Weekend recap

Another busy weekend for us! In addition to the vegetable CSA I've discussed, we also signed up for a fruit CSA this year. The fruit CSA is run by a family that has orchards of antique, exotic, and old-time varieties of fruit. Friday was the first week for our pickup, and we had several varieties of apples, pears, and even some plums!

Definitely very different from what we can find in the store here!

My run on Saturday (20.5 miles) went well. The marathon is less than a month away, and then I'll be back to more normal distances again!

Sunday afternoon, we went on a hike at this lovely state park not too far from our house. It's a bit hard to see from this picture, but there are tons of springs bubbling up through the sand:

One thing I love about this place is the many different habitats we run across. This boardwalk leads to a lookout where we always see at least a few fish. Shortly after I took this picture, a frog jumped up on the boardwalk and hopped around a few times, including once on my shoe (!), before jumping back into the marsh.
This wasn't the most beautiful (in terms of blooming flowers) site we passed, but there was something about the coherence of the colors and textures that made me take its picture. Thomas gave me a hard time about photographing weeds!
This frog really blended in to the ground. He looks similar to the one we saw on the boardwalk, but this was in a different area of the park.
On our way home, we saw a sign marking a boat launch, so we investigated. We've been contemplating starting to canoe, and if we do, this will be one of the places we go. Doesn't the sky look almost fake, it's so perfect? What a great day we had!
On to other goings on at our house.

On Saturday afternoon, I was relaxing on the couch (running so long definitely takes a lot out of me!) Thomas was playing video games, shirtless, and then ran upstairs to put on a red long-sleeved shirt (the same one he's wearing in the picture above). Rocky went nuts attacking him. Thomas realized that Rocky had tried to attack him yesterday when he was wearing the same shirt, so he went upstairs and came down wearing a red T-shirt instead.

Rocky was still agitated. I said to Thomas, "Are you doing this just to bug him? He's used to you playing shirtless all summer and red is setting him off. Please put on a shirt of a different color." Thomas scoffed at me and jokingly said that Rocky would get used to it. Thomas sat down, started playing, and Rocky bit his hip, through the shirt (see above left).

Of course, I laughed (which I shouldn't do since it only encourages Rocky), but I had predicted what would happen. On a subconscious level, Thomas knew as well. He intentionally put on a red T-shirt because he "wasn't going to let a macaw dictate my wardrobe." Later on, Rocky was once again fine with red clothing.

I know I've posted similar photos recently, but Stella is just so curious and inquisitive lately. She alternated between eating things off of the salad and throwing them on the ground.As I've mentioned, she loves the stove. We have to be very careful to make sure she's in her cage when any kind of stove activity is taking place (or has recently taken place where it might be hot). She's drawn to it like a moth to a flame. It's very strange. She especially likes to perch on the burners.We got tons of zucchini in our vegetable CSA, which means zucchini bread and muffins! The parrots love these, and Max did help herself to some when she was unattended in the kitchen.

We also got corn, so Thomas made some sort of sauteed corn dish. He was offering some to the parrots, and of course they all loved it (corn is a definite favorite!) I was trying to capture Max eating the corn in a funny manner, but she stopped when I got close with the camera. The reason I'm still posting this is for the background noise in the first half of the video.

As the stove had recently been on (and, in fact, some soup was still simmering), Stella was in her cage because I can't risk her getting burned. She's getting used to this, but that doesn't mean she has to like it! When she's in the living room, she will sing and make noises to try to get us to let her out.

The noises she's making in the first part of this video she picked up from Max. When there's a song on that Max really likes, she sings in this manner. Stella is a fantastic mimic and has picked up pretty much all of Max's utterings. In fact, I can no longer tell which one is making the noise! She also made a loud Daphne noise and some typical grey vocalizations.

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend! It's been cooling down here, which I love. Fall is my favorite time of year (I sometimes say that about spring, too). On my run this morning, I noticed there are some trees whose leaves have already changed colors, and others who have lost quite a few leaves already. How fast the time flies!

Stella on the floor

Stella has shown a great desire to be on the floor, of late. We are not encouraging this, as it appears to be nesting behavior. I do not want to deal with egg-binding, so we're trying to not stimulate her. But of course I had to take a video!

Our cabinets and dishwasher do go all the way to the ground, so her attempts to squish herself under them (and into a dark, enclosed space) are futile.

Thomas, the good sport that he is, agreed to partially stage this video. Stella had been on the floor, trying to attack his feet, but she'd stopped the attacks before I could get my camera ready. Notice how he provocatively wiggles his toes at her at one point :)

Once again, we are not encouraging this (well, except so I could film this video) and have been proactively keeping her off of the floor.

