boy since (hopefully) the new Senegal will live with Scooter in his big huge cage. But the only boy available was...not so nice. In general Senegal babies have a reputation for being very very frightened and timid. Well, the little boy sure was! To the point where I was starting to question if getting a Senegal was a good idea at all. The male baby bird just didn't seem to connect with us AT ALL.

Then good fortune intervened and a couple walked in who happened to be second on the list for choosing a Senegal. They were in love with the baby boy and were really dismayed to learn that we were thinking we wanted a male. So we decided to let the other couple have the boy (to the satisfaction of all concerned), and take a look at the little females. Thank goodness we did because Indy is just THE SWEETEST little girl imaginable.



As you can see, she really connected with us and was giving birdie kisses right away. (I'm sure bird + human kisses really gross out some of my readers - but I think it's sweet. :) )

Indy will be coming home in early October. I can't wait! Until then we will visit her regularly so she can get used to us.

The addition of Indy completes our small flock so I'm extremely happy that she is just so perfect for us!

And in another stroke of luck I managed to meet a new bird friend - and her humans too. :) A nice lady had emailed me a few weeks earlier asking me all about Lucy and where she could find a Pionus baby. I directed her to the bird store and she ended up choosing an ADORABLE Blue Headed Pionus baby girl that she named Violet. While we were at the bird store I mentioned the story and guess who was standing right behind me? Of course, the nice lady!

You can read all about Violet the Pionus on her new blog here.

Scooter and Lucy didn't seem to be upset with us for taking a vacation and leaving them behind. They are both acting just the same as usual. Lucky us! It can be problematical leaving your flock behind (right Mary? :) ) and most birds let you know they don't appreciate it much. I wondered how it would go since this is the first time we have gone on vacation. But everything turned out fine.

So the fates have been looking out for us and all is well in our little flock. :)

Look at me!

If Scooter were a human he would be constantly shouting "Look at me!". He is such a funny character. Lately he has been working on saying "Hi", "Hello" and "Thank you". He also does a variety of sounds - including the same clicking that Lucy does to identify me. Scooter is like a puppy with wings. He loves to be ruffled all over and kissed on and snuggled. His favorite spot is scrunched up under my chin. He also loves to hang onto my pony tail and get swung all around. I guess it's the bird version of an amusement park ride. :)

And the big news is that he has his first yellow head feather! My little bird is growing up. *sniff*

:)

If Only You Could Dye Yarn Like That

Lucy looking very proper.

She has been talking more lately. Her voice is nowhere near as clear as an African Grey's but you can figure out what she is trying to say. It's sort of like being a parent whose kid is just starting to learn to talk - you can understand them but maybe other people wouldn't. Lucy says: Hi, Hello and is working on Thank You. She also makes "love love" sounds when she is happy. She imitates the tone and cadence of many, many more phrases than she can actually say. And she is very good at clicking and whistles and beeps. Thankfully she does not imitate the phone or microwave or anything. But she has learned the little kissy, clicking sound I always make to her. She shows me that she associates that sound with me and makes the sound when she is happy or trying to show she loves me. All in all a very smart little lady. :)

Catchin' Up With Y'all

Soooo - what's been up with you guys?

Actually, I already know the answer(s) to that question because I have been blog reading if not blog writing. I've got the end-of-the-kids-school-year-is-kickin-my-ass syndrome.

Since I last wrote, my daughter finished her school year and we hosted a pool party for her entire class. It was fun - especially because we didn't grill this year. We ordered pizzas instead. I got to catch up with the other moms and got a sunburn (as usual).

Then my daughter had her first ballet recital. Can you say "CUTEST THING EVER"? I only slept one hour the night before & woke up from that little bit of sleep after having nightmares about not being able to do a good enough bun. Ballerinas are SERIOUS about their buns. :) It's not that my daughter is demanding or anything - it's just that she is my baby and I wanted everything to be perfect for her. It was. She was beautiful. The most beautiful little thing in the whole world. Who needs sleep anyway?

