Weekend: not as planned

The weekend started out quite well. We picked up one of our last vegetable boxes from the CSA, as the harvest season is winding down. Thomas started taking the brussels sprouts off of their stalk, and Stella had to come over and supervise:I don't know if I've ever eaten brussels sprouts before, but I do know that I've never cooked them. In a fortuitous stroke of luck, I found an easy recipe on a new blog I've just started reading. Just toss with some olive oil and some spices and bake in a 400 degree oven for 30-45 minutes.

This was the first time the parrots had eaten them, at least in our house, and they were a hit with 4 of the 6; Daphne and Stella being the holdouts.

Could Max stuff any more into her mouth?Beeps, as he is still hormonal, had to eat his inside of his cage. He doesn't seem to mind being in his cage. Over the weekend, we noticed that when he starts to get to the point where he wants to attack us, he's been going inside his cage, of his own volition. It's very strange. Perhaps because we've been closely watching him and telling him to go inside at the first sign of an imminent attack.

Here is a partial list of things that will trigger a vicious attack (I am missing many items):

• Humans eating
• Changing the food and/or water dishes in any of the birds' cages
• Paying attention to the lizards
• Reading books on the couch
• Feeding the fish
• Sitting on the floor
• Watering the plants
• Saying the word "Babycake"
  
• Being in possession of any kind of technology
• Brooms
• Touching newspaper
  

As you might imagine, that means he's been spending more time in his cage than usual. I miss my sweet Beeps! There are signs of him, and I'm holding on to those memories until this passes. We both make sure to handle him everyday, and we've been able to do so. It's lucky that he postures a fair amount before biting if he's perched on us, which means we have plenty of time to get him to a safe place before the attack starts.

Saturday, we went to a different local orchard and purchased a half bushel of apples in anticipation of making applesauce the next day (Sunday). However, our plans were derailed.

Thomas's pager was beeping Sunday morning, and he got called into work an overnight shift for someone who called in sick. So, he had to go in from 9 am Sunday until noon Monday. What's most frustrating is that he's sick himself, and probably sicker than the person who called in (this thought is based on previous experiences with this individual). Grrr...

Therefore, I unexpectedly had the house to myself on Sunday, so I did a fair amount of cooking, baking, reading, and knitting. I could have made the applesauce, but it was something we wanted to do together, so will have to wait until later in the week.

As I was finishing up dinner, flashing lights from outside turned my living room into a mini disco. I kept peeking outside to see what was going on, without being too obvious. Since I was home alone, I was a little jumpier than usual. I was peeking through the blinds near Max's cage when I came face to face with a guy. He was standing in my front garden, inches away from my house!

My imagination going into overdrive, I called Thomas on the phone, and made him stay on the line while I asked the guy what was going on. Apparently there was a water main break right in front of my house and they needed to measure the pipes.

Just a few of the trucks that were out there; notice the green grass:They must have fixed everything up, and just in time since it snowed last night, so I woke up to this:Pretty, but not fun for driving. I stayed home about an hour later than usual so as to miss as much traffic as possible. Luckily my commute is not long and my boss knows I hate driving in snow!

Here's my little pepper plant. We never got around to harvesting the last of the peppers; it looks so sad and cold out there.I still am having trouble believing that it's only November and already I've had to shovel. I'm trying to stay positive and look at it as a bonus workout, but I don't know if I'll be able to keep that attitude up for 6 months!