Venice
Monday, 3:07 pm
Jul
07
2008
The lad is on his last day of his vacation, due to arrive home tomorrow night. Yesterday and today they’ve been enjoying Venice. This is an image from the ship’s cam. The distant view of Venice is rather obscured by that big-ass ship. Scuse me, but that’s the kindest thing I can say about it. How big do you reckon that thing is? It looks bigger than Venice. It has crossed over the line into indecent.
Saturday evening when the lad’s ship cruised into port, they docked way up by the actual city. There were violent thunderstorms going on and it was pretty impressive. With the ship that close to the city, I could actually see canals and some of the arched pedestrian bridges over them. I wish I’d captured the pictures, but I thought I’d wait for daylight and blue sky. Alas, the ship moved overnight.
A birdy update
Monday, 2:37 pm
Jul
07
2008
Somewhere back in May, I bought a bird and named him Dobby. After a couple of weeks, I determined that Dobby was lonely and he tugged on those old heart strings so badly, that I went out to get him a friend. Only, instead of buying another little budgie, somehow I wound up with a rescue bird who was a neurotic and sick mess. Her name is Lucy. One vet visit and a pocketful of antibiotic later, she became healthy once more. And, over the course of a few more weeks, she settled down and lost most of her neuroses. She’s turned into a sweet little lady with a ton of personality.
I still kept the two birds quarantined. One upstairs and one downstairs.
Dobby, meanwhile, grew more and more despondent. He was sooo lonely. And, it turns out...sick. Another vet visit. More antibiotic. The medicine killed the bad germs, but didn’t do much for his despondency. A depressed bird is a sad, sad affair.
It finally occurred to me that after having dragged both birds to the vet and plied them with medications, there really wasn’t much need to maintain the quarantine. Dobby’s lucky day.
This weekend, I brought him downstairs and placed his cage about 10 feet away from Lucy and stood back waiting for his overwhelming happiness. And waited....and waited.
Lucy, naturally, was all kinds of delighted. She chirped and bounced and yelled across the room. Dobby, however, retreated to the deepest corner he could find and turned his back on the world.
Well, I thought...this isn’t going well.
Lucy sangs songs for him, to him, about him. She yelled and jumped up and down to get his attention. She was in hyperdrive. I didn’t know how Dobby could fail to respond. I surely did. I finally couldn’t stand it and had to cover Lucy up to get a few minutes of peace and quiet.
Dobby and I had a little talk. I mentioned how Lucy was his friend and how difficult this was going to be if he wouldn’t at least look at her once. “I did this for you, Dobby,” I said. He ignored me, too.
That night, I covered them both and went to bed with a sad heart. And then a funny thing happened.
The next morning, I heard birdie shouts and trills and chirps and squawks coming from....Dobby. Even though he was still covered. It was the most he’s said since he’s been here. I ran down to uncover them both and it’s been a regular zoo ever since. Dobby has emerged from his shell. He is an inveterate talker. A chatterbox extraordinaire. He has captivated Lucy with the telling of his entire life history. He sings to her and she sings back. They chatter quietly to each other and then talk loudly to each other. And they stare longingly at each other.
Well. We have certainly made progress around here. Lucy seems to have lost the last vestiges of her neuroses and Dobby has left his despondency back there in the dust. They are both genuinely happy birdies!
The next step is to introduce them physically...during out of the cage time. Dobby is used to the drill. He loves his play time. I clip a spray of millet seed to his play gym (folding wooden laundry rack with birdie toys attached), then open his door. He rockets out to get his millet. Afterwards, he just has fun playing with his toys. Lucy is still very reluctant to have anything to do with anything beyond the bars of her cage. I think Dobby will help her overcome that.
Once I’ve determined that they can live happily and safely together, it’ll be time to move them into a new home that’s large enough for both of them. I know which one I’d like, but I’m thinking that’s a little rich for my blood. I’m sure there’s an acceptable and attractive compromise out there somewhere.
Here’s a pic of Dobby. Lucy still won’t tolerate the camera near her, so we’ll have to wait a while longer to capture her image.
Dobby’s taking a nap sitting on the top of my laptop screen. It’s one of his favorite perches, I think because it’s warm. And, well, it’s also close to me. He’s an affectionate little fellow.