Laundry parrot toys

Upon returning home last night, Thomas took off his work clothes and changed into his workout clothes, leaving his work clothes (scrubs) and a jacket on the floor for him to change back into after his workout.

For whatever reason, my two little troublemakers decided to go over an investigate the clothes.
Thomas had planned on taking Rocky downstairs with him while he worked out (we have a parrot perch down there, of course!) When he looked for Rocky, he found him hanging out in the sleeve of his jacket. So Thomas went downstairs alone and I brought Rocky to him after Rocky tired of hanging out in clothes.
I think Max learned to do weird things with fabric from Rocky, so I wanted to get a video of that. However, the video took a different turn towards the end.

I tried to get a picture of her with the button in her mouth, but they all turned out extremely blurry, so I deleted them. I brought her downstairs so she could show Thomas what she had done to his jacket. Since he only wears it around the house, he said that was the price he had to pay for leaving it on the floor!

Weekend photos

We had another full weekend that flew by way too quickly!

I was home alone with the parrots Saturday night, and Max, as usual, decided to hang out in the kitchen by herself. She usually keeps to her stands, the top of the fridge, or the counter. However, this time, she decided to perch on my clean dishes that were drying!

Needless to say, the dishes were no longer clean as she lately has been hanging out in the garbage and has also been known to walk through her own poop.

And then, when I take a picture of her there, she puts her foot out for me to have her step up!
This was also when I was alone with the parrots over the weekend. Rocky's cage has this toy hanger that goes on top of his cage. He will ignore this for months at a time, and then suddenly become obsessed with hanging out on top. It's kind of hard to tell from this picture, but he has to hunch down in order to stand at the top and he is probably still brushing the ceiling.

If anyone is interested in purchasing the toy shown for their own bird, this was from the Parrot Asylum.

You can see the border in this picture. I hate it! This is how the house was decorated when we moved in a few years ago, and we haven't done anything about it. I didn't take any pictures, but Rocky chewed off a bunch of the wallpaper in the hall over the weekend.

We are lucky in that our parrots are generally not destructive. I think he just doesn't like the wallpaper as much as I do. Thomas accused us of being in cahoots as he knows I want his help in repainting the house!

Grindhouse

We were at the library the other day when I noticed that the 1st season of The Sopranos was in. Yes, I realize we're about 8 years behind the rest of America. We've wanted to watch this series, but have been hesitant to pay around $60/season to buy it. I've been keeping an eye open at the library, but usually they have newer seasons, and I really want to start at the beginning.

In any case, we can check out DVDs for 2 weeks from the library, which means we have 2 weeks to watch 13 episodes. As Thomas has overnight call this month, this means we may have to watch several episodes in one sitting.

Wednesday night, we were wrapping up the third episode of the evening (!) when I noticed that every single parrot was grinding their beak. We had kept them up about 50 minutes past their usual bedtime. This was the first time I had ever heard Daphne grind -- usually she just goes to bed.

We looked at each other and said, "It's like we're living in The Grindhouse!" Neither one of us saw that movie, so we have no idea what it really is like, but the title sure seemed to describe what was going on in our house.

So far, we've watch 6 episodes, with 7 remaining. I think we'll be able to get through them all before it's due at the library. Now I have to hope that we can get season 2 before I forget everything that happened during season 1!

Have a great weekend!

Happy reunion

Thomas had to spend Tuesday night at the hospital, leaving in the morning before the parrots awoke, and returning Wednesday afternoon. They went about 42 hours without seeing him, which is about normal for his call days.

When he returns, Rocky, Beeps, and Max are so excited to have him back. When I got home from work, he was trying to nap on the living room couch while Rocky and Beeps were hanging out on him and Max was making kissing sounds.

Here is Rocky, protecting Thomas from me as he tries to nap. I was checking on the lizards when I received this warning:
Look how big and scary he is!

I know I've been doing a lot of lizard pictures lately, but I couldn't resist this one. I think it has something to do with the way that Andreas has positioned his front feet on the wood in his enclosure.
While I was making dinner in the kitchen, I started to hear excited squeals coming from the living room and found this:
I was able to get some on video, although I didn't capture all of the fun as this was towards the end. Rocky and Thomas have such a trusting relationship. I can't even imagine trying to do this with Max! Although, from our experience volunteering at a parrot rescue, macaws tend to be much more hands-on than the other parrots who share their lives with us.

In any case, Rocky was reveling in the one-on-one attention he was receiving from his mate!

Garbage can or foraging toy?

This morning, like most, Max hung out in the kitchen as I walked back and forth between the living room (where the birds' cages are) and the kitchen (where I wash and refill their water dishes). However, her fascination with the garbage can apparently has returned.

It's strange. Months will go by without her perching on the garbage can, and then suddenly, it's the only place she wants to be.

In this case, she had eyed a piece of wood that Calypso had floating in his water dish, and that I had subsequently discarded. Nevermind that there are bins of wood in our living room that she can access, and many pieces in and on her cage.
I had to wash and prepare the lizards' greens this morning, as I had run out the day before. The discarded chicory endive, which Max snubs when I offer it to her, suddenly became irresistible.
With another piece:She appeared to eat some, but threw most of it on the floor for me to pick up.

