Life with parrots

I was driving home last night, with Thomas in the passenger's seat. A few blocks from our house we are lucky to have a little river (it's more of a creek, but is officially a river), with a fair amount of trees. As I was driving yesterday, Thomas said, "don't hit the deer!" Luckily this street is not a busy one, as I stopped and made him take a few pictures out of the window. I know these are nothing like the pictures (and story!) Shannon can provide, but it thrilled me!

When we got home, Thomas changed his clothes and attempted to put a sweatshirt on. Rocky may have a rough winter ahead of him if he doesn't quickly get used to Thomas wearing more clothes again! Rocky was extremely agitated and quite aggressive against Thomas when he tried four different sweatshirts. Finally, he found one jacket-like object that was warm enough for Thomas while not drawing Rocky's ire.
Later that evening, Thomas was sitting at the table, reading the paper. He asked me if I'd give him a little shoulder massage, and I told him I would if he'd hold Daphne. I had been holding her and didn't want to put her back in her cage. I couldn't leave her on a stand since it's too risky that another parrot might attack her. Of course he said yes -- who could resist such a budgie?

She climbed up his arm and started perching here on his sleeve. She happily sat there, occasionally chirping, for several minutes until I took her back.
When I have to transport one of the parrots somewhere and I don't want them to fly off, I'll often flip them upside down and walk with them. We've made this into a game, so everyone enjoys this. We call it "going on a trip." So, I'll say, "Want to go on a trip?" and then flip them upside down. Max will sometimes flip herself over and hang off of my hand.
I haven't been writing much about Beeps since he has been extremely camera aggressive for a month or so. If I walk by his cage with the camera, there's about a 20% chance that he will fly at me and try to attack. I'm careful to hide the camera behind my back, out of his sight, when I pass him!

He's a bit agitated in this picture; probably thinking about an attack. I snapped it quickly and got out of the way!
For any runners, or would-be runners out there, I thought I would write a little about two of my favorite running items. I didn't find out about them until years after I started running, but wish I would have known about them sooner. I now consider them to be running essentials!

On the left is Aquaphor. It's kind of like Vaseline. It is fantastic at preventing blisters and chaffing. I put it on my feet for every run, and around the band of my shorts and sports bra for longer runs. I used to get blisters quite regularly, but haven't for years, thanks to Aquaphor. You can find it in the lotions section of stores like Target.

On the right are special socks. I wear Wigwam C-T Marathons, but there are many different brands out there. I buy mine at REI. If you run, please do not wear regular cotton socks. It's worth the extra money to get something decent. You will not believe how much better you feel with proper socks!I promise not to turn my blog into one big commercial for my favorite running gear! I just get so excited when I find a really great product and like to tell people about it!