Ricky and Lily do the sweeper dance

I don't know what it is about birds and sweepers, but it makes my cockatoos go berserk! This is just a little sampling of their behaviors when I sweep. It doesn't happen each and every time, but more times than not... at any rate, it amuses me...

project completed

One more distraction out of the way... I had started a crocheted bedspread a million years ago and it is finally done! well, I could add more, but not just now. This thing is huge - it is for my kingsize bed. I am reasonably pleased with the end result and it actually is quite pretty. I suppose I'll have to take some pics and post....

BEING A QUITTER - PART 2

Have put off quitting until the new year. hubby says he'll quit then so that will help. yeah, yeah yeah... just another excuse...

on being a quitter

Acckkkkk.... I'm gonna try again folks. Smoking. or rather, not smoking. It's hard, really hard and I'm not doing so well yet. I have started Chantix, AGAIN.... God, I am so weak tho... and it doesn't help that I have smokers around me. I keep telling myself, 'self, you will feel so much better when you quit. You'll smell better. Your wallet will do better.' yeah, yeah, yeah.... I gotta do this tho. I really don't enjoy it anymore. I'm tired of the morning hacking, the afternoon hacking, the evening hacking.... anyway... wish me luck. I'm gonna need it

Critter update

New addition to the family! a delightful little Quaker parrot, also known as a monk parrot. She is also a rescue. I got her yesterday and I think she is going to fit in quite nicely with my flock. She has a great personality, very sweet. It would appear that she was handled a lot as she shows no real aggression or fear and is actually quite social. A name is in the works; I am going back and forth between Oats and Adrienne (I'll let you figure out why he-he..)

I relocated 3 parakeets, the gerbil and the siberian hamster. Oh yeah, and the male guinea pig has gone on to a new home also.

that's it for this installment. Time for work.

12/04/08 - I have finally dubbed her "Adrienne Oats"...

Some stuff about me

let the games begin....We are now well into November. Another Halloween has come and gone. This year's Halloween was not quite what I had envisioned, but a good time was had by all I suppose. Lack of helpers was a big part. I'm no spring chicken any more and some of my props are heavy and/or cumbersome to say the least. It all came together though and that's all that really matters. Once the "other holidays" pass, I can focus once again on creating, but more about that at another time.

On the critter front... my male Moluccan Cockatoo, Ricky, is giving me fits. He is in raging hormone havoc and has no qualms about making that known. He has been prone to fits of ongoing screaming (and if you have ever heard a screaming cockatoo, you know exactly what I mean!) and he desperately wants to "date" my hand. I love that bird as much as I hate him and my getting frustrated just doesn't help matters (but hey, I'm only human and frustration comes with that). The other birds are basically a joy -


I have a female Moluccan, Lily, who for the most part is a shy, reserved bird, although she is starting to come into her own a bit. She is not nearly as demanding as Ricky, but then again she has her days.










Then there is Falco, a male sun/jenday conure hybrid. Maybe it's a male thing... he wants a lot of my time too, and he gets a good deal. Unfortunately for him I can't keep him out of his cage as much as I would like as I fear my cats might think he would make a fine snack.





Then there is Sassy. She is a female Eclectus. She was rescued by a friend of mine a year or so back. When she got her, the poor bird was as plucked as a grocery store chicken. She has since grown in a downy layer and some feathers are trying to come in. I obtained her a few months ago and she has done a little plucking (no doubt just the stress of being relocated) but not too much. She is still unsure of herself and definitely seems to be wary of hands.

Next comes Petey, a female lovebird. She is such a cutey but she has her issues too. She is quite aggressive and has a nasty bite. Currently she is sitting on eggs (non-fertile, as there is no male) and that is keeping her occupied for now. I really need to pull the eggs as I worry that she is not eating as well as she should, but I worried when she started dropping those eggs (five!) as compulsive egg laying can lead to calcium depletion. And lastly, there are 14 parakeets that I am fostering. They all came from one home, an elderly lady who no longer could keep up with them. They are no problem as they definitely keep one another occupied. So, that's the birds...

There are four dogs - all female - Prissy, a chihuahua; Wrigley, a miniature schnauzer; Bobby, a great pyrenees/german shepherd mix; and Betsy, the old lady of the bunch, a black lab mix. There are also four cats - Annie, a female tabby type kitty (she's got to be about 13?); PomPom, a male grey and white long hair; Cocoa, a female black persian mix and her daughter Mika, who has various shades of browns and is a quite beautiful, if not snobby, long hair.

Now we also have rodents. 2 female rats, Thelma and Louise; a female Brazilian short-tailed opossum named Sweetie; a male Gerbil named Kazi, and a female Siberian dwarf hamster whose name escapes me right now. There are also two guinea pigs - I only just recently thought, hmmm, I really ought to check and see what they are, and have found that one is male and one is female and pregnant!

All of the animals, with the exception of the dogs, are rescues. We have had many different critters over the years and I enjoy them all, but I think I have found my calling with the birds, more specifically, the parrots. They fascinate me to no end. They are such intelligent creatures, curious and entertaining. I have dabbled in clicker training with Ricky, who has learned a few tricks and seems to enjoy his training sessions. Lily is still not sure about the whole thing. Falco is getting the hang of it and I still have to find that one yummy treat that Sassy likes before we can even get started on that. So that's a not so succinct recap of my critters.

The flower garden is in sleep mode (after all, it's November in Indiana) but I do have a few sundry house plants that give me my green fix through the winter months.

Then there are the children. Three of them. My daughter is going to be (GASP!) 30 this coming January. She lives in Chicago and I miss her dearly. My sons are 21 and 18 and still at home, though they don't spend much time here any more.

Well, I think I will stop at this point as the hour grows late (well, not late for me, and I did get my work finished in a timely manner tonite - Woo Hoo) and I really should think about trying to get to bed while I have the chance. There will be more to come. At what interval is a good question. Hit or miss comes to mind.

M.....

Welcome to my blog. Perhaps I just might be able to make some sense of my life by putting it down in black and white... perhaps not... But what the hey...