Another small order.

After a VERY long training the first day back at work (and spending over an hour in traffic going home), I came home to a package!  Yay!  It was my small order from My Safe Bird Store.  

I picked up some more ElectroVites and Avi-Immune for Mika, and added the Milk Thistle/Dandelion Herbal Extract to try out.  The milk thistle and dandelion root is to help detoxify the liver if your bird has fatty liver disease (from a seed-based diet) or liver damage from aflatoxins.  While I don't think my birds have either, I don't know the diet Raptor was on prior to his previous home and Mika was on a seed-based diet in his early years (back when parrot forums didn't really exist and I just listened to breeders and read outdated books).  

Even with healthy livers, it isn't harmful to give so I just wanted to try it since I'm really liking the other Herbal Extracts (Immunity Booster, Pau D'Arco, Relaxation/Calming) I had bought before.  I also picked up a pack of stainless steel quick links.  I always hate making such a small order because I like to make the most of the shipping, but I wasn't in need of anything else.  

As usual, Kathie and Kara included a goody bag gift of candies and foot toys.  This time, they added wicker ball lollipops - they are SO cute!  :D  Thank you, guys!!

Mika's new friend.

On Friday, we added to our flock.  We added a couple of birds, a lovebird and owl, that don't make any noise, mess, or require any food or care.  ;)  Close to being ideal companions, though I prefer my live ones hands down!  Hehe.

I thought it would be extremely cute to get pictures of Mika with the mango lovebird figurine and Raptor with the coconut owl figurine.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get pictures of Raptor with the figurine at all!  He kept flying away in fear and I didn't want to push it.  So no cute pics of Rappy.  Mika was a little better.  He was very weary of this new birdy, biting it's toes (LOL), but he stayed around long enough for me to get a couple of good pictures.

These pictures are so cute it makes you want to punch kittens. LOL

 

Surprise!!

I had received a package from Things for Wings a week ago.  I had bought another fantastic willow coin swing (thanks to Danita's generosity in letting the swing go!), so I could have one for each of my boys.  When I opened the box, I found a surprise in there!  There was a bag full of beautiful toys, along with a cryptic note from the gifter.  Come to find out, the gift was from Peggy (Sadieladie1994 on Avian Avenue).  It was a totally unexpected gift and so sweet of her!  

At the time, I had to thank Peggy in private because Danita wanted to hold a guessing game as to what theme her new toy collection is, and the toys I received were part of that new collection.  Now that the guessing game is over, she said I can post the pics of these super cute "Island Hopping" toys!  :D  I'm not sure what these toys are named, but they should all be named "Fun & Fabulous"!  Hehe.

The toys are so cute I really didn't want to give it to the birds, but I caved in and gave them ONE. LOL  I put the toy on the Java tree in the living room and shoved Nutriberries into the wicker ball to entice them.  I let Raptor go at it first.  He immediately started shredding feverishly to get to the treats.  He also took a few chunks out of the balsa blocks.  When he was done, there was about half the wicker ball left - ideal for my non-chewer/forager, Mika.  I put more Nutriberries in the half-destroyed wicker ball and Mika went to town!  I was quite surprised!  

This toy was a HUGE success!  As of today, there is nothing left of the toy except for a little bit of wicker and raffia.  Raptor has destroyed the rest of the balsa and yucca pieces.  Thank you, Peggy, for such a generous gift and thank you, Danita, for always coming out with adorable new toy collections!!  :)

Added to our flock!

Well...  sort of! 

The bf and I went driving around the island today.  Or more like half the island because we were getting tired.  Hehe.  We ate brunch at Kahala Mall and came across these incredibly cute resin figurines at The Paperie!  They are called the "Home Grown" collection by Enesco.  They are fruit and veggie themed animals.  There is something for every animal lover, I think!  Fish, birds, dogs, cats, bugs, reptiles, rodents, etc.

Just a handful of the cute collection!

I instantly fell in love with the mango lovebird (the box says "parrot") and knew I had to have him!  The first thing that came to mind is, "I've got to try to get pics of Mika next to him!"  I'll give that a shot tomorrow or Sunday morning.  ;)

"Mango"

Then I noticed a coconut owl.  I love cute owl things because I call my bf "Owl".  So this one was another "must have" for me.  :D

"Coconut"

You'll notice in the first picture that there is a daikon (white radish) cockatiel to the right.  That one is next on my list to get.  After looking the collection up online, there is also another figurine I want to get that isn't available yet but is on order - a "pear" (pair) of lovebirds!!  How cute is that?!  There is also an avocado parrot that reminds me of a Kakapo.  I may or may not want that one.  We will see.

