I got nothin'

That's not entirely true. There are ideas floating around but I'm too lazy to process them to the point of a coherent post. I think the lex makes me a little lazy mentally. Like my brain is wrapped in cotton swabbing or something. Well, that's not true when it comes to actually putting thoughts into words verbally but as far as writing it out or doing any design work.

I did make EC a hanging playgym. I've got more stuff to add to it but I wanted to get it up so she could start getting used to it.

Anyway, I'm alive and well and just kind of boring.

Everything I need to know I learned from Captain Kangaroo!

Spot the GCC? This really is becoming a photo a day blog. I've been thinking about the power of images a lot over the last few days. Think, Hello my name is Simon and the things I draw come true. Really it makes me a bit leery of doing the little cartoon pics I used to use on TPB.

Doldrums?

It wasn't blogger yeterday. Firefox "encountered problems and had to quit." So far as I know, you can't recover a post in those circumstances. If anyone does know a way to do so, please do tell!

You're right Ms. A.R., when I cut my hair really really short before I just walked into my stylist's and told her I wanted it as short as a boy's. If I really wanted it short, I wouldn't have to ask anyone if I should cut it.

CPG was seriously snarky about yesterday's photo. It really bummed me out. I dunno, everything's bumming me out a little right now. I don't know why. Life is pretty good. I have money in the bank and cable and broadband and unlimited long distance and a washer and a dryer and a bird and a new digital camera. I even have a new real life friend. Life really is good. I don't know where the ennui is coming from.

I guess it's just the time of the year.

Sigh.

I wrote a whole post with a lot of links but blogger just ate it so all you get it the photo, sorry.

Decadent

I know it is absurd. I know that. My brother pointed out that these things that I perceive as crazy luxuries (washer & dryer, cable, broadband, cell phone) are, to most people, almost actual necessities. Yesterday, I had the tv on watching What Not To Wear while I was chatting on the phone and checking out my new high speed connection and my cell phone rang. Very weird moment for me. I feel like I'm living in someone else's house. The only time I get to sit around and watch cable while I'm doing laundry is when I'm housesitting or something.

Yesterday was very stressful for me. I could not fall alseep on Friday worrying about the house being messy, potential problems with cable guy, etc. Very high anxiety level. Made me realize just how far I've really come since almost everything prompted that response a year ago.

Speaking of days gone by, the 'rents found some old photos (about 6 years ago?) from my friend N's wedding. This one is from the brunch the next day:
























Me, with super short hair with N's twin and my neighbor/friend, L. Before the MS, before S fired me, before the PS. Funny thing is that I know I was about 15 pounds heavier there but I think I look a lot better. Should I cut off all my hair again? Also, I really thought I was very relaxed and at ease but my body posture says NOT! Every one of the photos has me with my arms crossed tightly in front of me.

J is coming over later today to meet EC. I have some web stuff I need to do. Bunny to take care of as well. More cleaning since J is like totally organized and ocd - she's Swedish remember. Oh, and big sale at the used bookstore I like. 75% off marked price!

This is not what I should be doing

The cable guy could potentially be here in 30 minutes. Or 4 hours and thirty minutes. Or anywhere in between. Bed isn't made. Floors aren't mopped. I'm not showered. As a matter of fact I'm wearing my oldest, rattiest, holiest jeans and I've been sweeping and dusting for the last hour so I'm sure I look a sight.

Both E and CPG told me to blow it off. Who fucking cares what the cable guy thinks of my housekeeping and obviously if I really did care, I've had a week to clean and haven't done it. This behavior is a major holdover from old patterns and I don't know why I still have it.

So, rather than using this half an hour to sweep and mop, I thought I would try to figure out what this is about and then take a shower before my deadline.

I just don't get this. Obviously it does bother me to have the house a mess when someone has to be here. I'm nowhere near as messy as I used to be - scary thought - but yet I just cannot make myself take that last teeny step to generally straightening before someone is going to be in the house so I must get something from this behavior. Otherise it would extinguish itself.

