Patron saint of budgerigars

Yes, I am the patron saint of birds, fish and reptiles.

I have bestowed the honor of naming my husband the patron saint of budgerigars.

Budgerigars are what we in the USA call "parakeets". Most people have owned one or two in their life-time. They are cute, funny and delightful feathered companions.

Sure, they are not as big and boisterous as a larger parrot but these little guys can talk and have special personalities.

"Whook" is our first (male) budgie who is now ten years old. He doesn't talk as much as he use to. You will hear him exclaim once in awhile, "I looove being a biscuit whook", "F*&^ing pain!" and "I love you!".

He sometimes has a hard time flying up to his cage due to his age. Budgies can live up to 15 years although the average life expectancy is 8 years. He gets very excited when I slice a carrot for him as a treat as well as cooked rice.

"Whook" is my husband's favorite bird. He will talk softly to him and touch his nose to his beak. Whook loves this one-on-one "guy time".

My husband says he knows what they are thinking. He will position "Whook's" mirror in the "right position" since "he's knows what guys like".

It's so cute to watch those two interact with each other.

My husband is kind to the birds, even the pigeons.

He is the patron saint of budgerigars.

* I painted the above attachment.

more shit on a shingle

It is sort of relief to know why I've felt so crappy for so long. I've always felt that these migraine/fibromyglia attacks were somewhat viral since they tend to last in 10-12 day increments.

Perhap it is not related.

I don't know.

It's weird.

I could swear to God I broke my ribs falling in patch of poison ivy or fallen off a boat, hitting my ribs then stung by jelly fish .

This what shingles feels like.

It is so uncomfortable to wear any under garments so when I am home I am "swinging free".

The prednisone (anti-inflamatory) works pretty well but when it is time to take the next dose I can feel it. My ribs hurt, burn and weep.

I have to get up at midnight to take the valacyclovir (anti-viral) since you have to take it every eight hours. It's suppose to slow the progression.

Oh well.

Migraines are still worse.

You puke from the pain and it doesn't go away.

You can't stand bright lights, sounds, smells and extreme temperatures either way.

I am guessing getting shingles is more common than I thought.

My hair-dresser got it. The poor thing got it on her face.

The "Captain' got it on his leg.

You get the chicken pox as a kid and then shingles, when you enter "scrogg-dom". I am guessing once you start recieving those AARP mailings you are now officially a "Scrogg".

Yes, I get those mailings now.

I from what I am reading, the shingle's virus still stays with you once the symptoms "goes away" and then it "pops up" again whenever your body is stressed.

Great....

I guess things could be worse but right now, it is not fun.

shit on a shingle

I've felt crappy all winter. I've really felt crappy for the last couple of weeks. Severe headaches, muscle aches and exhaustion. I am seriously sick of complaining and feeling sick. I found myself staying away from friends and activities just so I could just stay home.

Well now, I have any explanation of what has been going on. I've had severe rippling pain and burning wrapped around my back and shoulder as well as nasty looking sores on my rib cage.

I just left the doctor's office and found out that I have shingles.

Herpes zoster.

It's a form of chicken pox that old scrogges get when your immune system is in the shitter.

I look like a leper.

I suppose I should be thankful.

My hair-dresser had shingles as well but it hit her all over her face.

When I think of herpes I think of the kind you get in your private parts.

OMG that would be sooooo nasty.

I am on my way to the pharmacy to pick up the meds. It's an anti-viral Med.

It's the same kind that those poor suckers have to use when they have a "flare up on their private parts". I'm a bit embarrassed about picking up my prescription with this on my mind. I want to yell, "it's on my rib cage! Really!!!"

Regardless, it's F*&^ing painful and I'm bloody exhausted so I need to get the meds so it's doesn't spread.

Shit happens.

*the photo above it what the 'rash" looks like. It's kind of gross, eh?

