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Crushing loss it is a shame she isn't able to see how valued she was to her friends as well as family. Hugs all around.

So sorry about your niece. I've struggled with bouts of suicidal depression since my teens. (I'm bi-polar). As dark as it has gotten, I've always been blessed with 5% of my brain that's been able to reason out what my killing myself would do to my friends and family, but it's been very bad at times. I've been on a med now that has stabilized my mood for the past three years. You really believe that other people will be better off without you around, that you matter little in other people's lives. I'm sorry your niece lost this battle. I hope her family isn't blaming themselves. It's an insidious and evil illness and sometimes, despite everyone's best efforts, it wins.

We all know who's the boss in your house!!!

So sorry about your niece! Prayers for you and the family.

Thank you all, it has been a rough year but is getting better. I am still unpacking boxes if you can believe it, lol. I found the Christmas box with all the stockings. Wow, do I have to get some more this year. Gilly, Tamale, Frito, Scout (who, by the way, is now Kiwi. Poor bird (quaker) started talking and keeps saying Kiwi so I can only guess that is his real name) Jake and Annie and Jane. I am pretty sure we had Athena last Christmas, I will know when I start putting up the decorations. Holy cow, 7 new ones in less than a year. We are insane! I need for the bird show to come to town soon. I need 21 new boings, lol!

How well I know that look and reaction.

?????

Maggie/Spock here...The other day, I made Jay his favorite tofu scramble with spinach, mushrooms, finely chopped celery and carrots, and finely chopped tofu and since I was running behind, I fed our fids some of this too for their hot meal with brown rice on the side. Joe was so excited and dived into his plate and took a big bite, lifted his head with his mouth wide open, let the food fall out of his mouth, shook his head to get rid of the rest of the food, reared his head back and looked at me as if saying "What the HELL was that????".... Then he flew away and turned his back to me...ROLOL...I tried to make peace by offering him some scrambled egg but he just gave me the evil eye...I wasn't going to fool HIM twice!

Wouldn't you just know he would be a stinker when you have someone else in the house? Actually it sounds like he has released some old baggage and is settling in just fine with you after all these years together. I love that he is becoming more confident although it is more challenging for you. On Murphchick's post I saw that you struggle with bipolar and I for one am so grateful for that 5 percent that keeps you going when things are dark. I will never forget the comfort of hearing your voice as you sang the words "just breathe" after I lost Juno. It may seem sometimes that you are alone, but the fact is you send ripples of encouragement and gentle spirit of goodness out and it makes a difference in the lives of others. I do understand about being alone, being in pain and its a hard road, with no easy answers. I would love for a new development to allow you to be carefree, full of the best life has to offer and with no pain. I have no doubt Dorian loves you just the way you are. I feel that way about my friends too.

We have a master on the main, so we moved Gil's cage in there. She is quite annoyed by us watching television after her 8:30 bedtime. At least when the little one arrives in four days, she, Java and the dogs will have a safe haven with a door that locks. She only has a week to deal with different time schedules. Thanks for the tips and hints. I will try them. I really think the Keppra is giving me brain freeze. At least I am chill about anything that comes my way. Last week, I was having so much trouble at PT, my doctor ordered an MRI for a potential tear in the rotator cuff or the muscles she reattached to my collarbone. She also ordered a neck x-ray and wondered why one hasn't been done sooner. A little chunk of bone was pulled off a vertebra by a ligament. She said there is nothing they can do about it and it will eventually tether with scar tissue and may take months and months and will hurt until that time. So. I feel a little validated about complaining about my neck. She pointed out that my first cervical vertebra failed to do something prior to birth. I think she said failure to segment. She said that is associated with neurological defects so once I am back on my feet, I will check into it. Again I feel validated because I have mentioned to 7 different neurologists since 2002 that when I lift my arms and turn my head, or turn my head to the right for an extended period of time that is when I have seizures. They have each given me a wave of dismissal. It is just the position I was in for about six minutes waiting for a traffic light and for David to take a right turn when the first injury happened in July. In all this recovery and discovery, I have come to appreciate Miss Gilbert even more than ever. She has the funniest, crankiest disposition of anyone since the cartoon Maxine. When David works from home he has to go outside because she hears his voice and screams for help and says "Nooooo" and they are becoming more certain that it's me shouting rather than the parrot.

