and yes, I AM the crazy bird lady!

I wrote a post not too long ago about a lost cockatiel that was found by bird watchers in Salisbury. The story was featured on the front page of our  local newspaper. Sadly, no one claimed him or listed that they lost a cockatiel. My cousin informed me that her vet was keeping him safe until the owner claimed him. It was posted on facebook.
To make a long story short, guess where the cockatiel is now?
In my kitchen.
He is a male yellow pied. He's such a beauty BUT oh what a brat!
He's never been finger trained (to perch on your finger). His wings have never been trimmed either from what I can see. I bet he never had a vet visit for a general check up for a routine nail and wing trim.
 He bites and screeches  He has a band on his ankle which makes me think he was a "petco' bird most likely given to some kid for a "gift". I could be wrong, but because no one made any effort to look for him and the fact he bites and vocalizes makes me think he was chucked outside to fend for himself.
He seemed to be settling in with his surroundings and it's only been a few hours.
Monday, I have a vet appointment for a "wellness check-up" with my avian vet to make sure he is OK.
I do think with some effort in making him comfortable he will fit in with my other "misfits".
I call him "Charlie"

the wild pigeons of Salisbury beach part 89

After the last devastating snow storm, along with the super high tides to complicate things, the beach remains a mess.
Homes are compromised and businesses are struggling to get the town and state to clear barriers in order to make way for clean up and repairs of both homes and businesses.
Obviously, there were days I couldn't get down to the beach to feed the pigeons.
I saw one poor pigeon missing a leg. The remaining leg was black and he was struggling on the stump. It looked to me like that foot was frost bitten off.
 It was horrible to see.
The flock of six pigeons I routinely see over by Mattie's house in Seabrook seemed to have weathered the storm.
To my surprise I saw a long lost visitor back in action on the beach.
 Brownie!
I haven't seen him in ages! He was a welcome sight!
I also saw a couple of pigeons busy gathering straw and grass in order to make spring nestling nests. And of course, the usual cast of (male) characters were"busting'-a-move" hoping to get 'lucky" (wink)
Time marches on for these plucky pigeons.
Meanwhile, Craow Dum has me concerned.
He seems hungry but avoids the food dish. (!) I put out other food dishes with fresh food out in different spots to hopefully entice him. He hasn't been pooping much either which is also a cause for concern. He will follow me around and make his way onto my lap. I am not sure if he is having a problem eating (If the granuloma is blocking his throat) or it is just a "broody mating thing" going on.
 I've been cleaning his nose, head and mouth twice daily of debris so I can't really tell if there is a problem (out of the ordinary) from what I can see.
I am hoping it is just a spring mating thing and it will pass. I know he has "issues" and I know because of those issues it is only a matter of time that things will eventually make a turn for the worse but it would be horrible for him to starve to death if he can not swallow.
He is sitting on my lap right now as I type. He came upstairs by himself looking for me.
He is a poor creature and I hope he will be OK.

El papa nunca la papa part 2

*It's amazing what you can find on the internet (see above)

I got a call from my cousin at 7:00am this morning.
 She couldn't wait to call me.
She had been going through her journals and diaries mostly to find some her letters during the time she spent in Mexico as a foreign exchange student. It was interesting (and freakin' hilarious) to see through the eyes of a 17 year old navigating the cultural differences in a foreign country. She would gag at the site of dead chickens hanging fully feathered by their feet in open markets, baskets of bread left out in the open, and the sound of her little bratty Mexican "brother" peeing so loudly at night in "los banos". She would share these stories in our spanish classes for our amusement. Her dairies ring similar to, "The life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" by Bill Bryson.. It's really funny stuff and-ALL true life experiences!
This morning, she found an entry in one of her journal dated May 25th 1975 in which she had to call me right away.
OK folks get into the hot tub time machine to the year 1975!
It was my Aunt's birthday. We were all invited over for a cook-out at her back yard patio in Rowley. As the adults were busy chatting away, drinking and eating ,and whatever. My cousin, my sister and myself took off down the street.
We found our way over to St Mary's church and  we just walked right in!
Of course, there was no one around.
 So, we had the church to ourselves.
My cousin went upstairs to play the organ.
My sister was the announcer and  I was the priest.
My sister made the announcement "father Gallihigar presiding!"-(which was funny in itself since Father Gallhigar was a big fat priest who reeked really bad of BO.)
And I rang the bell for the start of "mass". The journal didn't mention whether or not I put on the holy vestments or if I opened up the communion vault for "communion" but it wouldn't surprise me.
I don't remember doing this but we pulled a lot stunts like this..
Maybe this was a precursor to my life of as a modern day Saint! ha!

El Papa nunca la papa (the pope never the potatoe)

I got to say it but I was kind of relieved to see Pope Benedict XVI resign. 

Seriously, he was kind of scary. (Just look at his eyes)  

To me, he also represented the Catholic church still stuck in its sad ol' antiquated repressive ways.

I was hoping for a new progressive Pope from the United States. 

And yet, I thought the church would end up picking an Italian out of tradition. 

Could they have chosen an Italian Pope from the US like 

Father Guido Sarducci?

No seriously, it would've been cool if our Boston home-boy ,Cardinal Sean O'Malley  was chosen  to be 

the new Pope. 

He's a normal guy who seems to like being just a regular priest. Plus he's a Franciscan! 

He said was glad he was not picked  as the next Pope "only to to be locked up in a museum".

Gotta love his honesty!

