If you've just dropped by or random'ed into me, please leave a comment and say hello.

Let me know how you found me, where you're from, why you're here, a little about yourself, recommend a book, recommend a movie, tell me a secret, tell me something, ask me a question, etc. =)

Ad Astra,

The Bride of the First House.
bride (at) livejournal (dot) com

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weather	:		partly cloudy
outside	:		9.0°C
mood	:		stoked

   

It looks like I just asked them to "come over here" and stand on the mark so that I could take their yearbook photos.

The reality is, it took hours of painstaking, sneaky, cajoling camera work with muscle spasm inducing patience in between each of the approximately 100 shots... then more post-production work.

But I love these two pics of them. =) In case they ever, like, go to school or grow up to be on the Senior Management Team of some Fortune 500 company with a professionally designed website, they'll have photos already done. =)

weather	:		clear
outside	:		5.5°C
mood	:		content

My Mother-In-Law has been back in Taiwan for the last month or so. Husband Guy and I have been holding our own since. It's good for her to take a nice long vacation with her sisters once in a while.

Sid was in the Animal ER last week for prolonged and extreme heavy panting and occasional wheezing. He gets himself stuck on something and gets worked up sometimes, but the heavy breathing continued for way too long, so we decided not to risk it.

He hasn't been allowed to fly since getting the collar last March, so the poor little guy hasn't had ANY exercise for almost a year now. His heart has weakened to the point that he now has heart disease. The x-rays and blood-work confirmed it last week.

He's on a round of anti-biotics at the moment. We're also giving him — and Skippy — as much leafy greens and veggies that he'll eat. I buy organic when I can, but I'm not a snob about it. I'm certainly happy with good quality vegetables no matter how they're labelled.

It's not a big undertaking at all to do this for him. The Husband and I are having plain steamed vegetables almost every night too. I've always really liked the clean, natural flavour of unseasoned, unaltered vegetables. Some things, I like better raw (white mushrooms and red/orange peppers); some things, I like better steamed for a few minutes (broccoli, spinach, brussel sprouts). They don't need salt, butter or dressing. I feel like I only need to lightly season meat.

We're eating out less too. We want to spend as much time at home with Sid as possible. He is at a very high risk of having a stroke right now. If anything happens, he needs to be back in the ER as fast as we can manage it.

But he hasn't shown any signs of problems since last weekend. He has even been climbing around on top of his cage and flying small distances. He's infinitely happier now without the collar. You can just see it in his body language. =) We still want as much time with him as possible before he leaves us for good.

We've been crock pot fiends in the last month. Our giant 6 quart slow cooker has been utterly indispensible. I will never understand how anyone can say that it's hard to cook for one or two.

The crock pot and the rice cooker are like wonderful and loyal staff in my household. =) If I want fresh food when I come home from work, the crock pot goes on in the morning. The rice cooker is timed to begin cooking the pre-washed rice so that it starts in the early evening and finishes just as I walk in the door. I come home on the bus, so I have the timing down pat =)

I bought sandwich-sized no-name brand plastic microwave/freezer containers at a dollar store for a buck each. We make a full 6 quarts of food. We eat what we want, then separate the rest into the containers and freeze them. We can make two large batches of stuff on Saturday and Sunday. Thaw and reheat, alternating dishes, throughout the week. Combined with rice and steamed vegetables, it makes for phenomenal meals.

We kept a close tab on the price of our meals done this way versus eating out. I expected it to be a lot cheaper, but I was very surprised that it was only $1.00 less per serving to make our own meals in bulk. Depending on what we make, it can end up being just a tad more to make it ourselves.

Maybe we just know how to pick'em, but we find eateries or somewhere that has large portions for under $10.00 and just get one entrée to share between the two of us.

I know we can eat really really well for about $3.00 per person, per meal, with a lot of choice and variety.

weather	:		rain & snow
outside	:		3.3°C
mood	:		...

I somehow think Sid will be wearing the collar for the rest of his life.

Because of the collar, he can't clean himself as well and has dingle-berries. =P I've been grabbing him for a quick rinse every once in a while. The collar has made it easier because it protects my hand from his bites. He doesn't like being grabbed at first, but it has to be done. After the rinse, I have him wrapped in a towel, in my hand.

