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the girls (caiques) and i are listening to our mutual playlist, which includes the powerpuff girls soundtrack, radiohead, the magic flute, and a lot of Eels. Tallulah likes to "snap" (make a snapping noise) and bob her head up and down vigorously to the music, whereas Tengu like to screech and whistle and get really close to the speaker and have her eyes pin. i sing along, poke them in the belly, and tell them how much i love them.


we just listened to one of our faves:

I Like Birds, by Eels

i can't look at the rocket launch
the trophy wives of the astronauts
and i won't listen to their words
cuz i like... birds

i don't care walking downtown
crazy auto car gonna run me down
look at all the people like cows in a herd
well i like... birds!

if you're small and on a search
i've got a feeder for you to perch on

i can't stand in line at the store
the mean little people are such a bore
but its all right if you act like a turd
cuz i like... birds!

if you're small and on a search
i've got a feeder for you to perch on

so true. my feathered pirhana monkeys are so preferable to most people...
aw. Loo just gave me a kiss.

yesterday, obie and i took the caiques to meet a dog that needs a home. i wanted to adopt a dog after obie moved into my house (july 1), but one came up that needed a home sooner by a few weeks. so we needed to see if he would be gentle/indifferent to the birds, and he sniffed them in their carrier, but that was all. then i took them out of the carrier (on their harnesses) and it seems good! yay!

he was so fearful of us at first. wouldn't even take dried liver from our hands, but at the end of our visit, he was licking our hands, taking treats and pets. we decided he had potential to be a great dog friend, so we signed an adoption contract.

he is a black lab/pit bull mix and super sweet. he was severely neglected, left out in a yard for quite some time, and his "owner" eventually got evicted from the building we went to meet him in, and he abandoned the dog.

he didn't take great care of him- he's almost 3 and not neutered, nor has he had any formal training. his name was "bad boy" which we have changed. his name is now "nagual" (pronounced nah- hwal), which means "animal soul/companion" in mayan. he hasn't leaned his name yet, but he is very smart, and we think by the end of the day he will know it.

i am lucky to work in the dog store, as we went there immediately after adopting him. i got a new collar and leash, a training harness (man, does he pull at the leash!), a new diet (he's eating grainless kibble by orijen in the am, a raw diet in the pm by primal), a pet bed that will eventually be in his crate (which i have yet to get), a stuffed animal squeaky toy, a bully stick, and a soy protein chicken flavored "bone" (which is a substitute for a nylabone, which are not digestible), and a kong.

i am unsure how big he is, but i think maybe 40 pounds? we'll see what the scales at the vet say... he is easily distracted and excited, and when out in public, he does not yet listen. but when inside and calm, he will now sit for us (we worked with him last nite) and loves to play with his squeaky toy and chew on his chew things. he ate both foods i bought, but dogs are so much less picky than cats.

we took him for a walk in sf last nite (i am on an overnight pet sit job here) and he loved it! i don't think he got walked very much. he is super smart and knew which house to go back up the stairs into after his 20 minute walk, even though he's only been there once.

and car rides? man, that dog loves to bark at cars passing by. he's a good watchdog- he lets us know when things are around, too. i like that. and yesterday, while obie was pet sitting in mountain view, i was walking and working with nagual in the courtyard of the building. he wanted in that swimming pool so bad! i think he will be a great beach dog. he has the webbed toes of a lab, so he's built for it.

he is a cuddlebug- last nite, he decided to sleep with obie and i, and we let him. we want him to feel like he has a pack now. but we need to train him to take up the foot of the bed or his own bed from now on, as he snores and is a cover stealer! he loves being praised and pet so much, i think he will be easy to train, as he just wants to be a good boy and loved.

we are waiting to hear back from the ebspca, as they have a free pit bull neuter program that we are taking advantage of. and since i live in oakland, he needs to be microchipped. so lots of vet things this week for nagual.

pictures soon.