I'm intelligent. And, pretty self-aware. But, I just have no idea why it is that I do this to myself. No. Idea.

I'm not...

...finished (or even really started) getting the house straightened up for the cable guy.

...spending $400 on another bird that doesn't have a health certificate.

...using the new camera to even a little bit of its potential.

I don't have anything to say really. I wrote a whole post about whether or not I should buy this bird but in the process decided I wasn't going to so I deleted the post - it served its purpose. Life is fine, just a bit boring at the moment.

That's what I'm talkin about!

I'm already getting shit on controlling EC's food. The very first thing I said when I saw her was, "you're just a little smidge of a thing." I insisted, despite the 'rents claims to the contrary, that EC was genuinely smaller than the original Diva was. The lowest I ever took So's weight was 64 grams and at the end I was flying her at 68 grams. I finally managed to weigh EC yesterday evening and she was 60g and 64g this morning.

I reported this on CPG's and my email list today and have already been accused of practically starving her.

Am I ever going to get to be someone who doesn't get picked on for controlling my bird's food intake? Please? I thought since EC was an adult that the detractors would leave me alone this time but no. Sigh.

EC seems fairly happy. Apparently I forgot to lock her cage last night 'cause this morning she let herself out and when I was letting the dogs out I heard "thwap thwap thwap thwap thwap" and all the sudden had a little, green bat tangled in my hair. Fortunately I heard her coming before I opened the back door and I am somewhat pleased that she was coming to me rather than attempting an out and out escape. When I weighed her she didn't want to step up off the scale so I walked out of the room and again, she followed me so I let her hang out for a little bit this morning. She put herself back in her cage though. I don't think she knows how not to be in a cage. So was raised getting to hang out in a house whenever anyone was home while EC was pretty much always in a cage. I even let EC take a shower with me this morning. The Diva was obsessed with bathing and dunked herself in her water bowl routinely but EC has not taken a bath all week which is some slight cause for concern and she does not appear to like being misted in the slightest.

Sorry, it's all about the bird lately, innit? And I still need to get around to doing mdmh's meme. Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow.

They are SO pets!

Someone gave me The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill for my birthday. A fairly obvious gift. It's about conures. I have a conure. I have a fair amount of interest in conures.

I'm maybe 3/4 of the way through the book. An easy read. I just started it yesterday. You would think I'm speeding through it because it is enjoyable but in fact it fucking pisses me off!

Nothing made this more clear to me than this article about Mr. Bittner's ongoing battle to protect the trees the parrots perch in near his house. Not only do I have some mild opposition to going to such lengths to keep a non-native species living in exactly the same state it is currently living in: i.e., maybe it is meant to be that the parrots move on to another set of trees? Trees rot and fall in the wild thus depriving parrots of a normal foraging spot and forcing them to find a new one. This is not a nesting or roosting location for them, simply where they hang out in between feedings given by Bittner. There is a valid argument against allowing the parrots to continue to breed in San Fran anyway since they are not native and could have long term impact on that ecosystem.

Even more so than all that though is this Bittner guy constantly refering to the parrots as his "friends". There's an idiot who runs a yahoo group who has a thing about parrots aren't pets, they are friends for life. This pisses me off. A friend is 1. a person for doG's sake! 2. has some ability to feel affection for you as well that I do not personally believe parrots capable of and 3. it is a reciprocal relationship: you are not completely responsible for your friends' well being. You ARE responsible for your freakin' PETS' well being.

The yahoo yahoo allows his parrots to roam free. Basically he wants a relationship with them quite similar to what Bittner seems to have with the wild parrots except that he wants a little more control over them since he uses them in shows he puts on at state fairs and such.

Please note that both Bittner and the yahoo have basically made their living off parrots. And yet, they both look down their noses at those of us who keep parrots as pets. The yahoo came in on the side of the people who said that I was unethical and inhumane for controlling So's food. When Bittner decides to capture sick or injured members of the wild flock to attempt to rehab them what is the very first thing he does to them? He clips their wings because that is, of course, the only way one can keep a parrot safe in a house and he wouldn't dream of attempting to train the bird thus imposing his own strictures on it by teaching it to step up or say hello. He constantly dreams of being allowed to pet the wild birds and is delighted when the birds he has clipped allow him this luxury.

