My New Babies part 1

Still remember Barney—my deceased Lutino Lovebird? So what happened since then was... I went to get myself a new bird! I bought a parakeet this time because they are smart and can be trained to speak (coping sound). So I went to a bird store nearby and was fallen in love with the angel-look of Baby Blue, that's how I named him. This time I knew it's a him, cause he has a blue cere (the area above its beak). Parakeets are a bit different from Lovebirds, we can distinguish their sex through the color of their cere. If it's whitish, brown or pink it's usually a female parakeet and if it's deep blue or blue/purple tinted then it's a male.

When I saw him among other parakeets in the cage, I was at once attracted to its soft color of baby blue and turquoise, but above all it's his friendly and loving characters that had attracted me the most. I could see how he played and treated his fellow cage-mates. And how he diligently offered himself to preen his friend's feathers and shared food by regurgitating to his mate's mouth. He is a nice guy after all and it's obvious that I couldn't take my eyes off him! 

Baby Blue definitely brings a lot of joy, he's also very docile. Only within several hours after I brought him home and he having acclimated with his new cage and home, I had managed to coax him to stand on my finger! He even stayed on my finger when I swung him while following September by Earth, Wind and Fire. :-) He also started to show off his trick to entertain me. By holding on the iron bar of the cage he turned his body. He's totally cute!! :-D

Then, after a couple weeks or so, I started to realize that I need to spend a lot of time entertaining the bird or else it will be bored, just standing on his perch oozing out... but of course I don't have that much of time, so I went back to the bird store and scored another parakeet for Baby Blue's companion. And I bought Snowy, the combination of white and blue keet. Snowy is different from Baby Blue, he's not tame at all, but he looks smart and sharp. Anyway, they finally bonded though they sometimes fought for territory since I put them in the same cage. I learned that each had to have its own food and water container and perch. Still Snowy was more dominant. Baby Blue was more pacific but at times fought back to defend its territory.

Efforts to tame Snowy seemed to hit the walls. He kept distanced away and refused to stand on my fingers. And he's also very fierce and offensive, he bit me several times. Maybe I was wrong to put them in the same cage, it made it difficult to train him then. Since he became more clingy to Baby Blue as they had bonded to each other. It got worse when Baby Blue started to distance away from me and refused to step up on my finger anymore. Then, I knew I had to do something about it...

I gave up Snowy for adoption! I gave him to a friend who also owns a female parakeet. It's a bit difficult to separate them though, it broke my heart too. I had to take Baby Blue away to another room before I put Snowy into a temporary cage to be taken to his new home. I had to turn my eyes away as he frantically scratched his temporary cage, trying to get out of it...

I could see that it was also hard on Baby Blue as he is a friendly bird and enjoy companions very much. Many times I saw him calling for Snowy and at other times stood silently and spaced out. It is understandable as it's not easy for parakeet to find a mate and bond. Though Snowy is a male keet, they can still bond. But after sometime, Baby Blue was back to itself and become bonded with me back. 

Updates of my Pineapple Tree

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Do you remember my fruiting pineapple tree? Here is some photos for an update.

It sends a sucker out from the base...

and about 7 ratoons just right at the base of the fruit.

 

This was my first time planting pineapple from the crown and it turned out a success. Anyway, it only took about a year for my pineapple tree to start flowering and about 3 months for the fruit to ripe. This is fast compared to the information I got that pineapple tree will start to flower at the age of 18-24 months if planted by the crown. I wonder if the homemade liquid enzyme has contributed to it. How about your experience planting pineapple? 

Look at the ratoons, at this size they are ready to be replanted!

Gardening is indeed very rewarding and satisfying despite all the troubles and works!

Other fellas part 2

Tuna Pizza

Last Sunday, while tending to Barney I made some tuna pizza. This is my first pizza making from scratch. I used Fern's recipe for the bread from Thoughts from Frank and Fern. I've been following their blog since last year. I like reading their blog and especially interested with their sharing about how to make cheese and yoghurt.