Hahn's macaw

Ah finally my phone camera "sent" me the photo I took of the little Hahn's macaw to my email address. I am so technologically retarded that it is not funny. At least my cousin sent up my email address to I could send pictures to myself.
Here is the little Hahn's macaw that is up for adoption at my vet's office. (above)
If I didn't already have a house full of needy attention seeking birds I would've taken this little guy home and worked with him.
As you can see he is a feather picker. His feather picking problem is the result of mostly behavorial and diet. He was checked out medically as OK. The vet said he has come a long way but needs "one on one' attention.
My cockatiel "Button" is also a feather picker. She started doing it after her first molt at six months. Lutino cockatiels are a bit more immuno-compromised. She tends to have problems with yeast infections as well. She feather picks mostly, now, out of habit because her feather shafts are irritating as the pins emerge. She is on a good diet, she gets TONS of attention and has regular baths. It is very frustrating. I've been to numerous vets to help solve this problem but nothing has solved it. Despite "Button"s bald under-belly she seems like a happy little bird.
I do hope somebody with patience and time to spare will adopt that little Hahn's macaw.

"Scooter" the turtle

One thing that keeps me going in my business is the challenge of new and different pets people keep.
One of my long time customers just "adopted" a red footed tortoise (Geochelone carbonaria) for their son. After discussing with the parents about what I need to do for the turtle I really think THEY are the ones that are thrilled with their new pet!.
"Scooter" has quite the set-up. He is in a 50 gallon aquarium/terrarium. He has plenty of places to hide under a canopie of sheddings and faux foliage. He has a "flintstone" type of pond that needs to cleaned out every other day because similar to my iguanas, this tortoise has an affinity for pooping in the tub of water.
I also need to spray inside the aquarium with mists of water to keep the humidity up in his temperature controlled climate. The humidity reader needs to be at least at
50. When I checked it first thing in the morning, it was at 30, so I sprayed fresh water around to keep it moist.
Scooter has the life of Riley. I cut up very fine kiwi fruit, carrots, a plum and romaine organic lettuce.
I plunked him down in front of his buffet.
His little head poked out very slowly and then back in again.
He was hilarious to watch, if not a bit obscene.
Yes, his head looked like a little penis.
I know, I know I AM juvenile.
As my mother would say, "oh for God's sake! What are you a 5 year old!?!"
I used to have turtles when I was a little kid. They were the painted turtles. We would get them from a big bin filled with hundreds of them all piled on top of each other at the local 5 & 10 store.
A childhood chum, "Richie P", always seemed to have a turtle or two in his pockets as well as a hamster. My Aunt Anna had a gigantic turtle that she kept in her apartment bathtub. She would pick it up and kiss him on top of it's huge head calling him her "little fig".
When I mentioned to my mother that I had a new "turtle" customer she said,"oh remember Aunt Anna's turtle?!"
*Just out of clarification of terms used: "Scooter" is a tortoise which means he is a land dweller. My Aunt Anna had a turtle which meant he lived in water.I sometimes tend to use the words "turtle and tortoise" interchangeably but I think you all know what I mean. They are both are cute and funny little herps!

the Wild pigeons of Salisbury beach part 23

For a week now, I've noticed that "Craow Dum" has not been around. This is really odd.
Even in the worst weather I would see him in his well protected loft above Sal's pizza stand. When craow Dum saw our car pull up he would perch himself on the eaves awaiting his breakfast.
I haven't seen him at all for over a week now.
He is not only distinctive looking with his black beard but also his swollen feet due to an entanglement of monofiliment fishing line. There are other pigeons that look similar to him but I can pick him out of a crowd.
There seems to be more hawks flying around more than usual which makes me a bit nervous for the pigeons. I also saw a squished mash of feathers a few yards away from his spot on the street too. Some poor unfortunate pigeon got ran over by a car. Most likely on purpose.
My husband thinks Craow dum flew to another nesting spot with his lady friend. He thinks she was not pleased with staying at his messy bachelor pad. I know in the past, he has not had success with trying to set up a nest at his Sal's pizza loft.
Let's just hope he is right and Craow Dum has taken up with a lovely lady pigeon, perhaps up in Seabrook.
Maybe he will be back with a few new pigeons in tow.