How bout this asshole? How bout you quit spouting off this fucking nonsense, aknowledge that you have something the parrots need: food and security and you are putting the price of allowing you to touch them on this?

So would let me roll her onto her back in my palm and I didn't have to fucking clip her wings to get that. I've had EC precisely one week and she already flaps to me from her cage when I call her.

It isn't magical or mystical or whatever. It's just me putting that particular price on what the damn bird needs and that I have easy access to.

Not allowing the bird to roam free is just common fucking sense! Look what happened to So when I was standing right there? This guy has lost a large number of birds that he doesn't even always know what happened to them because he wasn't with them at the time. I don't let my dogs roam free! Not only is it illegal, it isn't safe for the dogs and it potentially puts other people at risk of either being injured or having their property damaged. Your rights end where mine begin, etc.

Speaking of EC, she just did a flighted recall to me from the cage with the door open to my hand!




The pics are sorta crappy 'cause I pulled them from video. One irritating thing I have discovered is that the fancy shmancy new camera won't work in burst mode if it detects that you need the flash which you baically always do indoors unless you have lights set up for that sort of thing.




Funny note: while I was writing this post, one of the labs I am watching this weekend chewed up my copy of The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill!

This time next week...

...I will be desperately trying to straighten up the house in preparation for getting cable installed on pretty much everything except the washer and dryer.



EC is now stepping up onto my hand to eat. In a lot of ways this is a lot easier than that first couple of weeks with So. I almost immediately let her out of her cage and then coped with having to hunt her down to put her up before I left. And a week into having her I had been bitten numerous times whereas EC hasn't bitten me even once. She does suck on my fingers though.

The big difference is that I don't have that sense of wonder with EC that I did with So. So always wanted to be ON me. From day one she wanted to be on my shoulder or head or wherever I would let her be. With EC it is a lot more clearly that I have what she needs: food.

I'm still delighted to have EC, it's just interesting to note the difference in my feelings about the two experiences.

Postcards are going out tomorrow so if you haven't given me your snail mail address and believe yourself to be a member of Team CC send me your real world contact info asap!

Click, click, tweet*

The brown dog and a client's dog at the park today. I heart my new camera.

EC ate HER dinner out of my hand tonight! She even stepped up onto my hand to better get at the seed. I count this as progress.

*the camera makes a tweety noise when you click something in the menu system, it's cute I tell you...cute!

He's a SHE, dammit!

Let me just clear something up. Fairly certain that "anonymous" is CPG who has a bug up his butt about EC's gender. EC has been DNA tested and found to be a male. That is actually why I have her. The breeder thought they had two breeding pairs then discovered that in fact, they had 4 boys. BUT, the DNA test is NOT 100% accurate (think OJ ;-) AND, I did purchase the domain littlegreenDIVA.com for So and plan to eventually use it to record EC's training progress, etc. This has led me to decide to use female pronouns for EC.

CPG: he's gonna write a book about you
Me: if he can do that then he's pretty goshdarned special
CPG: true

Seriously, we've gone ten rounds every day since I got EC about the male/female pronouns. My point is that EC is a BIRD. And, while they're pretty smart, I don't think the English gender-specific pronouns are meaningful for them so why does he care which I decide to use? The whole thing makes me think of the dog in The Incredible Lightness of Being where they made such a todo about her heat cycles but consistently referred to him with male pronouns.

CPG also said that Encore was "crap" as a name. I pointed out that there are much nicer ways of saying that you don't like something.

Also, EC doesn't talk (yet!) and has spent the last 45 minutes squawking at wild birds SHE can see outside my kitchen window. It's a bit annoying. So was a very quiet bird.

In other news...I just got rid of my $150 phone bill and my $20 isp bill in favor of a $111 broadband/cable tv/unlimited long distance bill.

