murfchck

Had a friend over last night, last time he was here we had 4 birds, needless to say he was pretty shocked. lol But he fell in love with Koko in a big way. This guy is a Metallica type of music guy and so I showed him the video of Snowball, the dancing cockatoo from you tube. The one where she is stomping her feet and rocking out. He was holding Koko and then she just started dancing and head banging right along with the music. I never saw such amazement in someones face before. Made him love her even more! Bongo was always his guy when he comes by but poor Bongo had to wait. lol I have a video of Pat drumming and Koko dancing beside him and we caught some of her dancing with Snowball but it was on hubby phone so I have to do some transferring around to be able to post it, I will work on that soon, I promise, they are way to cute to keep stored on a phone. Maybe I will figure out you tube and let Koko give Snowball a run for her money!

I asked him what we could do and he just said to come Saturday. I told him we would be there with sprouts on! He is such a good hearted man. All can think of today are the holiday's approaching and him being alone. I will invite him to our home of course but who knows what he will be able to do.

Poor hubby, I think he has met his match! Albert and I were singing his song, you are my sunshine, to all the birds yesterday. (who all were out at the same time) He only sings the "you" words and sings that word loud, and Koko starts her Broccoli and cheese song, Lily is screaming and the macaws were grunting and swaying. Pat walked in to see what was going on and just stared at me. I kindly told him if you can't beat them, join them, so he started singing with us, and we really were all being loud. Gus then decided to fly around, which made Cotay fly and then Bongo and Gabby followed. Took Cotay a little time but then she took off landing on top of the cabinets, so the fun had to end before dished got broken. I put Albert back on his cage stand in the kitchen and went about the evening chore of feeding the dogs. The dry food is kept in the laundry room (through the kitchen and living room down a hall a bit and the turn into the room) As I was standing back up from scooping the food, Albert was coming after me. He was coming through the living room, turned down the hall, hovered when he flew to far then adjusted and flew right on my shoulder. I loved it, I don't get to do anything alone anymore, lol! After they all went to their rooms for dinner, I was going to get Bongo out to play. I went in and he ran to the top and started to regurg for me, so we just played there for a bit. When I went in to put them to sleep about 30 minutes later, as I was loving on Albert he did the regurg thing. He is my little monkey! Monkey see, monkey do! I don't have any children, but now I can say I understand the "favorite kid" thing. It isn't that he is my favorite, he is just a different personality so he gets different attention than Bongo does. I love them each the same, but differently. Albert was on my shoulder and Bongo wanted him off so he was doing flybys, he finally landed on my arm. This is the first time they have been on me at the same time, it didn't go bad but will take a lot of time for them to be okay with sharing, if ever. You could see the struggle in both of their eyes to remain calm and with my head and ears between them, I thought better of it. If a fight did take place it would have me that got hurt, not them, so I put them both down. lol Baby steps.

Our friends partner passed away today. He didn't recover from the surgery so it is going to be a ruff few months for him. We are going over Saturday to visit with him.

To late. I am drawn in, hook line and feathers.

All 9 of mine are fully flighted. 2 are unable to fly but the others fly enough for them, lol. Picture 3 greys, one amazon and three cocatoos all flying at the same time. Makes you appreciate only having one or two flying through the house. But i wouldn't have it any other way!

He knows he is home!

He has no fear of other birds. He will land on the macaws playstand and of course they charge at him, cockatoos he has only landed on Lily's cage and she really didn't care. He did fly and land on Bongo's cage once and Bongo just fluffed up and crouched down, once on Cotays cage and Cotay went full bad ass on him. He isn't flying on their stuff to bother them, just to get closer to me, whatever I may be doing. The day he landed on Bongo's cage we were getting the birds out after work and had to adjust a perch in a cage, he just wanted to know what was going on. lol. We have not let them on the same stand or left them alone in a room when they are out together. He does stare at them with his head cocked and I just can't read those golden eyes yet. Last night I had to mix up some seed mix. I started mixing my own instead of buying pre mixed since I am sprouting now and that is what they eat 2x's a day, buying in bulk saves so much money also I know they are getting only what they like and need. Albert was such a huge help, so was Gabby. I had my stuff in the sink soaking and rinsing, had 3 - 5 gal buckets in the living room along with a large mixing container. I walked away to get the dried fruit chips for the mix and found Gabby in the sink eating the seeds that were soaking, made it back to the living room and Albert was in the seed mix chowing down. When I cook dinner, Bongo is on me like flys on poo waiting for his samples so why not have these guys on me when making other treats? lol I have found out I will need to do some re arranging on the space over my cabinets, Albert has flown up there twice now and I have antique dishware up there. Last night he went up there and I was standing underneath, hands out waiting to catch stuff he was knocking over. Yikes, my others have never bothered that area so I didn't give it any thought. He has a mind like none of my others. He is getting better with Pat, he has let Pat hold him twice now without a fuss. Not for long but the trust will come.

