Good Morning folks!  It's a fine sunny morn in northern AZ, soon to be a fine cloudy, stormy morning/afternoon.  It has rained just about every day now for a week and I still look forward to it.  Far too many years on the west side of Phoenix where the sun always shines and the rain never falls..... who needs southern California.... and if you know what that refers to you are letting your true yearly age peek out from behind your left ear and making a rude gesture to the world!! LOL!!!


So, today we continue with the kids:
I have 2 FeatherKids....
1.  Jakob is a who knows how old male pied cockatiel.  On Valentine's Day, Wolfie took the furkids out to do their thang (mostly bark) in the wee hours of the morning.  It was somewhere around 30 degrees out.  He called me from outside on his cell phone - which immediately alerted me to the fact something serious was up as I am fully aware of how much each minute costs him for texts and calls.  
"Get out here quick I can't hold them off much longer!"  Ummmm.... ok... nightie on, grab sweatshirt off back of couch, slippers have convenient rubber soles and out the door I dash with visions of all four furkids foaming at the mouth, blood dripping from their fangs attacking my SigO. As I take stock of the yard before me from the porch in order to ascertain which direction I should be headed having forgotten to ask for GPS coordinates, all appears calm... no one is barking, much less dripping blood from fangs, and everyone is in the far corner of the 3 acre yard. As confusion begins to cloud my otherwise merely foggy brain, Wolfie points - there on the ground shivering and freezing was Jakob, my Valentine's Day gift from God... I ran over, snatched him up and tucked him in my sweatshirt and ran back into the house.  Now Jakob has  his issues... mostly ego... he looks down on us humans as something no bird in his right mind would do anything to, with, or for, other than puncture!  The only thing he has learned to say so far is : Jakob is a pretty pretty birdie - and trust me folks - he believes it!


2.  RainBeau is a 20yr old male Double Yellow Headed Amazon Parrot.  Beau was up for sale on CL for far more than he is worth and although I went to see him, and he really liked me, on the advice of a breeder friend I opted not to make the purchase.  Several weeks later, the woman who owned him called me and begged me to take him stating that she just really wanted a good, knowledgeable home for him and everyone else that came over he hated or she did not feel comfortable with.  So... sucker that I am... enter RainBeau.
Now RainBeau, whom she had had for some 7+ years at this point, has had his wings totally butchered to prevent flight, but in all those years has never had his nails (or should I just say talons) or beak trimmed.  He was on a primarily sunflower seed diet which has made him the heaviest amazon I have ever held!  
Beau is now on a better diet including fresh fruits, vegetables, and whatever I am having for supper and is looking much healthier.  He gets out of his cage and fears nothing, roaming throughout the house, King of his domain.  Beau talks too!  He says "Maw!!", "Hello Baby", "Maw!!" Sings about losing his heart, "Maw!!", apparently it is in California, "Maw!!", somewhere up on a hill, "Maw!!", he also sings about loving popcorn, , "Maw!!", does the funky chicken dance, says  "Maw!!" --- OH, and did I mention how well he says (screams incessantly) , "Maw!!" 
Good home my you know what!  She just got sick of hearing that word!  Around here we whisper it if necessary to use it, or just refer to it as "that word"....


Now for the FinKids:
I have 3 extremely large Goldfish in a 40 gallon tank.  They also came from CL and were free.  The largest proudly carries the moniker of "Mongo" - REALLY big, all bright orange fella with one heck of an appetite.  Next is Spot.  Spot is a little smaller, Fancy Goldfish, mostly white with a couple of red - yup, you guessed it on the first try - spots.  Spot likes to take the food from your fingers.  Or kiss you if your hand has no food but happens to be in the water.  Last but not least, -well, I guess yes he would be considered least as he is the smallest- we have Paleface.  Paleface is orange with a white tail.... Oh Ok - yes it is really a white face! Jeez! Don't get huffy about it!


Other than various and sundry wildlife: big black birds bigger than Wynda, sparrows, roadrunners, hummingbirds, mourning doves, javelina, and on trash night a pack of coyotes that trot right down the road examining the pickings of everyones trash cans with impunity I think that pretty much covers the non-human species in my world.


See you all again tomorrow! 


Ya'all have a supercalifragilisticexpialadotious day!!!

Me...

So.... many folks have told me over the span of my lifetime that I should write a book.  Well, I have the attention span of a gnat with ADD, so I thought I would try this blogging thing.  Blog...Blogger...Blogging... who the heck comes up with these words anyway?? I learned some of the vernacular: LOL, ROFLMAO, HAGD, etc. But Blog??? Sounds more like something floating in a Louisiana bayou than a verb.  Or is it a verb.... noun? adverb? I am too far into the beginnings of my "old timer's" period of life to recall some things...
Well, I guess I will start with a little about my current family.  
I have 5 furkids:

1. Merlin (AKA Merkitty, AKA Paulden Black Panther Kitty) 3 yr old black once upon a time male cat who was acquired to satisfy SigO's (Wolfie) desire for a cat. 

2. Lukas (AKA Lukie, AKA Will You PLEASE Shut Up!) a 90lb, 5 yr old purebred German Shepherd Dog adopted through a 3rd party.  Lukie began life in a home where his food consisted of a buffet of chickens - if he could catch one.  He then transplanted to a Prescott half-way house for male substance abuse program graduates, where they treated him pretty much like a piece of furniture that ate off the counters (who needs a dishwasher? put the plate on the floor and Luke will clean it for you!) for the next several years of his life until they decided that   the house dog for ex- (or current) drunks and junkies program was not working out as planned.  Now he has us and is in terminal "intruder alert" mode - even if that intruder is a sparrow relieving itself on a rock halfway up a mountain in the next state over...(umm... do they have mountains in New Mexico??


3.  Misty Mae (AKA Mischievious Misty, AKA Misty Missile, AKA Sidewinder Misty, AKA Misty-Get-Off-That-Fence!) a 50lb, 2 yr old female (until her fateful introduction to the local Humane Society), Gerpet (German Shepherd/Whippet) another rescue, who feels it is her God Given Duty to awaken me promptly at 5am every morning. EVERY morning. PROMPTLY.  Ignoring her is not an option as she starts with a growl, if that doesn't work progresses to a yodel, and failing that turns me into a human trampoline.  Misty is Very Fast, and Very Curious, and Very much suffering from some type of canine hyperactive disorder.  We have 3 acres which is about 3 acres too short for her racetrack. Go figure....


4.  Bailey Boo (AKA Bailey Ball, AKA Boo Baby, AKA Sheepdog, AKA Paper Towel Shredder, ) a 25lb, 3 yr old female (when she was born),  Shpug (Shih-Tzu/Pug) - or so I was told.  She looks more like a sheepdog on 4 inch legs with a permagrin and is shaped like a blimp.  Which one of those breeds ever got that big anyway??? Her best days are the ones when Misty plays soccer with her (as the ball) or she completes her mission of shredding enough paper towels to get into the AKC Book of World Records, followed by the exercise of her turbo tongue cleaning anything that will sit still long enough - generally resulting in the loss of a patch of skin from her victim.


5.  Wynda Lee (AKA Princess, AKA Her Highniness) a 5lb, 6yr old female (back in the day), ShiChi (Shih-Tzu/Chihuahua).  Wynda rules the roost (much to Misty's dismay) and her sole goal in life is to let everyone she meets know exactly how much they are loved -with the exception of the other furry intruders with whom she must share her realm and maintain her coveted position as Pack Princess.


Well, that's it for the furkids... tomorrow we will touch base with the featherkids and finkids....


Ya'all have a supercalifragilisticexpialadotious day!!!