Happy Hatchweekend!

Today is Evie's 3rd birthday.   Yay!  To be honest, I make today her birthday because the breeder didn't know when exactly she was born, only that it was the third week in September.

Today is also Basil's birthday.  I know that for sure because, well, I was there :)  and so it continues with Ginger tomorrow, Pepper on Sunday, Sage on Monday and Wasabi on Wednesday.

I can't believe it's been a year already since they were hatched.  And I can't believe Evie is 3 years old either.  Each year goes by faster than the last.  It's kinda sad.  I hope all my fabies will grow to live past 10 years.  I'm hoping they'll live to be at least 20.  I know it's a long shot, but you never know, that's why each day in my house is filled with kisses and cuddle time.

I was thinking of making birdie bread as their cake, but to be honest, I won't have time for that.  So of course, there is only one cake left in the world that they love and comes made already: Avicakes!  I'm gonna throw them a birdie party on Monday and make them their toys on Sunday.  I'm still waiting on some toys to arrive, but I'll make do with what I got last week.  Besides, my birds appreciate the time out of their cages more than toys anyway.

This weekend, I for sure have to post up the sprouts I made and the mash too.  I've been busy doing non productive things like watching season premiers of new and old shows.  Uh, spent 3 hours on the sofa watching The Middle, Modern Family, and Revenge last night.  I do have to say that I loved Revenge.  The guy who plays the bartender is super cute.  I do hope I'll see more of Amber Valletta.  She is just so stunning.  And Modern Family is funny and awesome like always.

I am sad I missed Glee though.  Hulu locked it so I can't have access until 8 days after it shows.  Lame!  It was never like that before.  Besides I heard it was not that great of a first episode plus they got rid of Sam!  I loved Trouty Mouth.  He was so good and cute.  I can't stand Justin Beiber and Sam did a great job of singing that Baby song.  I'm gonna miss him.  I heard there is less of Lauren Zizes.  Sad.  I loved her attitude and sass!  Even though I love Glee, I feel like there is too many cooks in the kitchen as far as the writing goes.  The story line can be everywhere sometimes.  Btw, thank god there is no more Warblers.  They were so annoying.  They smiled way too much.

lovebirds bathing

One of my fave things to see my birds do is bathe.  They are always having so much fun splashing around in the water and getting it everywhere.  Here's a video of Wasabi and Ginger.  I caught the end of the bath time, but got these two.  As you can see, Orion wanted to bathe, but Wasabi was not sharing at all.  Hehe, sharing with his sister is one thing, but sharing with Orion is another.  

It's here!

Yay, I'm so excited.  My clicker training book arrived this week.  I'm so glad I bought this book as I don't feel too confident in my skills and training seems a bit intimidating.  I bought this book used, but it looks completely brand new (of course my birds chewed the corner already hence why I love ebooks) and it came with a clicker as well so now I have two clickers!   That's great as I am always looking for my clicker (yes, I am one of those that set your remote down and can't find it a few seconds later).

Foraging Bowl

Foraging is a great way to keep your birds entertained and busy.  Instead of food laying around for them out in the open, they can search and work for their food.  Depending on what the foraging is, mine either love it or could care less for it.  One of their favorites is a foraging bowl.  I used to use a Glad entree size food storage container, but I stopped because one morning I woke up and found Evie underneath it and she couldn't it get off her.  They had tossed out all the toys and I think she jumped onto the edge of it and it flipped over on her.  I still use them, but only when I'm around and no longer leave it in their cages.

Nowadays, I use a ceramic dog bowl.  It's deep and big enough for two birds to sit in and it's also heavy so I don't have to worry about them jumping on it and that it's going to flip on them.  I sprinkle some pellets, nutriberries, and seeds onto the bottom of the bowl.  I wrap some up in coffee filters.

I toss in some hard toys.  As you can see I have various beads, plastic and wood.

And some shredding toys along with some pistachio shells (not salted of course) and curly straws.  Those are colored lollipop sticks by the way.  My birds like to peel it apart.  

I cut up some coffee filters and threw them into the mix

Joey loves getting the wrapped treats

Wasabi, Ginger, and Apollo 

Basil and Sage 

 Wasabi

Apollo was not sharing!  