He struggles for a while and then calms down. I've actually been able to pet him and scritch his head. I help loosen and groom off his new pinfeathers on top of his head, on his back, which he has not been able to do. He's all relaxed in my hands and his eyes are half closed.

I swear, tonight, he fell asleep while I was stroking the back of his neck.

I really don't know how much longer he'll live. Dr. MacDonald said he was older than she originally thought because the open skin under his wings were healing very slowly. I think they're closed up now. I had a peek tonight and they looked good to me.

He's still very perky and playful. He still loves rice, small veggies and whatever small bits of our dinner that we give him in a little soy sauce dish that's propped up on a little white plastic tripod from a Pizza Hut pizza. He chirps, chatters, warbles and makes all his regular sounds. He gets suitably offended at being ignored and squawks. He can still throw a tantrum at not being able to pick under his wing because of the collar. =)

But they're a prey species. They won't show illness or any kind of weakness until it's just about too late.

I saw a beautiful little hollow glass vessel pendant by a local merchant. The one she had on display was amber coloured glass with purple flowers and green vines. She took custom orders, so I asked her for one in Sid's colours:

• smokey transparent grey glass
• yellow flowers with orange centres
• white vines
• silver wire chain loops
• cultured pearl stopper
• size: 25mm x 35mm

She made two of them and I loved them both. I bought both of them. They are about the size of my thumb.

I was going to use one of them for Sid's ashes. Most likely the one on the right. They have sterling silver wire on the neck twisted into two side loops. I can string a 16" or 18" chain on them and wear it as a necklace.

The pet cremation services place that I asked said that it would be just the right size.

I wanted to be prepared, I didn't want to be stuck with something mediocre because Sid has meant so much to me. But I sort of wonder if I'm depriving myself of the ritual of doing it when I need to.

weather	:		sunny
outside	:		24.3°C
mood	:		okay

Even my bird needs booster fluid. My CAR doesn't need booster fluid. XD

*sigh* Sid's broken skin healed up nicely on one side, but still hasn't on the other. It's been 3 months now. He still has to wear a collar and he hasn't been allowed to fly for the last 3 months either. Poor little guy.

That kinda says he's much older than we originally thought. =(

He had to get fitted with a larger collar because he's learned to reach just past the perimetre and was able to pick at his wings. =P

Dr. MacDonald prescribed AVI-x Booster for him today. It's to help his skin, so that he's not as dry and flaky. He's supposed to get it once a day with his rice.

Because of his bigger collar, he had trouble eating from the little sauce dish we usually give him. I had to turn it upside down so that the rice was sitting on the bottom. That was the only thing I had that was high enough that he could eat comfortably on. I'm going to see if I can make him a little food dish-table thing out of a wide flat cap glued onto one of those small white plastic stools that prop up pizza boxes. I'll go to the Pizza Butt and see if they'll just give me one.

Anyway, he was very apprehensive about it when I gave him. It's orange, oily and I'll bet it tastes funny too. After 15 minutes of ignoring it, I put some of the AVI-x stuff on some basmati rice that came with my leftover Mediterranean Chicken. He liked that enough to try a little, so I know that he got at least a little AVI-x. I think he still likes white short grain rice better. =)

[Update - Saturday, August 25, 2007 - 2020h]

After yesterday, I thought he wouldn't like it. I thought I might have to grab him and force feed him. But he seems to be munching on his rice at least a little. He's only eating when he thinks I'm not looking... that's kind of odd, but whatever... =)

weather	:		cloudy/windy
outside	:		13.3°C
mood	:		oh!

When Sid came to us three years ago, I wouldn't have thought this was possible. I wouldn't have thought that he'd ever trust me enough to let me touch his head. And yet:

• Short Clip (0:13) - this one was shot in his cage which is darker in the evenings because there isn't a ceiling light in that part of the apartment.
• Long Clip (2:41) - this one was shot in the dining area where I've parked my workspace.

The edge of his collar has soft fuzzy tape on it because the Night Owl folks think it's been irritating him when he opens his wings to stretch.

I was thrilled when he came clambering out to his cage door when I called to him. I was thrilled when he tried to call me back as I started to walk away from him. Then I was thrilled when walked up onto my lap of his own accord.