today, obie and i rescued a dog. we were preparing to adopt one after he moved in, but this one needed a placement right away and was in need. he's a black lab/pit bull mix and super sweet. he is very friendly, a bit shy with new people and things, but curious enough. i brought my two caiques (parrots) with me to be sure he would be ok with them and he was! yay! he is even ok with cats.

he needs to be neutered and trained, big time. he's 3 and never has had any training, really. we got him a training harness so he will not pull so hard on leash, as well as a collar and leash and new food, from my new job at the holistic dog store.

i am a stickler for nutrition with my parrots, and it is no different with the new dog. he will eat a grainless kibble once daily, and a raw diet once daily. he has already started on the raw diet tonite, and has eaten half so far of what i gave him. maybe i should feed him less, we shall see. i think he's 40-50 pounds, but we will see when he goes to the vet for the snip snip and checkup. i hope to read a bunch on training and possibly enroll him at sirius dog training as well. he doesn't even know sit, much less any other command.

julia is less than thrilled, as she doesn't move until july 1st and she does not like dogs. we hope to have someone house him until then, but if not, she'll have to live with it...

we have decided to name him Nagual. obie wants his "middle name" to be Xolotl. but Nagual we both like and Nagual it is. right now, he is asleep at our feet on his new bed. he's had a huge chaotic day and probably understands very little of it. but he likes us both and is doing well, all things considered.

a friend of mine is moving across the country and wishes to place her bearded dragon pair in a good bay area home before doing so. they are past breeding age (approx 7 years old), very sweet, and come with an entire setup.

any herp lover who has space for these beasties, please let me know.

18 birds were just rescued from a fake "rescue" up in northern CA:

7 large macaws
5 amazons
ekkie hen (plucked)
3 cockatoos (bare eyed, LSC, and U2)
2 ringnecks

they were starving to death and abandoned by their "rescuer". they have temporary shelter, but they cannot stay there for long. many are special needs in some way.

we need foster families and donations for vet care ASAP. if you can donate or volunteer PLEASE contact me offlist.

dani

pictures forthcoming.

PJ had a bad leg fracture and we were working on saving her foot through a minor surgery. back story here. bit instead of saving her foot, she is now dead.

dr speer called me with a heavy heart yesterday and told me the news. i asked him if he as joking, because i just couldn't wrap my brain around it at that moment. i was driving and i had to pull over. i was in shock.

he did not expect this outcome either. PJ was such a scrapper, none of us expected her heart to just stop. but shortly after the bone was trimmed and a pin was inserted, it did just that. dr. speer tried everything to revive her, but she never let her heart start beating again. i am still mostly in shock, i guess.

i cannot believe i will not see her again. she was always so cute and funny- there was always a mischievious twinkle in her eye. she was so full of life, all the time- i cannot believe that she is no longer.

i worry now about her cagemate, Francis. will she be lonely? it's not ike she and PJ were bonded, but they did do everything together. and my Bugs are so much smaller than everyone else in the house. it makes me sad to think of Francis being alone. and she seems sad, too. she was always the meeker and less brave of my two, and now she is alone without PJ to forge the way for her. sigh. i dunno what to do...

Malcolm, my sweet kitty died tonite, a victim of severe kidney failure that was diagnosed earlier this week. i watched his body go from a seemingly healthy robust one to...

well, in the last two days he didn't move much. he stopped eating. he would sit on a dining room chair all freaking day and seem bothered by inquiries into his health and well being. he wanted to be alone. the vet's blood exam nailed it pretty easily- three separate counts spelled dramatic kidney shutdown, and the prospects for him were not good.

we went home with sub cu fluids, medicines, and an iron tonic... and not much hope. he had a 50-50 chance of recovery... for a month or two. then he would crash again like this. nevertheless, we made an effort. poking and prodding him when he wanted to be left alone.

today around 4 PM, i looked up from my work and Malcolm was not on any of the chairs. Chelle and i combed the house and just could not find him. i felt as if he maybe went off to be alone to die. Julia finally found him, still alive (if you can call it that) and when we pulled him our from under the bed, he mewed pitifully.

it was then that i called it. "come on- we need to take him to be euthanized. NOW." so to the emergency vet we went. the crappy one in berkeley that i hate. and there we both said our goodbyes to one of the goofiest cats i have ever known.