"Rio"

Oh yeah.
I simply had to see the movie "Rio" (in 3-D) as soon as it came to the theaters.
It was the long awaited animated movie about parrots.
It was worth the wait.
The best way to describe it is that it is "a kaleidoscope of color and cuteness".
What I find puzzling that the producers advertise, as if this is a selling point, "from the creators of "Ice Age."
"Ice Age" completely SUCKed.
"Ice Age" was boring and reeeeeeally annoying. Halfway through watching "Ice Age" I said, "OK, I'm done" and shut it off.
"Rio", in contrast, is a FUN movie.
The main character is a parrot named "Blu".
He is a Spix's macaw (Cyanopsitta spixii) which is an extinct "little blue macaw". The characters in the movie kept calling him a 'blue macaw" which for me, make me think of a "Hyacinth macaw" (Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus) which is a larger parrot listed as (just)endangered. Both are originally from the jungles of Brazil.
Sooooo, which is he? A Spix or a Hyacinth?
"Blu's" favorite snack when he lived in captivity was chocolate chip cookies and hot cocoa.
Chocolate is deadly for parrots.
I just hope little kids watching this movie don't start to give their parakeets chocolate chip cookies.
I can't help but notice things like this.
The villain of the story is a bare-eyed cockatoo (Cacatua sanguinea) named "Nigel". This species of cockatoo is from Australia, not Brazil.
Yes, I know, I know, it is only a cartoon.
And yes, I know bull dogs don't talk either. ):-P
Despite of these incongruous details I found this movie completely entertaining and adorable.
This is one of those "must-see" animation films.
Enjoy!

vet visit

Last weekend, when I uncovered the cages for the bird's morning routine I noticed that little Eddie Scizzorpoop was covered with vomit.
The entire cage was covered with seeds and sticky goo. Later that day she seemed Ok and I gave her a bath. Regardless, this puking warranted a vet visit.
The thing about birds is you need to find an avian vet that specializes in birds.
I have to travel to Windham, NH which, with traffic, takes close to an hour to get there. It's a busy office sort of like the grand central station with all kinds of animals coming in and out. I kind of enjoy going to the vet because it is interesting to see all the different cases coming and going.
There was a love bird there with darkened spots by the ears awaiting a check-up.. I correspond with a lady out in western Massachusetts via a cockatiel chat-line. She also has a lovebird. This time of year her lovebird develops an ear infection. It appears as darkened spots by the ears.It is possibly due to seasonally allergies. This lovebird at the vet looked like he was suffering from the same thing.
The vet office also has been a drop off of unwanted animals too.
I've seen a crate full of kittens at one time. This time they had a Hahn's macaw up for adoption. The vet assistant asked if I would like to adopt the Hahn's macaw since they knew I had birds. The poor little guy was a feather plucker. His owner is sick with cancer and the family did not want him. He started screaming and plucking due to the neglect.
He was a friendly little guy, however, he definitely needed some serious one-on-one attention. I spent some time with the little parrot alone in an operatory talking to him and letting him climb on my arm. I had a bit of a wait since it was very busy there with emergencies.
When the vet came in the room to examine my cockatiel and to see how I was relating to the mini macaw, the macaw reached down and took a chunk of my finger.
Blood was everywhere.
The assistant was horrified but I know even my budgies will bite me when they aren't getting the attention they feel they deserve. (At least budgies have little beaks).
This mini macaw was pissed that my attention was now focused on the vet and not on him.
As a result, I thought this bird needed more attention than I could give him since I have eleven birds already that all scream for my attention.
It turned out that Eddie, my little cockatiel, had something similar to strept throat. Her throat was all red with white patches. I came home with antibotics to give her and instructions to add apple cider vinegar to the water to help get rid of any residual bacteria.
Eddie had a choice of flavors for her meds. It doesn't really matter what flavor it is because she hates getting meds. I chose 'banana bread" flavor since she will attack my banana bread if I have it sitting on the table..
In order to give a bird their meds, You have to wrap them up in a towel like a little taco so that just their beak is exposed. You put a little syringe of prescribed meds placing it at left the side of their beak and inject. This way it goes down their gullet rather in their lungs. It's take a bit of getting used to but I have had years of experience in giving meds to birds and hand feeding fledglings. She hates it and I give her a bit of millet as a treat.
Ahhhh.... never a dull moment in birdy town!