I was floored when he navigated his way from the breakfast area, past the kitchen all the way to the dining room, just to find me.

And sometimes, when he's in a particularly good mood or if he's more scared of something else than our hands, he'll walk up onto our hands willingly without biting.

He's come such a long way.

weather	:		lovely
outside	:		22.5°C
mood	:		happy

The Little Boy is home.

His collar is still on and he's in a new cage especially built for him by the wonderful people at Night Owl. Click on the thumbnails to see:

Split level studio

Closeup of his favorite corner

Sleepyhead

They make the most amazing bird cage arrangements.

Sid is not supposed to climb, it's too clumsy with the collar on. So they made him a little split level studio with a sunken living room =) He has easy access to his food and water. It's actually smaller than his original cage, but it's laid out horizontally, so it feels like he has more room to move and stretch. If he looses his balance and falls, he won't fall very far and won't hurt himself as much. Face plants would still be rather painful though =P

We have him on top of a filing cabinet now so that he'll be higher than Sid. That's how birds determine dominance: they'll try to get higher up than the others. If his cage were lower than Skippy's highest perch, he'd always be tempted to climb. So, putting him up higher to begin with, will curb that temptation in him.

I love this cage so much that I'm wondering if we can buy him a similar but bigger cage and make it a split level just like this one. We'll be bringing him in to Dr. MacDonald again next week, so we'll talk to her then. Maybe we could arrange some kind of trade with them, like his old cage for this new one... maybe with a donation... something.

I can hear him chewing on the edges of the collar O_O

Okay, there seems to be no damage to the collar whatsoever. *phew* He can reach some parts of himself, so he can partially groom.

Oh, I almost forgot. Night Owl sometimes puts some birds out in the reception/waiting area. These are usually the birds that are not sick but are just boarded because their owners are on holidays or whatever. While I was waiting for Sid yesterday, a boy cockatoo, parked on one side of the waiting room, got flirty with me and then bent his head down for neck scritches =D Aaaaawww... =)

weather	:		clear
outside	:		19.6°C
mood	:		bummed

*deep breath*

Sid is being boarded at Night Owl again for treatment. We knew that his picking problem would never go away. But we noticed that he was squacking even when he stretched out his wings. That meant that he was in pain, somehow. On closer examination, we saw raw patches in the folds under his wings. It looked like he might have broken skin.

Dr. MacDonald said it wasn't as bad as the first time we brought him in, but it could potentially be bad. She would keep him and fit him with a collar. She didn't want to give him antibiotic cream this time, just to try to let the raw skin heal itself.

She has him in an incubator instead of his own cage most of the time. I went over to see him this evening and they put him back in his cage for the visit.

• Pic 1
• Pic 2
• Pic 3

It's really sad. He's having difficulty moving around with the collar on. He wriggled around a bit but then started nodding off right in front of me. He must have been really tired.

I also noticed parts of his shoulder area were raw and a little bloody. He was squirming around, so I couldn't see for sure. I asked Dr. MacDonald about it and it was from him struggling for his life while they tried to get the collar on. There's not much else she or the nurses could do.

And even worse, he'll just writhe himself bloody all over again when they take the collar off.

*sigh* I feel like, what the hell have I done to him?

This was Sid and Skippy a while ago. I love this pic of the two of them. I love the natural light pouring into that dining room from that bay window. I love that my two birdies sat still for a combined grand total of 2¼ seconds and let me take their picture.

But I wasn't happy with the mess in the dining room. We were sprawled out with our laptops on the dining room table because it's such a beautiful place in the house to be on a fresh summer morning.

At the time, we had just come home from a grocery shopping run. We were taking a moment to unwind, play with the birds before putting the groceries away. When you're working with animals, you snap those pics as fast as you can. They may not do the same thing twice. Hence the retarded looking plastic bag handles sticking up all over. =P

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		15.7°C
mood	:		...

It's hilarious that, when they fly, our birds sound like little cheap plastic helicopters from a dollar store. =D They go: *chep-chep-chep-chep-chep* in the air XD

The Victoria Day long weekend makes it two years since Sid first came to us. We've watched his affection and trust in us grow. It's been quite amazing. We were thinking that he may never really bond with us, but he clearly prefers our company and approaches us on his own accord.