My son will be out of school this week - with all the attendant pool parties, teachers gifts and general mayhem that comes along with the end of the school year.

Then - camp. Oy.

In crafty news...I only have one skein of yarn left to crochet up for my blanket! I've sewn about 1/3 of the bundles of various squares into larger patches. The sewing actually goes fairly fast. I can't wait until I start laying the patches out to see what kind of designs I can make. I'm thinking this will end up actually being two blankets - one in blues and earth tones and one in .... everything else. :) SO I may need to buy a bit more yarn. Won't know until I start laying things out.



In animal news...I think Scooter is going to be a yellow head. He looks like he has started loosing the feathers just above his nose/beak and the ones that are there have a distinct yellow undertone. It will be cool to see the new color grow in. I'll try to get lots of pictures.

And last but for sure not least - Children International did an interview with me & my family and will be including it in their newsletter! Email me if you would like to read it & I will send you a link.

Oh, and also - it is hot here. The kind of hot that we locals like to call hizzzzzot! I'm not going outside - possibly ever again.

Scooter's New Trick

He actually seems to like this. What a character!



Some types of birds actually like to play with their toys while laying on their backs. Scooter doesn't ever lay on his back on his own but, once he figured out what I was asking him to do, he didn't seem to mind doing this trick for me. He likes to be petted under his chin & on his neck so I don't think he has much fear of exposing his belly to us.

Charming Lucy

I've been posting mostly pictures of Scooter lately but Lucy has been getting her share of attention as well.

Hubby took these charming photos of Lucy with one of her favorite "foot toys".



She is just like a baby with the way that she likes to explore the world - everything goes in her mouth first. Whenever one of the parrots is doing something I don't want them to do, I hand them a toy to distract them. It works really well.

Simple toys like these are very much loved by our parrots. They have a variety of foot toys - ones to be chewed up, ones with funky textures and shapes, noisy ones, soft ones etc. Anything new and colorful is a welcome addition to their toy basket in the play area.



Lucy loves to try to remove the colored plastic rings. After a while when she can't get them off she loves to drop the toy on the ground. I think she likes the sound it makes. It's noisier than most of the other foot toys she has!

It's Official!

It's official....

Scooter is a boy!

Maybe that's why he likes to kiss and love me so much? Maybe he's a Momma's Boy. :)



So I guess we will keep the name. Which we probably would have done anyway since he answers to it already. :) He is such a great bird. So smart and fearless. I've got him learning to lay on his back for me. Aside from being just the cutest thing ever, I think it's also a good idea to handle a parrot every which way possible when they are young & impressionable so that you can avoid problems later.

Today's random cute photo - Scooter butt.



And in crafting news, I have started putting together my crochet squares. The little bundles were really starting to pile up! After I got past my first bit of "seaming confusion" (I always feel like I have forgotten how to sew things together. It takes me a bit to get the mojo back!) - everything is in high gear now. I'm actually enjoying putting the squares together to make the large patch. Probably because they are turning out exactly as I envisioned - which seems to be a rare thing sometimes! I haven't felt any project disappointment with this so far at all. It's alot like quilting in how I am putting all the little bits together to make one large patch. After I get all the large patches together I can lay them out & see what kind of designs I can make. Fun! Pictures soon I hope. :)

Cutest Tummy Award Goes To....

Scooter!



Doesn't he look like a kid wearing a pair of colorful PJ's? LOL!

I'm still wondering if he will develop the yellow cap when he does his first grown up moult. There's a three out of five chance that he will. It depends on which subspecies of Meyer's he is. Since he is unbanded I have less info about him then I wish I did. :( Sometimes I think I see a yellow under tone to his head feathers - and I think you can see them in this photo as well.

I don't know if I want him to grow a yellow cap - I like him so much just the way he is!

My Favorite Picture of Lucy

This is my favorite picture of Lucy so far. You have to click on it to get the full effect - but I think this picture finally captures what her feathers really look like. There's so much depth of color! And the way they shine and shift like mother of pearl. It's mesmerizing.



