Shady neighborhood characters

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Homemade Toys

I got home tonight to a clean house. My husband agreed to do the dishes and the laundry if I let him get a new video game. So with my newfound extra time I decided to make some new toys for the birds.

I love making bird toys. The birds always seem to play with the ones that I make more than the ones I buy for them from the store. I get them excited about play with them by letting them watch me make them. Tonight as I was making these toys I let Bert watch. Everytime I put a woodblock or piece of paper together Bert would approve by telling me "Yes, it's good." It is so funny to listen to him praise me as if he was my supervisor. He likes to watch me do housework and say the same thing.

I didn't have a whole lot of spare parts to work with tonight but I managed to make four new toys. I usually keep wooden blocks, rawhide strips, yarn, and hemp string in my toymaking kit. I also try to buy new toys that I know I will get "spare parts" from so I can make new stuff later. What I made tonight was a paper chain out of a cereal box for Miss Jackie.  That was fairly simple. I connected each strip together by cutting slits in the end of the strip and them hooking them together. It's a basic paperchain technique that you learn in kindergarden. I used the wood blocks and party paper to make a new toy for Johnny bird. And then I cut up paper from an old phone book and threaded yarn through it for Bert.

No sooner than a few minutes after I hung the paper toy up on Bert's playstand  did he begin to dig right in. As you can see it this picture this toy was an instant hit! Bert cannot resist tearing up paper and I have to find ways to keep him occupied otherwise he will tear into the newpaper that I use as a liner for his cage. Unfortunately he was being camera shy and wouldn't let me get a picture of him playing with it but you can see where he has already started chewing on it.

Finally I took an old toy that was on the communal playgym and refurbished it. It originally was a wood block toy with rawhide and beads on it. It was one of those common storebought toys that my birds lose interest in real fast. I took all the damaged pieces off and made this little toy using some left over rope I had in the toy kit. I don't know if this one will be a success but I am not worried. If they don't play with it I will just take it apart and make something else.

Lazy afternoons

Today was my day off so it was a good day to spend with the birds. We had a "bird party" in the den. It is always fun to bring the entire flock together and ham it up. Everyone had their own perch to hang out on and we basically spent about 30 minutes making noise. After everyone was exhausted from whooping and dancing it was time for an afternoon nap even for me too. Bert however doesn't believe in naps so I parked him in front of the patio doors to enjoy the sunshine. He really likes looking outside even if we won't go out there. He is kind of a whimp when it comes to going outside. I can't say I blame him either. So he is spending the rest of the evening pondering the trees and the occasional neighborhood pet that wanders into the backyard. I don't know what he is thinking but it keeps him amused.

Funny Photo

Funny pic of the day from http://cheezburger.com/View/3628588288

Conversations with Bert

Bert says some of the craziest things at the most random of times. The other day I was making a grocery list with my husband before going out and Bert decided to add his two cents worth.




Me: "Hey boo, I am making the grocery list is there anything you need to add to it?"

Husband: "Toilet paper, soda, and tic-tacs."

Bert: "Fruit pies! Cherry fruit pies!"

Husband: "What did Bert just say?!?"

 Me: "I swear he just said fruit pies. Does he even know what they are?"

Husband: "I thought he said cherry fruit pies. I guess he wants us to get him some at the store."

Although it was an entertaining comment on Bert's part we did not get him the junkfood he asked for. I gave him some rice later on at dinner; he didn't seem to mind.

Fiesty

I spent some tv time with my little man gonzo. I would recommend a green-cheek conure to anyone interested in birds. He is such a sweet, spunky, little ham. He likes to get into whatever mommy is doing and begs for head scratches. We were sitting down watching the first Jurassic Park movie and he had me laughing the whole time. Anytime one of the dinosaurs on the screen roared he had to copy them by growling. It is so cute too because he makes this little high pitched growl that sounds almost like a raspberry noise. He was really getting into the movie. My husband said that he was feeling his "maleness" and was trying to protect me. He was definitely being fiesty with his growling and puffing up. Thank goodness he is a sweet beak for me.

Hats for Birds

Ok so this has nothing to do with my parrots but the pictures are hillarious! If you love birds, you will love them even more wearing hats.

This is from the website Something Awful. Its called Hats for Birds.
http://www.somethingawful.com/d/comedy-goldmine/birds-wearing-hats.php?page=1

Shake-a-bell

Bobby likes to make fun of me and call me nasty names sometimes. He is not a big fan of the ladies but I love him just the same. One game that he will play with me for hours on end is his "shake a bell" game.

This is Bobby taunting me into playing his favorite game. He usually squeals really lound and bobs his head up and down. I have to be careful not to try to touch him or he will try to pinch me. Basically I say "Bobby, shake a bell," and he squeals really loud in his excited voice. Then he runs over to the toy and shakes on of the bells as hard as he can. Then he stops and waits for me to copy him. Maybe he thinks he is training me.

This is Bobby shaking the bell. When he really gets going he looks like he might get dizzy, but no such luck. He is lighting fast and will go right back to taunting me into playing another round as soon as I and done shaking the other bell. You can tell this is his favorite game because the paint is coming of the bottom of both the bells.

Fetishes

Bert has a very strange attraction to toes. I don't know what exactly is going on in his mind when he sees them but he absolutely loves feet! A couple times a week I will give into his dancing and whistling and let him have at it. He has never actually bitten me while playing this silly game and he will only play it when my husband is out of the room. I am actually surprised I was able to get pictures of him doing this since he is so shy about it. Sometimes he likes to play fight against my feet by headbutting my feet and then running backwards and charging them time after time. Usually though he just tries to feed my toes. He really likes it when I pinch his beak between my toes. He starts laughing and whistling. Does any one else out there have parrots with as weird a fetish as this? I don't want to believe that Bert is weird cause I am sure that there are others out there like him. I think my husband is jealous that there is another man in my life who likes to tickle my feet. I live in a very weird house indeed.



The first picture is of me pinching Bert's beak with my monkey toes. He absolutely adores this and why I don't know.

The second picture is Bert playing peek-a-boo behind my feet.

Bert's favorite show

TV time at night is the perfect time for Bert to join us for some R&R. He enjoys watching cartoons with us or cheering us on while we play video games. However his favorite show of the evening is watching what I call "Dogs behaving badly." This is his typical expression when our two dogs begin fighting over their toys.

This is a bird's eye view of some of the chaos. Sometimes Bert will try egging them on by climbing down to the bottom of his playgym and hollering "bobobobo." I don't exactly know what this means in Bert-speak, but he always says it whenever he is really enjoying himself. Sometimes he will try to join in on the action by either throwing food scraps at the dogs or by actually jumping down to the floor and trying to chase after them. The funny thing is that the dogs are actually scared to death of Bert.