He now knows his way around the main floor quite well. He likes going over to the dining room where I've parked out my workspace at home. It's spacious and bright with natural light... which is why I like being here as well.

There are six chairs around a dining table, all of which have been dooted on by the little guy. My Mother-In-Law tells me that he'll fly over during the day looking for me (or my food, whatever), fly from chair to chair, singing and talking.

He'll come over and land on my shoulder. Sometimes, he talks and sings. Sometimes, he likes to just perch quietly and watch me type. He'll look at me and then turn his head to look at my laptop, then look at me, then look at the laptop... all the while with that quizzical look that says he's totally not understanding how I could POSSIBLY derive any satisfaction from it. It's really adorable. XD

He observes things very carefully before cautiously and tentatively interacting with it. He's not like The Little Monkey Thing at all. Skippy will just assault and kill whatever it is she's up against. She only backs off if it whomps her back.

What's intriguing is, many times now, I've noticed that he'll get a bit restless and move around on my shoulder. He'll crawl down and away from me. This makes me stop typing and extend my arm so that it's parallel to the floor. He goes to about my elbow. I'll try talking to him, but he's all quiet. He just looks around. Then, he'll crawl back to my shoulder again. And he'll grind his beak which is a sign of content.

This usually means he's pooped. He purposely did it so that his poop wouldn't land on me. Sometimes, he'll fly off of me, land somewhere else, poop, then come back to my shoulder.

I'm not sure if I'm attributing more to it than there is, but cockatiels have been known to be capable of being potty trained.

If it's true that he's purposely not pooping on me, it means Sid has REALLY sophisticated reasoning abilities. He knows — and remembers — that pooping on me is something that I wouldn't want and therefore he shouldn't do. He knows that he should move his butt so that he doesn't get it on my shoulder. He knows HOW to move so that the poop lands somewhere else. He knows to move down my arm away from my body. He knows that by moving down my arm, I extend it like a tree branch.

Smart guy. =)

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		5.1°C
mood	:		content

Late one afternoon, shortly after I was hired at Work, we all hear a loud YELP coming from the disproportionately large, glass, corner office in the suite we used to be in. It was The Big Boss, of course. It was 4:30pm and he realized that he had totally forgotten about his wedding anniversary. =O

I remember there was a little bit of a commotion as he and his Exec. Assistant Lady scrambled to find a nearby florist where he could quickly grab something on the way home.

He's still alive, so I guess it was all good. =D

So, this year, on my first Ass-Not-Fired-Yet Anniversary at Work, I e-mailed him to thank him for a great year and to remind him that HIS wedding anniversary is coming up very soon. XD I know he's been married for twenty some odd years, so I thought I'd give him the heads-up just in case this was one of the big ones. =} He told me this year wasn't a big one, but he appreciated the thought nonetheless.

Yay me! Yay Big Boss! XD

On the subject of anniversaries, there seem to be a metric butt tonne of them around this time.

February 08 was the 5th anniversary of the creation of my LiveJournal. I've been spewing nonsense here for over 5 years.

March 16 was My Little Bugger's Hatchday.

March 20. Today... well, this morning at 10:26am Pacific, was the beginning of the Vernal Equinox. Yay, daylight.

And coming up:

May 22, Victoria Day long weekend, will mark two years since Sid has been with us.

And of course, July 7, but that's a little further out, yet.

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		6.8°C
mood	:		...

I'm just recovering from my Monday.

It was Sid's turn at Dr. MacDonald's for his checkup last weekend and to see why he was throwing up. He has an inflamed oral cavity and the bacteria cultures came back positive for e. coli. It's difficult to pinpoint where it comes from. It's more likely that we exposed them to it. Cockatiels are much less able to handle bacteria than humans are. We have more bacteria in our mouths alone than they do in their entire bodies.

Now that I think of it, we did have raw meat in that area from hot pot. Sid's also an older bird, so he might be more susceptible to infection than Skippy is. He's on anti-biotics now and it doesn't sound like a big deal. But we should be more diligent about being clean around the birds.

He was also having digestive tract issues when Dr. MacDonald x-rayed him. I forgot to ask if this could be caused by the e. coli issue. She seemed to think it was separate and that it was a pre-existing chronic condition.

