Before we left to grab some lunch on Saturday afternoon, I'd rolled my bird cages out onto the balcony for some sun and fresh air. Punkin' and Pickles the lovebirds have their own big cage and Toby the parrotlet has his own medium cage. I like to put them out every week or so to let them get a change of scenery while I clean the birdy area. This time it was imperative that I clean up some, due to our little ant infestation that morning. We'd gotten the lovely pestering cat awakening from Stanley and Henry that morning...the 7 a.m. whiney meows and jumping on and off the bed. So far the ants had only found the cat food and I wanted to keep it that way.
After lunch we picked up a few movies to watch when we got home. I fell asleep for a nap toward the end of the first movie and woke to Ron excitedly talking about a wild lovebird hanging out on top of Punkin' and Pickles' cage. I groggily walked outside and heard a familiar chirp in the distance. Then I saw him on the apartment roof across the driveway, a normal colored Peachfaced lovebird. It didn't take long for him to fly back over and land on the lovebird cage again. I could tell he'd been someone's pet, as he was pulling on the toys and climbing the cage bars with ease. Ron managed to snap a picture of him just chillin' on the top of the boy's house...
There he is sittin' on his little hauches, all fluffed up and tired.
He'd get very close at times, climbing over Toby's cage, flitting to the balcony railing... I tried to catch him with my hands a few times and that was just a joke. He'd fly, sometimes just out of my reach to other side of the balcony, sometimes across to the apartment roof. All the while Ron was cheering me on, telling me to do 'my birdy thing'. He thought the whole thing was so awesome, a 'wild bird' showing up our birds' calls. I don't think Ron would have let me keep this little guy if I'd have brought him home after I'd found him say, in the yard at work. But being witness to this random event he said enthusiastically, "You can keep him if you can catch him!" It didn't take me long to realize that this bird was just recently someone's pet. It was obvious that although he wasn't hand tame, he was somewhat used to people and the captive environment. I'd say he'd only been free for 24 hours at the most, as we'd never seen him before. Though I wonder if he could have flown a long distance...
Anyway, I did my birdy thing by setting up an extra cage with food, water and toys and placing it on top of the lovebird cage. It has two little doors, one at the top and one on the side. I also put out a little colorful wooden play gym, complete with ladders and bells, right next to the open side door, to further entice him. Then Ron and I watched and waited inside, just behind the door, ready to swing into action as soon as the time was right. Finally, as dusk approached we saw him hop into the cage to eat. I bolted out to close the doors and just like that, we've got a new flock member. We danced around thrilled that we'd saved the poor little guy from almost certain demise. Pet birds, especially the smaller ones, are no challenge to the crows and hawks that are all too common in our area, which is just below the nearby mountains. Of course, if we hear of someone looking for their lost bird we will return him... But somehow I don't think that'll be the case. To most people, it's "just a bird". SO...his name is Mickey. Hehe!
That night he ate and ate and continued to eat when we brought them all into the house a little while later. He's spent most of his time thus far on the highest perch, only coming down to eat. He's still frightened from the ordeal and being in a new place so he hasn't moved much or made any noise. I'm keeping him separated from the others for now, probably for about a month. I need to get him into the vet to be checked for any illness before I can allow him near the rest of the flock. I'll probably do that when I get home from my trip to New York next week...
Which brings me to my other news... I'm going to New York to visit my friend Marguerite! I'm leaving this Friday the 21st and staying until the 26th. Just a short little jaunt, but it'll be very fun. New York is a lovely place to visit and I'm excited to see my friend again. I haven't seen her in almost a year again. I'm also going to try to see my friends Rich and Devin. Devin is the one that Melanie and I went to visit in 2005. He had separated from his boyfriend, Rich, in 2004 when they were living together in California. They happend to be Melanie's ex-boyfriend's roommates and that's how we met them. We became pretty close friends with Devin and then he decided to go on an adventure to teach English in China for a few years. Well, that stint is now over and he's moving back to New York where they are both from. Once again he'll be living with Rich. Obviously they communicated here and there when Devin came for visits. Then Rich moved back to New York and Devin's following. I hope we can at least have dinner... Which reminds me, I need to email Rich and tell 'im I'm coming!
So life goes on... Having a new bird fly into my life is an interesting distraction. I continue to be passive aggressive in the way of my marriage. We're doing okay, but continue to bicker and fight over our communication problems. It's like we're living parallel lives instead of as a team. We're not working together on things, neither is trying...and neither wants to. One of the biggest problems is that I'm not getting the emotional support I need. Ron doesn't seem to understand what I need. He doesn't understand that telling me the way things are, telling me he knows everything, is NOT the way to get through to me. I know I need to do something but I'm terribly afraid and depressed about it. I keep putting it off... I've tried to explain but I guess I'm not doing it right. Then I don't feel like dealing with it so I ignore it.
Shit, I need to get to work again. I always do this... I don't know why I can't write at home. Back to work for me! Bye for now...
