Should I Be Happy of Sad?

Remember my Nam Dok Mai mango tree? 

It started to flower last February and I saw about 20-something baby mangoes were in the making. 

In no time, they were growing into this size.

 I was starting to imagine the great harvest this season, 

but the proverb that says, 'Don't count your chicken before they hatched' was proved to be true for me because...

 I did a HUGE mistake ever! 

I was being too ambitious and sprayed some liquid fertilizer 

to the tree. As the result: new shoots were coming out and 

competed with the growing fruit for nutrients and water,

 and caused premature fruit drop! From the 20-something fruit, only 5 survived and are still growing.

 These are some premature fruit that drop from about 12-14 with sizes ranging from 3-8 cm long. Rather than letting them go to waste, I turned them into pickles which recipe will be shared in another post. Well, I learned my lesson hardly this time!

Planting Grapes from Seeds

 Last February, I tried germinating grape seeds from the 

store-bought grapes—red globe grapes and black grapes. 

I have always wanted some vines 'cause our tropical weather is perfect to plant grapes. Yet, you know that germinating grape seeds are a bit tricky as they need stratification process etc., 

just like berry seeds.

I had tried stratification process to some berry seeds I bought but none was successful. So, this time I just skip it. 

I planted them right away in my Kale bed. 

I was planning to just give it a shot.

To my surprise, two of them grows in that bed and 2 more in the seedling pots I put indoors.

I haven't repotted these two since they're still too small and frail. I'll let them grow to as high as 10-15 cm before repotting them, but I have repotted the other two and have taken them outdoors and put them at the corner so they can adjust with the heat and weather but still have some shades to protect them from the afternoon sun.

Well, we'll see how it goes. I'll keep you updated! :-)

My New Babies Part 3

Hello, back with Baby Blue and Elmo again!

During daytime, I let them out to play and socialize. During this time also, I introduce them to different food besides their staple 'mixed seeds'. I let them try sweet corn, broccoli, beans, long beans, carrots and apples. They don't really eat much but my mission is to get them familiar with fresh veggies and fruit. And I think this mission was accomplished.

My other mission was to make them get along to each other. 

Look at how cute they are in the above pictures. 

At the same time that also expresses how they  sometimes turned their faces away from each other. 

Actually, I have felt content with only two birds, 

Baby Blue and Elmo. Though, they sometimes fight but so far I can see that they're quite connected to each other. 

Until one day I saw something inappropriate...

Baby Blue was trying to mount Elmo!!!

I've seen from the Internet that a parakeet can practically mate a Lovebird but they are unlikely to have offspring out of that relationship since they are different species. 

I was really perplexed. 

Could it be that Elmo is actually a female? 

I don't have the answer.

But I know what I should do...

And after several days... 

taaaa daaaaa....

I bring Goldie home!

I've noticed Goldie at the Bird Seller for sometime. She is a quite active and cheerful female among others. She's also younger than her peers in the cage. She has only one shortfall, one of her toes is deformed. It could be a birth defect or caused by an assault 

from other birds. 

But the point is, this defect will prohibit her from being purchased as she is not considered impeccable.

This was one of the determining factors which led me to decide to purchase her, besides her personal characters which I believe will be compatible with Baby Blue who is a gentle and kind bird.

See, I act like a mother, picking her daughter in law!

 Haha... just kidding! :-)

But surely, choosing your pet carefully(which is translated into their characters)is an unwritten laws, since I have had a not so good experience with Snowy before!

You better make sure that they have good characters and can get along with others, including their masters! 

So, here is Baby Blue with her new Bride. And Goldie was the name that popped up in my mind the first time I brought her home. I also called her Chica, 'cause her face and color reminds me of a chick. And Chica also a word in Spanish which means girl.

Surely Baby Blue is the happiest Parakeet on earth right now. 

Ever since Goldie was brought home, he was very clingy to her, always trying to feed or preen her.
He's such a good gentleman. 

He did try to mate her, but she refused... 

and she still refuses until now. 

Maybe she needs time, or maybe she's not mature enough yet. 

And I see that Baby Blue has been kind and gracious. 

He didn't force himself on her, but make an effort to bond with her.

What a sweet guy! :-)

My Amaryllis finally blooms!

Please enjoy the breathtaking beauty of my blooming Amaryllis!

I was waiting in anticipation as the stem and bud emerged from 

among the leaves. Finally the time has come for this frail plant 

to bloom. 

