Friday night did not start out well. I was sitting on the couch, reading a book, when Beeps flew over at me, totally unprovoked, and bit me on my shoulder! It was a bit past their bedtime, so we put everyone to bed and went upstairs. The next morning, I was eating breakfast, when Beeps flew over and bit me on the shoulder again!
I'm still not sure what his problem was, but it's been 48 hours since the last bite so I hope this won't be repeated! My battle scars:
As you can see, the bites were not severe, but the second one was right where my sports bra lays when I run, and I had a race the next day! Luckily, I just put Aquaphor all over the wound, so the fabric wouldn't rub against it.
Speaking of the race, thanks to those of you who wished me well! I had a fantastic run. It was a 10 mile race. I beat Thomas by a little over 7 minutes, ran a personal best, and even took first place in my age division. That has never happened to me before! We went out for hot chocolate to celebrate. Thomas also ran quite well and was pleased with his finish.
Late last week I got an e-mail from a person who has become a friend: the lady that saved Beeps from being released outside to his certain death. She does animal rescue on the side, and asked it I knew anyone that might be interested in an injured pigeon that had been brought to her. I looked at this picture and thought it was a dove, so I told her that the bird rescue where I volunteer could take her in and find her a home.
My eyes deceived me since this was, indeed, a pigeon! Thomas and I have volunteered at a wildlife rescue center for almost 6 years so you'd think I would have known that! In any case, he looked the pigeon over (his medical training comes in handy even though it's with people and not birds) and realized that she wasn't injured at all. We released her back outside, and it was so gratifying to see her flying outside, free again. We sat there and watched her flying for about 10 minutes; even when she was just a speck in the sky.We had our first non-pepper harvest over the weekend. It's a type of tomato called "mortgage lifter" since the person who created the hybrid was able to pay off his mortgage by selling the plants. I hope it will be tasty -- we've sure been enjoying the tomatoes from our farmers!
One herb available at the farmers' market is mint, and Thomas bought some a few weeks ago. Since then, I've had to go to the market alone, and he always hopes that I've bought more (sometimes they're out). I did buy some last week, and he made his mint concoction. It's actually not that tasty. He just takes mint leaves, blends them up, adds water, and refrigerates. Max seemed to like it, but I don't understand why.
One of the toy pieces I ordered from Grey Feather Toys were these accordion tubes. I'm still not sure what I'm going to do with them, and had a few on the kitchen table in the hopes that inspiration would hit. Thomas picked it up and started blowing into it, making a rather irritating noise. Of course, the parrots loved the noise! I'm not sure I've seen Max dance so fast before! Warning: the high pitched noise is really irritating, so if you'd have sensitive hearing, I'd recommend turning your volume down or skipping this video!
Last night I heard more raucous laughter coming from Rocky in the living room. Of course, I had to investigate. He was lying on Thomas's chest, and Thomas was giving him the business.
After my weekly floor washing, I must have placed Stella's and Rocky's cages a little closer to each other than they were before. Here is Stella with one foot on each cage:
And here she is, getting ready to chew up his wood toy, even though she has exact replicas in her own cage:
Even though Rocky has never shown any parrot aggression, we removed her back to her own cage -- we don't want to take any chances!Since I'm on a Stella roll, here she is unwrapping some parrot candy that we got from The Parrot Asylum. It's a small piece of wood wrapped up in colored paper.
Everyone in our house loves them! Here is Beeps. He'd already removed one side of the wrapper! 
And, finally, another video that comes with a warning. I have mentioned that Beeps is one of the strangest, funniest, dancers we have ever seen. He also will not dance if he knows the camera is pointed at him. I had to place the camera on the counter in the hopes he'd ignore it. Unfortunately, while he sometimes will dance just with music, he much prefers dancing when Thomas and/or I sing. And we have bad voices. Warning: really bad singing to follow. I would recommend turning the volume off before you watch this video!
4 comments:
*laughs* Oh come on now, your singing isn't THAT terrible! I think it's funny when you start going "Beeps Beeps Beeps" in the middle of it, though. It was like you had forgotten the words. =3
And oh jeez accordion tubes. For added fun (or just more annoying noises) try grabbing one end and whirling it around. It's still kind of annoying, but nowhere NEAR as bad as the high pitched whine.
PS I totally would have adopted that pigeon. =P
I'm not sure if I ever knew the words :) Which is often the case when I sing to/with the parrots, so I often improvise and sing their names and that I love them.
And I don't believe you on my voice -- it's horrible and I'm not fishing for compliments. I probably should take this video down!
I'll try whipping them around tonight and report back.
She was absolutely beautiful, but I'm hoping she's happier in the wild. During the car ride when we were out looking for flocks of pigeons (and how is it that they're so hard to find when you're looking for them?) she flung herself at the door a few times, so she was not enjoying captivity!
Doves, on the other hand, can make great pets and there are always a bunch at our rescue and local humane society!
Do you have any of these videos posted on YouTube or anywhere else...for some reason they don't work for me and I'd love to see them.
Rocky is BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!
What is it about caiques? My BHC Gizmo is a real love - except when she's not. Last Christmas Eve she was romping around on the couch which contained my husband and his brother Mike. Usually Gizzy jumps on people, then just sits with them. However, this time she just nailed Mike and came within 1/2" of his eye. I know they have feisty natures, but this made us believe she is unreliable around others so she is no longer allowed to sit on anyone except me and the hubby.
Sonja -- You are correct in that they are unpredictable. Calypso has bitten my dad pretty severely, and used to bite Thomas all of the time. I'll always remember this line from an article I read on caiques: "Biting is one of the downsides of caique ownership." With my guys, it's almost like they get so worked up they can't control themselves. It's strange!
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