Prince Henry's test results came back yesterday, and he got a clean bill of health. He got to fly with everyone else for the first time. Sir Dubbins freaked out and had to go back to his cage, but the budgies didn't seem mind him much. None of the budgies approached him too closely, but it was evident Skye wanted to. We're not going to have Prince Henry and Sir Dubbins out at the same time until they get a little more used to the idea of each other.

I went to a equinox dinner yesterday at lady_babalon's and sophiaserpentia's. I must say that sophiaserpentia makes the most excellent apple crisps. I was happy to see that x_bluerose_x was there to. We sat around the table and discussed what we viewed as our "harvests" this year, however I'm more planning for the spring then harvesting now. Of course, there were other topics, but that was the planned topic. I wish I could have stayed longer, but I had fun while I was there.

After leaving the equinox dinner, I went over to merryperseis's place, where I ate again. I knew that we would be having roasted cauliflower, so I intentionally ate sparingly at the early dinner. I brought her my serpent staff. I've known that my bird staff is what I'm meant to use at this point, and merryperseis told me she needed something that symbolized a serpent: so the transfer seemed right. I wanted to do it on the equinox for balance. There wasn't really any ceremony about the transfer, it was just done.

Tonight, Sir Dubbins meets the budgies!

I made a new budgie mix today and I think this might be the best mix yet: Apple Carrot Harvest Beak Appétit, budgie seed mix, egg food, flax, oat groats, peas, corn, papaya, honeydew, clementines, and blackberries. The reviews are in: they love love love it!

I was just about to take a shower in purpleglitter's apartment, and noticed there had been a minor back-up issue. Mostly dried, and not to bad. Nevertheless, a crust had formed over the drain, essentially sealing it. Not wanting to use anything that might pose a danger to the birds, I decided to use the remainder of the pseudomoonshine I purchased over the summer to clean the tub and unplug the drain. It worked like a charm, however now the house smells like I've just thrown a heavily alcohol-laden party. Ah, well - it will dissipate.

While I was sitting on a bench on the shore Spy Pond last week, I found myself looking down from above at Spy Pond and the autumnal trees of Elizabeth Island. Whether this was some sort of spontaneous out of body experience or a product of dissociation combined with vertigo and a high aptitude for spacial transitioning, I do not know.

Regardless of how I got there, it brought my thoughts to the budgies. The budgies get a lot of out-of-cage time. They fly around a lot in Lake's apartment. But it's not the same. The room has a ceiling and walls. The room has limits and I wish I could give them the sky. They are birds, that freedom is their hatchright. It seems unfair to keep them contained, but there is no realistic other option. To set them free in New England, especially on the dawn of winter, would be to give them death sentences.

We do our best to give them the closest to what they deserve as possible. We try to give them what we hope is a better life than they would have in the wild: providing a constant food supply, healthcare, and freedom from predators. It might not be enough, but it is all that we have to offer.

Yesterday, purpleglitter and I made the budgies fun coconut bowls filled with a blend of apples, peas, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, and millet.


( how it went over (+9) )

Still going strong.

I made the birds a new mix this morning: beak appétit, mashed organic peas, organic spring salad mix, crumbed Ezekiel 4:9 bread, seed mix, and fruit and veggie mix. Not as fancy as some of my other bird mixes, but they still love it.

mazzycat is always a joy to spend time with, and she seems to prefer the regular scheduled playtimes over the more haphazard playtimes of the past.

I did much cleaning. I did a load of dishes downstairs, took out my air conditioner which hasn't been used for over a month, worked my altar, organized my desk, did some other decorating, and did quite a bit of cleaning and organizing. The octagonal table is now the only one non-floor surface in my room containing anything that shouldn't go there. It has been years since it has been in this state. In fact, my room is rapidly and finally approaching that magic word: CLEAN. If I continue this for the rest of the week, it may just reach that point.

I also hung a sign above the door to my room which reads: "If you find yourself in a hole... STOP DIGGING!". Perhaps some might think it cheesy, but I think it a good message for me to keep mindful of.