Here she is, cleaning her beak on the garbage can:

And looking innocent:
After I took these pictures, I removed her from the garbage. I'm really hoping she's forgotten about her fascination this evening!

She knows she's not supposed to be there, which makes the whole thing that much more frustrating. When I find her and say, "Max!" she starts acting adorable and saying, "Hello! Give me a kiss!" in the cutest possible voice. I can't resist her.

Weekend recap

Andreas has been tons of fun lately. He's been extremely interactive and I've been letting him out to explore quite a bit. I may try to get some on video since his walk is fantastic. I have to keep a very close eye on him, however, as I don't want him getting stuck somewhere or being attacked by a parrot. Also he can't be out for very long because uromastyx lizards like it to be HOT, and our room temperature doesn't exactly qualify!
He still looks really scraggly and has remnants on his skin from the colored sand he was kept on at the pet store. We've had him for 10 months now and I really thought he would have molted it all off. But we love him anyway! (And Elsa, but she's been crabby lately so no pictures!)
We had some beautiful weather over the weekend, and were able to get some hiking in on Saturday and Sunday. Since the Saturday hike was spur of the moment, I didn't have my camera with me (or suitable hiking shoes as my work shoes got full of mud!) which was too bad because we ran into a garter snake that was sunning himself. Thomas almost stepped on him -- good thing he was watching where he was going as the snake did not move out of the way. We think he wasn't quite himself due to the rather cold weather.

On Sunday, we saw a beaver swimming in the lake -- this picture isn't the best. He is the blurry spot in the middle of the picture. You can see the wake following him:
And a turtle sunning himself in the marsh:
We also saw tons of birds, but didn't get any good pictures. Unfortunately, it's raining right now, which means it will likely be muddy in the upcoming days. I can't wait for the weather to cooperate so we can do more hiking!

We were making juice over the weekend, and came across this odd-looking carrot:I'm not proud of this, but I am a major food snob in that I have trouble eating food that looks strange. There is no way I could have eaten this carrot, but we juiced it up, so I guess I am consuming it. I'm really trying to work on this! In the meantime, I spend 10 minutes picking out my 7 apples for the week at the grocery store to make sure I get perfect ones.

As I didn't want to make this a parrot-free entry, here is a picture of Beeps:

He's been a little hormonal of late, which means we have to be extra careful on watching his moods. Also his whereabouts as twice last week he jumped on me and bit me. There were several other close calls, but I was able to dodge him on time. Yesterday, Thomas was giving him part of his dinner, and Beeps grabbed on to his finger and made him bleed quite profusely. I noticed the red eyes right before the bite, but only managed to get "WATCH" out of my mouth as a warning to Thomas before Beeps latched on. Poor little frutrated guy!

Back to normal

I still have no idea why the parrots (really just Rocky and Beeps) were so irritating yesterday morning.

In any case, I am choosing to think about the positive in that they were back to normal this morning. Maybe they act out every once in a while so that I'll appreciate their normal behavior more? Could they really be using psychology on me?

I focused last night and this morning on enjoying them and therefore didn't take any pictures. But here's one of Max from a few days ago.

I'll leave this short -- yesterday's post was rather negative so I didn't want to leave that one as my last for the weekend!

It's supposed to be warm around here, so Thomas and I are planning on getting some hiking in, despite what will most likely be muddy conditions.

Hope everyone out there reading has a wonderful weekend as well!

Wonderful evening; bad morning

Last evening, we had a wonderful time with the parrots. They were joys to be around. In fact, Thomas (who never says stuff like this) said, "If our house were to blow up in some kind of explosion and we lost all of our parrots, I don't think I'd want to get any more because ours are so wonderful that no one could ever take their place." I don't know why he was thinking such macabre thoughts. I apparently paid the price this morning for their wonderfulness last night, as I had one of the worst mornings in recent memory.

Let's start with the good stuff: last night.

Apparently Rocky's not the only one interested in garlic. As soon as Beeps saw Thomas with the cloves, he flew over to Thomas's shoulder and climbed down his chest to investigate. Thomas did offer him some, but Beeps didn't want any.
We were making a vegetable soup, and Max also came over to investigate the frozen vegetables. She just looked, though, and didn't start throwing them out of the pot as I had feared.
Rocky's nails were starting to get a bit long, so we got out the Dremel tool and Thomas sanded them down. Rocky lies complacently on his lap as long as Rocky's face is covered and he can't see what's going on. We have to be careful to not trim them too short as we did that one time and I couldn't hear the clicking on the floor when he walked on it. I need warning when my stalker is near!
The evening just went so smoothly.

Then, this morning happened.

It actually started off well. One day during the work week, I don't get up and run and today was that day off for me, meaning that I got to sleep in. The parrots get up at the same time every day (give or take about 20 minutes). Usually I get up really early and run before they get up, but on my off day, I get to sleep in an extra 2 hours and the first thing I do is get them up.

