Daisy and the Pushke

Good morning, Fellow Feather Rufflers!

Just a short post, today.

I decided to finally see how much money I had collected in my pushke (my mom's pig piggy bank.  It's stamped, "Zeuthen, Denmark" and I know she has had it since she was a girl... and since she would have been 86 this March... I treasure it.  It's what I use as my pushke:  Pushke:  The Yiddish word, pushke (pronounced PUSH-kee ,PUSH-kuh, or PISH-kee), is derived from the Polish word puszka and means, "a little can or container kept in the home, often in the kitchen, in which money to be donated to a charity is accumulated"...).  Maybe I'll blog about my lovely pushke on my other blog!  ANYWAY...

So I decided to do this, seeing as my precious pig was at her capacity.  Soon the lovely sound of tinkling coins filled the air.  What a great sound!  Or an annoying one, in the case of Daisy.  Suddenly, she started squawking angrily.  A very shrill squawk;  one that often would take her predecessor, Fresca, off to 'birdie prison' for a bit of birdie 'time out'  -- his cage would be taken into the bathroom and kept there for a moment -- in the dark -- to 'cool him off'  No, no, it's not mean.  It's a kind way of saying to a bird, "That's IT, SHUT IT...NOW!"  Even the vet approved.

So with that, I go into the living room to fetch her.  I knew she would only get louder if I didn't go in there at least to show her that everything was okay.  As I approached her cage, she flew onto my chair.

"No, my love, no chair for me, today... I need to rest in bed... I'm sorry."  I offered her my finger and she hopped on.  "Okay, come help me count."

As soon as I was again settled (it take a few moments with a belly full of staples), Daisy hopped onto my bedspread.  She stood there, looking at a small pile of sparkly, shiny coins in confusion.  Since the bedspread needs laundering, I figured I'd just dump the coins onto it.    I joked with her;

"Go count your money."  I know.  But I'm telling you, she understood me.  Damnit;  I'm not crazy.  I'm NOT!  I'm telling you, that bird ran over to them, and immediately started kicking through them.

As I counted nickels, she would find some and try to run off with one.  A bit too heavy for her, she tried dimes.  Dimes she could at least pick up and carry a few steps.  So, all told, she helped me count out a decent little loot, which has been put away and a new lot started. Or maybe, I'll use it to buy Daisy a much-needed play gym.

Until next time,
Ruffle them feathers!

Peace

Everybirdie into the pool!

Good morning!



Nothing really changed after I submitted yesterday's blog. Daisy continued to act her normal, silly self. She was sitting on my shoulder, telling me a crazy story. I had just finished eating, and needed to wash my hands. I gently shooed her off of me so I could get up. I am still very sore, and doing this takes a bit of time and concentration. She wasn't having that. Back she flew to me... and she continued with her silly story.  Sighing, I explained,

"Look, girl, you have to go home. Momma needs to go to the bathroom... go home, now." And again, I shooed her away. She sat on her perch just outside her door and looked at me, cocking her head chattering. Back she flew, defiant, landing on my shoulder.  I let out a defeated groan,

"Oh alright... come on, Miss Thing." Since getting out of the chair is a bit daunting right now, I thought I would just ... well... make the most of my trip to the bathroom. So, as soon as I was there, I put Daisy onto the sink and well... yeah.  Moving along, I turned on the water to wash my hands. Daisy cocked her head and watched as I warmed the water and lathered up my hands. "No, my love, no soapy water for you...sorry." She did her little 'Oh, what's that, I want that' dance; She fluffed up her feathers and shook, walking to the edge of the sink. As I rinsed, I knew what she wanted and made sure the lather was completely rinsed away. I called Rob in to see what was coming. I warmed up the water, plugged up the sink. Aaron was home and unbeknownst to me, had grabbed my Flip camera. This is what unfolded:

X Box is always more fun with a friend (click to enlarge).

All dried off, clean and comfy, Daisy then hangs out with her big brother, Aaron. He was her very first friend and now they are inseperable.

Until next time,
Keep ruffling those feathers!

Peace.

Crocheting With Daisy!

Good afternoon!

I know it’s been a while but things have been a bit crazy here in our home. I am recovering from some surgery and it’s been a painful week. I have been ordered to do nothing for a few weeks. Thank goodness Daisy’s cage is close by my chair. I suppose I should do a little recap;

Since I last posted, Daisy has not had anymore pin feathers sprout up. That’s good! In the days before my admission to the hospital, I was moody, and stressed. Daisy was very quiet the day before my admission. I honestly think she knew that Momma was going away, again. She wasn’t happy about it, at all.

