Well Hello Folks!

Hope everyone is doing ok through this hurricane season! I left coastal NE Va and went west to the mountains to my new house to escape Hurricane Irene, but as there is no internet hooked up there yet I have been totally cut off, so to speak, until I got back last night. Fortunately, my guys are all great travelers, hopping right in their carriers just ready to go, so the trips went well, very little stress overall. They did seem to approve of the new house as well, or what they saw of it. The first-floor/basement is not ready for them yet so they just stayed in their travel carriers upstairs. Hopefully it will be ready soon, though. I am very excited planning it all! Plenty of room for everyone.

To end this post, I will change the subject quite suddenly to share a funny (although at the time it was rather nerve-racking) story about Gwen and the birds. As I said, the birds were staying upstairs in my bedroom in their travel cages. I occasionally have the ekkies out around Gwen, as she knows her stop/come/drop/leave commands very well, and has not showed any aggression towards them. She is actually quite afraid of them when they are out, and surprisingly seems to view them when locked up as a true part of her family. However, I never, ever, ever have her out with the smaller birds. In the past she has showed aggression towards them (does seem to regard them as family now, though), but more than that, they could fit in her mouth and I do not take chances with predators and prey!

Anyway, getting back to the story after all that background, I had all the birds in their travel cages, and Gwen was also in there, asleep on my bed. I was outside in the main room. The birds were doing their normal daily vocalizations, but over time I have learned the difference between a very excited "something-is-wrong" call (not meaning the alarm call- that is totally different) and their normal "I love screaming to the heavens" calls. As soon as I hear the "something might be wrong/off" calls I always go check, as I did yesterday morning. I have talked in the past about the wonderful ability Yo-yo has to escape cages and he had once again been at work, getting out of what I was sure he would not. This part would normally have been very upsetting, considering that Gwen was in the room with them, particularly considering Yo-yo was in the process of letting Ava and Linus out and Miss Patty was following close behind. However, Gwen was clearly not in the mood for birdie chase, and shot out of the door like a rocket as soon as I opened it. My mother was there with me, and she collected the shivering Gwen in the hall, before putting her down so Gwen could run downstairs to hide. Really, I had no idea she was so upset by the prospect of loose birds! I know I joke about the long held plan my Aussies have to take over the world, lead by Yo-yo, but I had no idea she took me seriously!

I still do not have any good pics of the new house/bird area yet, but hopefully soon I will have some!