The wild pigeons of Salisbury beach part 22

Yup
I'm still out there in the morning feeding the pigeons. There is just a small gathering. I think the winter survivors plus newcomers "Jlo", "Hung Cow" (white tail) and "Nord Cow" (White mustache).
I DID find "Whitey" but not with the Salisbury beach crowd.
I've seen him numerous times up by the Rte 286 Seabrook overpass. He is easy to spot since he such a brillant white. There is a breakfast restaurant near the overpass so I am guessing there are lots of left over pancakes and toast near by to feast on.
Maybe he got sick of pizza.
Here is a funny story. I wanted to see if there was a patron Saint for pigeons. I "googled" it and guess what?
MY BLOG showed up!
Does that make me the patron saint of pigeons now?
:-)
I found this lovely painting (above) online as well. It's nice to see somebody else out there appreciates their subtle common beauty.

you are what you eat

Last night, I watched Jamie Oliver's new series of his "Food Revolution".
Last season, he tackled the deep south in hopes of changing people's diet from the fat, sugar and processed crap they were used to eating into healthy "real" food.
His show last year was a catalyst for me to go back to weight watchers.
I like to think, at least, I eat healthier.
This year, Jamie Oliver is in LA trying to make a change in the public school's lunch program.
Of course, he was faced with some serious opposition from the food service authorities. They won't even allow him to view what the kids are being served in the lunch room.
He ended up appealing to the parents.
What the kids presented to him as "lunch" was appalling. It was worst than the shit you get in a vending machines at a scrotty bus depot.
It is no wonder there is so many kids that are diagnosed with ADD. They are consuming sugar, fat, processed chemicals, and just plain shit. They crave it and become addicted to it.
As I watch this I wonder where the hell is Michelle Obama? Isn't this her "cause" to promote exercise and healthy eating for kids? Why isn't she on this band wagon? Or is it she is afraid of the back-lash she get because these schools and their dietary advisors are under her husband's administration? Or is she just "full of shit and show"?
As I watched the show I started giving my own eating habits another viewing. I like to think that I eat pretty pure and healthy.
However.
I was kind of grossed out after reading some of the labels of items I suspected to have additives somewhat and some that I was totally shocked to see some of the additives.
For example:

1)Fat free half & half cream

I use this in my morning coffee.
Here is what is listed: fat free milk, corn syrup, cream, artifical color, disodium phosphate, carrageenan...

2)Cool whip.

Yes, I use this with fruit.
Here is what is listed, and it isn't pretty: water, corn syrup, dextrose, skim milk, high frutose corn syrup, partially hydrogenated palm kernal oil, maltodextrose, sugar, potatoe starch, artificial flavor, sodium caseinate, cellulose gum, cellulose gel, xantham gum... (and more chemicals)

3) Fat free cheeze.

I rarely eat cheeze but I will add it with a veggie sandwich sometimes.
Here is what is listed:
skim milk cheeze, corn syrup (AGAIN!), corn syrup solids, modified cornstarch, sodium citrate, salt, cheddar cheeze flavoring (?), carrageenan, sorbic acid (and other chemicals)

4) Smart balance fat free milk with Omega-3s.

I use milk for tea.
This is the grossest and most shocking of all. This is suppose to be healthy but I am grossed out.
Here is what is listed:
milk, sunflower oil AND FISH OIL! UGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!NASTY!

So in conclusion, don't eat shit.
Because
You are what you eat.

