Thursday, March 31, 2005

Stuff





You Are A Rowan Tree









You are full of charm and cheer. You light up a room.

And while you crave attention, you do it without ego.

You are an interesting mix of contradictions - and very unpredictable.

You are both dependent and independent, calm and restless.

You are passionate, emotional, gregarious, and (at times) unforgiving.


Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Hoooray!

Hoorray! My blog is back up... Seems that the site was having some problems...

Well we had our first finch baby... One of the Society babies hatched, which is great! The bad news is that the first clutch of Goudians was infertile and we went ahead and disposed of them. Also after deliberation, we got a three tier cage system and put the gouldian pairs each in their own cage. There were aggression issues with one of the birds, so I figure this will help with the egg laying.

Otherwise, this Sat. I am going to the eyedoc to get checked out.... Been getting eye strain headaches and my vision is getting a little blurry...

Friday, March 25, 2005

Eggs for easter

Well well well well....

Another Friday, and waiting to go home.

I have got to get some more pictures of the birds up, at least to keep a record...

One of the Canary pairs has air sack mites, so yesterday we caught all the canaries we have and between Phoenix and I, we pinned them down and stuffed a drop of medication down their gullet. So now we wait for them to cough them little buggers out. The good news is that we think that the Gouldian eggs have hatched and both the other canaries and other finches have laid eggs.... Gonna be all sorts of babies soon!

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Frustration

Well, one of the people who will be giving us some cages came by work and told one of Phoenix's co-workers that she is running a rescue and he (the co-worker) got somewhat upset at that. That what we are doing is not rescue work....

Well.... he can jump in a frigging lake and come take care of our birds.... Or donate some money to help out with the food bill...

Yes, we breed some birds too... but for crying out loud, we rescue the others, and all the birds, breeders and non breeders are living a hell of a better life then they were.
All the breeders we have bought come to think of it.

I think I will have a card printed. "Phoenix's bird sanctuary"

Once we get a house, we will make it official.

Otherwise, the weekend went well, birds are fine, and the canaries are laying eggs... Did I mention we got canaries to breed... six of em. The finches eggs are due soon.. maybe this week. We are both excited.

Monday, March 14, 2005


And here is our new handsome bird Kiko! Isnt he charming! Posted by Hello

Isnt he a cutie... you can see the plucking and biting on his legs Posted by Hello

You can see the plucking and the self mutilation here very well. Its like this on his back too. Poor thing! Posted by Hello
Sometimes you get a weekend, sometimes the weekend gets you.


This weekend, although productive, was a comedy of errors.

It all started when we went to the bird show. After gearing all up, and getting out there, we found that the show was Sunday, not Sat. *sigh*

Went back to Orlando and picked up Kiko the bird, our latest rescue, which I will go more into later.

Went over to Martin's to pick up his power washer, came back and found I forgot the nozzle for it.

Then the finch that was having all the problems, died. *sigh* We buried him with full honors and food for the afterlife.

Next day, went back with Phoenix (and Kiko) to get the nozzle, and the car broke down. The battery was leaking and ate the power terminal bolt, almost the entire way through. Had to get towed to an auto parts store and got the battery installed.

Got home, and cooked catfish for dinner, and it had gone bad in the fridge.

*sigh* what a weekend.

So, let me talk about our new little friend Kiko.

Kiko is a Black Headed Caique and is the cutest little bird you have ever seen.
And we got to him just in time.

As you will see from the pictures, he was just on borderline of doing himself some real damage.

What is sad, is that this is such a typical situation. The woman we got her from isnt a bad woman, but someone who got in over their heads with a bird they couldnt take care of. This woman started off with a happy bird, then she had to get two jobs to support herself. Hence, the bird got absolutely no attention, and the sanitary condition of her cage went down. We had visited Kiko several months ago and the owner had decided that she wanted to sell us the bird, instead of give him up for rescue. We told her we take birds on a rescue basis, and that if we had to buy rescue birds, we would go broke fast. She said ok, and Phoenix told me to wait; that she would give us a call back soon. Phoenix was right! She did call us, but I did not know the bird would be in the condition its in, in such little time. We got there, and I hauled the cage out, which the woman had said had not been cleaned in a week, but I have to say, it hadnt been cleaned in at least a couple of months (which is why I needed the power washer from Martin). It was so bad, that in the little cleaning we did the bird poop had taken the paint off in some sections. Got to find me some cage paint. Its a California cage too! (A little to small for the bird, but a nice brand of cage) So we drug out Sinbads old cage (which was too small for Sinbad, but just the right size for Kiko) and he is happy as a clam.
The first thing he did when he came home was eat like a starving man. I think he likes all the varied foods we are able to provide, particulary the carrots and the dried papaya. He had his head in food for a good couple of hours! The one thing we did notice (besides his physical condition) is that he freaks out when we put him in his cage and leave. The seperation anxiety is pulpable. It just breaks your heart.