Man, last year at this time, I didn't have a bird, I didn't have a washer/dryer, I didn't have broadband, I didn't have a digital camera, I didn't have a cell phone and I didn't have cable.

I don't even know what to do with all this.

Next thing is a freakin' boyfriend. Right?

It's here, it's here!

No, not da plane. Da CAMERA!

And it was so worth the $342! So tiny, so sleek, so shiny, so black. And the photos are so crisp and vivid.



EC ate a half a grape and some seed and has progressed to playing on her perches today. She's doing a lot of head bobbing which at least gives the appearance of being happy and excited. She remains suspicious of the birdie bunk but I don't think S crawled in it for at least a week so I am going to leave it in the cage to see if she discovers that it is a nice place to take a nap.



She was rubbing her face against the cage bars there. Look how much less maroon she has on her tummy than S did.

K, sorry, I don't have anything actually useful or imporantant or interesting to talk about. Today was okay. I'm thrilled with EC and with the camera.

Thanks a lot, universe

EC seems to be settling in fairly well. It's so sad. She doesn't seem to understand what perches are for much less the birdie bunk. She either sits on the floor of the cage or clings to the sides.

When I was setting things up to pick up EC yesterday I got an email about a rescue dog with 3 puppies in need of transportation. I thought this was happening last weekend and since part of the route coincided with my route to pick up EC and I felt like I needed to do something to even out the universe handing me a new bird, I offerred to help transport the dogs.

Turns out that this isn't happening until NEXT weekend, the 14th and 15th. Well, since I had already offered I couldn't very well say, "oh no now it's an actual inconveience for me, universe!" So, I am still covering the Elizabethtown to Florence route. But, there are still quite a few stretches in the Pennsylvania/New York sections that still need to be filled.

So, if anyone wants to help out these dogs and get in good with the universe, email me and I will put you in contact with the coordinator.

This is the section of the route that still needs people to agree to help:

*LEG8> Wheeling, WV to New Stanton, PA - 71 Miles (NEED!)
1 hour 8 minutes (depart 6:45pm)


OVERNIGHT NEEDED AROUND LEGS 8-10 !!!


*LEG9> New Stanton, PA to Bedford, PA - 74 Miles (NEED!)
1 hour 17 minutes

*LEG 10> Bedford, PA to Carlisle, PA - 87 Miles (NEED!)
1 hour 28 minutes

*LEG 11> Carlisle, PA to Frackville, PA - 77 Miles (NEED!)
1 hour 15 minutes

LEG12> Frackville, PA to Scranton, PA - 63 Miles ~filled~
1 hour 5 minutes

*LEG13> Scranton, Pa to Milford, PA - 53 Miles (NEED!)
1 hour

*LEG13a> Milford, PA to Newburgh, NY - 44 Miles (NEED!)
45 minutes

Whip it, whip it good!*

For a bird who has never been handled, I am absolutely amazed at how docile EC is. I borrowed Daddy's vehicle to drive to Columbus (I did 202 miles in 2.5 hours on the way up but man I am sick of being in the car - started at 10:00 am and didn't get home until 6:30 pm) so I took EC out of the carrier at Mom and Dad's when I picked Bubba back up and got Mom to take this quick photo for me. If you had tried to reach in and grab S like that you would have wounds to clean afterwards but EC just seemed to shrug although he did do several tight circles over our heads when I first opened the carrier.

Seeing the full flight feathers really is a kick for me. They are a much darker blue than I thought they would be. I think EC is smaller than S was but M&D think the opposite. It'll be interesting to see when I get him on the scale. I'll give that a shot tomorrow.

*Ms. A.R. suggested Divo as a name and that made me think of Devo and I've had it in my head all day!!!

Someone please stop me!

I just keep spending money! I just spent $30 at Barnes & Noble and am considering dropping $75 on a new cage for the new Diva in the rough.

This, on top of the whomping $342 I dropped on the camera. That site has way better photos of it, including one showing the ginormous 2.5" lcd screen on the back. I'm keeping it open to remind myself not to trip about the cost 'cause it is just soooo pretty and in just 4 short months it should be warm enough to begin outdoor flight training with my new Diva and it will just be lovely to do that with such a small, fast camera in my my hands.