It looks great. I think it's going up pretty quickly, though it must feel like it's dragging on for you. I think it's a fine use of the money you inherited, and I know the birds will agree. This is what love looks like. Lucky fids.

Wonder if the plants will need to be a low light variety? Looking very nice so far!!

This happens to be one of my absolutely favorite photos. My wife and I both noticed that with the roof on and the windows installed, it feels kind of like being in the Colorado mountains for some reason?!? Whatever, it feels different in the 'room' now and Miss GreycieMae is going to love it! She's going to have her own personal little jungle!

Windows are installed! The 12ft sliding glass door is going to be one of the last things we put on. Don't want to bust that thing moving stuff in and out. That would suck!

Greetings, (Maggie (Spock) writing for Jay)... If I may, We feed mainly "Volkman's Large Hookbill [Saffron], There are many good foods out there. Over the years we have fed our fids many different forms of food, please check some of our past posts. An excellent pellet is "Harrison's". We still feed our fids a warm dinner which is usually some type of veggies, warm sweet potatoes, rice, pasta, chicken, chicken bones with meat, scrambled egg, etc. (you get the idea ) They also eat off of Jay's plate (not mine LOL what I eat might not agree with them LOL) like Cheerios, Bran flakes, quinoa with kale (cooked), kale slushes, brown rice with swiss chard and tofu, fish, salmon, cod, halibut (bites), and their favorite, Tuna sandwich on 12 grain bread (LOL)...We make sure they have non-colored pellets, only vet-ordered supplements, no added salt, salt-free, no added sugar, no monkey nuts, (ONLY human grade roasted unsalted nuts). Concerning peanuts, we do not serve them too often because of high cholesterol and fat content. Sunflower seeds....very, very, very few...they are fattening and addictive...they are excellent for a training treat (3-4 a day). Pistachios (roasted no-salt) are an occasional great treat. Chickpeas (garbanzo beans) occasionally (once a week) are good because they bind good vitamins from the parrot. Walnuts are excellent and three almonds a day will turn your parrot into an Einstein Touchy subject: In the early years, I gave Red Palm oil very rarely and in the last ten years, I have not given any at all. Most of the red palm oil is not from Africa, it is from Malaysia. The soil in Africa and Malaysia is totally different from each other and because of this, the quality and nutriment content is very different. There are acres of red palm farms in Malaysia. It is also full of trans-fat and cholesterol which can cause fatty-acid disease. If you wish to use an oil, virgin olive oil or a top grade canola oil are good. This is what we cook with. We only feed them whole-grain breads when they get a treat or a bite. A nice treat is a small bite of whole-grain bread with a little olive or canola oil on it. As a trade-off for red palm oil, feed them a vitamin E green veggie. You have to research and decide what you want to feed your fid...I or anyone else should never stand on a soapbox and tell you this is what to feed them. So, use a Chinese menu format.......one from column A, one from column B....or all from column A or B...Be creative...Greys cannot live on one food alone