I also think this photo shows Lucy's personality so far. I am her chosen human - but even so I when I put my hands near her she always instinctively retreats a few steps and then approaches me. I always let her come to me, keeping my hand still and praising her whenever she moves towards me. It took probably a week or two for Lucy to really decide to approach me on her own and I had to be very patient about it. She was always curious and I knew she really really wanted that contact but her past baggage made her cautious. Nowadays the whole "retreat then approach" sequence takes a matter of seconds. Someday I hope it will go away entirely but I'm not holding my breath!

In this picture Lucy is curious about the camera but cautious about approaching because it's my husband behind it! I am the only one that Lucy will approach to the point of touching. But she is okay if I hand her to him. So we're working on it. :)

The Love Zone

This is how Scooter likes to snuggle. Actually Lucy likes this too. :) They both love to get up under my chin and get kisses and scritches. Scooter loves big munchy kisses - I'm not actually trying to eat him despite what it looks like.

Birds that are happily getting snuggles sometimes seem to go into a zoned out state of mind. Knowing Scooter I can tell by looking at this photo that he was starting to get into the "love zone". His eyes are a bit glazed over. LOL! (Click on the picture and you can tell.) When Scooter gets that way you can pretty much roll him right over. You can kiss him and scritch him all up and down and he just loves it. He's such a character! When the kisses finally stop there's always a little pause and then the bird seems to "snap out of it". Sometimes they will even refluff and shake out their feathers as if to clear their minds. It's weird and fascinating.

Scooter's feathers seem softer than Lucy's. I wonder if that is just down to the different species or if it's just because he is still pretty much a baby?

Mary - I'd be interested to hear your thoughts on the differences between your birds feathers. You have a larger sample than me! :)

Scooter

New pictures of Scooter from this weekend...He's such a doll!



I love the way birds can look so interested and intelligent.



I'm not too fond of the blurry background and the lens Hubby used for these pictures - but any photo of Scooter is a good photo!

The birds generally spend 4 - 6 hours a day in their play area. We usually eat dinner with them. At first Scooter was getting exited when we would sit down and he would jump off and fly onto the table. Even though his wings are clipped he is still a decent flyer since he is fairly small and light bodied. This weekend he was finally able to stay out without trying to jump on the table. Yay!

Scooter has also learned his first "trick" - giving me kisses. It's easy to teach a smart baby bird to give kisses because they remember being fed that way (mouth to mouth). I just make a big kissy noise and say "Kisses!" and Scooter will kiss me back. So cute! (The cautionary note is that you need to always be careful with a beak around your face! Make sure your bird is really in the right mood for giving kisses rather than biting! Also, you may get a regurgitated surprise if you aren't careful. Ewww.)

Dianne asked how you DNA test a bird. The answer is that you have to get a blood sample - same as for humans. But since all they are testing for is the male and female chromosome markers they only need a very small sample which they get by clipping a toenail a wee bit too short. Bird toenails will bleed just like a dog or cat's will if you cut the quick. So that's how they do it. They send the sample off to the lab and then you wait two weeks for the results.

My New Baby :)

Look who followed us home from the bird store. :)



This is our new baby - a four month old Meyer's Parrot. They belong to the Poicephalus family which also has the more famous Senegal Parrot. We don't know yet if it is a boy or a girl - but I strongly suspect it's a boy. We will pick an official name when we get the DNA testing back but so far we've been calling him/her Scooter.

We had been looking around and considering various species as a second bird, going every couple of weeks to visit a great bird store in our area. This store is awesome because most of the birds are outside of their cages so they can be handled easily. They have a GORGEOUS Moluccan Cockatoo there who is a total lovebug - like most Cockatoos are. He lets me pet him under his wings and everything. He whispers at me like a little Romeo and last time I was there I was rewarded with an "I Love You"! I was so flattered! :) I'd take him home in a heartbeat but I know a Cockatoo would kill my asthma - they are VERY dusty birds.

That bird store has just about every kind of bird you could imagine so it's a good place to "test drive" the different species. You can hear their various calls (that store can get LOUD!), see how they interact with other birds (the Macaws are so playful!), how they cope with lots of people walking by, handling them etc.