He stayed the night at the Night Owl Hospital for tests and monitoring. Dr. MacDonald was very happy with his progress since we got him in 2004. She said he's healthier all around, physically and behaviourally. She also said she could tell that we loved him very much and took really good care of him because he was so happy to see us when she brought him out to us. He was all chirping, singing and talking, it was so cute. =)

All we can do now is make sure the antibiotics are in his water, move the little space heater and thermometer near him to make sure he's warm enough, make sure he has a birdie cookie in his food cup, make sure his cage gets covered for a while during the day so he sleeps, etc.

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		3.7°C
mood	:		recumbent

Right. Nothing quite says "Vacation's Over" more loudly and clearly than your house falling apart the moment you come home.

The central heating is busted in our house.

And thus begins the phone tag with the Fix-It Man, rushing home early, waiting and waiting and waiting for him, not being able to buy the right part to replace, having to wait until today and now waiting and waiting and waiting, hoping he hasn't forgotten, like he has in the past... !!!

It's about 14°, but we can just put more layers on. The birds can't, though. They can die with more than 10-15° of a temperature change in a 24 hour period. With 5-6° they could get sick. We'll just have to watch them for sneezing and coughing in the next little while.

We moved them into our room last night where we ran a small humidifier/space heater the whole night. We left them both there all day today as well because the rest of the house was so cold. Even without the heater running during the day, our room would lose heat slower if we closed all the doors and things.

Skippy loves warm water, so I gave her some when I got home. I wasn't sure what to do with Sid. We know he prefers warm water too, but we rarely see him drinking at all and he's too afraid of our hands to drink from a cup we offer him. Maybe I'll just grab him for a warm bath later.

I haven't had the motivation to organize pictures from our trip. I've done some, but not all of them. There are pics that we're sharing with the family, but won't be posting online. The ones left are just scenery and there aren't very many that I like. If you Image Googled for the location names, I'm sure you'd get pictures that other people have taken that look infinitely better than ours. In fact, in my more aw-what-the-hell moments, I think I should just post the itinerary that the travel company sent me (it's a Word doc, so I'll probably export it to HTML or something). That thing has great pictures.

I still have to write up some of the things I wanted to say about the trip. I still don't know if I want to do a Day-by-Day trip diary. I have more "Misc." to say than anything else. Some days, lots of stuff happened, but some days were just a lot of sleeping and playing MJ.

I'm sleeping and waking up at proper GMT-8 hours now, but I'm still feeling odd and on the verge of getting sick, during the day. I used to feel this way when I pulled all-nighters.

It's so cold out now, the temperature is going below 0°C sometimes. I asked my Mother-in-Law to bring me back a face maskie thingie. I don't want my Asthma to come back again. =\

weather	:		mostly cloudy
outside	:		10.9°C
mood	:		highly amused

I'm 7½ years old again. I'm camping in the middle of a forest somewhere far far away from civilization. It's past midnight, I'm horribly lost, like Wrong Toin At Albuh-koiky Lost, it's now pouring buckets which is one step down from raining frogs, I'm soaked to the bone and freezing to death, ill dressed for this weather because it's all packed neatly into the truck that was supposed to be meeting me at my destination. I've only just finished pitching my tent, in the muddy, puddle-ridden ground, by the headlights of my car with nothing but a Phillips screwdriver.

Okay, okay. I'm just sitting cross-legged in bed with my head holding my comforter up and tapping away on my laptop. The wireless connection is surprisingly stable. I thought it would be a bit wonky because I'm two floors away from the router =P But Husband Guy just came upstairs and laughed at me and called me a silly head, so that's the amount of fun I'm having =)

Ever since I got my wireless enabled laptop, I've settled in the dining room as my workspace, at the end of a long table with ovalled ends. I'm there instead of in the computer area where we used to be. It's also closer to the bird's cages where I sit during the day.

Almost every day, I'll get into a "conversation" with the birds from my seat. My brain somehow decides for me that the house is too quiet and I'll randomly whistle or twitter a nonsensical tune as I'm reading or doing something.

Those two LOVE it when I start talking. They'll answer back enthusiastically. I think they're hoping that it means I'll come over and take them out to play. Skippy does sharp single chirps at the top of her lungs that are more like barking. Sid does short but multi-note phrases.

