We're home!

We're back from vacation, and the parrots survived our absence. Before we left, Thomas gave Max a big hug:And then a few kisses; it was hard to capture on film!She's rather obsessed with kissing, and often makes the kiss sound, or talks about kisses (mostly demanding them). Usually she is satisfied when we make the sound back to her. Occasionally, she'll fly over for some personal attention.

Our wonderful bird sitter took care of everyone perfectly, again. We are so lucky to have her! The caiques in particular love her!

We got back late Saturday night. The house was freezing. Well, technically not freezing since it was 53 degrees, but that's pretty cold! We had the last of our furnace work done Friday and the electrician turned off the furnace! He told me he'd put it back on, and we hadn't noticed before we left on vacation since the house was at the right temperature.

Our bird sitter did everything she could to get the furnace to work, but didn't know about the switch downstairs. And who would even think to look there, except the homeowners?

In any case, the fish, lizards, and parrots all survived this mini cold spell, and have been basking in upper-60s temps since Saturday night.

As for our return, the parrots must be getting used to us leaving and returning. They were sleeping when we got back Saturday night, but we let everyone out.

Rocky was so happy to see Thomas! He kept singing, coughing, chirping, and making his happy noises. He did launch one attack at my feet, but I jumped out of the way before getting bit.

Max was also very happy to see us. She made a couple of happy squeal noises, but she acted as though she knew we were coming back.

Beeps is still a giant hormonal mess when I'm around. Apparently he behaved for the bird sitter, but I'll have to probe deeper to see if this is true. He has taken to launching himself against the side of his cage when I walk by and he's inside. He's also made several aerial attacks on me in the two days we've been back. As such, he's been spending more time inside his cage than we would like, although we make sure he still gets out for several hours a day.

Stella and Daphne were normal. Like we hadn't left for a week.

Calypso, as usual, has been his after-trip self. Major freakouts. I haven't been able to hold him, but expect to be able to by the end of the week. He absolutely loves the bird sitter; sometimes I think he'd be happier with her. Too bad for him that he's staying with us :)

We took almost 400 pictures in London, so I have to go through them in order to find ones to post. We saw lots of fun birds in the parks, and I have a squirrel video that I hoped turned out well.

Thanks to everyone for their Max hatchday wishes and vacation bon voyages!!!