dancing_feather

Harpy Eagles

2008-09-03T23:56:23Z

Where the heck have I been living? I guess in a bubble under a rock because I just NOW heard of a Harpy Eagle! They are so gorgeous.

cockatiel icons

2008-08-28T13:26:59Z

Finished up some cockatiel icons. I was getting rusty with my digital art so I decided to brush up my coloring skills. I think the practice helped some. I didn't put them in order that I completed them, but there is definite improvement among them. Enjoy and feel free to use. Just make sure you credit me :)

dancing_feather @ 2008-08-05T11:13:00

2008-08-05T15:16:51Z

I think today is going to be an art day. All I know is I really need it.

Apolagize

2008-07-10T14:04:31Z

I really love this song for some reason...

E,E,E,E,E,..

I'm holding on a rope
Got me 10 feet off the ground
I'm hearin' what you say but I just can't make a sound
You tell me that you need me then you go and cut me down
But wait
You tell me that you're sorry didn't think I'd turn around and say:

That it's too late to apologize
Too late
Said it's too late to apologize
Too late

I'd take another chance, take a fall, take a shot for you
I need you like a heart needs a beat, it's nothing new
Yeah
I loved you with a fire red now it's turning blue
And you say
Sorry lord, the angel heaven let me think was you
But I'm afraid

It's too late to apologize
Too late
Said it's too late to apologize
Too late

I'm holding on a rope
Got me 10 feet off the ground !!!!!!

SPO alert

2008-05-28T13:36:34Z

So not too long ago my bf's mom found a very young kitten under her van. It can't be more than a month, month and 1/2 old. Both his mother and step father are allergic to cats. Especially his step father. Neither one of them knows how to take care of a cat so his mom is doing research on the internet on what she should feed the kitty and how to get it to use a litter box etc, etc. They only took the cat in because they couldn't just leave it outside by itself--they believe the neighborhood fox killed it's mom.

So, my boyfriend was going to drive up this weekend to MD to go pick up the kitten and bring it back down here so he could raise it and take care of it. It's the soonest he could go and he has the money to make the trip now, so why not, right?

No... his mother and step father are going back and forth on whether or not they want Jon to go pick up the kitten this weekend or not. They know now would be the best time for him to come get her and they know they won't be able to keep the kitten. But on the other hand, they want to keep the kitten as long as they can (meaning until their allergies start acting up) because they've grown so attached to her. They've already named her Belle and everything. His mom also thinks she's ready to start training her even though she has no idea what she's doing.

They know they can't keep the cat forever. They know they're allergic to cats. They know they don't know diddly sqwat about taking care of cats. They know both of them aren't around a lot because they travel frequently for their jobs. And they know Jon has the time and money right NOW to drive the 12hrs to go pick up the kitten.

Instead, they'd rather be selfish and keep the kitten because she's so cute and they've grown attached to her. They are keep the cat for themselves, not for the cat's benefit. They're only going to grow more attached to her and it's only going to get harder the longer the wait.

UGGGHHH. People keep pissing me the FUCK OFF.

dancing_feather @ 2008-05-27T09:53:00

2008-05-27T13:56:39Z

I may possibly be going up to MD this coming weekend, all depends on my workload for school. Jon's going up to visit his Mommy and may possibly be coming back down with a little surprise. teeheehee. That also means I'd be going through Virginia this coming weekend and may be able to make some other arrangements. I'm hoping to get in touch with Holly & Rowan, but we'll see. I'm not going to force something that isn't meant to be.

PS: It's freakin' cold in this office!
PPS: Yes, I'm at work and fooling around on the net while I'm at work. Heehee :P
PPPS: lol, but that's okay because I finished all the folders I was supposed to enter into the system. I get a strange feeling that I'm going to finish the job I was hired for before the 10 weeks are up. *oops*

dancing_feather @ 2008-05-26T22:17:00

2008-05-27T02:21:38Z

Beans is doing his Cat Tank in the doorway of the bedroom right now and staring at me creepily. Ah... what would I do without this freak of kitty?

PS: pictures to come shortly.

Budiges

2008-05-24T17:10:03Z

I finally moved Coco and Buddy down to NC from my parents house a couple weeks ago. The whole move in and off itself kicked the budgies out of breeding season, which is good. Except I never saw an egg from Coco. I'm guessing her body just reabsorbed it? But yeah, it seems they've settled in nicely with all the other birds and bunnies. Coco in particular likes flying circles around the room with Willow, which makes me very happy. And Buddy is usually not far behind keeping an eye on his girl.

egg bound

2008-05-14T21:33:44Z

Everyone please keep Coco in your thoughts.

