How can it possibly be September?

I just can't believe how quickly the time has been flying! Stella's been with us for almost four months, and Rocky and Beeps have been here for right around two years.

Stella ate another pretzel snack over the weekend -- what a mess she leaves!
As for the race, Thomas unexpectedly had Saturday off, so he ended up running. I did beat him (by 58 seconds per mile!) I've been having a good running summer and I can only hope that it continues for the marathon next month.

I tried to get the greys to pose together, but wasn't particularly successful. Stella sure is feisty! As I've mentioned, she's a bit nesty, so she's been flying to the floor and then running into the corner to dig. We are not encouraging her (don't want to see any grey eggs!) and she'll readily step up when we go to get her. She's just so persistent!
With the summer weather upon us, we should be spending more time outside, but it's just been so hot. I don't do well in the heat and am looking forward to fall! Rocky decided to climb into the bottom of Stella's cage to forage for garbage...
When jealous Max saw me taking a picture of him, she had to go to the same place on her cage and call out "hello!" until I took her picture as well.
Of our parrots, the greys are the most observant about what's going on with the other birds, and also the most jealous. I still think Max would prefer to be an only bird so she could have us all to herself!

Here she is on her cage. I told her she looked like an alien with our TV antennae coming out of her back. Today is one of Thomas's days off from the hospital (September is another wards month which means he's almost never home) so Rocky got to eat breakfast with his favorite person. My ever-present stick, which has prevented an untold number of macaw bites, lingers in the background of this picture.And I'll close today's entry with a video. I think I've posted video of this before, but I think it is absolutely adorable. Max is eating yogurt off of a spoon. We didn't try to teach her this -- when she was first in our house, we used a measuring spoon to feed her soft foods, and she got so excited she'd try to grab the spoon out of our hand. We let her try to hold it, and before long, she was a master at feeding herself from a spoon! The black 1/2 teaspoon became hers, and whenever she sees it in my hands, she gets so excited -- dancing and lots of "want some!" ensue.


None of our other parrots have shown any interest in holding the spoon themselves. What I love the most is how she uses her bottom beak to scoop the food in Certainly not dainty!

I'll attempt to take some pictures of them, but I realize I've been neglecting Daphne, the caiques, lizards, and fish on the blog lately. They are just much better behaved and get into less mischief than the greys and Rocky! But all is well and I'll try to update with pictures soon.