Gilbert is home

[Ray P]

She might be adjusting air flow around her body !

[katana600]

I am grinning behind Miss Gilbert's back. Can you imagine nearly every overture and offering being not only rejected on a regular basis, but being greeted most often with the stink eye of suspicion? Well things are changing. In grey time. Nearly every morning she rushes to the perch next to the food door. She sounds so sweet asking for a cracker or a treat. When I open the door to take replace the dishes with fresh food and water, she positions herself to stick her head out the door like a cartoon character with a telescoping neck trying to bite me. I have lots of strategies to get food a d water in there without shedding blood. Sometimes I fill the dish on the opposite side of the cage or I use a lovely crystal tray to allow her to see my hand but not to reach me. When I do put food in, I am not a half step away when she snatches out food and forcefully smacks it to the floor. At times when David is home, I will ask him to put the food in to see how she reacts. It's lightness and sweet appreciation. So why am I grinning? Day after day, I continue to offer her balanced, healthy choices. Day after day she rejects it with an attitude. Today. I am sitting here silently watching her furtively make her way to the bottom of her cage to pick up the food and give it a try. She is eating the peas, sweet potato, apple, carrot and other tasty offerings. In other words, that toxic sludge I have attempted to foist upon her. Hahahaha, I do believe I am making some progress I winning her acceptance. Like a drop of water consistently wearing down the surface of a rock. The oatmeal was the tool that made a chink in her armor. I'm grinning 'cause I'm winning. One little moment in grey time.

[katana600]

There is no doubt in my mind that Miss Gilbert is becoming more and more smitten with David. He is my best secret weapon to overcome her steely determination to never trust another human. Last night we went to the basement to watch a movie. Not a usual occasion for us. After a while Gil was hooting, calling out to us and making some new (to us) sound effects. At one point I suggested he go up and offer her a step up to bring her down with us and get her off her cage for a change. Nothing doing. However, when we came up a half hour later, there she was sitting on the arm of a living room chair. She had to have flown, the legs are too high for her to climb up. She must have gotten a little nervous because she chewed off a quarter-sized area of her chest. But, she was in good spirits and she stepped right up for me. On the way back to her cage after a little visit, she had her wings up and when we got almost there, she flew the last two feet! These are exciting, happy times. She is making progress!

[Timbersmom]

She is making great progress! I've been hoping Timber would take flight again, but so far he hasn't.

[katana600]

Don't ever give up hope Karen. Miss Gilbert has gaps of missing feathers and has not flown for at least six years. Over three years it has been instinct to flap her wings after being startled off her cage top. This morning she flew from a perch inside her cage. It's very thrilling and interesting that as she learns more control, she flies closer to the floor. She has been flying steady at about six inches off the floor. Then when she has gone about twenty feet maintaining that level flight she runs and flaps to slow down. She seems to know that her energy and strength will not take her far (yet) so she makes it easier to touch down. I am so encouraged by this new skill and I believe it's going to give her confidence and courage.

[Ray P]

It won`t be long and we will calling her Amelia Earhart Gilbert as she spreads her wings to set new records.

GO GIRL !!

[Timbersmom]

I'm not giving up, thanks for the encouragement! That's why I enjoy reading about Miss Gilbert so much. She is an encouragement to us all. I really don't think Timber every fledged. He always looks so surprised when he flies, and doesn't seem to know he should be flying. I still hope that with time he will figure it out

[katana600]

Gil girl surprises me every day. For the first time in my life, no matter how hard I try, I really can't figure out the enigma which is Miss Amelia Earhart Gilbert. (Good one Ray!). I just learn what seems to keep her calm and safe and do more of that. When she bobs, I weave. I am apparently in the doghouse for the serious infraction of taking her picture Sunday night. She has refused to come out of her cage yesterday and today. But, this is starting to be her habit when David travels. Also, like Timber, she still looks very surprised when she flies. Earlier she would get into a panic to get off the floor. Once I put the ladder where I could pick her up and then set her on the floor to learn to climb back up herself, she has gotten more interested in flight.