Becky Bloomwood redux

I took my long time pal out for lunch for her birthday. After we had lunch we walked around a town square browsing around at the shops since it was such a nice spring day.
We went into a shoe store, LLCoombs. Despite my shoe addiction I figured I'd be safe in this store since most of the shoes in this shop are high end practical shoes like dansko clogs and teva running sandels.
Basically, it's shit I wouldn't be caught dead wearing.
My friend has problems with her feet so she needs well-made comfortable flats so that is why we were in there.
They added a new section in the back. They carried a collection of Stuart Weitzman shoes. That brand is very stylish.
I casually wandered over to that display. I picked up a pair of black leather high heel bootie with a shiny silver spiked heel.
I tried it on "just for the heck of it".
OMG they were gorgeous!
They fit perfectly and made my legs look long and lean.
My eyes started to dilate and I began to drool.
I looked at the price.
$435.00!
It's no wonder I liked them.
The sales-lady walked over and chirped, "those booties are half price!"
$217.50!
I still couldn't justify spending that kind of money on a pair of shoes.
Besides my husband had accompanied us and was now staring at me with those "take those shoes off now and we are leaving" look.
Can you imagine splashing out even the half price amount of $217.50 for a pair of shoes?
Sadly, I can, but I wouldn't, since I was figuring that would equate to 3 weeks worth of grocery money.
I looked down at the shoes I was wearing. These shoes were black leather whip-stitched Brazilian made shoes I bought last year at a boutique in Hampton. These shoes were 70% off but still cost $100.00. They are gorgeous as well and superbly made.
My friend started laughing when she saw my transfixed gaze looking at those Stuart Weitzman shoes.
She said, "maybe you should work part-time in a shoe store so you can get the employee discount".
She had worked in (the now defunct) Filenes. She is a hand-bag addict and she worked (you guessed it) in the hand-bag department.
As an employee, she got first dibs on the new collections coming in as well as first pick of sales, plus her employee discount.
I seriously, don't think she ever brought a (intact) pay-check home.
She would call me up imforming me of their shoe sales and save discount coupons for me.
It was a scary scene with the both of us carrying shopping bags filled with shoes and hand-bags.
We would be exhausted from our frenzy and top off the day with coffee and donuts.
God.. it was heaven...
When my friend suggested I get a part-time job in a high-end shoe store (to feed my addiction) I had thoughts of Becky Bloomwood.
Becky Bloomwood is the main character in the novel "Confessions of a shopaholic". She too, got a part-time job to feed her clothing addiction in a high-end department store. She would end up hiding and hoarding clothes she "couldn't live without" behind the cash register out of view of other workers AND customers.
She ended up getting fired the next day.

gross anatomy

*WARNING! this post is not for the squeamish!

Whenever you work with animals (or in the medical profession) you kind of have to have either a twisted sense of humor or a stomach of steel.
The other day I had two dogs to care for the day. The owner requested I just stay in her enclosed yard and play 'catch' with the dogs. She told me "not to worry about picking up their poop because that was her husband's job". I thought to myself, 'that sounds A-OK by me". I picked up the ball and tossed it in the yard for the dogs to retrieve.
The dogs gleefully ran for the ball but ended up missing it. They search for it diligently digging around in the yard but ended up missing it. I ran into the yard to get the ball for them.
The yard was a virtual mine-field of shit .
There wasn't a square inch in that entire yard that did not have some form of poop in various states of decay. I stopped short as if I was going to land on a detonated mine.
"Oh jeeze..I gotta go out there and pick up that nasty ball?" The dogs looked at me gleefully with the most filthiest faces and mouths you've ever seen.
I brought the dogs in and gave them both large bowls of water to rinse their mouths out.
The day before I took little Jackie the one-eye pomeranian out for his bathroom break. He's an elderly dog and much like an elderly man he has a tough time moving his bowels.He was squatting and pooping squatting and pooping all through the length of the driveway. I thought this was odd because this was unusual for him to poop continually like this.
It turned out he was pooping out bits of a (gag) tape-worm.
After a trip to the vet it appeared that he got the tape-worm from a flea-bite.
In a previous post, I wrote about how my goldfish got tape-worms too. They weren't as lucky as Jackie because they did not survive. After that incident I bought shoulder length rubber gloves to clean the fish tanks.
I am reading the book "The making of a Woman Vet' by Sally Haddock DVD.
Parts of the book I have to chuckle at because it sort of reminds me of my days in dental school especially the parts where they are viewing some pretty nasty slides and trying to sneak in eating lunch at the same time.
To this day, I can not eat anything that looks like yogert or cottage cheeze.
I will not go into why.
I can also understand ,like this veterinarian, how you dissociate yourself from your patient during surgery because if you didn't you would either cry, throw up or faint. I would go into surgical proceedures methodically as if I was working on a motorcycle.
I think I would've made a good vet.
I enjoy reading medical text-books for fun. It's really too bad school is so out-of-reach expensive.