I've spent most of today and a good deal of yesterday helping purpleglitter with her pre-move. Making boxes, packing, bringing stuff downstairs. The birds in the new apartment, each got to spend a little bit of time just enjoying the outdoors and listening to the outdoor birdie sounds. I keep hearing a finch up here still, perhaps it's Isobel's ghost.

I made sure to catch the sunset this evening, as I won't have the spectacular vantage point after purpleglitter moves. I took a number of pictures, and will likely be posting them from the house_of_clocks tomorrow. I've got 30-60 minutes of work to do, then I'm off to bed.

Tomorrow morning at 9:00 the movers arrive. I'm about to disconnect this computer and bring it down.

I made my most funnest birdy food mix yet! I started with apple carrot harvest Beak Appétit, then added three kinds of seed mixes, a vitamin mix, two kinds of millet, organic smashed peas, fresh organic carrot tops, fresh organic carrot bottoms, organic flax tortilla chips, Ezekiel 4:9 bread, and organic spring salad mix. I hope they like it.

I woke up purpleglitter with coffee and egg and pepperjack cheese bagels. A little before 10:00, I went over to the house_of_clocks where I fed mazzycat and did my hour of reading. Then back to purpleglitter's to feed the birds. This is too easy. Next week will hopefully be more challenging.

Started my reading hour 10 minutes early and went through to 11:00 then went back over to purpleglitter's house to wake up and feed the birds. I guess Project Schedule will get more challenging when I add something else to it next week.

I woke up later than normal this morning, around 8:30. I went over to the house_of_clocks where I fed the mazzycat.

I started my hour of reading a half hour early, and went all the way through to 11:00.

After reading, I went immediately back over to purpleglitter's apartment, where I took the cover's off the bird cages, fed the birds their mixes (seeds and pellets) and gave them all carrot tops (which they are in the process of devouring). I changed their waters, and gave Squeaky a fresh bath. I do this every day at 11:00, so that purpleglitter will get plenty of time to spend with the birds after she gets home from work. Getting them up early meant they had to go to bed early and purpleglitter missed most of the playtime with them.

In a way, taking care of mazzycat and the birds already has provided some structure to my day, I just hadn't realized it. Project Schedule will still hopefully provide more, but it's not like I'm starting off from scratch.

I was getting Cricket out of the cage to cuddle when Dandelion jumped onto my hand and pushed Cricket off. Dandelion is a spoiled brat. A cute spoiled brat, but a spoiled brat nonetheless. She wants all the attention. The way everyone except Skye seems to fawn all over her seems to only encourage this attitude. Pretty Princess Dandelion. It's like the budgie version of high school.

All the budgies are flying now. Cricket had her first flight today. Cricket's flight was different than her three siblings. The others flew away from me, off to some remote corner of the room. Cricket flew to me.

She loves to climb all over purpleglitter and I, and she is the most cuddly of all the young budgies. All of them let us pet and hold them and give them scritches. They all like us, but they also want to go off and do their own budgie thing. Cricket wants to be cuddled all the time. Cricket is super wonderful snuggle budgie.

Skye bit Cloude's foot badly this morning though the cage bars. I put some Neosporin cream on his foot to keep it from getting infected and purpleglitter moved him to a separate room from Skye and the bubs. When we got the bubs out a couple hours ago, we noticed that all their crops were empty. Skye hadn't been feeding them. We thought she needed Cloude to help her, but we brought Cloude back into the room taking precautions so that she wouldn't bite him through the cage. Cloude fed Skye. Skye headed for the cage, but instead of feeding the bubs decided to attack Cloude again. Cloude was trying to get to the bubs because they were hungry and crying, but Skye wouldn't let him. She wouldn't feed them either. So we removed Skye from the room, and Cloude has been feeding the bubs himself. Skye is relieved of her duties. Cloude will have to care for the bubs himself now. He seems happy to do it, but will be very busy. He now has to eat enough food for 5 budgies and feed the bubs without any help. I think he is up to it, but he won't be playing much with his bells until the bubs are eating on their own.

The baby budgies are getting much bigger. Two have names now: Dandelion and Galileo. I just finished holding them with purpleglitter. They are so active and fast. Holding them is getting to be more of a challenge because they want to explore. They love being out