READING TIME

Gabriel has always loved books. He could sit for hours and stare at the pictures. I had him on my shoulder when I pulled out my address book to look up a number. He immediately popped down to take a look at the pictures of the horses. To appease him, I made up a story to tell him as he checked out each page, picture and writing. Such a silly goose. I guess he is a chip off the ole block because I have had a love affair with books my whole life.

DO ANIMALS SENSE THE PRESENCE OF GOD?

Do our animals have the ability to sense the presence of the Holy Spirit?  Many have pondered this question, although you won't see it talked about much in the secular world.  Well, if I ever questioned an animals ability to connect with their maker, I don't now. 

This morning as I was doing the daily cleaning and feeding of the birds, as usual, Timmy was swaying back and forth in a state of his normal anxiety.  Even though he has been with us for over two and a half years, he still dreads the morning cage cleaning.

For some reason, I felt moved to pray for him.  I put my hand up to the cage (something that usually sends him into nervousness), closed my eyes and began to pray for him.  I prayed that God's peace would wash over him and that through the discernement of the Holy Spirit, I would be given insight on how best to care for this tender feathered soul.

While I was praying, there was no movement from Timmy.  And when I opened my eyes, he was calmly standing on one foot with his other foot raised to the heavens!  A broad smile immediately broke across my face, as I saw my boy truly calm for the first time.  Does God hear our prayers?  Of course!  Does God hear our prayers even for the least of these?  I am now confident to say a resounding YES!

May your day be blessed with the peace that comes from our Savior and God.

Happy Monday to all!
Love,
Zeek

RE-LAUNCH OF ETSY SHOP

As I promised, my Etsy shop opened back up on February 1, 2012.  You can see my shop here.  I am excited to bring quality hand crafted bird toys to my customers.  The toy above is for sale in my Etsy shop and is a great toy for little birds.

I use zinc free hardware, Paulie rope that is hollow and will not trap toes, Supreme Cotton rope, vegetable tanned leather, bird safe plastic chain, along with colored wood pieces made with human grade food coloring.  I do everything I can to keep my toys as safe as possible.

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My birds, although not in contact with the toys I sell, get the toys I make to see how they like the materials and designs.  Timothy goes through toys like nobodies business, and hasn't had a store manufactured toy in years.  He relishes the toys I create and is making great strides in using the toys as an outlet for his energy instead of his feathers.

So stop by and visit my Etsy shop and see if there is anything there that would be perfect for your feathered baby.  I will be putting more toys in the shop all the time and there will be more information on toys here on my blog as they become available.

WINDING DOWN

Every night Timothy plays hard right before I put him to bed.  It's almost as if he is saying, "see Mom...I'm not tired."  It is his ritual to rip at this toy in the evening.  Better that toy than his feathers!  Tonight I gave him a warm shower and now he is drying off on the perch by his toy box.  I expect some beak crunching real soon.  There is no sweeter sound in the evening than a content bird beak crunching.  So soothing.

COME ALONG WITH ME

A good Monday morning to you. I am beginning a new journey (from an old one) and I invite you to come along. I started an Esty shop back in 2008 with a few of the toys I made for my birds. For the last few years I have been dragging my feet and only dabbling with my Etsy shop. I put my heart into making the toys, but as for the running of a business, I lacked dreadfully. But I have grown a lot in these years of dabbling and am now ready to put 100% into my Etsy shop. My toys sell very successfully here in my town at a local bird shop, so I know I have a product that sells.
I picked up this book on Amazon.com and it has captured me from the word "go." I approached this book with the attitude of starting over, like I had never had an Etsy shop before. This attitude has served me well, as Etsy has made significant changes over the past couple years. I have finished the first section of the book and am now ready to start re-building my shop. Also, I have been refining my toys, tweaking them to better serve my feathered clients. It has been over this refining process that I have fallen even more in love with birds and their mental well being.

Here is a picture of one of most popular selling toys.  It will be available for purchase in my Etsy shop starting February 1, 2012.  All the details for this toy will be on the site, including all the parts I use to make the toy.  I will also be featuring one of my toys per week on my blog.  It will contain detailed information on the designing and making of the toy.  The toy of the week will also be on sale in my Etsy shop.  Stay tuned for this exciting adventure to unfold!

A TEASE

This morning we woke up to a trace of snow. Yes, us Pacific North westerners get pumped at the slightest sight of the white stuff. As you can see, my bird feeders and bird houses are in deeply sad shape. I have suet that I will put out today and pray the unwanted rodents don't dine on them before the avian beauties find the goods. The other day I was at the kitchen sink watching for birds to come get some yummy cracked corn I tossed out for them. Shhhh...don't tell the hens that I was giving their goods to other winged creatures. And to my surprise I caught a glimpse of what looked like a squirrel with the hair missing from its tail. I love squirrels...only this wasn't a squirrel. It was a Norway rat! Now if all you out there think that you don't have rats, think again. This one resides under our pond, nonetheless. When you have chickens...you will have the four legged rodents dining too. So I just need to keep all food up at night and pray they go elsewhere. I am hesitant to put out bait stations, as I don't want to poison a pet or desired wildlife. So this will take some thinking. In the meantime, I am going to wish for more snow.