Welcome to the Troll Cathedral part 3

OK you are probably wondering, OK what is up with the troll dolls?!? Is this retarded or what? Well, there are a lot of stories involved. Seriously, when my father was in the hospital after a nasty fall he was really out-of-it. He couldn't remember nor recognize anyone. I brought in a troll doll and he immediately related the troll doll to ME. Yes, it is true, my father could identify me by the troll doll. The troll with the pokey horse (as depicted below)was from my brother. He bought a whole pile of them from building 19 (a salvage discount store) He booby trapped my Christmas gifts with them. Whenever I opened a gift say, a nice towel ensemble, a troll would fall out. I loved it!



A Red sox fan. I found this one at a yard sale. It is actually a bank so you can put coins in it to save up to buy more trolls!



This one my cousin found buried half way in the sand next to a dilapidated house on Plum Island. A sure sign that I was destined to live by the sea.



This one I found buried in the sand when I first moved to the beach. I hurt my foot on it because I had stepped on the "gun".This troll's face was filthy and marked up with magic marker. He actually looked like Saddam Hussein when he was pulled from the spider hole. I cleaned him up to make him look like a proper citizen.



I found this show-case at a thrift shop. I cleaned it up and replaced the glass door. I specifically bought for my troll collection.



Tea anyone? Yes, this is a troll tea set.



My husband bought me this one off of the internet as a Christmas gift.. This one was from the 1960's. I call this one "Auntie Tillie". She reminds me of one of my Aunts with her big hat and pearl necklace. My Aunt Tillie's daughter when she was a teenager had a gigantic troll doll. I was afraid if it fell off the shelf on top of me it would've easily crushed me.



Can you see the difference between the 1980's circa troll compaired to the pointy earred 1960's circa troll?



This is an original Dam troll. I found this one in a resale shop in the "witch town" of Salem.



I recently renamed this one as "Mickey". Does'nt this one look just like Mickey Rourke from the movie "the Wrestler"?



So there you have it. Welcome to the Troll Cathedral!

Welcome to the Troll Cathedral part 2

I still can't help myself in my unending quest looking for troll dolls.

I will search yard sales, ebay, thrift shops and flea markets for unwanted trolls.

Even my husband has gotten in on the act.

I think, because he is a guy, it is the art of the hunt that he finds appealing.

Wishniks as they were called in the 1960s and were very popular. They regained popularity in the 80's under the names of norfins, Russ trolls and treasure trolls.

They were originally created in 1959 by a Danish fisherman named Thomas Dam. The original name for these dolls were called "Dam trolls". They easily became popular and due to a copyright error , knock-offs were made and entered the US market. As many as ten different manufacturers such as mattel, Uneeda, Hasbro, Russ berries and others, created them.

All of them being cute but they did vary in looks by the different manufacturers.

By 2003, after many years of court battles, the Dam family of Denmark finally restored their original US copyright to be known as the official manufacturer once again.

Schilling, a toy manufacturer located in Rowley, was a distributor of "the original good luck trolls". They sold all kinds of troll related items such as a troll music box, a troll tea set and a troll jack-in-the-box. I have these items.

*In my quest for trolls, I found an original Dam troll in a resale shop in Salem, MA.

My husband and I rented the movie "Toy Story 3". We laughed like hell were they had a scene that featured trolls. They were unlucky orphans that were fated to go over a cliff in a train. Luckily for the "orphans", Buzz Lightyear saved the day.

We later found out that Dreamworks Animation production company who made the toy story movies is now working on a film based on troll dolls.

And I'll bet there will be another troll resurgence.