My husband came in to see me after my surgery and told me that Daisy seemed sad. She again was very quiet. Maybe she missed me? “I know she does.” Rob said.

When I came home, I was sore and fragile.  I took to my bed that first day home, but not until I greeted her. Yeah, she was quiet. In all honesty, I was in so much pain, I just wanted to sleep it off.

The next day, I tried sitting in my recliner.  I couldn’t do it for long, but I wanted to be included with the family, and I missed my baby girl! I talked to her and she seemed … I don’t know… aloof? Like she was trying to figure out why I was acting the way I was. She flew out and onto the arm of my chair and just looked at me. I talked to her and slowly, she started her normal chattering.

A day later, I was able to fix my breakfast and thought I’d make our favorite; scrambled eggs.  She was ecstatic! Flying straight to her little porcelain (yes, porcelain… she deserves it) plate and together, we ate happily.

She has suddenly started acting silly; very silly. Not sometimes. Not once in a while. ALL DAY LONG. I keep telling her that it’s illegal to be that happy all of the time. I honestly don’t know where she gets the energy to entertain herself, as well as the family, as much as she does! She does a perfect wolf-call. A perfect ‘Charge’ call, and a perfect … well, I don’t know what it’s called. A “come here” whistle. You know; you see someone you know and instead of yelling across the street to get their attention, you do that whistle. I know you know what I am talking about! Not only does she do them perfectly, but she has the lovely ability to combine them, creating her own little songs. Rob did a great impression of her last week, making my tummy burn with pain, but it was so funny! Kind of like “ CHARGE… Good’ lookin!” Imagine those two whistles combined. I will try to get it on film! But yes, she is now a goofy bird that is constantly playing; she is pure joy.

I overdid things yesterday, and I am now hurting more than I want to be, so I am staying in my recliner like I’m supposed to do. I decided to crochet. I’m making a Mobius as a gift for someone. As I worked, I talked to Daisy, who then hopped down onto her door. She watched me; shifting her little head this way and that, as if she were trying to decipher what on earth I was doing with a metal hook and some pretty pink strings. She then flew onto the arm of the chair and cocked her head again. Whistling, she then proceeded to jump into the chair in the space between the arm of the chair and my thigh. Very slowly, she (Oh, how I wish this part had been recorded) crept up onto my thigh. Then onto the Mobius. Suddenly, between my left hand and my right, which was holding my hook and my fabric, I see the top of her little head. I continue. Slowly, her head rises…she still has not moved, but now her neck is craning to its capacity. I see two little eyes. I say, “Yes? May I help you?” Back down her head goes. I feel a few light steps and again, her head appears. She watches as I continue to stitch. “I can’t do this with you there…” and with that, she crept up the fabric and proceeded to nibble on the hook.

I never stopped crocheting.

Soon, she got brave and crept up onto the fabric between my hand and my working hand. I never stopped crocheting. She was singing and chirping and just having a ball! She tapped her beak against the metal hook, instantly fascinated by the sounds she created! I did manage to record this:

I'd like to think that she understood what I was doing. As you saw, she lifted the yard and tried to loop it through. Well, okay; she didn't... but who knows! I like to think she is that clever! Finally, she decided to end her performance by doing the very famous Parakeet On The Tightrope trick!

Click to enlarge! Yes, she DID walk all the way across... to her cage.  Minx.

Again, she does things that surprise me every day. She is definitely better medicine than anything the pharmacist can bottle up for me... well, almost.

Until next time...

Ruffle some feathers, baby!

Peace

Daisy Knows...

Hello!

 Today's entry will be a brief one.  I'm fighting a cold and due to have surgery on Thursday... I seriously don't want to be forced to postpone.

It is now 9:15am.  I am sitting here with Daisy sitting under my chin.  I mean literally under my chin and against my throat.  I have tried shooing her away a few times as I don't want her to catch my cold.  She is adamant;  "I'm staying right here."  I can hear her purring... Oh yeah.  I forgot to mention in earlier posts that Daisy purrs... just like a dang cat... when she is content.

I don't really know what to make of this.  Why there?  Does she sense my slightly sore throat?  No idea. I am anxious.  I thought I was hiding it well.  I'm anxious because I don't want to postpone my hernia surgery.   I want to get it over with.  Every now and then, she moves and peeps and chatters, but ever so quietly; as if she were whispering to me.  I swear that's what it sounds like!  I wish I could show you a photo, but it's impossible for me to take a pic with her under my throat!  Camera:  to be kept on the table by my chair -- from now on:  Lesson learned. 