Even the bf thought these things were cute.  He was happy to add this lovebird and owl to our flock.  They are small, they don't make noise, they don't require cages, they don't eat or poop.  The ideal pet to him, I'm sure! LOL

Oh, and I forgot!  Even the box oozes cuteness!!

How can you go wrong?

 

Watermelon!

I love watermelon.  I've loved it since I was a little girl that would eat it all the way through to the rind so that there was only greenish white left.  Now that I'm grown, I don't go as far as to eat all the way down to the rind but I still can eat it every single day.  If allowed, I can go through a watermelon in a day.  I am currently on my fourth, and largest, watermelon in a week and a half's span! LOL  Anyway, my friend, Natacha, wanted to know just how big this HUGE watermelon is and suggested I take pictures with my birds on them for size reference.  

Both my camera and cell phone camera weren't on my side today.  Probably my fault for choosing the couch which reflected so much light.  The cameras kept focusing on the watermelon rather than the birds.  My fault for STILL not having read the manual to my camera.  None of the pictures came out well.  :(  Oh well.  These are the best two shots I got.  

Mika weighs 45g and Raptor weighs 110g.  The watermelon is 35lbs, measuring 20" in length and 9" in diameter.  O_O

Monumentous!

See this face here?  This little one did something yesterday or the day before that STILL has me speechless!!

I normally change Mika's (and Raptor's) cage liner every day or every other day.  His liner is never really dirty because he's not a messy eater, his poops are small, and he never chews any of his toys up except the occasional fingertrap and wicker part (and even those times are rare).  So when I woke up this morning to change liners I was in shock of what I saw down there.  

BALSA PIECES.

A small amount of shredded balsa was sitting on top of the newspaper.  At first I thought, "How did Raptor's shredding get into Mika's cage?!"  There was no way the wind could have blown it in there because the wind blows from Mika's cage to Raptor's.  So I looked at the toys Mika had in his cage.  He has the Things for Wings pine Palm Tree - no balsa on there.  He has the T4W Solo - no balsa on there.  He has the T4W Going to Market - no balsa on there.  Looked in his foot toy bowl - no balsa in there.  I stood back for a second and didn't understand... until I saw the open door staring me in the face.  The stainless steel Activity Bolt!!  It has two slim pieces of balsa on it!!  Sure enough, on the first slab, I saw the cutest little chew marks I've ever seen!  <3

Either yesterday or the day before, my almost 11 year old boy has chewed his FIRST piece of WOOD!!  I am so extremely proud of him!!  Now I need to see if I even have any more of these small slim balsa pieces left so I can continue to encourage him to chew.  I may be out, since Raptor really likes balsa... but I never mind making orders with T4W.  ;) 

Danita's balsa works miracles - first Raptor, now Mika!!

Avian Organics order.

Yay!  My Avian Organics order arrived today!  I wasn't planning on getting anything from them for quite a while because I still have a lot of bird bread and mash mixes, along with treats, from them.  Since we only have two birds, I always make half-batches of everything and it lasts an entire month - sometimes longer.  

The reason I made another, albeit small, order is because AO is discontinuing their organic fruit powders.  I still have apple and blueberry powders from my last order so I wanted to get blackberry this time.  The fruit powders are very versatile - use them in mashes, bird breads, sprinkled on fresh foods, etc.  They are even great for using in human foods and I hear are great in smoothies.  Along with the fruit powder I ordered a mixed bag of Cajun Berry Minis and Mango Ginger Minis and their new fruit roll-up type treat, Twisted Treasures.  Thank you, Doris!!

I gave some of the Minis to the boys in the food bowls but, true to their picky fashion, they snubbed their beaks at it.  Raptor actually just tossed them out of his bowl.  Then with Mika's sprout and papaya mash mixture I mixed some blackberry powder in it.  With Raptor's bowl of sprouts and fresh foods, I added some more Minis and sprinkled everything with the blackberry powder.  Raptor has thrown a lot of the food to the bottom of the Java tree, including the Minis and pieces of Twisted Treasures.  Grrrrr...

I definitely waste a LOT of money buying different kinds of foods for my uber-picky guys but I honestly don't care.  I will keep exposing them to different, healthy foods if it's the last thing I do. LOL