I got this baby Amaryllis plant, which emerged from the side of the mother plant, from a good friend. She told me that this was a beautiful flower but she didn't even know the name. 

From the shape of the strappy leaves I thought it's familiar so I googled it and was sure enough, that it is indeed an Amaryllis!

Only, I didn't know what color will the flowers be. 

So, it's like a mother expecting for the baby to be born without knowing the sex of the baby! 

What an exciting and worthwhile anticipation!

  

 I think it belongs to the Snowflake variety. I especially love the pink color and and the strips pattern on the petals.

There are about five buds in one stem which grows to each direction. The flowers only stay fresh shortly, then it will start to fade and whither. This reminds me of a parallel from the proverbs saying that the beauty of girls are like flowers which fades quickly!
 That's very true too.

Anyway, Amaryllis is commonly planted indoors, but I planted it outside, facing the south, against the wall. So, maybe that's why the blooms can't stay longer due to the exposure of the Sun and rain.

Well, till next time! 

My New Babies Part 2

After Barney passed, I always wanted to buy another Lovebird. But because I had no experience keeping birds as pets before, I decided to buy a keet which is cheaper than a Lovie. I guess, I was giving a shot with the keet and planned to see how it went.

I never imagined how much joy a bird could bring into my life. Baby Blue is a really good, friendly and entertaining bird. I always make sure that he is well-fed, his water changed every morning, cage cleaned several times a day, and shower with baby shampoo once a week and play with him several times a day. Still, I can't see him spaced out in his cage, lonely, after Snowy's gone.

 So, one day I went to a bird store away from home and scored the cutest and most timid Lovebird among others in the cage.

Last time, Baby Blue and Snowy was put into a box with small holes when I bought them, and ever since they were traumatic with darkness. They will freeze and quack unceasingly every time 

I put them into a sleeping box or under a blanket 

or cup them in my palms. 

So this time, I decided to buy a small cage which is usually used for cicadas. It's a small wooden box with iron screen on both sides, enough for one or two birds. At least they can look out of the box, and wouldn't be traumatic.

The man who sold the Lovebird said that it's a male and still young, about 2 or 3 months. I just accept what he said since it's not easy to distinguish a Lovebird age, because once they're weaned in about 2 months, they will look like an adult lovebird. So you can't really tell their age anymore unless the breeder reveal it. At least you can observe its eye ring, if the ring is narrow, then it's a young bird.

All I want is a young bird, so I can train them to stand on my finger and hopefully to talk...

Another problem was distinguishing whether it is a male or female. It's also not easy to know the sex of lovebirds since they look the same. I found from the internet several characteristic that differentiate male to female Lovies, one of it is that female Lovies usually have bigger bodies. Another characteristic we can observe is that the tails end of male Lovie crosses while the female's tails are straight on. Finally, when they reach the age of 1 year old, female Lovies tend to stuff her underside with pieces of newspaper that she tear off from the bottom of her cage or else she'll be busy building a nest.

If we don't want to bother observing all these, we can just take them to the vet to have a DNA test. Fast and Easy. But since we don't really have avian vet in my town, I only have the earlier option.

Despite the unknown sex, I named it Elmo because his eyes ring reminded me of Elmo. I also called him 'Bibi' in case it's a female.  So I tried to make him familiar with these names. I know it's a bit crazy.  Well, anyway, Elmo is also an addition of joy at home. He's really cute. Despite Lovies love to be cuddled, Elmo who is still a baby loves to sleep inside a fluffy towel. 

Look at how cute he is while sleeping!

The next problem is that I don't really know what variety of Lovebirds he belongs to. We don't really have certificate for the bird we buy from the bird store. So I search through the Internet, and found that he might be a Blue Masked Lovebird, though he might also be a mix-breed.

Anyway, Elmo is not so easy to tame. It seems that he's a bit traumatic to be hand-handled. Every time I insert my hand into the cage to train him to stand on my finger he will fly frantically with his wings flapping against the iron bars and finally fall down to the bottom of the cage. It's sometimes frustrating trying to earn his trust. Since he loves the towel, I usually cover my hand with the towel when I try to persuade him to come down to my hand, so I can put him to sleep.

At playing time, I usually takes both Baby Blue and Elmo out of the cage and let them play outside. I let them perch on the aluminium rack for hanging clothes. Elmo and Baby Blue has been good friends though at times they fight over food and Elmo's mischief. Elmo likes to elbowed Baby Blue down from the perch and sometimes biting on Baby Blue's claws where he will mostly get his head pecked in return. What a funny bird!