Tidbits

I suppose you could say Clementine is fitting right in here in this house of opinion. Actually, she is pushing the limits, or just breaking them down, stirring us all up! Several of my parrots talk regularly in context, and while Frank may have the best mastery of the English language, he is by no means alone. My parrots and I have regular conversations, or at least commentaries, and while even mild Miss Claudia has adopted some of my sarcastic streak, we are all generally polite towards one another. Ok, yes, Chester does yell at the little birds more than absolutely necessary, but other than that, it is fairly friendly. Clementine, though, is more the "shake it up" type. I have yet to hear any of the foul language, trash talk, and insults I was told she knew, and for that I am very grateful, and happy since it implies, at least, she has yet to get angry enough for a screaming tirade. However, I do not appreciate the negative peer pressure she was putting on my Mom when I was busy elsewhere, asking her repeatedly if she wanted a cigarette. And I think she even has me beat with her bluntness. When I came into the room after my bath with my hair in a less than perfect wet hair mess I did not think it strictly necessary for her to ask me "What's with your hair??"

Claudia, quite frankly, was shocked.

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Alasdair (English Shepherd) is feeling quite a lot better now after his rough start in his first home. He is starting to gain both weight and muscle mass, so I am hopeful he may actually get to a reasonable size. He is not a year old yet, and is certainly, finally, acting his age, ie, he gets into everything. His toys are everywhere his blankets are everywhere, and the play fighting has left many scars in my clothing- although he is finally responding somewhat to the training for that one. This morning he tried eating the bottle lid along with his pills. A couple of days ago he discovered a tennis ball inside the house (tennis balls are, in my opinion, outside toys only) and caused a very frantic minute that was quite like something out of one of those almost painful physical comedy sitcoms, as the ball, and the large blundering dog, bounced through the house in all the wrong places. I had no idea how much glass was in here, I guess I had just been seeing right through it all.

And here Alasdair had raided the bird area for what was intended to be a new play tube for Yo-yo and the rest of the Aussies. They love playing hide and seek with each other, but I have a feeling he was not invited.

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I was soooo excited last week when I won a recipe contest held by Avian Organics- with the very generous prize being a $100 gift basket from them! Yay!!! My birds love their products, and I love that they are healthy and that I can safely be around them and feed them to my parrots- no peanuts, soy, or wheat, period. My recipe is now on their website, here, and I was thrilled to see Yo-yo's picture in their march newsletter. He is quite proud himself, too, I might add, if a little bashful at the idea. And in case anyone else has a recipe for the Avian Organics fruit powders, they are now offering a $25 store credit for any they choose to put on their website.

Now I just have to wait until it gets here!


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I am so excited by the variety as well as the huge numbers of wildlife, particularly birds, that are quite well established here. Even more amazing, they are seemingly not at all afraid of people, I suppose it has been a long time since anyone has bothered them, or even lived here. I was thrilled one morning to see four flickers feeding right outside the french doors, although I only got a clear picture of one (the video will not load). Oh, and the seeming rubbish behind him is actually leftover building materials (wood and siding bits) holding down plastic tarps to hopefully kill the current plants and give me a bit of an area to garden in. I am leaving most of the yard natural, it already has some lovely grasses, wild flowers, and shrubs, and clearly is serving the "locals" well.