So, I bid you a fond adieu.  I do have things to do.  As I think about them, Daisy is suddenly squawking loudly, as if she were saying, "Forget about them... sit and say a while longer."   No problem, Birdie Lou-Who...

Until next time,
Keep Ruffling Your Feathers...

Maryfrances

A Lesson In Trust or Morning Has Broken the Pin Feathers!

Good morning!  Am I exaggerating?  Not one iota, my friends!

The day started off as usual; kissed Rob goodbye and uncovered Daisy's cage.  I got my coffee, revved up the laptop and opened Daisy's door.  I head to Facebook and I hear a sleepy 'Peeeeer.'  I look over and see her yawn.  She scratches her head and proceeds to then hop out of her cage to come and greet me.  She takes a short flight over to the arm of my recliner.

"Good Morning, Birdie Lou~Who!" Okay... first I should explain. I call her that.   I don't know why.  Why is it that we think so hard for the perfect name for our children; both human and otherwise, and yet after all of that careful weighing of family tradition, and the way the names sound, and even if they fit the individual that by the time they are a few months old, we call them something else?  I feel another blog coming on! Anyway I'm rambling, once again...  back to the subject.

She then does her usual;  She hops down onto the keyboard of my laptop.  I read through the 300+ new postings on Facebook and sip my delicious Kona Extra Bold coffee. She starts nibbling at my nails.  I pull them away, telling her,

"No, my Darling, you can't do that as Momma just did them... maybe tomorrow..." Yes, I still reason with her. I swear she understands me, though.  She stops and kind of just sits there.  She is still very close to my index finger.  I have to be very careful when she is on my keyboard.   There have been a few instances of me typing away and then "BWAAAAAAAAK!" I have typed on her tiny toe! And with nails like mine, that HURTS!  So, I begin to ease up on my WPM, and kind of slide her out of my way.  She's not having that. Back she comes, and sits by my index finger.  I stop typing.  I watch her. Her little head fluffs up.  Aha.  She wants me to scratch her head.  I begin and suddenly her head goes almost limp.  I pull it away. She straightens up, but then quickly fluffs up again.  I repeat scratching her, but soon she inches closer into my hand and literally puts the top of her head against my fingers.  I had read years ago that some keet owners are actually allowed by their birdies to massage the pin feathers and remove the hard shells.  I tried this, ever so gently.  She let me do it and she relaxed even more, so I began doing it with a bit more gusto.  This is huge, folks;  She 'asked me' to help her!

Daisy allowing me to 'roll' the pin feathers so they'll break. (for a closer look, just click on the photos!)

Outer shells of her pin fathers scattered on my laptop.

Soon I had this in my hand: Those are the outer shells of her brand-new feathers! I could not believe she was allowing me to do this. I decided to stop to see what she would do; she did nothing, although she did look at me as if to say, "You ARE going to continue, right?" Sure enough, slowly she began walking back into my hand. I began again. I put these pin feathers between my thumb and fingers and would 'roll' them, causing the hard, brittle shells of the pins to crack and split. Her head totally relaxed. I think she even sighed a few times. I tried to photograph her as I did this... it's not easy when your camera is a huge Nikon DSLR, but I got these:

"A little more to the right..."

I did this for about ten minutes; scratching and rolling.    I looked and saw that none of those ugly, itchy pins were left! WOW. Suddenly, Daisy shook her head (normal shaking...she does it all the time), and then started with the scratching. I know it still itched and I know that a bunch of leftover pin husks were all over her little head and sure enough, off they flew as she wildly scratched!

More pin shells flying!

Those two circles show where the pin feather were... and where the new yellow feathers are!  Gone are the baby 'black bar' feathers! 

You can see the brand-newborn yellow feathers atop her head;  they are bright yellow!  Here, she is scratching again!

She scratched and scratched... and scratched some more. With one final shake, she was satisfied. She fluffed up her head as if to check to see if those annoying pin feathers were really and truly gone. She relaxed her head and then a perfect wolf-call whistle. Darn tootin! You are beautiful!

Throughout this entire process, I was again so amazed with this bird. I'm not lying when I say that she truly amazes and surprises me, every single day. I found it so ... sweet? Is that the correct word? No. It sounds silly (why do I feel I need to say that about taking about my birdie all the time), but I felt so honored. She trusted me enough to, in her own birdie way, ask me to help her. She trusted me to manipulate her so that I could help her. That's big, folks. I truly feel loved by her. And it's not silly, damnit. I love her too.