Even so, it was still a bit of surprise the new Pope, Cardinale Bergoglio, a Jesuit from Argentina was picked.

I like the fact he picked the name "Francis" as his name. Saint Francis is one of my fav saints. 

He seems like a humble dude.He rides on public transport like the rest of us slobs, pays for his own bills and is not keen on those red audacious Gucci shoes Pope Benedict wore. 

(*Although, I would go for the shoes so long as they had stiletto heels)

Although I was a bit disappointed that I was not called upon as one of the possible candidates. 

After all, I am a modern day living saint. 

As I recall the only female Pope that ever served was Pope Joan

(*Until it was discovered that she was indeed a female.) 

Bummer.

 I suppose that would not be hard to do. 

See?  I could easily pass that test.

the troll in the box

Every day, bit by bit, dementia keeps on taking chunks out of my father.
Through  comprehensive diagnostics it has been confirmed that not only he has Parkingson's  disease (along with a huge pile of other problems) but also white matter brain disease.
He is so small  and stiff now. You can barely recognize him. The worst part of his decline is the dementia..
It's so F*&^ing awful.
 It is soooo predictably unpredicable.
He now has violent fits of random rage.My mother is still doing everything in her power to keep him at home rather than at a  nursing home. She has a nurse come in once a week for personal hygiene and to exercise his atrophied legs. I come over as well to keep an eye on him so my mother can go out to do errands. I joke with her saying "I better not see your suitcases packed along with a note saying "so long suckers!"!
 Although, I can't say I wouldn't blame her.
 His mood and his temperament has turned to sometimes just plain savage. Sadly,from what I've experienced when I worked in the nursing home that  this behavior is  typical of patients with dementia/white matter brain disease/ Alzheimer 's. You always have to stay on alert for not only the patient's safety but for your own.  .
I went over on saturday to hopefully diffuse his mood.
 I brought over a 'troll in the box".
It broke" the mood", for at least  a little while.
He thought the troll was funny and I also talked to him about the latest case on "Judge Judy".
He calmed down for a while.
I could tell he fading again by the odd look in his eyes.
Out of the blue, he then started up  "demanding the keys to the truck". He "needed it" to do an errand.(!)
(*Mind you I took his car keys away from him two years ago)
I worry now that my presence triggers this now 'give me my truck obsession" with him.
It's like a record that continually keeps playing on a skip. It just doesn't stop.You try to calmly reason with him.and  he says, OK". And then an hour later he starts up again.
We are doing the best we can manage, at least for now.

Life's a box of chocolates

It's snowing like mad.
It's the gross heavy wet thick stuff.
 The beach roads are closed.
 I cancelled walking Mattie today.
Days like this are good for working on art-work, studying my spanish lessons and playing with the birds.
Two weeks ago, the Salisbury library had their annual ornament contest fundraiser. You donate $5.00, they give you a wooden disk and you decorate it.
The prize is a big box of fancy chocolates.
I enter it every year because it is something fun to do.
This year I painted a dedication for Billy Bob the lovebird on it.
* see above photo
Guess what?
I won the big box of chocolates!
That surprise totally made my day!
I called Billy Bob's owner and told her about the contest .
 I thought it was fitting to present to her the prized box of candy since I used Billy Bob as my 'muse".
She was thrilled with the ornament as well as the chocolates.
They were beautifully decorated colorful fancy chocolates from one of the local beach front candy stores!
And yes, she shared them with me.
 I (only indulged) with one milk chocolate nut piece.(I'm still with weight watchers, you know!)
Yah! :-)

The Wild Pigeons of Salisbury beach part 88

A big storm brewing.
Mattie hid from me yesterday. She hasn't done that in a long time.
 I had a hard time retrieving her, even with treats.
 Something was up.
 A big storm brewing.
I think she was afraid.
It was hailing, then rain, then sunshine and then ferocious wind with snow.
Weird.
Craow Dum hid under his wooden box.
 Salisbury beach was issued a mandatory evacuation today.
Blurry eyed from a zomig haze I was not really conscience about the storm.  I took a ride down to the beach for my usual morning jog.
The beach road was closed off with water reaching down a fourth of mile past the shore line. The wind was whipping around like mad. The wind hit me in the legs and knocked me over. I was running in place from the gale.
It was not a good day for a jog with debris and wires flying everywhere.
I could see 20 foot waves. Wow!
Needless to say, I couldn't feed the pigeons.
I didn't even see any pigeons-only seagulls.
The trees to the north of my house were spanking the side of the house making quite the cracking sound.
 It's a bit unnerving.
It might be a good idea to hire a tree guy to trim those branches this spring.
It's time to just batten down the hatches and to wait for whatever happens to blow over.

*I just completed the above pigeon Icon painting on a wine box

Frankenpigeon part 9

Hi there!

Peek-a -boo!

I just took these photos of Craow Dum this morning*

The place on the front portion on top of his nares where the bone was rotten had completely pushed it's way out is now healed without any signs of disease!. 

It actually makes it easier for me to clean his face with no cruddy bone to deal with.

But as you can see by the top photo that the area above his eye is still bulging.

 I do believe a granuloma is still there. 

I suspect and hope, it will eventually push forward and pop out like before.

He is as happy and healthy other than that. His feathers are quite luxurious despite having a circo virus which  supposedly adversely affects the feathers.His feathers are smooth and shiny.

 This morning, he jumped into the sink for a bath. He loves taking baths!

Yesterday I found him on top of the ceiling fan spinning it  making it go for a ride.

He's a silly bird!