The only things left on the grand ToDo list are:

1. Dogs' nails
2. straighten up the bird room some more (perhaps try to find Big Bags again and pick up a few storage bins from Home Depot?)


3. DTD's site update
4. pick up some grapes, apples and millet sprays for EC. Hmm, that's a thought: Encore to EC to Easy :-)
5. Shovel out Bubba in case Daddy decides to drive him tomorrow
6. Get the carrier arranged for tomorrow


7. move the original Diva's blog to lgd.com and begin a new one for the new Diva.
8. Laundry ;-)
   
9. set up cable! (which means spending some more $$$)

Wow, I started this post almost 2 hours ago. In the meantime, the realtors I did a site for before the holidays have fired me. I got a new PS job. PS is a lot less hassle although not quite as much money as WD. E agrees that my proposed name for the new Diva is a good choice and is available to offer tech support for the directionally challenged tomorrow when we all know I will get lost trying to get to where I'm picking up the bird. Directions and information already printed out via the fancy shmancy new printer. The bird people called and tried to talk me into two for the price of one which I turned down.

Excuse me while I hyperventilate

Not so long ago I was frequently scraping up change from Bubba's floorboards to afford groceries and I still have months where money is, shall we say, tight.

This wasn't the wisest money decision I've ever made and I suppose, as a result, I can't just enjoy the fact that I'm getting something new and that I have the money in the bank to pay for it.

I've been using my friend E's digital camera (only 2MP and quite, quite slow plus it's way sucky for print) off and on for the last year. She needed it back before the holidays and I have money from holiday PS so I just bought:



She's a Panasonic. 5MP, great lens, much MUCH faster than her predecessor. 2.5" LCD screen on the back, fabulous Burst Mode for those flying pics.

I'm excited. Really, I am. But I still feel sick. I mean seriously, I feel like I'm going to puke over spending $342 on a non-necessity.

I'm trying to view it as just a done deed. That money no longer exists for me. It'll be awesome to have a fancy new camera to take photos of the new bird. Sigh.

Okay, vote please (in the comments), on bird names:

1. Ace
2. Deuce
3. Encore
4. Other

I'm leaning hard toward 3. CPG says it is "crap" as a name. One of my client's thought of Encore and I think it's sort of cute and honors the original Diva.

Another kind of list

Instead of stuff I need to get done, this is the stuff I HAVE gotten done this week:

1. more loads of laundry than I can even count. ALL my clothes are all clean at once!
2. paid bills on time!
3. renewed my car registration (only a little more than a year late)
4. scheduled the plumber for tomorrow
5. arranged to drive two legs of transportation for a rescue ACD next weekend

Okay, it's only five things. Now back to the usual, need to do:

1. sweep/mop
2. bank
   
3. call cable company
4. update realtor's site
5. get bird's room set up again (woohoo!)

So, as many things have gotten done as remain to be done.

There is still some numbness on my left side but in general I feel pretty darn good.

I don't DO patience!

Dear contentiouschic,
Here is your horoscope
for Tuesday, January 3:

Sometimes the best thing to do is wait. While it's not a process that's familiar to you, learn to utilize and appreciate a more receptive kind of energy. Let the universe do the work and figure this one out.

You know what Monday is, right? Blech and probably one of the main reasons for my recent blahs. But, guess what I am doing on Sunday?

On Sunday I am driving to Columbus and picking up a new bird! One year old, male (but since I already own littlegreendiva.com we're going to pretend we don't know that), the same kind of bird as the Diva :-)

I had given up hope on finding a bird before early summer when conures are hatching again.

It made me so happy to have my little Diva. I walked around for the first month with this goofy I have a secret feeling like you do when you first fall in love and I was always looking for an opportunity to work her into a conversation the way you want to work your boyfriend/girlfriend's name in just to say it.

So maybe, just maybe, things are starting to look up a little bit?

Oh, and my left side is numb again. Oh joy.