Tucker5590

unless we are giving him a nut or fresh fruit- if we put our hands anywhere near Grumpy we will be bitten. BUT! we have had a big breakthrough! This weekend I have been rubbing his beak - through the wires of the cage. He likes it, and keeps coming back to the corner for more. Baby steps...but steps in the right direction!!! B)

Lost 1 lb. last week- but have not had a great eating weekend.....so I have to work hard this week.

He got used to the branches much quicker than anything else! I guess it wasn't as scary as new toys. I am not including pics of my carpet.....which is now full of bark thanks to Mr. Grumpy :laugh: Good thing the vaccum doesn't bother him!

I am part of a busy email group- so between that, flickr and facebook, I kept busy- but I did check several times to see if the forum was up yet. I haven't been here long, but this place doesn't take long to get attatched too! and for you facebook folks- I am Ashley Cleghorn Tucker there.

just a wee little bit of excitement @ Grumpy's house today- he finally decided he likes the "tree" that we attatched to the top of his cage. :woohoo: I took some pictures- I will post later tonight.

Hey sxedanimalsxe! We have had our cockatiel Sunshine for 7 years! She was still being hand-fed when we got her. She is such a good bird! My husband Butch is a retired paramedic. He still does some teaching at the local fire department, but has retired from the truck due to a back injury since 2001. Hope things go well for you with your school and with the new bird.

Just saw this thread! I need to jump in here too! In 07 I lost 62 lbs. I still needed to lose more- but was absolutly amazed at the difference in the way I felt. I managed to keep it off for over a year, but almost all has slowly creeped its way back on. I am ready to be serious again. I have lost 7 lbs. in the past couple of weeks. I'd love to check in here in additon to my other accountability partner. I don't follow a program or structured diet plan. What worked for me was simply eating less, and excercising more and limiting my breads and sweets, not cutting them out completly..but very limited. It worked once, it will work again! I love to walk- but am stubborn and must walk outside. Soon it will not be dark when I get off work and I will be walking again. I work as an assistant to MY drs. nurse. Last time I had her weigh me once a week and record it in my chart no matter what the result. Somehow, when I did that my pride jumped up and cheered me on! I am going to start doing that again. Looking forward to losing with ya'll! :)

Great pics!

Welcome Jordan! Glad to have you here. *scurries off to flickr to see your pics* I love flickr! have a lot of pics there myself.

thanks ladies for the continued encouragement. I do believe that we will see time bring Grumpy around. You can tell when you are close to him- he wants to be held as bad as we want to hold him! But he still gets spooked so easily I don't want to push him and cause a set back (or get bit!) I am pleased, as he seems to be happy. I had thought about offering his smaller treats open handed, but wasn't sure if that was a good idea or not. I'll try it.

Grumpy mostly talks and whistles when we are out of the room. On weekends when we sleep in we wake up to his whistles. In the evenings if no one is in the den with him and we are in the kitchen rattling things around he starts in loudly whistling and chattering. Once we are back in the room with him he is content and gets quiet again. Hopefully you will get to hear her again soon!

We are still taking it slowly around here. Grumpy still doesn't want us to hold him. He is getting some better about the biting. He did get me for the first time though. He does great taking peanuts or almonds from our hand- but when he dropped the nut out of the shell and I tried to give it back to him he bit my finger instead. LOL! He had to move around the almond to get to my finger. Butch cut some branches to give him something to climb on and he is still very leary of that being on top of his cage. He's checking it out though- he is chewing on a piece of the bark right now.

Grumpy's original owner imported him as a baby- 18 years ago. Not the oldest here but older than many.

how exciting!

welcome!

Grumpy got quiet and came out of the cage while I was listening to Dayo. He was very intrigued.

Judy- I am one of these people who long ago prayed for patience before I knew what I was asking for. I have learned this lesson the LONG way in many other areas of my life. It's still not easy- but at least I know its rewarding.

Thanks Dan! I am trying to update without going overboard. I have been known to get carried away...like when showing pics of my grandkids and my aunt laughed at me & said "Oh look! she blinked, she farted, she blinked again!" Gotta love truth delivered with a dose of humor! :silly: Since Grumpy is not so fond of his toys I wanted to give him something to keep him busy. This week he has spent much time cracking almonds. He will work a while, put it in his water dish to soak, and then work on it some more. I think he likes the challenge as much as he does the nut when he finally gets to it.

I think our patience with Grumpy will eventually pay off. He is becoming more and more curious. He does enjoy our company. His cage is now located at the end of the couch. If we are here his door is open. He comes in and out as he pleases. He only flys off if startled- which has only happened a couple of times. He takes food from our hands and seems quite content. I have not tried to hold him yet, because I want him to feel secure before I start trying to handle him. It won't be long now, because he gets really close to me. His curiosity should benefit me in this effort. I think that considering the amount of new things he's experienced in the last month he is doing well. New people/other birds/my dog/my visiting mother in law and her dog (don't get me started! *giggles* ) He seems to really love Rachel, our 13 year old daughter. When she is close to the cage he waves to her, and she tells him to dance and he will move side to side as she does. Last night he got brave enough to reach over and gently grab her hair when she bent over to pick up the nut he dropped. He is very skiddish of new toys (understandable with all the changes lately!) I mentioned before that I moved his new toy to the outside of the cage because he was very frightened of it. I did put it on the side of the cage near the food cup. He had to go close to it - and it didn't take long for him to get used to it being there, and he has picked at it a little bit. I play with it while I am sitting here with him. I believe soon I will be able to put it inside the cage with him. Today I stuck a peanut in between 2 parts of the toy. I'm sure he'll brave it for a peanut! Grumpy has suckered Butch a few times. He will take the treat from his hand and act like he wants more- but when he offers him another- he bites him. Poor Butch. LOL. I have been reading around here a lot and am trying to take the advice that has been given. The hardest one is patience...but it IS going to be worth it. sorry for such a long rambling post- but since I am being patient- I am having to celebrate the small victories. :cheer:

That is a great story!!!!!

I agree on letting the baby pick you. We didn't have that choice with our grey but we have been very successful when letting puppys pick us over the years.

Welcome dsk! I am new around here too. We have had Grumpy, our TAG for almost a month now. He is an older bird so we will be facing different challenges but I look forward to hearing about Piccolo and your other birds! ~Ashley

Glad to hear you are making progress with her. We have an older bird who is just getting used to us too. Hopefully we will both have good reports to share soon.

I found it! It is under my info on my profile page. There are also other pics of him and my dog, and my kids and grandkids, and wild birds, and flower and well... anything else that I can get to sit still for a photo session at www.flickr.com/Tucker5590 Does anyone else here flickr?

Thanks Summer! I actually did feed him from a separate piece of food, because I have a cold, but I didn't think about sharing with him in general being a problem. I posted one pic of Grumpy here...but I am not sure if I can figure out how to get to it again. LOL. I am still learning my way around.