Well, enough ranting. Its birds like this is why we take in these poor souls and do our best to make them happy.

Friday, March 11, 2005

Weekend!

Hooray! Its FRIDAY!

And this weekend ought to be interesting. There is a bird show to go to and a bird to be picked up! A black headed Caique...

Might get a hair cut this weekend too...

And Happy Birthday Dave! May you live another 50 years!

Thursday, March 10, 2005

SUPER SUSHI DELICIOUSNESS!!!

SUPER SUSHI DELICIOUSNESS!!!

Phoenix and I went out for dinner to Nagoya Sushi last night and finally got to use that $25 certificate I got from restaurant.com, and I have to say that it is the best sushi to be had in Orlando. The place is not all that big, and not terribly fancy, but their sushi is prepared both in style and taste several degrees superior then any other place I have been in this town.

In other news, our poor little society finch's problem may be getting worse. The hernia seems to be going down, but his heath is deteriorating, which is very sad. I wish there was something to do for him, but I don't think there is. We have him in his own special cage with a heat lamp on him, and hopefully he will pull through. I ordered a vet book on birds the other day, so hopefully if it gets here on time it will have some insight.

Our other birds seem OK. Found endless amusement this morning when I turned on the lights for the Gouldians that the first thing the males did was jump on the ladies. It is amusing to see that humans are not the only creature that gets morning wood. However one of the males then proceeded to try to break things up in a fit of jealousy. Seems the right wing religious nuts are there too. Oh well.

This weekend may be fairly exciting. There is a bird auction we are going to. We likely will not buy any birds, but it will be interesting to check it out for future use. Also we get another rescue bird this weekend, a black headed Caique, that the owner attempted to get us to buy several months earlier. We said no then, that we rescue birds, we don't buy them, and she baulked. She paid like $800 for the thing and got a nice California cage, and she wanted some of her investment back. Nope, no way. Well, several months later, she is now giving the bird away. My worry is that it was just starting to pluck when we saw it last time months ago... my bets are it is far worse now. I tell you, some people do not need to own parrots. Trying to get your money out of your pet that you have had for years because you cant take care of it is just wrong. Poor bird. I hope it makes the transition well.
I cant wait to build an aviary however.. the house is getting a bit crowded.

Well, there are worse hobbies...

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

A shadow in the bright Bizarre, a glimpse of eyes where none should shine...

Disturbing dreams last night. Made me get up much earlier than usual (IE around 4:30 am) and I am pooped this morning. Which will translate to being slightly out of sorts and yawning for the rest of the day.

Raining and grey today to match my mood, despite the fact I love a good rainstorm.

Went out to dinner last night with Phoenix, and the place we were going to get a good sushi fix for cheap, was closed due to there being no water in the joint. That sucked. Instead we went to cilantro's, which was very nice. Mexican food I really enjoyed for a change. After we went to Lake Eola and fed the swans. It was very nice.

The bad news is that when I got home yesterday, one of the finches had a medical emergency that we had to run out immediately to Phoenix's work to have them take a look at. It seems the poor thing has a hernia or hemorrhoid and is busy trying to loose its guts out its vent. We have the poor think isolated with heat on it and etc, but I dont think it will make it. Its getting worse and worse. Makes me sad. Poor thing.

The rest of the birds seem ok. The Gouldians are still busy courting, and the societies are getting down to business... I think we will have some eggs within a week or so.

Monday, March 07, 2005

Monday Monday...

Another weekend of non work bliss ruined by the return of Monday.

I have gotten so cynical here, and its spreading to my co-workers. Kinda funny actually.

I found a cool website restaurant.com where you can get a $25 certificate for $10. And till the end of the month, if you put in the promotional code 71882, you get it for $5. You can only use one certificate per month, so only get one per restaurant (you cant buy two and get $50 off).

And thus, I am treating my lovely wife to dinner tonight, then a long romantic walk along lake Eola to feed the swans. I cant wait!

This weekend was OK... Didn't do much outside of play with the birds, play Halo2 and Mechassault and clean house, but it was OK. We got a new cage of birds, society finches this time, to take care of the Gouldian eggs if they turn out to be bad parents, but I don't think we will have to use them. But they will be easy to breed, and so we will have chicks around the house soon. They are very silly, all 6 of them camp out in one of the next boxes we got at night, poking thier heads just above the lip of the enterance. Look like soldiers peeking their heads out of a pill box. I need to get them little helmets. Will take a picture soon and post.

Wednesday, March 02, 2005

New email for me folks... ndolphin@sungardcollegis.com

Which will change again soon. We got bought out by some other company. Again...