Malcolm loved to wrestle, be spanked, and people food.

he was forced onto a raw diet because grains in crappy pet food gave him colitis. he outlived his two cat sisters, Kitten and Emma, but not his youngest sister, Flutie Milar. he was part siamese, and as a result, very vocal. he would wander around the house talking to himself. he charmed everyone he met with gorgeous gynormous blue eyes. (never could get a decent pic of them, his retinas would shine back!)


and now he is no more. bodies are so fleeting and frail.

today, i am waiting for the electrician to arrive so that the overhead light fixture in the bird room can be replaced. so i am at home and able to spend time with my flock during the day and do things for them i love to do.

i started by making them a warm breakfast- okra, pumpkin seeds, egg, and broccoli, warmed up with a squirt of PaHeCo (palm, hemp, and coconut) oil.

then while julia took a shower with the flock, i rearranged Deacon's cage a bit, giving him more of the soft shreddables he loves and refilling his brainiac block. i also put his pellets on his playtop, rather than inside his cage- because he spends far too much time (by choice) in his cage.

he is much better than when he first arrived. he was used to spending 10+ hours in there and getting maybe an hour of interaction. now he eats flock meals at the table, takes showers with the rest of the flock, and does spend time in the living room on the manzanita tree. but he still prefers the cage. to be fair, he has only been here for 2.5 months. he has a ways to go to overcome 10+ years of cage-bound behavior.

then i made some Glop. i use the rice cooker to cook grains. this time it was heirloom organic brown rice, coriander & pumpkin seeds, flax seed, and quinoa. then i steam veggies from my CSA box (this time it was green beans, broccoli, and beets), chop them, and add to the grains. i also added a bit pureed prunes and a jar of apricot baby food for moisture.

and i also made a double batch of my pumpkin quinoa balls. this time it was quinoa, flax, and amaranth. youy mix those with a couple cans of organic pumpkin puree (thanks, trader joes!) and some dried fruit. roll into balls and bake til brown and sealed on the outside (they can still be chewy on the inside if your birds like them that way, or you can lower the heat for a longer period of time to make them crunchy throughout, like nutri-berries, but MUCH healthier).

this AM, when we turned on the dryer, we smelled gas. so we are now waiting for PGE to come investigate, which puts an annoying damper on our sunday plans (this weekend is out anniversary weekend).

so we are hanging out with the flock away from the back of the house (where the dryer is), and venting the utility room.

our foster bird, Deacon is a bit skittery around new things, loud noises, etc. as his last home had none of that. he is used to dead silence for hours on end, and my house is soooo not like that.

anyway, we have both doors open and just the screen doors closed to keep ventilation going on. and someone out on the street honked their horn pretty darn loud. it scared all the flock, but Deacon especially. and he has been radically clipped his whole life, so he has very little control over his flying ability (or landing ability) like my guys, who fly to a new area and survey what has happened.

Deacon flew off and disappeared into a corner! his cage is in the dining room, and the corner i refer to has a corner shlef with knick knacks, and upended antique chest, and my cham's enclosure on top of that. he bolted over there and when i went to pick him off the floor, he was gone!

we turned off the radio, called his name over and over, got a flashlight. he wedged himself pretty good between the wall and chest (behind Vila the cham's enclosure) and finally we saw him walk to us on the floor when he felt safe. we were just about to dismantle my poor cham's area to get him, too.

Deacon has come a long way in the last week, learning to trust us. he knows we are not going to bully him, force him to do anything unless safety requires it, and we are going to offer him choice. he is responding really well now. at first he was angry, which i cannot blame him for. now he is becoming trusting and loving. yay Deacon!