Animal House

 I had a very adventurous morning on Monday.  I was cleaning the bird cage, and when I went to get the perches to scrub the poo off Sunnibird flew right out!  Jukibird is tame-ish.  He will sit on your finger  and doesn't flap around when you reach in the cage.  Sunnibird... not so much.  He hadn't flown in the house yet because we wanted to wait until he would sit on our finger a little so we'd have a chance of catching him.  

 Thank goodness the dogs were outside!  We have a bird dog you know!  A bird dog who has tasted a bird in her mouth... and likes it alot!  A bird dog that almost caught a flying owl the other day!  

Sunni flew gently into the windows a few times.  Landing on the floor.  I didn't know what the hell I was going to do.  Finally after he ran into a window and seemed a tiny bit stunned he was willing to step on the perch and I was able to put him back in the cage. 

 Then both birds spend thirty minutes grooming and kissing.  My heart settled down sometime afterwards.  For a while there I thought I was going to have to call Dave at work!  And if the dogs had been inside Sunni would have been a goner.  

 Both dogs had been outside doing their morning sniff around see if that rabbit spent the night in our yard routine.... but the minute Sunni was flying somehow they knew and they were at the back door crying(Anna) and jumping(Bonnie) to be let in.  Whew thank goodness we don't have the doggie door in!  

 Isn't she sweet?  Dave has started taking her to doggie lessons.  We have a few things we need help with.  Like LISTENING!  Like stop eating toilet paper rolls.  Last weekend I went into the upstairs bathroom and found a HUGE pile of unused toilet paper on the floor.  Then I noticed the cardboard roll was missing.... then I went into my room and under my bed was a torn up cardboard roll!  Can you imagine?!  She took the TP off the roll so she could chew up the roll!!!  I can't figure out if she is really dumb or really smart. Who does that?!  But she doesn't eat the cardboard... she just leaves a thousand little pieces under the bed for me to clean up.

And would you look at this monster!

Sometimes its wild around here! 

Victory

Last winter was a bummer.  Hardly any snow.  Mild temps. No snowstorms to speak of really.  Then this spring and summer, this place was very ready to flame right up if a lightening strike or cigarette butt hit the prairie.  Not cool.  

"YESSSssssssss"

This year they are calling for a bad winter.  We are excited. Hopeful. Crossing our fingers and toes.  We have already had the heat on for a couple weeks which is promising, since it was in the 70s last Halloween. 

I am really ready now since I can park IN THE GARAGE.  Dave had Columbus Day off and we hauled stuff to the basement.(I love having a basement) We organized the rest of the garage stuff and tada the van fits!  To the right you can see Nate's loft bed still needs to be painted and moved upstairs.  Soon.  Very Soon.  

Sunni and Juki BFFs

We also brought home a new family member.  A friend for Jukibird.  Sunnibird seems to be settling in just fine.  We bought a larger cage and they can both flap around nicely in there(shooting feathers all over the floor...)  I'm glad. Considering how 'excited' Dave was when I brought Juki home I was pretty shocked when he suggested we get Juki a friend bird.

A fresh morning

We woke up this morning and we were both a bit giddy.  Nathan is so excited that there is snow outside.  And I just love the view of the black hills from my dining room.  I snapped photos this am.  I forgot how beautiful it is here.  

 I loaded up the photos from my camera too.  While we were in Michigan I couldn't post any from my camera, since I forgot my camera cord.  

 Isn't he cute?  This was the first day we were in Michigan.  Before he started back talking and throwing holy terror fits. Thankfully, since we have been home he has been sweet as can be.  Hallelujah!! 

Even though he helped Grandma Brinker decorate her tree, and Jackie and Cody decorate their tree, he is still so excited about doing ours.  I think I'll pull everything out today.  

 At my mom's house Jukibird got some decorations too.... I think it was a joke, but..

he LOVED that little cardinal!  Like going on and on talking to the ornament.  I wonder if I have a bird ornament.... mmmm

It is so good to be home!  

Danger

Jukibird has been real nervous the past couple days.  The wolf we are watching has been watching the bird with not so pure intentions.  There have been a few close calls.  So we are all a bit nervous.  

Poor bird. 

He Takes a Bath!

Jukibird enjoyed a nice dip in his claw foot tub recently.  It made for an exciting event in our house.

I love having Jukibird's birdie chatter throughout the day.    And Nate still gets excited to find Jukibird on the swing every morning.  

Speaking of baths, I grabbed Nate out of the bath last night so he could skype with his Daddy. It made bedtime much smoother.  

True Love

He must watch everyone else use the recliner, he had to try it out...not a bad perch

Nathan is such a good bird owner. He alerts me when Jukibird is talking, when he needs to be covered up for bed, and then when he needs to be uncovered to be woken up. He likes to watch me feed him, and clean the cage. If he thinks Anna is looking mischievous he reminds her NO EAT JUKIBIRD.

And he loves Jukibird. LOVES him!

Fly Fly

Jukibird is a happy bird.

He like to swing and eat.

And chat with the birds in the 3 way mirror.

And he likes to land on the strangest places when we let him out.

Nathan looses his mind with excitement. yelling, "FLY FLY FLY!"

But then Jukibird flies into a wall and I announce its time to put him back for now.

That makes me nervous.

*spoken in a screaming preacher voice* BE HEALED!

The day after Jukibird moved in I woke up and found his beak black, apparently bruise from flying into something. It was sad and ugly.

Then the other morning I uncovered Jukibird and BAM its gone! Only pristine healthy beak showed. Its a miracle! I went to take a photo, and Jukibird apparently wanted to show off cause I got this shot....

and then he turned his head to get this shot!

Loose Jukibird

He is pretty tame. Sits on your finger. Doesn't bite. So we have let him out to fly a couple of times.

Funny thing, the first time he landed he did so on the dog's bed!

HE EAT!

Here is our new pet. He was hanging out on the swing for a bit and I snapped a picture.

He banged his beak on something, and its bruised. But he is eating just fine. He is pretty chill and will sit on my finger nicely.

Nathan just loves checking on the bird. Today when Jukibird was eating Nate was laughing like crazy. "He eat! He eat!"

I'll spare you the "he poop" excitement.

Jukibird Moves In

No one can pull themselves away from the cage.

This is the best shot I could get of our Jukibird. Obviously he didn't realize it would be his blog debut.

Anna didn't hide her disgruntled attitude when Nathan told her to back away and "no eat bird!"