Friday, December 12, 2008

End of the week -- again!

I wanted to capture the back of Calypso's tail because, as you can see, there is much orange and yellow in it. When he first came to us, almost 5 years ago now, it was entirely green. Beeps's tail is almost entirely green -- he has tiny specks of yellow on the bottom of one or two feathers. I asked their vet about this, but he said he didn't know. I suspect it might have something to do with aging, but I'm not sure. We got Calypso when he was 9, and he's 13 now; Beeps came to us at age 8 and he is now 10.But of course I couldn't crop Max out of the shot. She always has to keep an eye on things! Thomas calls it "creeping us out."

In our house, the parrots always have to know what's going on, and are almost always are creeping us out. Some evenings, I'll be sitting on the couch, reading or knitting. Time flies by, and it will be several minutes until I look around to make sure that all of the parrots are OK (my ears are always alert for parrot trouble, but I also like to frequently visually confirm that everyone is where they should be). Every single one of them will be looking at me, even if they're also playing with a toy or eating. I'm curious if this is always the case, or if they just sense I'm about to look at them, so they look at me first. Even though they're prey animals, I hope they know I'm not going to get them!

Speaking of Beeps, I forgot to post this story earlier! Monday evening, Thomas was on the couch, watching TV. He had just come off of a 30-hour shift, but didn't want to nap because then he's unable to sleep at night. I was in the kitchen, and the greys had followed me in there. Everyone else was in the living room.

Despite his best efforts, Thomas fell asleep. He remembers dreaming, and also slightly conversing with me (I had asked him if he wanted some french fries with his nut burgers). For some reason, he awoke with a start, and it's a good thing he did because Beeps was about an inch from his face, eyes flashing red, doing the mechanical posturing he does before an attack. He managed to get Beeps to fly back from his cage, and resumed his nap with the hood from his sweatshirt protecting his face.

In the header of my blog, I mention that I may occasionally discuss my knitting efforts. I don't do so very often because I am the slowest knitter ever! Who wants an update -- yep; finished another 2 inches on my scarf last night! But, I have finally finished a project!

I think part of my problem also is that I usually have several projects going at once, and I've been making scarves with small needles. But still, my output is ridiculous! I love to read Wendy's blog, and I am always amazed with her speedy knitting. Yet, she does not trade quality or artistic-ness (is that a word?) for her speed. Wendy, when do you sleep? And when Stephanie goes on a knitting spree, it's the same thing!

In any case, here's my latest object. It's a neck warmer.
I've branched out from scarves and hats, but only barely. This is kind of like a mix between the two. One of the jackets I've been wearing lately has velcro on it, which means my scarves have been sticking to it. So my neck has been exposed when I wear that jacket since I don't want to ruin a scarf. I made this with yarn I bought from Stephanie's destashing (she has more yarn available here, if anyone's interested).

Now I'm knitting like crazy to finish a scarf for my mom for Christmas. She asked for one last week -- are you kidding me? A scarf takes me longer than that! Luckily, I was almost done with one in the color she was requesting, so assuming I get my act together, it will be done in time.

I hope everyone has a great weekend! It's very cold here, but should be warming up a bit (to the 30s) for the weekend, which means we hope to get some cross-country skiing in.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Beeps was about an inch from his face, eyes flashing red, doing the mechanical posturing he does before an attack."
Man, what a way to wake up: GOOD MORNING NOW I WILL ATTACK YOUR FACE!

WendyKnits said...

In answer to your question, I'll sleep when I'm dead. ;-)

One smart blue headed pionus said...

don't feel bad, my (human) mom is the slowest crocheter ever!

p.s. I like reading your parrot stories.

Mary said...

Sammi -- you are so funny! Thomas was so happy he awoke before the attack began. Beeps did bite him on the lip last year when he didn't wake up in time :(

Wendy -- that must be it :) I swear I have a weird genetic mutation that requires copious amounts of sleep. I'm embarrassed to say how much I need every night :)

BHP -- thanks! I hope you're not taking lessons from my parrots on behavior or you might drive your (human) mom insane!