I can't believe it's the weekend already! Tomorrow is my longest run in training. We're supposed to do between 20-22 miles. My running partner and I have agreed to do 20 and we'll see if we're feeling up to adding a couple of more at the end. My inclination is to stop at 20, but he can be a bit of a taskmaster! The weather is supposed to be beautiful -- I can only hope! I have been drinking water like crazy in an attempt to pre-hydrate a bit.

In sad aquarium news, I think one of my baby rainbowfish has died. It's been about a week since I've seen all three of them. I hope he's just been hiding somewhere. I'll try to do a more comprehensive search for him tonight.

I hope everyone has a fantastic weekend! Since it's been cooling down, I think we'll be able to go for a hike again! Also, I haven't even picked up knitting needles since before our vacation and I was really hoping to have this scarf done before cooler weather arrives. It will be Monday before I know it!

Other goings on in our house

We harvested one of the creepiest tomatoes I've seen. I think it may have been of the Cherokee Purple variety. Thomas and I both had a bite, but it was quite mealy and we couldn't bring ourselves to finish it.
As more evidence of my classiness, I drink my wine out of a sturdy beer glass instead of a wine glass. This is so that it has a lower chance of getting knocked over by one of my flying and/or curious parrots.

Max preened the glass a bit, but decided not to try to take a sip after smelling what was in the glass (we would have stopped her from drinking the wine in any case).
We got a watermelon from our CSA and were eating it for dessert last night as we watched Greatest American Dog. Rocky was intrigued and climbed up on the arm of the couch to investigate:He finally decided he wanted to try it, and was happy when he did!Speaking of Greatest American Dog, this is the only show we're watching this summer. Thomas thought I was crazy when I told him I wanted to watch, but he's been sucked in as well. I think next week might be the final episode. I think this has something to do with my dog envy.

I keep thinking of how a show like this would be next-to-impossible with parrots. While we're watching it, we do joke about what our parrots would be like completing the various tasks (not good)!

Proof that the caiques and Daphne are well!

Beeps managed to drop this toy onto the floor of the stand and he then went down to work on its destruction...
As usual, Calypso froze up when I went to take his picture. He's not a huge fan of the camera, which is why he's rarely shown here.
Daphne was being quite funny last night. She kept wandering all over the paper when Thomas was trying to read it:Finally she got her wish: to perch on one of her favorite people. The camera just doesn't properly capture her coloring. She looks aqua, but she's really more periwinkle.
At this point, we've decided to not bring that budgie I talked about the other day home. We've tried to bring another budgie into our home in the past, and Daphne wasn't happy about it. I think I wanted to bring another one in because of the guilt I feel in keeping a single budgie since they are such social creatures.

However, Daphne is apparently not a normal budgie. As I've mentioned before, she was supposed to be a breeder, but couldn't get along with any of the other budgies. Maybe she thinks she's a human?

In any case, she is one of the sweetest birds I've ever had the pleasure of meeting, and we've been making an effort to make sure she gets enough human interaction. Thomas thinks I should sneak her into work even though she's prohibited in the lease (not her, specifically, but "all animals, including birds" are). Maybe being able to bring a budgie to work will be a requirement of my next job :)

In which a cheap parrot toy entertains Rocky

We keep a small dish on our table where we deposit our loose change at the end of the day. Although Rocky has shown limited interest in this in the past, last night he was captivated. He took a nickel out of the dish, threw it on the floor, raced down to the floor to find his coin, and then proceeded to play with it for more than 10 minutes in the following manner:

Anyone who happens upon this, please note that coins in general are NOT good parrot toys. According to this site, nickels are made up mostly of 75% copper and 25% nickel and according to this site, copper is not good for parrots.

We felt this small exposure was worth the risk for our macaw to have fun. Had it appeared that he was ingesting any, we would have stopped him immediately. We are also going to move our coin dish so that this is less likely to happen in the future. He does have many parrot toys!

Allopreening

There are so many myths, half-truths, and misinformation out there regarding parrots. One I'd heard when we first got Max was that you should never allow beak to skin contact with your bird or risk having a biter.

As with so many things I heard and read during the beginning of our relationship with Max, that turned out to be false.

Allopreening -- where I scratch the parrot's head/neck area and in return get my fingers preened by the bird -- is an important bonding ritual that Thomas and I practice, to varying degrees, with all of our birds.