Welcome to the family! We are the servants to 3 cag's, ages 7, 12 and 25. (ish) and just a few other birds, lol. Can not wait to hear stories of your guy and post some pictures when you can!

Oh my gosh, tonight was something else with Albert (Chacho, short for muchacho is his real name I found out today, Spanish for boy) Anyway, he puffed up his head while on my shoulder and shoved it against my face rubbing it on my cheek, I melted. I spoke with his previous owner, our friend, and asked for some history. This is the gentleman who we went to for the surrender and ended up caring much for him and help him out every Saturday he is up for it with the 6 he kept and him! Albert is approximately 10 years old and has a ruff personality. I was told to keep a close eye on him around the greys or he will break my heart. Seems he was pretty jealous and I am waiting to hear back on the story of what happened. He said he isn't good with change, that he was crying one day and Albert "freaked" out on him because he didn't understand. He seems to have accepted the changes here pretty well but my guard is up now a bit more. We are still going to let him stay in the bird room during the day so it doesn't look like we are playing favorites but he will eat in the kitchen in that cage for a while. :-)

Had to keep the too's up last night, we moved the greys cages back into their room. That required removing doors and a lot of noise so to keep them less stressed they stayed in their room. Today is their day though so they will be out with us all evening. Rearranging the house to fit the two macaws was a blessing in hind sight. The set up is so much more functional for the Too's and now everyone has a window to see out of when they are in the living room/ kitchen area. More relaxing for us also, now if Lily and Cotay would just sit still, lol.

Oh, the new babies are so cute and sweet! Only one blue throat, the rest are red fronts but the last two blue throats that are not fully weaned were flying around and actually let me hold them. We practiced the step up and did pretty darn good with it. The hard part was not getting over excited and shouting "good job" and scaring the poop out of them, which we both did the first time. lol No pictures this time, I couldn't really pick the babies up. I tried but the nails went right into my thumb injury and opened it back up so.. :-( I didn't know just how sweet those red fronts were, they are smaller than I thought they would be.

For the past few weeks Bongo has been snubbing me. Wouldn't come out of his cage, he would run to the top. I don't chase him around when he does this, I just walk away and wait until he is ready. But Pat would come right behind me and Bongo would step up eagerly for him. HA, that has changed now that Albert is here. Bongo wants to be very sure that he knows I am his. Tonight when I went by Bongos cage to shut the curtain, he ran over and was making kissing noises and sticking his beak out the bars for his kisses. Normally he will only give kisses on the other side. I assume it is because Albert moved in the room tonight and is closest to Bongo's cage. Albert just was looking around his new cage and beaking everything saying Bert, but very drawn out like, Beeerrrttt, I wish you could do music scales when you type cuz it is very Spanish arriba style. lol And the you tube video of the zon saying he "dropped his biscuit in his brew", the brew being high pitched and drawn out is exactly how Albert sounds when he says cracker. I just love this boy!

Oh is he a ham! He took off flying yesterday and when I went to pick him up, he started talking so loud to me and laughing. He laughed harder than I did! His cage is in the kitchen area right now. We were not ready to put him in the big room but now we are second thinking that. He loves where he is at, but it is the kitchen area so cooking and burning food (which I do a lot of both) would have me on edge all the time. And he is also a piggy boy like my Bongo, will eat anything you offer him!

I called her Sunday morning and expressed our concerns. It was all set that we were going to take them in so we spent the whole day rearranging the house and the birds, set up a cage ( she was bringing one in its cage already ) to fit 2 more macaws. About 6:30 she came by and said she changed her mind. That she couldn't part with them and was really going to make an effort with them. I gave her a big hug and told her I was just across the street if she needed anything at all. Then Albert flew over her head to me, then he tried to fly to her and she ducked (we don't know if he would have bit her so we were ok with that, lol) After he landed and I went and got him, oh did he start talking, and talking loudly! I laughed so freaking hard. Bongo is seeing how he acts with me and after just one day, Bongo is starting to let me get closer to him! All the birds were outside yesterday, except Albert so not to much else to tell you about! Oh, our friend was sick Saturday so he cancelled.

Not so relaxed, when he went to my shoulder i cowarded out and Pat just laughed at me and said that Albert trusts me i should him. Then i got braver. Lol He has totally won me over. The coo he does, i don't know if all amazons make it but goodness is it heart tugging. Where has this guy been all my life? Holy smokes, i just thought about all the new Christmas stockings i will need this year. Koko and Cotay and Albert!