[katana600]

Here is a new twist. David travels, a lot. I just figured out those sullen days of her sitting silently on her perch all day coincides with his travel. What's up with that? When he works in town, he is still gone fourteen hours a day. I thought maybe since I don't have to cook dinner when he is out of town, maybe I spend more time in the basement sewing. I planned instead for a day upstairs cleaning. She still refused to come out of her cage. Yesterday, he is in ten, she is out and about. Today, I scrubbed the floor so I left her cage closed until the floor dries to out her papers down. I heard a little tentative voice saying "Sorry" "I'm sorry" "Gilbert's sorry". Bless her little heart. When the door is open all the time, she only comes out as she pleases, but with the door closed she sounded like she was being punished. I've not locked her up so I am trying to figure out what is up with her.

[Ray P]

It could be that when the door is open she knows she can come and go if she wants, but when the door is closed she has no options.

[Greywings]

I agree with Ray-removing the choice limiting her options may be giving her pause for thought.

[katana600]

I will change things up a bit to see how she responds. It's strange she would say sorry. The only time I have heard that was after a particularly nasty bite quite some time ago. When I will be leaving the house, I tell her it's time to go inside and she willingly goes in on her own for an almond treat. Usually when David leaves, her vantage point outside our bedroom door allows her to see him pack and carry his bag past her chair. The interesting thing with her surly attitude and withdrawal is twice this week he flew out and back in the same day and she stayed inside the cage when he traveled and came out all day while he was away from the house but working in town. She has to be figuring it out from my behavior. He gets home late when he travels and I don't spend so much time in the kitchen to make dinner. She has been downright foul tempered for a couple of weeks. Yesterday when she got in a snit, she was forcefully throwing food and water and upsetting her dishes with a clang. I suspected she may be interested in a bath so I filled up a macaw sized 16 oz bowl and installed it in her cage. In seconds she got that stainless steel bowl out of the ring and flung water down the wall and across the room. Have mercy she can be a challenge. I am hoping its a hormonal thing and that taking her out in the sun a bit every day might have a positive impact.

[Ray P]

Hay Dee I had to laugh when you said Miss Gilbert went into a snit.

I think she is more normal than you think. Corky who has been with us all her life and we love her to death and she loves all three of us can be a real stinker and become a big snot at the drop of a hat if you do something she dose not like at that moment in time and than turn around and want some love and a head scratch. And they talk about Amazons.

Another thing are your two dachshunds Mick and Baxter picky eaters ? Bacon and Cocoa can put a African grey to shame when it comes to being picky eaters.

You can put their food down for them to eat and they look at you as if to say where did you get this crap.

[birdhouse]

Miss G is becoming a more socialized creature. Socialization requires communication & us dull witted humans pret-ty much only recognize the verbal kind. Whether she though she'd earned a time out or maybe you didn't look like a happy homemaker or just because the world revolves around a grey bird... Whatever. It sounds like maybe she thought a heart felt apology would do the trick.

 

Seems like she's apparently getting to like having that door open. Progress. But also like the others have said, when it's open it's all up to her whether to go walk about or sit still & watch her slave at work. Control.

 

I also think that some parrots are (maybe m/t) a little manic depressive. That I actually learned from my tiels & I'm very grateful because they didn't bite anywhere near as hard. Of course Miss G's got some reasons & maybe she's got some Daddy issues. But overall, she just may have that type of temperament. No matter how good it gets, she'll still be a right nasty beastie occasionally.

