Max wants head pets (what else is new?)

As I've written about many times, Max loves getting head pets.  Always on her terms.

If I'm sitting at or standing near the table, she'll fly over and gently nudge me with her beak (as seen in this video.)  Then, once she has my attention, she'll start scratching her own head, in order to communicate to me exactly what she's hoping to get from me.

This time, she decided not to scratch her head, but she was still so adorable (I might be a bit biased...) that I'm posting it anyway!

Sleep cages!

It doesn't look like I posted about this last summer when I bought them, but due to the fact that I am living in an apartment and wanted to not get kicked out due to the parrots awakening with the sun, I bought them sleep cages.  Their normal cages are too big for me to properly cover, so this was my solution.

I was a little worried about how they would take to them, but they all love them!  I was also a little worried about putting them together myself, but I am discovering new skills of assembly I never had to use before.

Since they each get a cashew before bed, after they go into their sleep cages, Max will actually climb down and go into hers by herself.  She also knows to open the door on the caiques' cages (I don't latch them when they are unoccupied) to see if either caique left some cashew uneaten.  Occasionally, she is rewarded for this thoroughness.

Here's Beeps:

Max:

And Calypso:

I cover them, so it's dark, which allows me to keep things quiet until I wake them up.

During the day, when they are out with me, they like to play on the cages.  Calypso spent quite a while trying to rip up the cage paper through the grate today.  The reason I went to grab my camera is that Beeps actually went into this cage with Calypso on top.  I had hoped to get a picture of that, but he'd flown back to his cage by the time I returned with the camera.

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In unrelated news, the offer I put in on the house was accepted!  The inspection is on Wednesday May 1, and if all goes well, I will be the owner of a fabulous Victorian -- my dream house -- by June 15.  I'm going to try to remember to take some pictures on Wednesday so I can post them here.

This is all so exciting.  I can't wait to have a guest bedroom.  And, my dad asked if I would be interested in brewing beer with him once I have a house.  That's a hobby that Thomas and I shared, and I'd given it up once I was alone.  Now that I'll have a bigger kitchen, I can't wait to brew with my dad!

At the art museum

I go to my city's art museum on a semi-regular basis.  I love art, and now that I've started painting after my separation/divorce, I like to look for inspiration.  Sometimes I go alone, but sometimes I go with friends.  One of the great things about my new single life is getting to spend more time with friends.

My good friend and I went to a wonderful new restaurant, just a couple of blocks from my apartment.  I had a homemade veggie burger:

Then, on to the art museum.  They were having a special exhibition, where floral artists are assigned pieces in the collection, and they create an arrangement inspired by the art.  Super fun!

Unfortunately, this was not one of the pieces that had art inspired by it, but: parrot in the museum!

This one made me laugh!  It's in my dad's favorite part of the art museum: self-taught art.

Part of the permanent exhibit: metal birds!  I did buy an outside metal ornament that had a bird on it.  Once it's installed in my garden, I will post it.

Not wanting to jinx things, but I have put in an offer on a house!  It's so fabulous, but if I don't get this house, I'll find another.  This house has so much character -- stained glass windows, built-ins, a fabulous staircase, double door entry (for parrot safety), laundry not in the basement.  The parrots and are tired of living in an apartment, and we are excited to be in our own place where we can be as loud as we'd like again!

The weather has improved, which means I've been bicycle commuting most days.  I had to stop to take pictures of mergansers ("mohawk-ducks" as my good friend Sheila says.)  Unfortunately, all of my closer pictures were fuzzy, and the mergansers all dispersed while I got my camera ready.  You'll just have to take my word that they're not mallards.

Tomorrow, I am running my last long run before my May ultramarathon.  I'm hoping the weather will cooperate!  Last week, during my long run, it started snowing!  In April!  Then, another friend and I (she's running with me tomorrow morning) are going for pedicures.  They will be well-deserved, for sure.  And, the salon is close enough so we can walk and, therefore, drink wine.  So exciting!

Pay attention to me!

After my marathon yesterday (first place in my age group!) I was at home, drinking a celebratory beer, and just enjoying life. Max was wandering around the house.  Suddenly, I felt a gentle beaking on my toe.

She wanted attention!  Right now!

After-work routine

The past few weeks, I've started a new after-work routine with the parrots that we've all come to enjoy.

In my small apartment, I don't have enough room for them to be in a common living room, as they were in my house, which means that they have their own bedroom.  This isn't ideal, as they don't get as much ambient attention when I'm doing things, unless I make it a point to get them out.  Having them all out at the same time in a room without their cages can be tricky, as they start posturing and starting fights.  I need to be on high alert at all times.  This means that I usually rotate parrots (Max and Calypso together; Beeps separately, since he can't get along with anyone) who are out with me.