She's egg bound with a soft shell egg and staying the night at the vets. They have to put her under and surgically remove the egg if she can't pass it, which she probably won't be able to--it's far too large. I'm really really worried right now and stressing like no other. She's my baby and means the world to me.

Beans

2008-04-30T04:29:50Z

Beans is currently laying on his back and playing with the scratching post we got him. He is one weird cat!

Now to go work on homework. I have less than a week left of this semester. Wooo!!

bird lady

2008-04-26T17:56:19Z

I feel like the bird lady here. I currently have Willow and Zoe on top of my laptop screen and amazingly enough, Scooter on my shoulder. Yes, he chose to be there.

Last night I spent a good 10min or so playing the blinking game with Scooter. He came out to the edge of the cage on his own and climbed all the way to the bottom to be closer to me, but he won't come all the way out. I just laid there on the the sofa and looked at him and would blink whenever he blinked. And funny enough, whenever Jon would come in, Scooter would run right back into his and when Jon would leave, Scooter would come to the edge again. This happened like 3 times.

And currently, Scooter keeps running back to my shoulder whenever Jon tries to shoo him away. It's interesting. He's pressing himself right up against my neck and will gently preen my skin and I can tell he wants scritches, but he'll bite my finger. Oh, and he keeps moving to my shoulder that's the furthest from Jon. I just don't get this bird sometimes.

He goes from absolutely hating me and will only tolerating Jon, to starting to avoid Jon and coming to me.

Clean Bill of Health

2008-04-15T04:10:20Z

I just had to announced:

ZOE'S HEALTHY!!!!!

I took Zoe to the vets again today for hopefully the last time in a long while and I walked out of there having only paid 11.90 and with a bird who had a clean bill of health. I'm so freakin' excited! 48 days on medication, 30 of which she was on 3 different medications. Her lungs sounded clear and she has maintained a stable weight of 83grams. The vet said to keep her separated from the rest of our birds for another 2 weeks to make sure she doesn't relapse and then if she does fine we were given the go ahead to start introducing her to the rest of the flock.

This makes things so much easier for when I go up to MD for a week in May.

*dances*

P.S: I have a bunny who is now running laps around me and doing silly jumps and flips in the air :P

diet and stuff

2008-04-13T20:15:12Z

Not a whole lot has been going on in my life. I'm not on a diet and watching what I eat very very carefully. I'm keeping a log of everything that goes in my mouth and counting calories. I'm also exercising to help get rid of this stomach pudge I have picked up over the months. It's not easy, but I know I can do it.

Zoe also has another vet appointment tomorrow. We need a refill of the Baytril. I'm hoping we're reaching the end of all this and we can move on to just doing a regular Q soon. I cannot wait until she can join the rest of the flock. I know her personality will just bloom once she's with the other birds, as opposed to being isolated by herself.

I'm now off to go write up a case study for psych class. Woo-hoo!

cadre interview

2008-04-03T15:54:17Z

I have an interview with the Registrar's office in less than an hour for the Cadre program I'm participating in over the summer. Here's hoping it all goes well and I get the position I applied for. *crosses fingers and toes*

Day 27

2008-03-25T05:01:01Z

Took Zoe to the vet again today and things are continuing to look better and better for her! That makes me so incredibly happy! :D
She's still on the bytril, doxycyline, and one other med. Her tail bobs has pretty much stopped--there's a slight bob when she's really really stressed out. Her gram stain came back fine and in fact the vet's reply was "Excellent! I'll take that to the bank." when he heard the results. She's also gained another 3 grams, which now brings her to 82grams.

Because Zoe's starting to get little buggies and crusties, the vet gave use an antihistamine, I believe it is. I dissolve it into her water and give her just that to drink. I've also set up a humidifier for her to help loosen the crusties and put some moisture back into her cere.

But yeah, the vet basically told us she's making leaps and bounds now and wants to see us back in 1 week. He's just waiting for her to get a bit stronger so he can do bloodwork.

I'm incredibly excited because Zoe should be completely over this respiratory infection within a month, I would think. The bloodwork will let us know for sure. But the vet was generally very happy with the progress Zoe is making. I already knew she was making progress, but it's reassuring when the vet confirms it.

I think once Zoe is fully recovered, I'm going to have to throw a party. This little girl is such a fighter and I'm so proud of how far she has come so far. I definitely thought she wasn't going to make it another day when I brought her home.

dreaming

2008-03-23T21:09:59Z

I just wanted to say just how terribly cute Beans is when he's sleeping. I'm guessing he was just dreaming because his tail and feet started to twitch a little. And then he started to suckle.

Yes.

Beans is suckling in his sleep.

It's so damn cute it hurts.

