Meet Binky

On Tuesday, I drove, with my friend Enid, to Geneva, Florida, the birthplace (which shall go down in history) of Binky, the caique. He was born on January 25th (or thereabouts) and arrived at his new home on his 3-month birthday.



Now, I know he doesn't look quite like the picture of the White Bellied Caique in my last post. That's because he's a baby. The black feathers in his head will go away and be replaced by orange. And the yellow feathers on his belly will be replaced with pure creamy white.

I immediately made him "glop" for dinner. Glop is made of baby jarred sweet potatoes, unflavored yogurt, powdered baby parrot hand feeding formula and crumbled whole grain toast. I spoon fed it to him and he though it was the greatest stuff going. Slobby eater though! Whatever he got on his beak he either shook off, or wiped on me or his perch. Then I cut up an apple and he thought that was great stuff too. Hasn't gone to work on the pellets that are in his cage. I don't think he's eaten any of them. Also hasn't hit the water bottle yet, but the vet says he gets plenty of fluid from the fruit.

Yesterday, I put out a bowl of water on his playtop. He decided that he needed a bath. Very comical.

In the wild, caiques roost in holes in trees. So, I got him a birdy condo. Here he is hanging out in his sleeping quarters. It's the only place he doesn't poop!



Can you see him peeking out of his tent? He's a real love. And the cats leave him alone. He doesn't go after them either.

I'm Baaaack!

Well, it's been a long six months. While in Chicago after Wilma, my arm really started to act up; major pain followed by the loss of feeling in the lower arm and hand. MRI was not pretty. Ended up having spinal surgery in December. They removed the 6th and 7th cervical discs and replaced them with bone grafts, a plate, and half a dozen screws. Recovery has been in fits and starts but it now seems to be at the point where I can deal.

Did start knitting again a couple of months ago, but it just hasn't "caught" me yet. I did finish one shawl, Creatures of the Reef. I'll try to get a picture of it up in a couple of days.

In February, I decided that I didn't have enough mouths to feed and bought a lovebird. Her (his?) name is Maya. She's a pistol. Has no fear of the cats. Toddles right up to them and bites them on the nose. They run away!!!! I guess they can make a meal of her in one bite. Anyway, here's a picture of her.



She's a Fischer's Lovebird and is now about 4 months old. Still a baby. She'll come out of the cage on her own, but will bite me if I try to put my finger in the cage. I'm trying to get her finger trained. If I sit next to the cage, she comes running over and "talks" to me so I know she wants to make friends. I'll keep working on it.

So, then stupid me is watching the Petkeeping show on TV one Saturday and they show a bunch of really clownish birds. They are called Caiques (pronounced Kye Eeek). They are from South America. Well, this is something I gotta have! So I researced them on the web and found a breeder up near Orlando. I have a baby on order, but he's not weaned yet. Should be another two weeks or so. I ordered him a cage, outfitted it and got a bunch of toys. Finally, yesterday, I found a local store that had one. He was quite something. If the one I get is anything like him, it will be a riot. Here's a pic of one.



Anyway, can't wait to get him.

Thanks Wilma

Well, the house survived Wilma. No damage despite really high winds and rain. But we lost the electric and can't drink the water. It has now been 9 days. I gave it up after 5 days and put the two kitties in the car and drove to Chicago. I'll be here for at least two weeks. Yesterday was Halloween. Here is my little princess.





The four kitties are not exactly friendly. They're not fighting, but there is a lot of growling and hissing going on. I don't blame Radley and Boo. Their territory has been invaded. Maggie and Oliver are pretty much oblivious. They are not used to have a big 3 bedroom house to roam around in and they think it's great. Maggie is being super friendly and even allowed Dagny to use her as a pillow and, suddenly she is allowing the babies to pet her and let's me scratch her belly. It's amazing!

Progress on Holiday Gifts!

But, first, here's a final pic of Rosy relaxing on the sofa. I've already worn her out to dinner a couple of times. After all that work, it has to get used.



I also promised my DIL that, if she were good, then Santa would bring her a Clapotis for Christmas. She had seen pics of the one I did for Toni and loved it. Sooooo, I started hers last night. It's in Knitpicks Shimmer (doubled) on US 7 needles. The color is Deep Woods. Here's the progress so far.



It feels really strange to be knitting something without holes. One yarnover every 12 rows. Can't wait to get to the part where you drop stitches on purpose. Maybe if I do it on this, I won't feel the need to do it when knitting lace!

Remember the scarf for a friend that I started last weekend. It's finished and blocked. I love doing scarves. They knit up so fast and they are sooooo pretty. Here it is!

Another Holiday Present Started

Really need to take some time to get some presents going. So, since MS2 only takes a couple of days at most to complete a clue, I figured I'd use the available time to start a scarf that is destined to go to a friend for the holidays. I had planned on making another Branching Out, but decided I'd be bored doing it again. Besides, I still have to make another Clapotis and that will be boring enough.

This scarf is A World Lit Only By Fire. The pattern is from Lavish Lace by Carol Rasmussen Noble. The yarn is from my stash, Supersock by Cherry Tree Hill. The color is Spanish Moss. It's got pinks, lavenders, greens, turquoise and a light blue. The pattern calls for DK weight, but this fingering weight seems to be working out fine. I'll just need to do a few more repeats to get it long enough. I think I'll just knit 'til I run out of yarn.

Mystery Shawl 2, Clue 2 Finished (with a goof!)

Well I finished Clue 2 this morning. When I took a picture of it I found a dropped stitch!

If you look about 10-15 rows down just to the right of the center, you can see the little bugger. It is actually just below that hole that looks to big.

I realize where it happened. I had a problem with one row and I tinked it. Must have dropped it then, because I ended up one stitch short and fudged it. I just finished chasing it with a crochet hook and secured it. Interesting that it didn't run when I stretched it to get its picture taken. I don't think it'll be seen in the final product. I don't feel like frogging the whole thing and stupid me didn't use a lifeline on this one.

By the way, here's a closeup of the bottom.

Rosy's Free of the Needles

Well, believe it or not, Rosy's finished and blocking. Here's a shot of her reclining on my bed before she took a bath in anticipation of blocking. Oliver is checking her out only because he got moved from "his" spot on the bed.



Here's another shot of her resting on the bed. Unstretched and relaxed she is only 41 inches square.



Now, here she is blocking. As usual, excuse the Disney background. That's my blocking board and, what the heck, it works. Leaves me with a bed to sleep on tonight. I didn't stretch the heck out of her. The occasional thinness of the yarn scares me a bit so I didn't want to stretch her too much. She's about 53 inches square. A rather small shawl, but pretty nonetheless.



Hopefully, I'll find a nice place (we don't have any pretty white picket fences around here) to place it for her beauty shot!

Maggie's New Do!

Well, a bunch of friends wanted to see Maggie's new haircut which, by the way, she hates. Just look at the expression on her face. Absolute disdain. It's called a Lion Cut. She has fur on her head, the bottom of her paws, and the tip of her tail.

The May 2nd entry shows her in all her furry glory. But, she mats up fast when she goes. So, they shave her. While she is a loving affectionate Kitty, all bets are off when you try to groom her, so they have to knock her out to do it. This was done over a week ago, and she's still not talking to me.