Once I have a house again (crossing my fingers; in a few months if inventory improves!) they'll be in a common area again so this won't be an issue.  Each bird respects the others' cages, so they can all be out with light supervision.

That was some wordy background!

I have moved a comfortable chair into their bedroom, and I sit there and read for at least an hour while they play.  This reading isn't always the most productive, as they frequently want to interact with me, so my book gets postponed.

I took a few pictures of Calypso's march to attention.  He starts by hanging off of his cage door, to be as close to me as possible.  And super cute, as well.

After a few head scratches, he moves around the same level as I am, making kiss sounds and whistling.  (He continues to be the most photogenic parrot I have known):

Caught in mid-scratch:

Before I know it, he's on the ground, coming over for some more personal attention:

Not to be outdone, as soon as he's on the floor, Max has to be on the floor, too.  I try to keep them on opposite sides of my chair, though yesterday, when I didn't have my camera with me, they were both ripping up the newspaper that's under Max's cage!

Beeps stays on his cage, as when he tries to venture down, Max goes after him.  He's happy, and I make sure to spend time with him everyday in a one-on-one situation.  After over 6 years of living together, I would have hoped they could be better friends!

A video of Beeps.  Every time after I do a certain whistle, he says "Pretty baby!" It sounds clear to me, but when he does this for visitors, they can't understand him.  (ETA: Apparently this video is not working.  Ever since blogger "improved" their interface, I have had trouble with videos.  This has been going on for years!  I will try to figure it out tomorrow.  For now, just imagine Beeps saying "pretty baby!" after I whistle.  This happens twice.)

When he saw me taking pictures of Beeps on his cage, Calypso had to climb to the same spot on his cage for attention:

However, he didn't do anything exciting enough to warrant a video!

With Calypso off of the floor, Max flew up to her favorite spot: the arm of my chair, where I scratch her head while reading:

I am currently reading "In the Garden of Beasts" by Erik Larson.  It's about the American ambassador to Berlin during Hitler's rise to power, prior to World War II.  It's non-fiction that reads like fascinating fiction.  Highly recommended!

Tomorrow I am running a marathon.  I have not been doing much speed work, so I am not anticipating that great of a result.  Additionally, the weather forecast is not fabulous.  It will be that terrible in-between weather that is so difficult to dress for!  I am maintaining a good attitude and determined to have fun, even if I'll be slower than last year.

Max loves the bathroom

Max's latest favorite place to be in behind my bathroom door.  If she's not following me around, I can say with 95% certainty that's where she'll be.

I had hoped to get a video of her going back there, but I wasn't quick enough on starting to record, as she made her beeline:

Then, when she knew I was out there with the camera, she stood there, posing for a while.  However, almost all of the pictures I took involved her eyes partially closed:

 I worried people would think she had an eye injury, so here is one, eye wide open, preening herself:

This does not appear to encourage nesting behavior, but I don't let her stay behind there too long.  I'm worried she may try to eat the door or baseboard.  I've avoided any parrot-damage to the apartment in over a year, and I don't want to start creating any now!

Massive update! Things are fantastic!

Tons of embarrassment over here for it being nearly two months since my last entry! I'm not going to even attempt to make excuses, but I will promise (again!) to try to do better. I know I am sad that I don't have a nice record of this past year.  Because it's been fabulous!

Winter, on the other hand, has not been fabulous.  I saw way too much of this:

Which made running quite difficult.  I still managed to (mostly) get my miles in, but they were slower and slippery-er than I would have liked.  Luckily I have some great running partners who help get me out even when it's cold and windy.  I'm running a 50K with some friends in about 6 weeks, and we have a marathon next week, so those races will test my winter running preparedness!

Here's a look at the path on which I walk home from work on occasion.  Proof that I was not the only one out there on this wintry day:

Almost home!

I love this time of night, when everything looks so magical:

Work is going really well.  It's still more hours than I would like, but nowhere near as bad as it could be.  I've made some fantastic friends, and will celebrate my one-year anniversary there in about two weeks.  I'm up on a high floor; here's a picture of my building enveloped in fog:

I would have taken a picture out of my office window, but all you would have seen was white.

The parrots are still doing well, though I have been remiss in photographing them!

I had a box on my dining room chair that I was planning to use to send a care package to a friend.  Max had other ideas, as she jumped in and started ripping up the box.  I did remove her as soon as I took this picture, as I do not want to encourage nesting behavior in her.  Perhaps she was trying to teach me a lesson about procrastination.

Max is as sweet as ever.  She still gets jealous of the caiques at times, but she loves to follow me around the house, like a dog, shouting "HELLO!" whenever we enter a new room.  It melts my heart every time.