Moving Foward

2008-03-20T16:25:09Z

Zoe's doing a bunch better and that makes me happy. Her tail has almost completely stopped bobbing and while she still breathes a little too hard/fast for my liking, she's not breathing AS hard. I've also moved her from the tank she was in to Willow's old cage. There are a couple of toys in there which she's been chewing on and she's actually been nibbling on the pellets we have in there. I'm quite impressed. I'm definitely not afraid of losing her anymore and I know she's going to make a full recovery. She has a vet's appointment on Monday so we can try to see how she stands. Even once she's fully healthy again, I'd like to keep her in q. for another month, just to make sure.

In other news though... I picked up a green cheek yesterday. I didn't really feel like commenting on how this was in the plans because the whole thing seemed really wishy-washy in the beginning. In fact, that's the reason I went ahead and got Zoe in the first place--I assumed I wasn't going to get the GCC because the lady never responded to my e-mail for almost a week. The evening I got back with Zoe, there was a nice e-mail sitting in my inbox saying the lady picked me to get her green cheek. Errr?

The green cheek's name is Scooter and he's 9yo. I could tell his last owner really cared about him and it killed her to give him away, but she had his best interest at heart. She was never around because she's in grad school and he wasn't getting the attention he needed. I promised her over and over and over again that I'd keep in touch and send her lots of pictures and videos of him. I can only imagine how hard that was for her, so I want to give her as much peace of mind that I can. In fact, I'll probably give her a call tonight just to tell her how Scooter is settling in and make sure she's doing okay.

Once Zoe is finished being all vetting and is all healthy again, Scooter is going in for a check up because his owner said it's been a while since he has been. But he hasn't been around any other birds for the last... oh... 9mths so I'm sure he's fine. No tail bobs, poops look fine, he's got a shitload of energy, and no signs of illness. But I think a basic check up would still be good for him. Check for any mineral deficiencies and such because he's been on pretty much an all seed diet.

Now back to this paper I have to write for class *sigh*

spring break

2008-03-13T04:36:04Z

I've been home for spring break since Saturday and go back down to school this coming Saturday. Nice quick visit home. Not too short and not too long. Break so far has been okay, maybe a little boring, but that's it.

And just as I expected, I've had to call up Jon every evening around 8pm to make sure he gave Zoe her second dose of meds for the day. He has no concept of time and he just doesn't remember. I totally called him on that before I even left. It does annoy me, but I'm trying to not let it. But maybe I should, because this is Zoe's life we're dealing with her. He agreed to take her in along with me, so she's partly his responsibility too. I've paid for everything so far, the least he can do is remember to give Zoe her medicine when I'm not there.

But it more lighter news, I've gotten to see my little budgies and give them some much needed attention. It seems my little budgie, Buddy, is all grown up now! I'm continually catching him masturbating with one of his tails. I guess it's better he does it with a toy than with Coco, right? Don't need any eggs, especially when I'm not around to handle the situation--they're under my parent's care while I'm away at college. But I hope to bring them down to school sometime this summer once Zoe's all better.

In the mean time, I'm heading to bed.

animal updates

2008-03-08T02:36:14Z

On Wednesday Beans went in to get neutered. He came back like a walking zombie but he now back to his normal crazy self. He doesn't even notice he had his balls chopped off... silly kitty.

This afternoon I took Zoe back in for a check up and while she's still sick, she's doing better. Her gram stain is now normal whereas before she had 25% bacteria in her poop. The vet was also able to flush out her nostril that was partially closed. When we were there a week and a 1/2 ago the vet didn't seem comfortable doing that because of how weak and sick she was. We're still keeping her on the same meds that were prescribed to her 2 weeks ago. She's definitely more feisty and has more energy than when we first brought her home. And while she's still breathing really hard and quickly, she not breathing as hard. So she's definitely made some positive improvement, even if we aren't out of the woods yet. So keep your fingers cross that she'll make a full recovery and be one healthy bird in several weeks.

Willow is well... Willow. She's starting to find her voice and I now find her singing to herself occassionally. And withing the past week she's discovered the paper toys in her cage and has begun SHREDDING the heck out of them, which makes me really happy. She's also going through a molt right now which makes me even happier. This way she'll be able to grow in some nice new feathers.

So yep yep. Life is okay right now.

sigh

2008-03-04T23:19:49Z

*sigh* I wish life weren't so complicated and difficult. I wish I had a lot of money and the space to house as many animals as I wanted. People keep choosing me to take their pets from them and I have to turn them down, as much as I hate to because it just wouldn't be smart. I'd love to take their birds from them and give them a really loving home and smother them with attention, but I can't do that to everyone's birds that aren't wanted any more.