I say something, they say something. I say something, they say something. And back and forth it goes. I continue these conversations almost unconsciously. I have no idea what I'm saying. I hope I'm not spouting hate propoganda, but there's no way for me to tell, really.

But because I have these conversations unconsciously, I've been known to do it in an environment where the birds aren't even around. There have been times when it's really quiet in the office at Work and I'll suddenly start twittering, out of habit. X}

weather	:		sunny-ish
outside	:		18.4°C
mood	:		okay

Wow, I haven't written about the birds in a while. They both need checkups soon. Soon.

Sid has gotten more adventurous about coming out of his cage. We usually leave his door open all day while we're home and let him wander out onto this little platform foyer =) Sometimes, we'll find him napping on top of his cage. Once, I found him on the floor by himself chewing on a pile of old newspaper. Oops. Recently, he's been actually walking up onto a flattened out hand but only if he's disoriented and confused. He gets adventurous, flies out of his cage into another room and then gets lost and scared. That's the best time to pick him up, sing and chat with him a little to build rapport. He is quite easily distracted with chatting and singing.

My Mother-in-Law found Grandma Jing-Tsun's old birdie play gym tree thing and assembled it. It's 14" tall and has dowel branches sticking out of it, a little ladder and a swing.

The first time the two saw it, they were freaked out. It was too funny. Sid won't stay on it. We couldn't get Skippy near it either. Her wings haven't been clipped in so long that she's fully flighted again. She flew away as soon as I brought her within two feet of the tree. I tricked her into standing closer to it by getting her to play with her water cup and then putting the water cup down on the floor next to the tree. Slowly, while her head was down, I'd shuffle the cup closer and closer. You could tell she knew something was fishy, but she couldn't quite figure out what, so she goes back to playing with her water.

One day, she was flying around and bashed herself against the wall or something. The silly little git lost about six height feathers on one side. None of them were bloody, so they were supposed to come out anyway. But that meant she was lopsided and unable to fly much for a day or two until she adjusted to having to flap faster on one side to fly straight.

The evil that is Me took advantage of that situation >=}

I put her on one of the top branches with one sweeping motion, too quickly for her to react. She sat there scared and frozen stiff. XD She didn't know what to do, she didn't want to play with anything, she didn't want to explore anything, she just sat there. And she'd try to get off it any way she thought she could without flying. As soon as someone went over, she would look at them like she was pleading for them to get her off the freaky thing. We were just laughing our asses off.

I brought the tree over to the table where I usually sit now and I'd let her just sit there in solitary confinement while I did stuff on my laptop. Mother-In-Law Woman would laugh that she was being punished.

We put seeds on the tray at the bottom and some on a flat spot at the top. Skippy seems to have gotten used to it a little. She's started walking up the wooden dowel steps.

There's a little swing on it too. Of course, she wouldn't get onto it herself, but Husband Guy put her on it. As soon as she stepped onto it, she lurched forward. As soon as she lurched forward, she had to compensate by leaning back. And what happens when you lurch forward, then overcompensate backward on a swing? Come on, it hasn't been THAT long since you've been an expert at Kid Physics, has it?! You build momentum and swing higher and/or faster. XD XD XD

BWAHAHA!! =D Oh, poor chickie, we were laughing at her so hard. I think we'll have to hold onto the swing for her and not let it swing too much when she's on it. But she's been ferociously averse to getting back on the swing.

We're also trying to move them to a pellet diet. Sometimes, birds don't recognize pellets as food and won't eat it. It can be a really long and involved process to get them to shift to a pellet diet without dying of starvation. Many birds can't completely make the switch, they have to be on a combination of seeds and pellets at the very most.

We're usually up at around 0730h on the weekdays, so that's when their food and water gets changed. Then some time during the day, we just blow the husks off the top so they can see the rest of the seeds and be able to continue eating. On weekends, we sleep in, so they usually get fooded and watered a little later.

