Melons!

Snoball and I just finished cleaning the kitchen. (And by "Snoball and I," I mean I cleaned while he sat and watched and munched on whatever I had.) After the kitchen was clean, Snoball, Pepper, and I shared some cantaloupe and watermelon. :)

Watermelon:


Cantaloupe:

Snoball is my Prince Charming

I didn't want anyone to see the mess that is my house, so I colored over the background of this photo. -lol- We still have junk everywhere from the move, and we're in no hurry to move it. Plus all the animals have toys everywhere. The bunnies have play tunnels and boxes and things all over the living room. It's kind of a permanent clutter because the bunnies love them so much.

This blog doesn't have much of a point to it. I just wanted to let Snoball's first parents know how thankful I am to have Snoball in my life. He's become such a HUGE part of it - integrating himself into every aspect of it. He goes to work with me, he sleeps with me, he does homework with me (as evidenced by the photo) he plays with me, cooks with me, he DEFINITELY eats with me; if there's something in my mouth it NEEDS to be in his too. -lol- I just feel very blessed to have him. I call him my therapy bird. Partly because that's the only way I'm allowed to keep him in a no-pets apartment ;) and partly because it's true. Whenever I'm feeling down, Snoball can always cheer me up. I don't know what I'd do without him.

Someone asked me today what his name was and I jokingly replied: Prince Charming.

Snoball (almost) burns the house down

Snoball is fine and everyone is fine - nothing terrible happened. But we were very lucky. Last night Snoball had two nightfrights. I woke up to him screaming several times and I was getting tired of getting up to comfort him. So I brought him into bed with me. He was fine for a while, and then he went under the covers and went to sleep. I then fell asleep only to be woken about 2 hours later by a loud popping noise and sparks flying everywhere. I looked under the covers at Snoball, who was chewing the wires for the heating pad I keep under my feet at night. He had torn the cord to shreds. We're lucky he didn't electrocute himself or catch something on fire. None of the sparks caught - thank god because it would have lit the bed on fire. Snoball wasn't even put off by any of it. He just looked at me sideways and made a baby noise - the same thing he does whenever he's trying to get out of trouble.

David and I counted our blessings today, that's for sure. And we're not letting Snoball under the covers anymore. Or near ANY wires for that matter. But he is safe and we are safe so (this time) no harm done.

Snoball's Mood Swings

Snoball's hormones seem to be raging. He gets upset easier lately, and has been biting more and more. Normally a quick "bzzzt" and shake of my hand is enough to distract him from biting my fingers. (He doesn't puncture, just applies pressure ... a LOT of pressure) but lately that hasn't been enough. Stage 1 is a quick shake, stage two is a flip upside down, and stage 3 is being put on the floor and walked away from. Lately, not only have we been having to go to stage 3, but he's been chasing my feet once he's on the floor. I tried to turn that into a game at first, but he couldn't do it without getting too rough and getting angry. So now, we have to have a stage 4, which is picked up with wings tucked in, and taken straight to the cage.

Stage 4 doesn't happen often. Usually once he gets walked away from he gets upset and immediately stops being a bully. He'd rather get snuggled than ignored. -lol- He was also screaming a lot in the beginning. I think this was due more to the environment change than his hormones. But he's getting better about it. When he was persistent, he would get his feet squirted with water. He hates that so it stopped him immediately. He's so used to the fact that [screaming = wet feet] now, that all I have to do his give him "that look" or show him a squirt bottle and he stops. -lol-
Bedtime is sometimes difficult, sometimes easy. I think once he gets used to the routine he will go to bed quietly. He stays up and plays with me and my other birds (we're usually doing homework or blogging while everyone runs around and plays) until around 8pm. That's when he starts to get a little loud. At that point, he goes into the "quiet room" which is the only place he's been comfortable sleeping. He has a night cage in there with a pacifier toy that he picked out and a few perches. Once he settles in for the night he is quiet and content until morning, when I wake him up for a shower. He either comes in the shower with me, or stays in bed with David. Then we leave for work, where he stays for a few hours while I go to school (or actually work!) and then we head home again around 6 every night. Sometimes we go shopping and he draws big crowds, or sometimes we go straight home and relax. :)

We were able to sleep in today (until 9) because I took over a friend's shift which is later in the afternoon. I got up and made omlettes for everyone. I put bird seed in the egg so they had a foraging toy as well as a treat. Snoball got breadcrumbs in his egg.



"Hey Mikey, he likes it!"



We went to work around 10:30 or so and Snoball spent the day playing on the perches there and interacting with customers. He is so spoiled at work. People come in and ask to see Snoball (not me), people ask how Snoball is (not how I am), people ask which toys Snoball recommends (not which toys I recommend), etc. :) Little kids are always stealing treats out of the food bins to bring to Snoball. I don't usually yell at them. (don't tell my boss) ;)

We came home early today and had some fun exploring everyone else's cages and toys. Snoball spent some time in the big comfy chair with me while I did my Detective Fiction homework (reading several detective stories ... go figure). I don't think he liked the stories much - he fell asleep. I'll have to let my professor know that Snoball does not approve. (Yes, I read them out loud to the animals. It helps me to remember the stories better.)