 

They like to change things up. I think because it's another way to have some control. So I give up trying to guess past a certain point. Sometimes what little there is left of my sanity demands that I just try to keep up & appreciate the good days w/the appropriate gratitude & humility. lol

[katana600]

I absolutely adhere to the appreciation of those lovely moments and to not take it personally when she has her grumpy times. One thing that finally came to my mind was that I was taking advantage of her hanging out on her door to ask her for a step up. She will oblige four or five times over a period of a week. I hold her for two minutes max, talk nice and praise her and give her a treat when I return her to her cage. David has never had her step up from her cage. She is eager to run to the side of her play top to watch him regardless of what room he is in. But, I think it's too much for her to trust me when I ask her to go out of her comfort zone. She will hear me coming and make a beeline to get inside her cage. In a week or so, I have figured it out (maybe) and she is playing outside her cage again. Her cage is only closed when we sleep or leave the house. She certainly does act at extremes. Love it or hate it. Active or withdrawn. Surly or sweet. I genuinely love her and will do anything it takes to level off the ornery parts and have more sweet, funny, poignant special moments.

[katana600]

You know Ray, you are right about my dogs too. They eat their dry food but its in a timed dispenser so it doesn't seem directly associated with me. Now there is a thought. I should try that with Miss Gilbert. Mick and Baxter are from the same litter and they are six years old. We never gave them table food until last year while living with my sister. Her husband gave them cheese for a bedtime snack. When Val mentioned the coconut yogurt, Gil turned up her nose and the boys went nuts over it. Then I noticed the calorie count and switched to Darford brand Omega Booster. It's a tiny 2 ounce can of tuna fish. They are fools over it. They sit together on an ottoman and stare at me until they bore into my brain to rise up with my gift of thumbs to open that can. They run with their ears flying in the wind to leap onto the ottoman and side by side one spoonful at a time I alternate and they make great slurping sounds as they savor "cat food". It too funny. We just started a week ago and already I see a difference in the coat of Mick. His dry skin and dandruff are completely changed. It's magic. I love how pleased it makes them.

[katana600]

Oh Miss Gilbert. My neighbor took me to the annual sale of sales for 75% off light fixtures and we moved several large boxes into the dining room awaiting installation. Well wouldn't you know, I am so thick to have forgotten Gilbert's moving day trigger. She was shouting something I could hear as I went down the sidewalk, but I couldn't quite make out the meaning. She was rattled by the sight of those boxes. She would lift her wings and flap while she ducked and dodged and looked that way. It looked like the classic fight or flight dilemma in slow motion. She continued to shout the same words with great emotion but it was a little garbled and didn't make sense to me. Finally it sunk in. She was saying Go Elliott. When she first came to us, she would scold the dogs for barking and say "Shut up. You IDIOT". I read your advice to reprogram and use a different word and the only thing I could think of that sounded like idiot, was Elliott, so I would say it loud and excited like a cheer "Go Elliot!" Once I figured out the translation code, I moved those boxes from her line of sight and she calmed right down. Patterning does work to some extent and it doesn't have to sound the same. She hears me hush the dogs and now says "be quiet". She still goes back to her one remaining hold-out cuss word. I'm convinced my husband and kids reinforced that one and she knows they find a thinly veiled pleasure in the shock value of that one. She seldom uses it but when she does its effective and stops traffic. There isn't a person I've met that doesn't stop in their tracks just incredulous that with all the other sweet this she says, that she will exclaim "S@$t" at the most opportune moment.

[Greywings]

Try this real Coconut yogurt lower calorie and non dairy site has coupons too, we use the milk form at home.

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[Quirky]

Finally I made it and have caught up on the tale of Miss Gilbert! Oh Dee I cannot properly express how happy I am for you and Gilbert that she finally realized and brought to fruition your dream of her reclaiming her flight ability. Inara had it nailed down when she compared the tale of Miss G to stringing a strand of pearls. This was such a wonderful and lovely glimpse showing that patience and love can conquer over long seated fears. I cannot wait for the next installment of life with Gilbert

[katana600]

Awww, thanks for sharing some time with Miss Gilbert. In order to harvest a beautiful pearl, first you have to start with some gritty irritation. That is surely my role as she is often irritated with me. I'm not taking it personally because this was how she spent her previous years with caregiver Sarah as well.

