Acappella

About 2 years ago I had a bad bout of pneumonia. It took 3 bouts of antibiotics to get rid of it. After my doctor told me my lungs were clear, I was still having episodes of bad breathing. Lots at the beginning. Now I have episodes a couple of times a week. I honestly had decided that my ever inventive body had found a new way to have panic attacks, so I never mentioned it to my doctor. Until I had an episode right in her office. So she freaked out a bit and sent me to a specialist. They did a chest xray, but there was a mighty thunderstorm on the day of my visit and a power outage kept him from viewing the xray. But here's the scary part. He told me it could be an allergy to Dorian. He's sending me for a CT scan of my lungs later on this week, and apparently he'll be able to tell from that whether it's Dorian or not. I see him in August. Needless to say this is keeping me up at nights. What if they tell me my breathing difficulties are because of Dorian? What will I do? It's easy for them to say get rid of the bird, but he's my baby. Nobody else understands why this is such a huge thing, but I know you guys would understand. I'm hoping they tell me it's just damage from the pneumonia, but what if they tell me I'm basically allergic to my boy?

I know I have a ritual with Dorian at bedtime that I cherish. I tell him to go night night and he (Eventually) makes his way to his sleep perch. Then I turn out the lights and say "Night night, sleep tight, see you in the morning light, Goodnight Dorian, I love you, goodnight" and close the door. I know on night where I think I'll skip the routine he refuses to go to bed, so I have reason to believe he likes it.

I know we always say they telegraph their bites, but this is extreme. I'd love to meet Kya someday. He's quite the character.

That story about people forming a human chain to help a family caught in a rip tide in Florida was a very strong visual that made me feel better about people for awhile. Look up the image.

No I've never done that, but I have gone in to work seriously sleep deprived because I stayed up all night reading.

It's lucky you found this group because we believe stories like this one. Others might not. I love him talking about himself in the first person. Shame on you for trying to fool your boy. It takes more than a towel to hide a potential source of cheese from a grey!

So how long did it take to get power back after that dramatic lightning hit? I'm amazed at Gil's fast recovery. Maybe one day even the stress plucking will go away, although she still looks cute in her underwear. She's surpassed Dorian in toy play. He's still only interested in bells and cardboard. I'm going to use the wood pieces I bought when I first brought Dorian home with visions of toy making, and make some toys for my groomers birds. I don't have much hope that Dorian will ever progress in his toy play. He does do what Gill is doing with her toys with his big bell. He gets it swinging and then uses it to scratch his neck. It's really cute. Give Gill a kiss for me, in whatever way doesn't put your lips in immediate danger of piercing. lol

How's Timber doing? I've been thinking about you.

You're right, I got my first pair of glasses 2 years ago.

We just survived Canada Day fireworks here. It always breaks my heart the day after to see all the lost dog postings on my local facebook group. Please keep your pets safe indoors with the doors and windows shut and the radio on to muffle the noise. Even doing all that I chose to keep Dorian up late so that I could reassure him that everything was alright. He was fine after he took his lead from me. Have a happy 4th everyone, and stay safe. Love from Dorian, Jac and I.

I saw a spot on the website where you could scroll down for larger birds. They have TAGs listed as medium birds and CAGs listed as large birds.

I have a friend who just built an aviary and she kept the ceiling lower just to avoid this specific problem. Gracie knows exactly what she is doing. It's the same way Dorian plays keep away on his playstand when it's time too to bed. It's a game to him, but annoying to me. I guess you need a higher step stool in the aviary. That'll foil her! Lol

Yeah, my first thought is that it seems expensive. I know part of their profits go to avian rescues, but I would rather be able to choose which rescue it would go to (Mardens Ark of course!) Anyway, I do not have to get it for Dorian. The only part of it he would be interested in would be the box he could chew!!!

LOL. Love the little red tail sticking straight up into the air. They do love to make different sounds on different surfaces don't they? I would have loved to see her get herself into that bucket. You know you can't turn your back on these guys, especially your monkey!

You made me lol with your description here birdhouse! Thanks. A laugh is always good.

Keeping a good thought for your Timber and you. I hope the news from the vet is good.

We just had a loud thunder storm roll through here with one particularly loud bang, so I can add startled/freaked out to the list of facial expressions. Took me a couple of minutes to reassure him and get that look off his face.

Much cuter than the bats I grew up with lol.

Dorian is a chatterbox when I'm on the phone, when the radio is on, when I'm on the computer or watching youtube videos, it's just the tv he's always been quiet around. I've always felt guilty about having the tv on because of it. I felt like I was infringing on his enjoyment of his space by having the tv on, so I'm glad he's started chattering when it's on. It's just the cockatoo call I could do without lol!

...how they continue to evolve in their behaviour, isn't it? Dorian has always hated having the tv on. He sulks, turns his back on it and otherwise lets me know he's not happy. One thing is he never made a noise while the tv was on. He just sat like a lump, or at the most would shred a box while I watched the idiot box. Well, in this past week that has finally started to change. As I type this I have the tv on in the office, and he is sitting behind me going through all his noises (including, unfortunately, his recently acquired cockatoo call). It's like a dam has broken open and I'm happy for him finally figuring out that he can vocalize when it's on. I'm sure that one day soon I'll regret it and wish for his silent days, but right now I'm happy he's found a way to be happy even when the tv is on. Does anyone else have a bird that clams up when the tv is on?

Whenever Dorian has a startled flight his little heart is beating out of his chest. He has no stamina at all. It's great that Gracie lets you take her out of sight of her cage. I predict that soon you'll be able to take her wherever you want to. Dorian only gets nervous now when I take him downstairs to the basement because we don't go there very often. He's even gotten ok with going outside, as long as I stick close to him. He steps into his outside cage without any hesitation now where before I had to really coax him off my hand. Maybe watching Kya fly will inspire Gracie to try out her wings. You never know. We've got all the (grey) time in the world.

Dorian also likes to drink from mugs and cups. I think it must be a grey thing.

I did some gardening outside yesterday without taking him out with me and I could hear him through the brick walls. He seems to be saving the new sound for when he is annoyed or feeling demanding. So of course all I have to do is to never annoy him and fulfill his every wish before he has it. lol

I have to be honest, Dorian is pretty low maintenance. He doesn't fly or chew wood, so I'm not constantly chasing him off my antique furniture. He just wants to be "with" so as long as he's mostly in the same room I'm in he's content to just hang out and shred cardboard or paper. That's the biggest maintenance with him, keeping him in cardboard boxes, and then cleaning up the remnants. I'm very lucky with him. I would, with my health problems, find a true mischief maker exhausting.

I've never heard of them either. I would be worried about metal toxicity as well.