Sometimes the sessions are short -- just a second or two (especially with Daphne and the caiques whose attention spans are shorter than the greys) -- but they can be longer. It's up to the bird. Except with Stella -- I don't think she's ever been the one to call it quits!

When Stella wants to be preened (pretty much every night after dinner), she flies over to the couch, positions herself as near to my right hand as she can, bends her head and softly head buts me. How can I resist that? The other birds have different ways of letting us know -- for example Max will scratch her head with her foot while looking right at me and saying, "hello?"

I was reading on the couch last night and decided to take a video of Stella and me preening each other.

Also, I do tell the caiques it would feel better if they'd become friends and allopreen each other, but it's been falling on deaf ears for almost two years now. Given their sparse interactions, I truly wonder whether they realize they're both caiques?

I could have danced all night...

I was reading on the couch last night while Brian was playing video games. The song "Superhero" by Jane's Addiction came on the ipod, and I noticed, out of the corner of my eye, a dancing grey!

There are certain songs that just get them going!

Melon!

Thomas was cutting up a melon for dessert yesterday, and the greys flew over to the counter to check it out. Here's Max, on his finger, eating her melon, with Stella in the background. The melon came from our CSA and it was full of flavor!
Stella started warily watching the melon. She hadn't been exposed to it before in our house -- what is that strange looking fruit?
Approaching the fruit and investigating a bit... Taking the plunge...
Thomas noticed that she was mostly drinking the juice, so he scooped out a spoonful of juice and offered it to her -- much easier!

The rest of the parrots also had melon, but I was so intent on taking pictures of Stella eating that they'd all finished by the time I approached with my camera.

I need to stay strong...

I've mentioned many times that we have a new pet ban currently being enforced in our house.

So, why do I do this to myself?

I was looking at our local humane society's website, and they have a 6 year old female English budgie up for adoption. English budgies typically have lifespans of 6-8 years, so she's near the end of hers.

I really want to go and get her -- I was sure she'd get adopted over the weekend.

This evil voice inside of me keeps telling me that we should bring her home. But then the sane part of me reminds me that we have limits for a reason.

Sigh...

Hopefully I stay strong and you won't read a new bird announcement in the blog in the upcoming days...

How can it possibly be September?

I just can't believe how quickly the time has been flying! Stella's been with us for almost four months, and Rocky and Beeps have been here for right around two years.

Stella ate another pretzel snack over the weekend -- what a mess she leaves!
As for the race, Thomas unexpectedly had Saturday off, so he ended up running. I did beat him (by 58 seconds per mile!) I've been having a good running summer and I can only hope that it continues for the marathon next month.

I tried to get the greys to pose together, but wasn't particularly successful. Stella sure is feisty! As I've mentioned, she's a bit nesty, so she's been flying to the floor and then running into the corner to dig. We are not encouraging her (don't want to see any grey eggs!) and she'll readily step up when we go to get her. She's just so persistent!
With the summer weather upon us, we should be spending more time outside, but it's just been so hot. I don't do well in the heat and am looking forward to fall! Rocky decided to climb into the bottom of Stella's cage to forage for garbage...
When jealous Max saw me taking a picture of him, she had to go to the same place on her cage and call out "hello!" until I took her picture as well.
Of our parrots, the greys are the most observant about what's going on with the other birds, and also the most jealous. I still think Max would prefer to be an only bird so she could have us all to herself!

Here she is on her cage. I told her she looked like an alien with our TV antennae coming out of her back. Today is one of Thomas's days off from the hospital (September is another wards month which means he's almost never home) so Rocky got to eat breakfast with his favorite person. My ever-present stick, which has prevented an untold number of macaw bites, lingers in the background of this picture.And I'll close today's entry with a video. I think I've posted video of this before, but I think it is absolutely adorable. Max is eating yogurt off of a spoon. We didn't try to teach her this -- when she was first in our house, we used a measuring spoon to feed her soft foods, and she got so excited she'd try to grab the spoon out of our hand. We let her try to hold it, and before long, she was a master at feeding herself from a spoon! The black 1/2 teaspoon became hers, and whenever she sees it in my hands, she gets so excited -- dancing and lots of "want some!" ensue.


None of our other parrots have shown any interest in holding the spoon themselves. What I love the most is how she uses her bottom beak to scoop the food in Certainly not dainty!

I'll attempt to take some pictures of them, but I realize I've been neglecting Daphne, the caiques, lizards, and fish on the blog lately. They are just much better behaved and get into less mischief than the greys and Rocky! But all is well and I'll try to update with pictures soon.