Happy 11th bird-day, Mika!

The light of my life is 11 today!  Time really flies...  it feels like only yesterday that he turned 10.  :(

Since I spoil the birds constantly, I chose not to get a physical wrapped gift for Mika this year.  This is partly due to the fact that both my boys have an overabundance of new toys still, so they don't need any more (nor do I have the space to store more!), and I'll be purchasing them Expandable Habitats cages for when we move to the house early next year.  

But, of course, being the kind of mommy I am I still ended up getting something - something that is on it's way and will be a combined birthday gift for both Mika and Raptor, whose birthday is on the 25th of this month.  I got this medium Java tabletop stand to go in the future master bedroom.  I really love this stand because it's got a lot of branches for perching AND it's got a nice empty space on the left to hang a small boing, or swing, from the top branch.  This will save me from hanging stuff from the master bedroom ceiling, something my bf said I could do but really doesn't want me to. ;)  Yes, I know how to compromise.  Hehe.  I'm hoping to fall in love with one or two more tabletop stands by the time I set up the bird room and then I'll be set.

We wanted to take the boys out for a nice picnic at a park for Mika's birthday today but 1. the bf came down with a high fever yesterday, 2. I'm not feeling so great, and 3. it's doom-and-gloom outside anyway.  So Mika has been having the run of the house, as usual.  I gave him his favorite sprouts (mixed with that stuff he doesn't like called fruits and veggies) and yummy Avian Organics bird bread, which he tore up.

Happy bird-day, my baby.  I love you so much and hope to celebrate many more birthdays with you.  I don't know what I'd do without you.  <3 

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

Sweet lychee.

Lychee seems to be harder to come by nowadays and I don't know why.  I remember eating lychee almost yearly as a kid during the season but, now, I can't remember when's the last time I've eaten it.  Well, I went to the grocery store yesterday and saw some so I chose the biggest, juiciest ones I could find - and man, they are expensive.  >_<  

Raptor has never had lychee before so I was really hoping he'd like it.  He took a bit to warm up to it but ate some after I modeled eating it for a minute.  He didn't eat it with the gusto he has for blueberries, but still ate some.  At least he's willing to try new things!

Hmmm...  what is this stuff??

I guess it's alright...

Meh.  I'm done now.  You can have the rest.

 

Papaya!

I was given a papaya from a hybrid tree by a co-worker.  I had never eaten this kind of papaya before and it was sooooooo delicious!  The shape of the papaya is completely different than what I normally buy, the color of the meat is a different shade of orange, AND it is hollow - no seeds!!  O_O  This papaya grows on a very short tree so you don't need picking tools to get to the fruit.  I plan on planting at least one of these trees when we move to our house next year!

I shared the papaya with Raptor, of course, since it is one of his favorite fresh foods.  He ate a good chunk out of it and allowed me to have the leftovers.  ;)

Avian Organics Bird Bannock.

I had bought several different bird breads from Avian Organics back in December.  Neither of my boys like bird bread, but that doesn't stop me from trying to get them to eat it. LOL  In the order I bought Bird Bannock, Flatbread Fusions with blueberry powder, Calypso Carrot Bird Bread, and Papaya Berry Bird Bread - along with a few other items.  

I decided to make some of the Bird Bannock today.  I only need to use half a bag to make a batch that lasts me roughly three weeks to a month because I add so many other things to it.  Here is what I added to the Bird Bannock mixture, along with an organic egg and a little water:

Avian Organics blueberry and apple powders, organic nuts, Harrison's pellets, Totally Organic Pellets, dried sweet potato, organic fruit and veggie pulp and juice, Just Veggies, red palm oil, seed mixture.

   
The reason I add a lot of seed to the mixture is because neither of the boys will go NEAR bird bread unless there's a ton of seed in it.  I honestly don't think they ingest any of the "bread" part, but we're still in the phase of them just going near food they normally wouldn't touch with a ten foot perch (HA!).  I do hope, eventually, that they will eat the bird bread without leaving everything but the seeds behind.  >_<

Here is the mixture ready to be put in the pan:

Yum...??

   
And here is the finished product!  Nice and golden brown, cooling down and cut into individual portions.

Cooling on the stove.

I had added so much "extras" this time around that not all of it would fit into my bird bread container for the freezer and freezer space is limited...  so...  I'll be sharing some of it with a person I know that only feeds his birds seed and, only once in a while, fresh foods.  Every time I have extra food of any kind, I call him up and give it to him because I feel so bad for his birds (as well as most other birds on this island - but that's another story).  He said he has so many (!!!) that anything other than seed is a "treat" for them.  So I hope his birds enjoy this bread and some other overabundant goodies I'll be giving him.

Warm Hawaii sun (part 2).

Yesterday we took a trip out again and brought both boys with us this time.  Raptor really doesn't care for car rides but he's got to get used to it!  Here's Mika, cruising in the car as usual (you can see him in the tent), and Raptor...  not caring for the car ride as much. LOL

First we headed out to our soon-to-be new home.  It'll probably take roughly a year to renovate the house because it's old, so we have a LOT of work ahead of us.  We'll be staying in our condo until it's at least near completion, though.  

The boys got to spend a bit of time in the backyard basking in sunlight while the bf did most of the clean up on the back patio and I hung out on the couch, being sick.  Raptor really enjoyed the new toy I made for his travel cage.  I used a Mother Pluckin' Bird Toys stainless steel skewer as the base and added vine balls, yucca, balsa, other woods, and pacifiers (most toy parts came from Things for Wings) strung on green Paulie Rope - colored to go with his green themed travel cage.  Lots of places to forage for treats!  He really enjoyed this toy so that makes me very happy.  :)

Must get to the almonds!!

Foraging toy - I'm quite happy with how it turned out!  :)

After spending most of the day at that house, we went to my parents house for dinner.  The boys got to spend the rest of the day out in the backyard, watching the sun set.  The boys chattered much more than usual...  maybe they couldn't stop talking about how beautiful the sunset was.  ;) 

While we all had an awesome dinner, the boys were served with apple, broccoli, sugar snap peas, baby carrots, bird bread with LOTS of fruits and veggies mixed in, and pellets.  Raptor ate some of his veggies and, as usual, Mika only ate the seeds out of his bird bread.  :P  Ungrateful birds, I tell ya.   LOL

Mika's dinner

Raptor's dinner