Today, from the moment I showed my face, straight for about 35 minutes, Rocky screamed. He did stop for about 5 minutes when he ate his breakfast. I couldn't figure out a reason. There was at most 1 second of quiet time in between screams. He had been doing so well and had barely been screaming lately, so this was going back to behavior he had when he first came to live with us. It is not pleasant.

During this screaming session, I was refilling the parrots' water and food. As I walked by Beeps's cage carrying water dishes into the kitchen to be washed and refilled, Beeps jumped on my arm and started biting me. Startled, I dropped Max's water dish, splattering dirty water all over the living room and shattering the ceramic dish.

This prompted Beeps to go into what I call "freakout mode." I've only seen this about 4 times in our relationship. It's almost like he becomes possessed. He starts flailing around the living room, goes behind the fish tank, and acts very fearful. The first time, I chased him around until I could towel him and put him back in his cage. This seemed to cause him a lot of stress, so now I just let him freakout, avoid him as much as possible, and after 5-10 minutes, he returns to his cage and I close him in there. If I hadn't have had to go to work, I would have returned to bed.

The screaming continued, and my nerves were frazzled. I was thinking how much better my life would be if we hadn't taken Rocky or Beeps home. This was just a fleeting thought, but I had never had it before, so that was disconcerting (I no longer feel that way and am glad we have them). I decided, off day or no, I needed to do a hard workout and pound away my stress.

I put everyone in their cages and went downstairs to hear water streaming through the ceiling. Apparently Thomas had overflowed the toilet before leaving for work. I had to plunge, clean up the mess, and start a load of towels (since our bathmat had gotten wet and I used towels to mop up the water).

Needing a laugh, I put one of my favorite episodes of Arrested Development on and did a hard treadmill workout. I managed a few laughs and got out my frustration.

By the time I made it back upstairs, everyone was back in their normal good moods. Rocky didn't scream again, and Beeps was no longer freaking out or threatening to bite.

I saw Andreas, covered in seeds, and felt that all was right with the world again. It's like he knew I needed a laugh!
Completing our normal morning routine, Max and the caiques showered with me and we all shared a quick breakfast before I ran out the door and rushed to work. Late, but in a much better mood than if I hadn't been able to run.

I just hope I don't have another morning like this for a long time!

Christmas cactus explosion

Thomas and I received a tiny Christmas cactus as a gift in 1999. Since then, our plant has quickly grown and has required several repottings. Normally, we get blooms once a year, in the November/December timeframe. However, over the past few days, we've noticed a few flowers.

I decided to try to take a picture of Daphne perched on the plant so I could give an idea as to how large this plant is. She didn't want to perch on the plant, however, so I held her in front of it for a picture.

Daphne is pretty hard to photograph, which is part of the reason why she appears seldomly on this blog (the other reason being that she is so well-behaved, which makes for boring entries!) If I use the flash, she is whited out, and when I don't use the flash, it's dark and blurry. But I persevere!

In this picture, she was shaking herself out just as I snapped the photo, and I love the way it captured her movement!
Of course, Max was jealous and acted as though she wanted her picture taken with the plant. I was hoping she'd pose under the greenery, but she didn't want to. I hope this kind of shows the scale, though. I can't get my arms around it and it's unwieldly! Pretty soon it may require 2 people to life it!
Every month, Thomas starts a different rotation. April will not be a fun month for anyone. In addition to lots of overnight call, he is gone longer hours during the days he can come home at night. I've written before about Rocky's love of Thomas's feet. On days like this when Thomas gets home closer to his bedtime, Rocky resigns himself to his shoes.
Rocky was so adorable last night; I wish I would have gotten some of his behavior on video. He can be so flirtatious and disarming and was almost able to lure me in to his web of biting. Before I came to my senses, I was actually thinking, "How can anyone this cute and funny, who is calling my name and telling me he loves me, bite me?" In any case, he had Thomas and me laughing so hard last night our sides hurt.

Marble Max

One special treasure for Max is marbles. We don't give them to her too often as we don't want them to lose their allure. But when she's really excited about something or won't leave us alone, we give her one. She treasures it for 10-15 minutes, an eternity in Max time. We don't know what's so special about the marbles, and it doesn't work for any of our other birds!

My running partner and I were out running this morning and talking about the local elections that are taking place today. In one of the races, there is a real goofball running. I'm sure he's a nice guy, but he doesn't seem to have a firm grip on reality. I will be voting for his opponent.

As we were discussing how surprised we were to see so many signs in yards supporting him, we ran into him on the street, putting out more signs!!! We greeted each other (something that we always do when running) and he said, "Don't forget to vote today!" My partner and I just said, "Yes. Good luck!" and stifled our laughter until we were out of earshot as we certainly weren't voting for him.

In any case, we hope he didn't overhear our previous comments, although nothing we said was that bad. We were talking softly, but voices can carry in the traffic-free early morning hours. But what are the chances of (almost literally) running into him on the street as we were discussing him?