I've been doing lots of research so I knew which few types of birds would be suited to our home. The Poicephalus are a great group of birds - and I think the Meyer's are the best of the best for a home that has children. They are playful but not insanely so, they have a pleasant voice (mostly beeps and peeping sounds), they are not very big, they don't tend to become one person birds, they aren't constantly demanding attention (like a Cockatoo would). All around great birds.

I think Meyer's Parrots often get passed by because they aren't as flashy colored as many other birds. (But if you give them a second look then you will see how beautiful they actually are. These photos don't do him justice at all.) Last weekend at the bird store I almost didn't notice the two little Meyer's Parrots. We were about to head out and go home when I saw them. I could instantly tell that our little birdie was attracted to us. I'm a great believer in letting your bird choose you if at all possible - that way everyone is happy. Birds have strong preferences in people and if they like you alot right off the bat then it is a good sign.

Well, this is the little guy that chose us. In fact he like us so much he tried to regurgitate some food for us right away. Sweet huh? LOL! Here he is on the toy basket in our birdie play area, eating a piece of carrot.



I think it is adorable when birds use their feet to hold things.



I love his little brown baby eyes. They will become an amber red as he matures.



Lucy thinks the new bird is...okay. I can tell she wasn't well socialized with other birds but I think she is open to the idea. And the little Meyer's is being sweet and respectful to her so it's working out great so far. :)

Random Bird Photos

No crafting pictures still...

..so how about some random photos of birds?

We saw this Black Headed Caique baby at a bird show we went to recently. They are really adorable birds - we thought about getting one but they are a bit too lively for our kids. This little baby was tired at the end of a long day of meeting people.



Dinah the Mynah was also very tempting to take home. When I was a kid I thought Mynahs were the epitome of coolness in brid terms. I had the ambition to someday own one. Probably had been reading too many Victorian novels. :) I had never seen an actual Mynah before this though. I didn't realize that they swallow their food whole! That was a bit disconcerting at first but we had fun feeding her blueberries.



And lastly, in the completely gross category, a Turkey Vulture was eating a raccoon carcass out on our street the other day. Turkey Vultures are huge! They are kind of beautiful in their own way though...but I probably wouldn't want to give one a kiss or anything. :)

More Parrots (Yes Again!)

I'm working on a couple of crochet sock yarn blankets right now so I got nothin' crafty wise to show you - all I have is a bunch of little squares.

So instead you get more parrot pictures. :)

Lucy stretching her wing feathers. Whenever she does this I say "Pretty girl!" She is sitting on the handle of her toy basket in the parrot play area we have set up for her. She usually hangs out there for a couple of hours everyday. Good outside of the cage time for her.



And here s a beautiful portrait of Lucy that my Hubby took. Doesn't she look so content and satisfied? You have to click to enlarge the picture to get the full effect. She's so pretty!!



And if you are starting to get addicted to parrot posts you should check out my new friend Mary's blog Parrot Musings. She has an African Grey, two Caiques, a budgie and one of the small Macaws. I love looking at the photos and videos she posts and reading about her flock. :)

Lucy Loves...

...to ride on my shoulder and preen my hair.



Are you guys sick of parrot photos yet? I hope not because I think I'm becoming what bird owners call a Parrot Slave. Well, maybe not a slave really but definitely a parrot worshiper! She's just so beautiful. I find endless fascination in the shifting colors of her feathers. They are iridescent - every shade of green that exists all at once on one feather. It's fascinating! Click on the photo for a closer look....

This is How the Birdie Sleeps....

Lucy sleeps perched on her mineral block all squooshed into the corner of her cage. One foot on the block and one foot holding the bars. She sleeps so squashed against the side that her feathers poke out. I'm convinced she sleeps like this because it is the absolute closest she can get to the rest of us. It is the best place to see us as we come downstairs in the morning. She has plenty of nice places to perch and even a snuggly toy she could cuddle if she wanted to but instead she chooses to squish herself into the corner. Silly sweet birdie!