On Sunday, we were late in almost a major way. Oooops. So, when we gave them pellets, they were both so hungry that they just went right at it without batting an eye. Holy crap! They just faceplanted and started munching with conviction. XD

We tried to give them just pellets during the day, then give them seeds in the early evening. I don't think they ate much all day. =P We'll have to watch them and make sure they don't lose too much weight. =P

weather	:		clear
outside	:		16.6°C
mood	:		okay

1. Are you a dog or cat person?

Neither. I'm a bird person. I guess most people don't think of avian domestic pets.

2. How many pets do you have?

Two. Skippy, a one year old Lutino, and Sid, an eight year old Normal Grey.

3. What's the best thing about your pets?

Cockatiels are easier to take care of than larger animals. They're small, so they can't do much damage even when they bite and scratch. They're kept in cages if they're going to be left unattended, so you don't have to worry about them destroying the house while you're not looking. Most importantly to me, their feces is much lower in bacteria and sulphur content than larger animals. It doesn't smell as strong as, say, cat or dog poop.

4. What's the weirdest thing your pet has done?

They do some funny things that I've posted about over the last year and a half: flinging water gleefully, chatting with everybody's toes, being outraged at a missing water cup, acting like a retarded bat, etc. ... but they don't do anything especially weird, not for birds anyway.

I have some AVIs of Skippy eating spinach and getting green goo all over her face, but that hasn't been downloaded from the camera yet. =)

5. Plans for any more pets?

Not at the moment. A while back, I had very briefly thought about getting a third — another handfed baby. Sid is pretty grouchy and territorial. I felt bad that that was the only example of behaviour towards others of their own species that Skippy had. But I'm not sure if we can handle more than two.

We'll see, though. I'm not sure how long Sid will live. When we speak sharply at him to stop him from picking, he gets upset. I can't see the anger being good for him or his immune system. He'll eat carrot, corn and peas sometimes, but he's generally not open to eating new foods like Skippy is. He could use some leafy vegetables, for example. So, nutritionally, he's pretty limited. In that way, I don't think he'll live to be more than 15 years old, tops.

fridayfiver, July 22, 2005

weather	:		partially sunny
outside	:		17.9°C
mood	:		heartbroken

I was reading up on cockatiel social behaviour to see how our two are doing in comparison with others. I'd noticed that they had several modes of communication.

There's an "everybody talk at once" mode where they will chatter, squack and cheep all at the same time. It's usually while we're on the phone and/or needing to hear the other party.

There's also a "taking turns" mode where they say something, then we say something, then they say something. It's mostly Sid who does that. Skippy still doesn't quite get the "taking turns" thing =)

I came across Elizabeth Vaughn's series of articles on Communication & Social Behavior in Cockatiels. She's a counsellor by profession and she has a keen sense of behavioural observation. It sounds like she also has a pretty big flock in which she tries to let the birds have a community that reflects their natural lifestyle as closely as possible.

This paragraph, from Part I - The Cock's Song, stood out to me:

"Although hens do express themselves vocally, for the most part they do no [sic] develop song. I came across one exception however. A young cinnamon who was about six months of age when I acquired her, learned to imitate the cocks' songs very well indeed. So well, in fact, that I was sure she was a cock even though she failed to manifest any of the other male characteristics. As long as her singing continued, she was shunned by cock and hen alike. When she learned that her exceptional abilities were getting her nowhere, she silenced herself, and soon became accepted into the community..."

And sometimes, I really don't feel so bad about raising our two in an unnatural environment. Then again, sometimes, I just want off this planet.

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		14.2°C
mood	:		okay

Skippy will walk over and kiss me on the lips if I make fish faces at her. It's just a quick peck or two before she's distracted and runs off again. She's like a magpie with shiny things =)

Sid likes faces better than hands anyway. If I make a kissy face at him, he'll run over and lean his face really close to mine... to within about an inch. But something about him makes me uncertain as to whether he'll give me a kiss or tear my lip off.

And cockatiel breath smells nutty. It's really cute. =)

weather	:		mostly sunny
outside	:		10°C
mood	:		happy

I gave Skippy a drink of fresh water from her water cup one day and she started playing with it. She picked up a beakful of water and flung it around, being a little sprinkler. It was sooo cute. Of course, by the time I got the camera out and ready, she was wise to me and stopped. All I got was an outtake (1.5M AVI) for the blooper reel =P

I tried again. She started bowing multiple times (4M AVI) like she had just done something wonderful and was reacting to the applause and ovation.