Aw heck, here is Albert (Chucho) Look at that sweet face!

Welp, Albert moved in yesterday. He is a yellow nape amazon and has his thread in the amazon room already, with a picture. But now I am in a pickle. If you all recall my neighbor and her birds. She came over last night and said she needed help and wanted us to take her birds. A scarlet and military macaw. My husband is freaking out and so am I to be honest. I am a little upset that she really thinks she is doing me a favor by "giving" me her birds. She is keeping her cages to sell on craigslist to recoop her money she is out on them. And said since she is giving them to us, I have to help her sell them. Umm, really? I will be out vet bills, food bills toys etc to house her birds and she is doing me a favor? Okay, for us it is birds first and they need to get away from her but this will now make 11 for us and we are not a sanctuary yet legally. This is all out of my pocket. I can't deny these birds but I feel like I need to say something to her that she offered them, I didn't ask for them. Plus we still have our friends 4 blue and golds, Cag and hawk head and two retired breeder greys and one old man red front that loom in our future. The cockatoos are really killing us, ok, my two are killing us lol Koko is a gem, for real. :-) If they were all like her there wouldn't be any problems! Okay, off my soap box now and ready to start my day of cleaning and cooking as hubbys mom is coming over for dinner, Now where is my kitchen table????

Albert moved in yesterday. His real name is Chucho (we think), but he likes to say Albert's freaking out so we call him that, I was told he will say "My name is not Albert" but so far he hasn't, eh, we have only had him here since 2 yesterday so I guess he will tell us sooner or later. He is missing his feathers around his neck area but it looks like he is a yellow nape. When we went out to the sanctuary, the owner told us he took a good chunk out of her hand and had chased her down to attack her. He was going wild in the cage flinging himself around. Pat said when we got in the car that it would take a long time of working with him and I should expect it to not be all peaches and cream. I was in it for the long haul, he needed a good home. We had to make a stop on the way home (Whataburger, lol, I had to use the bathroom and so I couldn't just go in for that so I got some fries too.) Albert smelled them and his whole personality changed. I broke a small bit off for him and he took it so gently, I gave him some water from our bottle we had brought, I squeezed it to the top and he drank happily away! Now we are home, we put him in the cage in our kitchen, not ready to put him with the others just yet and also it was last minute so the cage we intended for him wasn't set up yet. After he was in the cage for about an hour my hubby said he looked sad and opened the door for him. It took a few minutes and Pat leaving the room before he came out. He ran to the side of the cage where I was and lowered his head, I put my hand up and he pushed his little head into my hand for loving. That was it, that was all it took. He ran to my shoulder and groomed my hair, gave me kisses and won my heart even more than he already had. He doesn't let Pat near him yet but like Pat said, our birds don't like to fly so he will soon learn to like Pat if he wants to go somewhere else in our house. lol Although, someone stopped by and I set him down to answer the door and he flew for me through the kitchen and living room. He is a mama's boy!

No kidding. It may have been a little guilt on his part since we are pretty sure it was his realtor who called it in. lol. I know it wasn't the other neighbors since they were all out of town. We were bird sitting for one, dog sitting for another and plant and lawn sitting for yet another. Narrowed it down really quickly. We are off to our friends home today to visit and "talk". We missed last weekend. so the cage cleaning must get done, but he asked us to not clean, that he just wants to talk and make plans for his partner's coming home. I told Pat that he was in charge of that and I would clean the cages best I could if he lets me. My flock is feeling the weather change and seems to be going stir crazy. It went from the 100's to low 60's in two days. Lots of rain too which is so nice. Well I call it rain, it is more of a very heavy mist. We had birds flying all over the house last night and couldn't keep up. We have made the decision not to have them all out at once but to rotate them. haha, I think we made those plans before but I am weak and want them all out if I am home so they can spread their wings and fly. I already asked if Bongo had to be on the rotation, he is such a good boy and doesn't bother anything or anyone when he is out and gave it my best sad face. Pat just looked at me like I was crazy. lol

What great news! I knew with your determination you would figure it out!

