When One Door Closes...

When you live with a number of animals, you know that there will be many times of sadness over your life.

On August 18th, our little birdie passed away.

We knew when she came to us just under 3 years ago that she was an older bird and had not had the best care. We tried to make her healthy and happy as much as we could. She had some health issues as time went on but we hope she was happy with us. She wasn't a snuggly bird but she was always interested and chirpy.

We already miss her and the house will be too quiet without her.

But this past weekend, we learned about another bird girl in need of a home, so I drove to go bring her to us out of animal control.

It was a few hours drive round-trip but we were happy to be able to have Pepper come and live with us.

She's still adjusting but things are going well.  Jake has been protective of her, as he was with Maple last year.  We think she is pretty young because she's very quiet but makes sweet little peeps and chirps.

We hope she will be happy in her new home and enjoy spending time with the other girls and Jake and us.

Meet Clarence!

Say Hi! to Clarence.

Clarence just came to us via Red Dog Farm. He is a 8-9 year old parakeet that was surrendered due to his previous caretaker's health issues.  He's a senior but he's got quite a lot of energy and pep!

We were told that he was very shy and quiet but thus far he's been quite a chirper.  He came to us in, what I think, was a very small cage and you could tell he'd been a bit neglected.  His cage was a bit of a mess and his nails are very long to the point of curling. He didn't even have a way to wear down his beak!

Well, we've changed all that!

I'm working on trimming his nails so I don't scare or hurt him but the first thing we did was get him a much roomier home with new clean toys and perches perfect for exercising his feet and mind. I love his new home.  The front has a plexi door so he gets unobstructed views out.

He likes to get close to the door and peek out at us.

We're working on the best toys and treats for him but this environment has lots of "enrichment pods" we can add on to keep him engaged and happy. I'm also working on getting him used to being touched and petted.  He's not too sure about it right now but he's getting there!

Clarence is in the sunroom for now, up on top of our built-ins.  It gives him a sunny place, free from drafts.  The room is warm and he can see out.  The radio stays on and we check on him throughout the day too. The cats were curious at first but haven't tried to get at him (not that they could!).

So now we have an even dozen (OMG!)