It is a great inexpensive way to keep my birds entertained.  They really do like it when I wrap up the treats, so I like to do that ahead of time because that can be the most time consuming.

In a couple of days, I'll write about sprouting for birds and I'll be making them a mash of various ingredients.

State Fair Day 2

Day 2 at the fair was longer and colder.  I tried two new french fries places and came to the conclusion that fries are pretty much good anywhere at the fair.

I got my fave drink: beergarita.  Beer and margarita mix.  So delicious.  A big thing of it for 7 bucks.  Not too bad.  It's the only place I can find it at.

Some beautiful horses

This one was stunning with his or her blue eyes.

This one was just a sweetheart.

And this fella was just a beauty.  He looked like a My Little Pony doll with his long white eyelashes, silky long mane, the feathers on his foot, and his charming attitude.  

Our next stop was the Birds of Prey show.  I enjoy it every year and though the message is the same, not all the same birds make an appearance.  This year, there were no bald eagles, but there was a vulture.

My fave owl: the Screech Owl.  It is so cute!  And very small!   

This wolf's paw is big!

My work friends discovered this place at the fair.  Now, we never really go into this area.  I didn't even know it was there.  But we found a taxidermy place.  It was pretty weird and creepy in a way.  They had random scraps of fur laying around, turtle shells, bones, dead animals made into hats, and many other things.  They had a huge tub of rabbit's foot.  I remember those....from the 80's!  i don't think people buy those anymore.  Certainly never brought me any luck!

Now, don't get me wrong, I don't judge, and I did not take photos of these stuffed creatures because I think they look cool.  I think stuffed animals on walls are just weird and sort of wasteful really.  

Uh, there is something really weird about stuffed parrots too.  And they were not cheap.  I had to be careful with the Cherry Headed Conure on the bottom as he was about to break and I was not going to pay over a hundred dollars for him.  I wonder who these birds used to belong to.  I would never do this with my pets.  

We then headed to The Butterfly House for I needed to see some life and beauty after this place.  To be honest, that was a bad idea.  I will never go there again to support it.  The place was filled with all sorts of kids, good and naughty, loud and quiet.  It was also full of butterflies, alive, barely alive, and dead.  It was just sad really.  I had to save some before they got squashed.  I put the dying ones in places where they wouldn't be bothered though there was no such place.  The staff were just a bunch of teens who didn't know anything.  No staff was walking around showing some of the naughtier kids how to behave and adults too.  So much for rule no. 1: No touching wings.  What do I see when I get in there?  A woman grabbing butterflies by the wings.  Nice.  Not.

What could have been a great and wonderful experience in the end was just really sad for the butterflies.  Some kids were great and didn't touch the wings and were just caring and tender whereas one boy jumped on one and squashed it to bits.  You'd think some parents would teach their kids about respecting life a bit better.

 This one I found crawling the floor.  Poor thing had no wings left.  I put it by the rotting bananas and pineapples where there also a lot of dead butterflies.  Some lady thanked me for putting it in a safer spot, but come on woman, it was by your feet, not mine.  

my boyfriend covered in butterflies.  They loved him.  Probably because he wasn't chasing them. 

This one was on the floor on its' back forever.  I finally picked it up cuz I thought it was dead.  It was dying for sure.  I just tried to make its' last moments more comfortable though after we left, I'm sure some kid picked it up. 

:(  need I say more?

I'm telling you I have a weakness for goats.  I spent about 20 minutes petting this sweetheart.  She or he was the nicest, gentle, sweet being ever.  It loved being petted and would look into my eyes as if speaking to me.  I fell in love with it.  If I had a farm (a hobby farm to be exact), I'd so buy this guy and take him/her home with me.  After playing with it, I looked up and saw the sign "Meat Goat"  AHHH!!!!  WHAT!??!!!  My new sweet friend is for meat only?  It broke my heart.  I almost starting crying.  I couldn't just leave him or her.  I spent as much time as I could talking and petting it until my boyfriend called me to hurry up out of the barn house.  I'm never gonna forget this cutie pie.  I understand we all eat animals, but I don't eat goat, I know some folks do, but I don't.  Plus you can't meet your dinner before eating it.  It made think though about how awesome this goat is and how sad it's only seen as a piece of meat without anyone really knowing just wonderful s/he is as a creature.  Def not eating meat for awhile.