The recipe was enough for me to make two pizzas and as you can see, the bread was excellent!

As you can see the bread's texture, it's perfect, a bit crisp at the outside and soft inside. 

I was very satisfied with my first trial!

Goodbye Barney...

On Monday, 

the weather had been bleak and the sky grey all day... 
It was as gloomy as my feeling... my mood...
My newly-found lovebird was dying...

Last Thursday, 

I heard my helper called out my name... 
to my surprise she pointed at a small red-headed yellow lovebird perched on the iron trellis of my kitchen window. 
It didn't fly away when my brother approaced and tried to catch it, instead, it frantically flew to the ceiling of the bathroom before it manuvered into my room, and there my brother 
managed to catch it.

At first, we thought it belonged to the bird shop next door. 
It's not unusual for us to help them catch escaped birds that flew into our house through my brother's workshop on the first floor. Somehow in my heart I knew that we're destined to meet...
and it was such a surprise to find that it wasn't belonged to them!

Soon, we gave him a new house and I named him Barney... We don't know wether it's a male or female but I just decided that it's a him, and feel that the name really fitted him.
 We don't know how old he was either. 
It's not easy to determine the sex of lovebirds, it usually requires a DNA test.. And after lovebirds have reached the age of 6 mo-1 yo, it will be difficult to tell its age. 
According to the information I read on the internet, Barney is a Lutino Fischer Lovebird originated from Africa. 

When we first found him, he looked fine except that he's not very active. I, who don't have any experience with birds before, found it just normal, considering the new environment and that it might be exhausted and hungry while in the escape.

It ate often and it also slept often!

I have always thought that lovebirds must be kept in pairs, if not it will died of loneliness, so I thought his inactiveness must be related to boredom. Once in a while I saw him biting the iron trellis of his cage and screeched, trying to escape it.

Then I started to find that the lower eyelid of his right eyes was swollen like a small blister. And sometimes his right eye was shut while the left was open. And he slept more often with fluffed-up feathers that made him look untidy.

 Look at how cute he was when sleeping! When I shot him with my camera, he could sense the traffic enforcement light on my camera beeping and he would make a cute peep on me! But just for a while and it would continue his sleep. He liked to tuck his head on his back or inside his wing. And sometimes he went into a deep sleep that he once almost lost his balance on the perch. Then I often found him oozing out on a spot at the corner so he might have a better balance. What a smart bird! 

Barney has brought such a joy into my life though it's for a very short time. I had started to build a friendship with it by talking to him and singing him a lullaby. After a couple of days, he looked more relaxed and no longer scared when I open his cage's door and inserted my hand to changed the newspaper I laid at the bottom of his cage, though he still tried to climb up in order to avoid me.

Last Sunday, he became weaker. He slept all the time, even when he perched on his food box. He would chew the mixed seeds for a while and slept! Many times I had to wake him up by calling his name, but he seemed to be in a deep sleep state that he couldn't really hear me. We started to think that he's an old, sick bird. Maybe his owner had purposedly set him free... 

Poor Barney...

I was so happy that he found us!

I bought an eyedrop for his eyes from our neighbor's bird shop. I applied it on his eyes twice on Sunday. 
And I started to notice that his feces was watery.

On Monday noon, I heard my brother say that Barney's dying...

I rushed to his cage and saw him staggered at the bottom of his cage. He looked struggling...and almost fell....

I kept calling his name...and I could see him trying to open his eyes...but he was too weak already...

He lay there until he was really gone...

I had my brother burried him at the front yard.

Had I learnt all his symptoms earlier, I might still have had a chance to save him...

I still feel the pain...

Barney, thank you for coming into my life, though 

only for a short moment...

I knew from the beginning that you're a gift

 from God.

I'm really happy to have you and to take care of you.

You have given such a joy into my life.

I love you.

And will always remember you.