For those of you that don't seem to understand the reasons behind our new format....let me clear things up. First off, we have been having severe security issues with the forum for a long time now. We have been battling hackers, malware, viruses etc. Many times the forum has been down in the last few years due to hackers getting in and wreaking havoc. The private message system has not worked on many occasions. The front page stopped working, posting videos and pictures has become almost impossible. Things would just disappear. I was continually contacting the tech guys asking for them to fix this or that, letting them know we were down and inaccessible. Even GOOGLE didn't want you in Greyforums..when GOOGLE gives you a deceptive warning, it's for good reason, not just because... Members may not be aware, but Greyforums doesn't make a dime by paying the money it does to keep this forum up and running. It is strictly run by voulunteers helping out here. So getting the tech support we needed which cost $$, well, we were not a priority when you don't generate income. It was only a matter of a short time, before our forum was inoperable due to the malicious activity in the background because we lacked a secure site to say the least . It wasn't a matter of IF that happened, it was a matter of WHEN that happened, and all content would be lost forever. WE here at GREYFORUMS, are LUCKY enough to have a member who wanted to pay it forward....to THANK members .....to show his HEARTFELT GRATITUDE for all the advice and support he was given in trying to bring his grey into the US. Fighting the red tape and difficulties for years, which I can't even comprehend, but that is a greyt father, a dedicated grey owner. Yes, I am talking about KevinD, Sukie's dad. That's one lucky grey I might add. Kevin came to our rescue as well, he spent countless months trying to save Greyforums and continually being turned down. I am grateful for his relentlessness, he didn't give up on Sukie, and he didn't give up on Greyforums. And it would have been real easy to go somewhere else where another grey forum was in place that worked properly. He spent countless hours, and days cleaning out the viruses and garbage that has accumulated in the back end. Then begins the process of setting up a new server, new hosting site, a new server etc. when did he do this? On his nights and weekends when he wasn't at his full time job. Taking time asway from his grey to help us. He would answer my many emails and phone calls in an instant. ALWAYS putting us, this GREYFORUM family ahead of his own time. And not to mention the $$ he has spent on this site, making sure we had what we needed to move forward making it secure and giving us a mobile site which is something we have never had. I will I'll be forever indebted to him for his kindness and generosity. There aren't many people who are so giving in the works these days. Most want something in return, but not Kevin. is the forum different? Of course it is. That's what we wanted, a new look. Many of you don't know, but we went thru a huge format change many years ago as well. It seemed foreign at first, but in time as you learned things, you loved it and found it quite easy. This will be the same process. Due to the severity of the damage that was done to the site, it will take time to get everything up and running perfectly, things need to be added, tweaked etc. I would hope you would hang in there and be PATIENT with the process and the people trying to help. It angers me to see rude comments in the chat box complaining like this is a paid site where we are entitled to perfection. So I ask all members to be PATIENT. We will get everything working in time. Perfection doesn't happen over night I too work full time and then some. So writing a tutorial is something I am working on and hope to post over the weekend. So, hang in there, don't worry about people finding us, there is a redirect. If your still getting a deceptive warning, Clean out your cache, your history and delete your old bookmark. GOOGLE us, and find the page you want and bookmark it. And mostly, be THANKFUL to Kevin that there is a GREYFORUMS

KevinD, thank you for saving GreyForums. I don't know what I'd do without this forum, where I can brag, vent, and share what it's like living with one of these little grey tyrants.

The bandage idea is great. I'll dig out a tensor before the morning! Dorian has come a long way. I had a repair man here last week to look at my wifi. I had Dorians cage door open and the guy asked me "he won't bite me will he" and I assured him that he'd stay in his cage. After all this is the bird that, when I got him, would sit frozen and shaking whenever anyone strange came near him. Well, I turn my back on the cage and before I know it the little bugger has climbed down from his cage and is halfway across the room headed right for the repair man's toes! He didn't want to step up for me either. He's turned into a self assured, confident, almost fearless little guy, and I guess I'll have to suffer the consequences. lol

Ginger should also be helpful.

I just read that peppermint tea and green tea are supposed to help memory. I'll try it since I've had some memory problems lately, too.

We have our grandkids a lot, which is a blessing, but also a lot of work! An 18 month old especially... Glad you are past the half way point and can get the meds reduced. God bless.

I had hoped the seizures and the falls were behind you, as I am sure you did, also. I'm glad you have someone to do Thanksgiving cooking. And children CAN be monsters!

LOL Never a dull moment is there?

We went back to just Frito, she knows and says it very well so I am not going to confuse her any more than she is :-) She is just such a doll. She has a bell and well, like most greys, this bell must die. I heard it banging around so I went to look and she was giving it a stink eye like nothing I have ever seen before. Okay, well I have seen it before from Gabby when I was her mortal enemy. Bongo now is mad at me big time. He won't even step up for me. If I just open his cage to let him come out on his own, he will run straight to the top where he knows I can not reach him and make raspberry sounds. Arggg!

Hahahaha I'd demote your tail in a heartbeat if you kept calling me those kind of names. What happened to Freda? Re: Grey love being the best love... I read where someone said, "You haven't really been loved until you've been loved by a redhead." The author was a man who was shamelessly, head over heels in love w/a female Vosmaeri Eclectus. Bearing in mind that this is a Grey forum & so this is pretty treasonous stuff, I have to say I agree. The day Kura crawled onto my arm, it was magical. Unlike any other bird I've known or even known of. She's incredibly loving & she radiates a kind of joy & trust that is distinctly un-birdlike. As an added bonus, I can even breath her in, unlike the rest of the fids, unfortunately. She smells like honey, too.