We had a perfect flight from Gus through the house with a beautiful landing on my arm. (at least I think it was beautiful. I put up my arm, ducked my head and squeezed my eyes closed waiting for the painful bite that never happened!) He did run right up my arm to my shoulder though so Pat had to intervene and take him off before I lost an ear or my glasses. We don't let these guys on our shoulders now since Pat's last ear piercing. There is nothing like seeing your husband walk in a room with his neck and shirt collar full of blood, the risk isn't worth it! And now that is where Koko wants to be, she isn't happy on the arm anymore. Last night Bongo wanted his time with me, as I was bent over getting a pot out, he landed on my butt. lol I slowly stood up and he walked up to my shoulder, he is allowed there. :-) Once he got there, I turned my head to him and called him a goober, he laughed at me like he knew exactly what he had done. It was bath day last night ( could be why Bongo was so clingy to me, he hates the baths and won out and stayed dry. ) Oliver had a bad reaction though after his. He started to freeze up, like he was having a seizure again. Pat grabbed a towel, pried his feet off the stand and took him outside to get warmer. It took him a few seconds and he snapped right out of it. A few years back he had a full blown one after a bath and fell off the perch he was on, so this time we knew what to watch for. He and Bubba stayed in the aviary until dinner time. I have an empty cage in the greys room, waiting for the amazon to move in, lol. Both Pat and I keep going to the cage when we put the birds to bed as if there is a bird in there already handing out an almond. Pat even put water in the bowl for him once before he realized there wasn't a bird in the cage! I guess we are already programmed. Our friends partner had surgery Tuesday and had is legs removed above the knees. They said he is in pain, as expected, but is doing better than he was with the legs and will be back in his regular room in no time. Oh, got a citation from the city yesterday about the branch that fell from our tree, lol. Pat was home and told the guy that he had had an accident and couldn't use a power tool to cut up the branch until this weekend. They didn't care... Pat went out there and our old neighbor had come by, saw him and stopped to help. There are still good people in the world!

We have been fighting, lol. Our local branch that we use was not surprised about the trouble. Seems that they took any authority away from the local branches. Pat asked him if the corporate office is doing all of this now, what are they there for? Pat told him he was nothing but a salesman and he couldn't disagree. I will say, he felt bad enough that he reimbursed us all the money on the rental car we had, and he didn't have to do that. I just wish corporate America would butt out of local companies. That goes for Home Depot to!! My short list is growing larger by the day of companies ticking me off! Even Kohl's changing the rules on Kohl's cash. (I mean I understand why they stopped accepting it after it expired, but they spoiled me and now I have a purse full of their cash I can not use! No warning.lol) So, did I mention that Pat broke his front tooth Monday night? Got him to the dentist, needs a crown and root canal but is he going to do it? No. He told the dentist to make it functional so he doesn't whistle when he talks, lol. What a goober! He actually said the birds may need the money and he won't spend it on his tooth when a simple filling will work... Calgon, take me away!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is one of the 8 we got. We still have not had a chance to get all their toys back in, just the one they would kill us for are in there. lol As we took them apart, we put their stuff in their own labeled box, I now have these boxes all over my living room. Such a mess! The cockatoo's love their new cages and the mess they make has slowed down some since they can not pull the bowls out (yet). Even they greys are happy in their new cages, no fussing at all. The talking and whistling have even increased with them. Back to work today for some much needed rest. Oh, and on a side note, State Farm sucks! This was our first claim in over 7 years and only our 3rd claim total on our cars in 30+ years. To break it down the part cost was 1700, then there were parts for the install and an emissions sensor, rental car for 8 days and labor to install. We have a $500 ded, they cut us a check for 416.00. Something just doesn't add up but they are sticking to it. They suck, if I forgot to mention that.

It would be great if they could go together since they are together now and have been for years but who knows, taking on 4 blue and golds is not a task for the weak at heart. lol Spent the entire day yesterday power washing cages, disassembling and then reassembling. These are not the small ones that could fit through doors either. (They should make cages like they make the campers, press a button and the walls move out to make the room bigger.)3 double macaw cages, 2 huge stainless steel ones that are 7ft tall and atleast 4ft wide, 4 cal cages that are also very large. Making new perches and hanging toys, finding bowls to fit the new ones. Got it to the point that they can be comfy until we can start working on them again. We had some luck that the weather was cooler than normal so all the birds got to be outside all day until about 8pm. From the speed we were working, the rest of my house looks like a bomb went off, tools, parts, boxes and leaves are everywhere. I am still going to go to visit the babies today, this mess will still be here when I get home. Now that Pat is out of his bandages and can handle the birds again, I had a small yet painful power washer accident. Did you know that the force of the water from those can take the skin off of your hand? Well I didn't, but do now. And of course the wound starts on my thumb, at the very bottom near the palm but on the top side, and runs down to the base of the nail. We can not catch a break, I have to wrap it not only on the finger but around the palm of my hand to get the whole wound covered. Now I can not handle the birds until I can take the wrap off. Every time I bend my thumb though, it pops open again so who knows how long this will take.