Playful Stella

Things got a little busy again, which meant a short break in blogging. Ever since our trip to Belgium in May, we've been drinking more beer. We used to be pretty much exclusively wine people, but Belgium opened our eyes. Stella loves going over to the empty bottles and flicking her beak against them to make noise. We keep them right back the back door so we can take them with us to recycle, which means they are right by the stove. She probably thinks we put them there for her! She did manage to knock a bottle off of the counter last week, but luckily it did not break.I was so happy when I saw her hanging upside-down on the stand. In my mind, that indicates a happy, playful parrot!

We have a small number of kids that come to our door, selling things as fund raisers. I used to pretty much decline because none of the stuff was anything I wanted to buy. However, after thinking about it, I want to promote being a good neighbor instead of a grump, and so I made the decision to buy at least one thing from each seller.

And that's how I ended up with a tin of caramel corn. There wasn't anything this child was selling that I would eat, so I bought something I thought Thomas could take to work with him and share. I left the tin on the counter with a note on it asking him to take it to work, and this is what I found when I returned home from my run:I have other ideas of how I can pawn off this popcorn, but this is kind of frustrating. He said he doesn't want to set a precedent. Come on! Unfortunately, I am the only person in my office, so bringing it to my work is not an option!

One of my friends and running partners is competing in the Ironman Kona in Hawaii tomorrow. I can't even imagine doing that. In addition to running a marathon (which is plenty for me, thank you very much!), you have to swim something like 2.4 miles and bike around 120 miles. All in a row. I hope to be able to follow his progress on the website. I am kind of jealous that he's in Hawaii, though!

And, on to baseball! The parrots are very excited that the Phillies won game one of the NLCS. Unfortunately, the game was on past their bedtime, so they had to wait until this morning to hear the result (they were down 2-0 when the parrots went to bed, so it was a huge surprise!) They don't want to get too excited, since the Phillies are known for disappointing them, but things are looking up towards another World Series appearance!