As I went into the kitchen to make another cuppa, she started what I call her 'Toddler Whine" The "Mommy, mommy, mommy!" squawk. I knew immediately what she wanted. I got out the eggs and made us breakfast. She can tell what's coming by the sounds of my whipping the eggs up. She sings happily. Here she is with her favorite meal of the day:

The "Which came first" riddle is SO not breakfast conversation!

As I type, she is still on my keyboard, away from my tapping nails, and sound asleep. It's so nice to know that I am trusted and that I am her friend. It's an honor; being welcomed into her flock.

As promised, I will post photos of her bathing, as now it is truly necessary. Until then;

Keep rufflin' those feathers!

Peace.

Daisy's First Molt!

Very first pin feather; January 11, 2011

Hello, again!

Yesterday, Rob took a sweet photo of Daisy and I noticed something: see that 'quill?' That is a called a "pin feather" and it is the very first one that Daisy has had. This photo was taken yesterday. I wasn't exactly sure that it was a pin feather until I realized she's four months old; aha!  It's that time; it is a pin feather!

Nine more in just a matter of hours!

Today, I noticed more! I could not believe how many popped up overnight! I think I counted nine more!

Well, she's right on schedule. Parakeets usually have their first molt, or "Baby Molt" at about twelve weeks old. I did notice that two of her wing feathers had fallen out. Yes, the baby is molting!

So far, she is fine and has shown no real signs of distress. Molting is very itchy, and I have noticed in the days prior to seeing these pin feather that she has wanted me to scratch her head a lot more than normal. I have noticed also, that she has become very clingy; not just to me, but to her entire 'flock' -- that being Aaron, Alex and Rob.

Looking at her more closely, I discovered one more pin feather: This one was right below her cheek in her necklace.  So in total, I counted eleven
pin feathers.  Many more will follow and soon her
cage will be covered in the lost feathers.  As I type,
Daisy is preening.  She is oiling her feathers.  I

Pin Feather near necklace.

honestly don't know if this is due to her molting or not.

She does seem to be eating more.  Molting birds tend to eat more, and she tends to hoard her seeds, so I will be feeding her foods more than seeds for the duration of her molting period, which usually varies bird to bird.  She loves eggs and as they are great sources of protein for 'keets, she'll have them daily (as weird as it sounds for a bird to consume eggs).

She has just finished preening and has flown down onto the keyboard and is all fluffed up. " Peer!"  She says proudly!  She happily pecks my nails and peeps cheerfully, so I don't think she is too bothered with the itching at the moment.  Tomorrow, I will let her have a shower in the kitchen sink (photos included), so she can ease her itching and wash away some of that flaky skin.

Hey!  Who you callin' 'Pin~Head?'

So, her baby black 'bars' will soon be replaced with yellow feathers.  I'll miss those baby feathers, but it's okay.  She is growing up to be the sweetest birdie I've ever had.  "PEER!" She says, as if she knows that I'm braggin' on her.  No longer the timid, shy baby, but now a curious, funny and affectionate friend.

Until next time ~

Keep ruffling your feathers!

Peace ♥

Welcome to Daisy's Diary!

Hi!

I've been wanting to do this for a few weeks now, and I have finally had some inspiration! A tiny bit of history:

After our beloved Fresca passed away after a long illness, we mourned for him and then as always, we had to have another birdie. So, we picked out this one:

Her first day with us - October 1, 2010

This was just an hour or so after we brought her home. She was the tiniest of all the parakeets and I wanted a very young one. Note the black stripes on her (yes, it's a GIRL!) head. The darker and closer to the cere the stripes are, the younger the bird. This one was just over 4 weeks old.

After a many name shout outs, we all agreed (well most of us... ahem) on Daisy Mae. That's a name my mother would call me, sometimes... Moms; gotta love em!

For days, Daisy did nothing. Absolutely nothing. For more on her first days, Blooming Daisy

Well, just as soon as the thought entered my mind that this bird is not going to do a thing, and that perhaps we should return her, her little personality started showing itself... and soon her little personality was anything but little; She is a little minx that, every day, shows us something new. She is funny, and sweet. She is curious and shows no fear -- which can be scary at times! There is not a mean bone in her body. I can promise visitors that she will not bite and mean it.

So, I hope you'll follow her life with me. It'll be a fun and entertaining journey, I promise. As I type, she is sleeping soundly on my keyboard.

Until next time,

Remember; ruffling a few feathers is a good thing!

Peace...

Mary