My father made me a "special beach hat". He glued a troll on top of a dunkin donuts baseball cap. He figured this would be a hit since it was a combo of two things that I "loved".

And I did love it!

However.

Nobody would sit next to me on the beach whenever I wore this hat.

I think they were just jealous.

Don't you?

Welcome to the Troll Cathedral part 1

OK be afraid..be very afraid!

OK, other than my massive shoe collection there is something else that I have been collecting for years.

And I do mean for years.

It is not something I've done consciously.

It just sort of happened after years of having many birthday celebrations and also recieving various Christmas gifts.

It all started when I was just six years old.

My first troll doll.

During the 1960s, they were called "wishniks".

I still have my original first troll doll.

His name is "Peter".

There is no reason for why he is named Peter. I just happened to like the name. Perhap it was after saint Peter since at the time I was getting ready for my first holy communion but who knows.

*the first troll featured in the above photos is "Peter".

My long time girl-friend would give me a wishnik on just about every birthday.

It became a tradition.

I still remember as a six year old asking her why she didn't like barbies.

Being the pragmatist that she was (and still is) she simply said, "Hrmfph... nobody looks like a barbie. But EVERYONE looks like THIS!" As she thrust the wishnik in my face.

She was right.

Most people did look like trolls.

Even naked!.

The only person that was close to looking like a barbie was my mother but she was the exception.

Over the years I amassed quite a collection.

Strangely enough, after checking out various troll collections featured on "youtube.com", my collection is rather small.

For example, check this out:

www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpMFVKO6eCk

(*this features the "troll museum" by Reverend Jen (the patron saint of the uncool))

www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKt1prem8Y

(*this features a massive troll collection. The scary part is that the sound track is "go ask Alice")

I actually had double the amount of trolls than I do right now. I had lost a huge box filled with them when I was moving out of my apartment in Maynard. I think this box accidentally got mixed up with boxes destined for "goodwill". (I also lost a box of fav British clothing in the mix up too.) But the tradition of recieving trolls as gifts still continued and the collection grew once again. Not only did my girl-friend give me trolls, but my fahter, brother, and even my present husband.

Over the years, the trolls have evolved not only by their "looks" but what they were called and made from different manufacturers.

* I will go into the "history" in the next posting.

cute overload

My husband downloaded a bunch of photos I had taken of the birds.

First photo is Patches. He is giving Louie 'the look".

Second photo is Eddie.

OMG she is soooo F*&^ing cute! She just had a bath.

The third photo is Button.

She loves having her picture taken. She is such a ham!

update on "Patches"

I just wanted to update you on "Patches Kennedy".

He has been such a delight!

He's such a funny little thing with particular likes and dislikes, and he let's you know it!

First of all, he doesn't like to go in the TV room to watch TV-especially with the other birds. Once in awhile I can get him to watch "Judge Judy" with me if I take him in alone.

He likes to be out of his cage and "help" me read the newspaper. He will come over and flip the pages while wolf whistling as if to tell me 'there you go!"

He says, "whattcha doing?" and "what a "pretty boy!"

I am trying to teach him to say "I'm a naughty boy". He will walk over to me and stick his head right under my chin. He tries to flirt with "Fresh Baby" but she will snub him like the spoiled little Paris Hilton look-a-like that she is.

He let's the other bird know that he is the big man on campus by struttling around the table with with wings spread and beak clacking. Yes, he is expressing his male dominance. Maybe that will explain why he bites the TV clicker.

He also hates a dirty cage.

When "play time' is over he will refuse to go in his cage if there is poop or scattered food on the paper-lining. I have to make sure the paper is changed continually.

He really liked "Princess" when she stayed with us. They both have that "pearl feathering coloration". Princess pretended she didn't like him but would sit next to him in his cage when his cage was open.

I just saw in the news that Patches (Patrick) Kennedy of Rhode Island (son of the late Ted Kennedy)just announced his engagement at age 43 years old. He will no longer be a bachelor. Perhaps my "Patches" has found a lady love as well with "Princess".

Only time will tell.

He is such a cutie pie!