The caiques are also thriving.  I hear frequently from Stella's new owners, and she continues to do very well there.  Rocky is also very much loved and hopefully in his forever home.  Of course I still feel guilty that I wasn't able to be that forever home for the two of them, but I know they are in better situations than they would have been had I tried to keep them.

On a personal level, it is tricky trying to balance social outings with making sure the parrots have enough time with me.  Since they go to bed rather early, I'll frequently head out after they are asleep.

I'm looking to buy a house!  After owning one for 12 years, adjusting to apartment life has been unpleasant, to say the least.  Especially with the parrots, as I'm always worried they'll be too loud and I'll get kicked out.  So far, over a year in, there have been no complaints.  Anyway, I have a very narrow geographic range where I want to buy, and there hasn't been a lot of inventory.  I'm hoping that more will come on the market as it warms up, and we can be in our new place in the next few months.

I almost put in an offer on one, until I discovered there were major structural problems with it.  I'm now trying to decide whether I like another house enough, despite its flaws (one bathroom, small kitchen, baseboard heating), to make an offer.  That one has a perfect location and tons of charm (built-ins, original wood in perfect condition, butler's pantry.)

On a totally unrelated note, I was at a running social last week and they had the cutest spring cupcakes:

As for the dating scene, I have decided to take some time away.  Too many guys wanted to be in an instant relationship (though I do have some funny stories that I will post here at some point) and it was really starting to stress me out.  We have been on two dates!  Stop asking me when we can go on a weekend away together!

After being emotionally and verbally abused for so long, being single and surrounding myself only with wonderful, loving friends has been such a relief.  I do date-like things with them (movies, museums, dinner, concerts, etc.) so it's a lot of fun.

Literally the week before Thomas confessed to having an affair with his mom clone/married coworker, I had ordered a bunch of yarn in colors that complemented his skin tone.  That yarn had just been sitting in a box, until I recently decided that I should make the hats...for me!  Here is the first one:

The time has just been flying by.  I've been in my apartment for over a year now.  I've been at my new job nearly a year.  It's almost spring again!  A year ago, if you told me I'd not only be happy, but happier than I had been in years, I wouldn't have believed you.  And yet, that's exactly what has happened.

Now, back to more regular stories and updates instead of trying to cram two months' worth of activity into one entry!

Rivalry!

When our first family was still intact, Max and Calypso got along.  They certainly weren't friendly, but they never attacked each other.  Now that we're a smaller flock, that's changed.

Max has developed an animosity toward Calypso, as evidenced here:

I knew she wouldn't hurt him with me watching, which is why I took this video.  It just cracks me up how she tries to use tools (the hanging toy) to hit him.

As a single lady, this has become quite the challenge.  Max hates the caiques.  The caiques hate each other.  I am only one person!  It is very challenging to have them out at the same time.

I plan to buy a house in the next few months, and I'm hoping them to design a space that works for my parrots.

In which Max makes me laugh

I'll admit it. I am a happy person and laugh a lot.

My therapist told me this is not always a good thing, as I endured years of abuse at Thomas's hands, thinking I was happy.  Yikes!  Interesting to think that I could have escaped years earlier.

But now that I am no longer in an (emotionally & verbally) abusive relationship, I am very glad that I have a high happiness base line.I think that's a good thing. 

I recently listened to a lecture on human behavior, and I learned that 50% of happiness is due to genetics, 10% is circumstances, and 40% is our behavior and how we react to things.  I am glad that my 50% genetics = happiness as I really only have control over 40% of my own happiness!

Max makes me laugh every single day. 

Currently, she is obsessed with the dark bathroom.

Here, she looks like she may want me to give her head pets; instead, she is just interested in heading to the bathroom.   She is a trickster!

As an aside, I may need to consider my parrots' opinions in great music.  They love Father John Misty, heard here, and his music is frequently listed as the best of 2012.

Note to record producers: I will loan out my parrots' expertise to tell you if you have a winner or not :)

In which Max is loving

Sometimes Max is so wonderful!

Actually, most of the time. I am really lucky to have such a fabulous parrot.

Tonight, she was on her stand and I was at the table.  She flew down to request head pets.  How could I deny her?

And a wonderful bonding experience resulted:

I am very careful to stick to her head, so that I don't send her improper signals!

I really hope that everyone feels this way about their own parrots, but I feel so lucky with mine.  They weathered losing one of their owners with grace and strength.  They are as happy and wonderful as ever.  In just a few months, I will have had Max longer than I will have been married!  Having this amazing bond with such a sensitive, wonderful creature humbles me.  I pity Thomas, who so easily gave her up.  What could he possibly have been thinking?