 

We had company recently, my sister whom Gil loves dearly and responds to favorably. Well, not this time. Gilbert said every cuss word I have heard her say and added a few more with great enthusiasm and gales of raucous, diabolical laughter. I have to admit, we upset her because we were installing new light fixtures. When we put a ladder up and climbed 20 feet to install the first of seven new fixtures, poor Gil had a near breakdown. We were far from her cage so I had not anticipated it being so dramatic. As soon as I realized it was a threat to her, I covered her cage and that helped but the stage was set and she has been a pip.

 

Considering this is a family forum, I won't detail her language explicitly. In a deep dark exorcist voice with a charming southern drawl she called me a lady of the night. We were stunned into silence and she laughed. We didn't laugh. She knew just what she was doing as she fluttered nervously and said one four letter word after another. It might have been funny if I didn't know how distressed she was at the changes we were making.

 

From the beginning she has said Jim in that pronounced Southern drawl that creates two syllables, GEE-um. I thought she was learning to say David. As it turns out she is more emphatically saying DAY-um. At first she said it and I repeated what I thought I heard, David. She started saying DAY-um David as if to show me, it is TWO different words. Next, if she said DAY-um and I said "David", now knowing full well that is not what she intended, she changed it up a bit and countered with GEE-um. I thought she was being funny so we went back and forth with Jim and David about six times in one "debate" and then she said Jim at least 150 times in one day.

 

Unwittingly I added another irritation to her life by spending a day using a hose and a 30 foot extension handle on a soft brush to clean all the high windows. When I came in and realized it was upsetting her, I covered her cage again, but I am seriously on her bad list an no amount of almonds or pine nuts are about to change it any time soon. At time same time, the unexpected activities have pushed her out of her comfort zone again and she is back to making reconnaissance missions. Sometimes I return to the room and find her waddling quickly to the ladder to get back on her cage. Sometimes in a quiet moment I see her out of the corner of my eye ever so slowly come to the floor and walk cautiously around the room. Very rarely I find her droppings in an unusual spot on the living room floor and I know she was out, but must have hurried back up before I saw her. Every day seems to be something new and while I empathize for her stress, I do recognize it is moving her in a (mostly) positive direction.

[Inara]

What a character Miss GG is! Swearing up a storm, in a southern accent just had me howling this morning. The old TV show, "Designing Women" came to mind with GG playing the part of Delta Burke. A lovely, but petulant character. I'm in agreement that some stressors within reason are good, in that they do create movement and growth. Really, how dare you clean all of those high windows with a spitting snake and a huge tree branch!

[katana600]

Ohmigoodness, Delta Burke may be closer to my little Miss Gilbert than sweet and oh so funny Gilda Radner. Finally today we are back to our routine and Gil is calm, relaxed with nary a cuss. We have come so far in her evolution from panic and self destruction to the deliberate perfectly timed cuss session. In another three years she will find even better and more creative stress release techniques. She is quite the charmer to house guests. There is no amount of prepping and coaching them to please try not to react to her if she cusses that she can't overcome. She says sweet things, makes interesting sound effects and they think I am making things up about her salty side when she slips one in with the emphatic emotion and comedic timing. She uses her super power sparingly. She seems to have the wisdom of ages combined with the fragile emotional state that keeps her unpredictable and keeps me just off balance and keeps her in the catbird's perch.

[birdhouse]

"They" always think it's all tall tales until they see for themselves. I have to admit how much I enjoy watching it happen, though!! I kind of figure that means I don't really get to complain too much when visitors' reactions perpetuate certain bad behaviors. Fair is fair after all.

[katana600]

It's not just visitors, my husband and Gilbert have "something" going on. Last night late, just before bed a commercial came on for DiGiorno pizza when David mocked it and said "DiGiorno Pizza" in a comic tone. Gilbert shouted "that's sh$@". I gave him the death stare we said nothing. But as he got Gilbert her night time almond snack a bit later, he couldn't help himself from asking if she would rather have DiGiorno pizza and she gave him the reply he was seeking. He gave me the palms up helpless feigned innocence look. All I know is if we ever divorce, he's getting the bird, in more ways than one.

[Inara]

You certainly have *two* stinkers on your hands! (I am trying unsuccessfully to join you in making a stern face.)