SEW EASY?

I am not a sewer.  I love the idea of sewing and I love to go to the fabric store and drool over all the eye candy of fabrics, but I have never learned the art of sewing.  Well, due to the rising cost of most everything, and the needs of my birds, I was forced to take my sewing machine and put my non existent sewing skills to the test.  My boys needed new sleeping huts and the cost to outfit each bird with his own new hut was not a pretty number.  So I took a deep breath, went to my stash of fabric, broke out the tools and sat down to work.

I picked out some pretty polar fleece material, grabbed some white fleece to line the hut with and sat down to cut out the pattern.  The entire time I was undertaking this challenge, the boys watched me intently.  I figured why should they get away from the torture of this shipwreck of a project....if I'm going to suffer through this, so are they.  Ha!

But when I finished with the first sleep hut....what stood before me was not a train wreck of a project.  It was actually a smashing success!  Gleefully, I plowed through the next two huts like the roadrunner zipping past the coyote.  Woo Hoo!  I am a sewer!  Well, let's not get carried away.  One successful project does not a sewer make.  But hey, it was good while it lasted.  The boys were not as impressed with my skills as I was.  Gabriel has yet to acknowledge the huts existence in his cage, Zeek finds it perfect to poop on and Timothy, well....Timothy screamed bloody murder when I attempted to put his hut in his cage, so his sits on the desk waiting for that golden moment when he will not pluck himself bald from fear of the hut his mama made.  I feel so under appreciated.......*sigh*

PAYDAY PURCHASES

One thing I love about payday is that I get to spoil my birds a little.  These purchases didn't break the budget, as most of them were on clearance and the others just plain affordable.

Now that I am making more natural foods for my birds, they needed new cups that would be easy to pop out and clean.  Their current bowls are already used to capacity.

Egg cartons from the feed store are a cheap and natural way to offer fun enrichment.  I will cut them down to appropriate size for each bird, stuff them with paper shreds, toys and plenty of treats.  A weekend treasure hunt for sure.  The boys will go nuts.

This pinata is for Zeek.  He loves his pinatas.  I've tried making him some, but he wants a certain kind and no other will do.

Timothy loves the tiki huts.  The one I got him for Christmas has long been destroyed, repaired, destroyed, repaired...well, you get the picture.  It was time for a new one and when I saw that it was on sale I gladly conceded and bought it for him.

This precious airplane was on clearance.  I have been wanting to get this for Gabriel for the longest time, but never had the extra funds to do it.  Naturally when I saw the price I danced a jig because I could finally get it for him.

This is a new perch for Timothy.  It is flat and will give him a wide place to rest his feet.  It is always a good idea to offer your bird different sized perches so their little feet won't get tired or worse, sore.

And last but not least, the most coveted treat in the world.  Millet.  My boys only get one millet a week and sometimes not even that often.  It is definitely considered a treat around here.  So there you have it; one of my moments of spoiling my boys.  Saturday will be the day that each bird gets his treats and toys.  It is then that I will scrub each cage and do some rearranging.  So stay tuned for the extreme cage makeovers.

BOY TIME

Happy November everyone!  We had a quiet Halloween here, with only a few groups of kids trick or treating.  Gabriel has been in a roaming mood lately.  He loves to sit on the back of the couch in the bird room and survey the surroundings.  This little guy is fearless.  He zips over to Timothy's cage and wants to go right up to him.  I remind him constantly that his little head would fit in Timothy's beak quite nicely....and to NOT give me a heart attack by zooming over to meet and greet him!

This is Timothy's favorite place to perch.  I open his food door and he pops right out and sits in the doorway.  This is a BIG step for Timothy.  He has even ventured to come down the side of the cage and onto the pillow I have propped up beneath this doorway.  In fact, I pad his whole area...just in case he slips and falls.  Being without many body feathers, he is dead weight and falls hard.  I pad the bottom of his cage floor and then put paper towel over the pad.  It gets messy, but I change it every day.  Timmy's progress brings tears to my eyes at times.  Especially when he overcomes a fear.  I love this little guy.

I put this rope perch just below his opening.  He loves rope perches and this placement was perfect, as he loves to come all the way out to sit on it and get head scritches from me.  I look forward to the day when I can hold him in my lap or against my chest and cuddle.  We will take it slow, for he has all the time in the world to heal and be the bird God created him to be.