Blaaah.....

day 2

2008-02-28T17:54:54Z

So Zoe still seems to be hanging in there. Took her out this morning to give her her meds and she's a real fighter-literally. She kept wiggling out from the t-shirt we had her in and biting our fingers hard. She's still putting a lot of energy into each breath she takes, but I'm hoping she can fight it and will live for many years after this big ordeal. But right now, I'm still taking this day by day, thought I get a feeling she's not going to leave us without a fight. Everyone, please keep her in your thoughts.

day 1

2008-02-27T17:01:17Z

I just got off the phone with Jon and he said Zoe made it through the night. Yay! Not only that, but she seems to already be doing a bit better. He gave her all of her meds and she even had the strength to try and bite him--hard. She also chirped once when he uncovered her this morning. She hasn't made a single noise since we brought her home. So this made me very happy. I think she's going to be a real fighter and I hope she makes it through this. I'd much rather have a feisty bird than one that is really quiet and lets us handle however we want because she's too sick to fight us.

On top of that, Jon told me that Beans has learned to pee down the drain in the tub. He's litter had gotten too full for his liking, so instead of pissing on a pile of clothes on the floor, he went into the tub and peed directly over the drain. He may not be bright, but he does have his moments of smartness. I think would be interesting to see if we could eventually teach him to use the toilet to do his business in. Especially if he's already learned that if water can go down a drain, so can pee.

zoe

2008-02-27T03:47:37Z

I was going to let Jon name her, but he took too long and I really wanted to make a vet appointment for her, so took the initiative and changed Athena's name to Zoe. Anywho, I found a really good avian vet that's 2 towns over from where I live (40min drive) and managed to get her an appointment today. I think telling the receptionist that I think she might have a respiratory infection was our selling point and she squeezed us is even though they were booked like crazy.

Anywho... after waiting around for over an 1h I finally got to see the vet. I can't complain though, because they did squeeze me in and I was new patient. Turns out Zoe has a yeast infection, respiratory infection, and some other bacterial infection that sounds like chlamydia, but isn't. I'm so glad I had her quarentiened and was forcing Jon to wash his hands between being with each bird. He complained, but I made him do it and now he's thanking me. Zoe is now on 3 different medications, one being Baytril and another bacterial supplement to make up for all the good bacteria we'll be killing. I really hope she makes it, but I don't want to get my hopes up too high. She's a very sick sick bird and is really weak. She probably would have been dead in a couple of days had I not taken her to the vet today.

I already e-mailed her last owner to let her know because she owns other cockatiels and I would hate for her birds to be dead in a couple of weeks because she was too ignorant to notice signs of illness and take them to a vet.

*sigh* I keep telling myself everything happens for a reason... and I suppose it does.

"Athena"

2008-02-25T18:42:27Z

Here's a couple of pics that I has saved of the new cockatiel which her last owner sent to me. I'll take some new ones of her once I give her a bath and she settles in some more. Her last owners named her Athena, but I sorta would like to see that be changed something else.

birds birds birds

2008-02-25T06:49:43Z

So it might not have been the smartest decision, but I went out today and picked up another cockatiel. I just felt so bad for Willow because she's in the extra bedroom by herself for a lot of the day. I take her out in the evenings, but I have to put the cat away first when I do so. And after I saw how much happier Coco was after I got Buddy, I just don't think I could ever keep a single bird every again. They don't have to live in the same cage together, but at least be in the same room together so they can keep each other company during the day.

So new cockatiel is in quarentiene right now and I'm letting Jon come up with a name for her because he's claimed her as his bird. Which is fine. I get Willow and Jon gets the new 'tiel. I'll post some pictures tomorrow as she's absolutely gorgeous. It's too bad she smells like cig. smoke though and has no muscle grip in her feet. I want to take her to the vet sometime this week to get her checked out because I think she may have a respiratory infection. The tail bobbing, the occasional wheezing, and it just looks like she puts too much energy into each breath she takes. And of course her coming from a home that was filled with cigarette smoke.... yeah...

and then...

on top of getting a new 'tiel today, a lady finally e-mailed me back (5days later) about a green cheek I wanted to rehome from her. I had completely dismissed the whole thing after I didn't hear back from her in a reasonable amount of time and just forgot about it. Well, anywho... she's just now telling me that chose me out of everyone for who she wants to adopt out her GCC to. Errr..... He's 7yo, has a little bit of a biting problem, and isn't the friendliest because he hasn't been handled much in the last few years. But he does come with his cage, accessories, food, etc etc for a fairly reasonable price. I don't have a ton of money now, but I could make it work. She's already told me it would be a little while before she would be down to NC to rehome him. (The bird is living with her parents and she's living in NY). I know I could make it work, I'm just trying to decide if it's the smart thing to do. I suppose I'll sleep on it and talk to the lady in a couple days to see where things stand.

Buh? I go sleepy now. My head is all excited yet confuzzled at the same time.