And a random clip of her destroying a piece of tissue (4M AVI) while Sid watches, horrified, in the background.

Sid does funny things as well. Here he is squacking like a metronome (4M AVI) to the beat of me snapping my fingers.

Birdy Transcription/Subtitle Contest

Take a look at this (4M AVI) and tell me what he's saying. =D =D =D

weather	:		clear
outside	:		-5°C
mood	:		tired

We thought Sid's plucking habit was under control. He was so good towards the end of last year. He played with newspaper, played with us, he sang a lot and chatted a lot.

But I guess the weather has gotten dryer along with this cold snap in the Pacific Northwest the last little while. That might be what's causing the flaking and itching again. Nothing's bleeding yet, but we noticed an inordinately large pile of feathers at the bottom of his cage. At first, we thought he was moulting again.

Like, AGAIN?!?!?! But that can't be. He must be picking.

Mother-in-Law also says she hears him squacking all the time now. And he's generally less playful than he was a month and a half ago. His armpits are even more bare than before and I'm seeing skin all the way down to the sides of his tummy now.

Husband Guy thinks he needs a humidifier/incubator thing. When he was at Night Owl, they put him in one of those and he became the happiest little thing. I don't know what the Husband has in mind, but he says he wants to make one.

That, or we'll have to get him fitted with a collar. I don't see how he can eat with a collar on though. We sure as hell can't handle him to be putting it on and taking it off all the time. Maybe we can only give him either millet or seed on a stick things.

*sigh* Can't keep my eyes open anymore. Night-night, all.

weather	:		rain
outside	:		4°C
mood	:		content

We were concerned about Sid sneaking down to his tray at the bottom of his cage. Chewing on the newspapers wasn't a problem. In fact, that's a fantastic thing because it means there's finally something that he'll chew on, play with and pick at besides his own feathers. I was reluctant to do anything about his poopie tray situation because of that.

But walking around in his poop was really not cool. >X{

His cage was given to us for a small donation by the Night Owl Bird Hospital because the cage he came with was really old and not especially ideal for birds.

We were in a pet store one day gawking at the fuzzy animals and saw some bird cages. They had those grate things that separated the poopie tray from the rest of the cage. Then I noticed that it was the exact same cage that Sid had =D Whooo! We asked if we could just buy the grate piece. I was robbed at till-point for $20. But fine, whatever. It's better than $150 for a brand new cage like I thought we'd have to buy.

So now, we have that in his cage and we put a little piece of newspaper on top of the grate for him to chew on. It's just a 4"x5" rectangular piece taken out of flyers or other junk mail and we give him a new one every day or two. He chews it quite happily. Yay! =)

What's hilarious is when he's chewing on it and hears me coming, he still thinks he's in trouble. He still immediately scrambled back up the side of his cage =D I haven't reprimanded the last few times I saw him chewing the newspaper. He sort of just eyes me cautiously now. I try to walk by as quickly as I can and pretend not to notice. Otherwise, if he sees that I'm staring at him, he thinks I'm mad and climbs back up. =D =D

Funny little boy. =) He's going in for a follow-up and blood tests for his kidney and liver this weekend. Wish him luck and send him calming vibes for the abuse =D

PS: I told Husband Guy that I'm glad we kept him and I'm sorry I yelled at him about Sid, way back when.

weather	:		cloudy
outside	:		5°C
mood	:		content

We've discovered that Sid really loves bare feet and toes. He knows that feet won't try to grab him and do mean things. =P

He'll purposely look down and try to find peoples' feet. If you put your foot in front of his beak and wiggle them for him, he'll walk up really close to them singing and chatting at them for a loooooong time. I brought him out once and started doing something else. I forgot about wiggling my toes for him. He came up to my foot and knocked on my big toenail with his beak to remind me =D

He's not as afraid of my Mother-in-Law's hands, probably because she's never tried to pick him up with a towel. While he's singing, she can actually stroke him under the chin! =O Like in that "kitchy-kitchy-koo" way =D He not only doesn't bite her, he sings louder and louder as she's doing it =D

Last night, I had him on the floor singing to my toe and I was petting him under the chin with my toe. I had to try very hard to be gentle and not kick him in the face =D