I found a rattle that was originally bought for the bunnies, but thought Snoball might like it. So I tried to hand it to him, but he was being a brat and threw it back at me. "Fine Snoball," I said, "I didn't want you to play with it anyway. Y'know why, Snoball? Because *I* wanted to play with it." And I took off across the living room, using the rattle as a tambourine and singing a song from the musical Chicago. After a while of me dancing around and clapping with the rattle and looking at Snoball as if to say, "Wow, you sure are missing out. Poor Snoball... and to think you could've had this very rattle," Snoball got very upset and insisted that I give him the rattle. He was making a fuss and reaching his foot out and doing his typical unhappy "UGH!!!" -lol- He got the rattle in the end and enjoyed it. He likes for me to hold the rattle and let him take the links in his mouth and shake them back and forth. They make a clicky-clacky noise that way and he gets really excited over it. Sometimes he even puts his head feathers up. :) This is the rattle in question:



I think that's it for today. Tomorrow morning Snoball goes to work while I go to school for 4 hours. (Yuck) Maybe we'll go somewhere afterwards. I've been taking him to fish stores because I want to set up a goldfish tank and I am pricing things out and getting ideas. He's a little unsure about the fish - he doesn't know whether to like them or be afraid of them - but they keep his attention.

Snoball is home

That's Snoball and I *trying* to relax and watch TV uninterrupted, but David was making it difficult. ;)

We picked up Snoball's cage (finally) the night before last and got it all put together. He took to it right away, as if he thought that cage had always belonged to him. He went in for a drink and when he saw the bowl was empty (we hadn't had time to fill it yet since we had JUST finished putting the cage together!) he looked at us as if to say, "Are you two stupid or something? Where's my water? Where's my food?!"

Here's a photo of his cage and his swinging playgym that I made for him (it's three hula hoops wrapped in sisal and tied together). Rufio was taking advantage of the hanging gym at the time...



Snoball and I found that basket and a few of the toys that are in it at a thrift store the other day. I stopped in to see if I could get some blankets for the walls of David's music studio (we're trying to be economical about buffering the sound, and thought old comforters might work. They do, btw.) Anyway, I happened to have Snoball with me so he sat on my shoulder while I browsed. He drew quite a crowd of old women, that's for sure! EVERYONE wanted to pet him, and EVERYONE told him what a handsome bird he was. Of course Snoball turned on the charm, and said "hello" to everyone in turn. We picked up a few things for the house - a new vegetable steamer for $2! and went to check out. They had a shelf of knick knacks on the counter, and Snoball reached over and helped himself to a little plastic tea cup. (Snoball always helps himself to whatever he wants, doesn't he Bev? -lol-) So I told the lady, "Well, I guess we're buying this cup too." It was hysterical. I also bought him a toy cell phone for $0.50! He pulled all the rubber buttons out and broke the thing to pieces but he had a blast, and I only paid 50c. :D



This is the cup toy he picked up. It cost me a whopping $0.25!



I have an appointment to finish up the leasing process on Tuesday morning. After that I should officially be on the lease and Snoball will be home for good. We're going to try to keep him here until all that goes through but he has to remain a secret until I'm on the lease or we could be told he has to go, or David could be evicted. They're silly condo rules, but we're trying to play it safe.

Anyway, that's it for today. More adventures to follow soon. ;)

-Haylee

Nothing Exciting

Unfortunately, I have nothing exciting to update but I thought it was time to do it anyway. Poor Snoball and poor me - we have been separated from each other for the past two weeks! I have not been able to visit him because I am just now getting over a very bad case of mono. I was spending a lot of time in bed and was not feeling up to driving. Even if I felt I were able to drive, I wouldn't have gone to see him since I didn't want to risk getting him (or any of my other birds that were being boarded at the store) sick.


I am well now, and I have been in to see him twice. I packed a nice fruit and bread breakfast for us and spent the morning with him before going to class last week. He was clearly mad at me, and wanted nothing to do with me and nothing to do with the food. I sat and ate while he wandered off in the other direction and started knocking things off the table.


I have been told that he is getting restless. He has been screaming more and more, biting people more often, and ruining everything in sight. Part of this, I'm afraid, is his hormones. I expected this behaviour to some extent so I am trying to take it in stride. The other half of it is that he doesn't like being cooped up at the store all the time. Obviously, the current situation wasn't done on purpose. If I'm sick, I'm sick. But Snoball doesn't understand that. He must think he's been abandoned there.


I return to work tomorrow so the schedule will go back to normal. He'll be able to come out and play a lot more and I'll be able to stop and have breakfast with him before going to class and such. Additionally, our leasing paperwork is in the final stages so Snoball should be able to come home within the next two weeks. We purchased a HUGE (taller than me!) macaw cage for him but we haven't picked it up yet. We're still organizing the apartment and sorting out the roommates' stuff. It's slow going, but we're getting there. I'll be sure to post photos when everything is all finished up.