November 2006: I found myself needing something small and helpless to care for. Enter Milo. She stood out among the other birds in the cage at the D&B, and I had to have her. I thought she was a male, but turns out I was wrong. Isn't she a beaut?
In the wild, parakeets flock together by the thousands, so Milo got lonely. She would just sit there on the perch all day long, barely moving. Even two parakeets together are lonely, but at least they're not completely alone. So in March I couldn't stand seeing such a lonely thing, so got her a she-friend, whose name is "Ele" (short for "Elephant", named by nephew Ethan.) Milo was beside herself with joy. Here they are together.
Last week I almost killed Ele. I thought I'd wait to write about it just in case she actually did die, but she's still alive.
Long story short: I clipped their wings (you have to do it every few months or so if you don't want them flying around the house). I thought while I had them there I would go ahead and clip their toenails. If they get too long they get their feet caught on things. Don't clip their toenails too short, or you might hit a vein and they will bleed. I hit Ele's vein but she only bled a little and it appeared to stop--so I didn't think much of it. Until I came home a few hours later and found bird blood all over the perches in their cage. Aaaaah!!!!
I ran and googled for help. They said use corn starch or flour. They also said that a bird can die after losing just a few drops of blood. Ele had lost much more than that. That's when I started to panic. She wouldn't stay still to let the cornstarch work--she just kept bleeding.
I took her to the vet (first time in my life--taking a pet there!) who said she wasn't sure, but it looked like not just her nail but part of her toe had been cut off too!!! Aaaaaah!!! That's right around when I started to cry. She had me come in the back while she worked on Ele, because "birds often die when they are in trauma like this, and I need you to be here to witness it. For vet liability issues." Aaaaaaah!!!!!!!!!! "I killed my parakeet."--that's all I could think, and the tears ran down. But I knew I had not clipped that much off--I'm very careful when doing that.
About 5 traumatic minutes later Tana, the vet, got the toe cleaned she said that actually it did look like just the nail had been cut after all. She applied "bloodstop" and the bleeding immediately stopped. She sent some bloodstop along with me and wished me luck. I'll admit I was grateful that she didn't charge me anything. The whole way home I wondered if Ele would die because of all she'd been through. So far so good. She's still chirping as annoyingly and loudly when "Amelia" is attempting to nap.Here they are after a bird bath, looking like wet dogs!
Ray had to work early in the morning moving equipment in a bank so they could re-carpet, and then move it all back late that evening. So we had all day to find ways to spend the time. I iceskated at the rink overlooking the lake while Ray held Amelia. I didn't fall once, though I only made it around the rink about 8 times before my legs started to wobble from pure fatigue!! How sad that I am such a wimp. Notice the lake in the background.
All of our cutest pictures taken that day were of Amelia. I wish I could post them--she was so happy and smiling! Maybe someday...
Cheap prices, and bulk bins that never end, with even cheaper prices. WinCo's signature brand, "Flavorite", is decent as well. All in all, its the place to shop. They just opened a new location in our area, so everyone's especially excited.
I took a friend from Utah who was visiting to WinCo, and she couldn't get over how low the prices are. And while it may be a warehouse-type store, it doesn't have that warehouse feel that the one by Leatherby's did in Provo. BYU Grads: what was the name of that one grocery store? I forgot!
Long live WinCo!
Look: the mists of darkness that BF is, actually captured on film!
Look at our great front row spot at the mall! Its happened two years in a row now.
Anyway, here's my favorite story from that morning. We eventually found ourselves at Mervyns--our fifth store that morning. I found the Christmas present for my sister in law that I had gone there for and proceeded to the jewelry counter. That's where I always try to buy things in those types of stores, as there is never a wait. It doesn't have to be jewelry for them to ring it up.The girl behind the counter was calling "71? 71?" really loudly. So I asked her where to get a number. She pointed behind me and asked me what number it was. I told her "78" and she said, "OK--there must be people that have these other numbers." No one responded to 71, so she began calling 72. I looked around me and saw only 2 customers at the counter, both of whom do not appear to be ready to purchase. She then called out 73 and waited a little less time. Then 74 and waited even less time, but she still waited. I told her I liked her style as she sped up her calling out of numbers. Then 75, 76 and 77 while we both looked around, waiting for someone to run up saying that that was their number. Nobody came. Finally, she called out "78" (not loudly, but she still called it out! :) and I stepped forward with my clothing purchase and handed it to her. She said, "I'm sorry, ma'am, but do you have a jewelry purchase as well?" When I said "no", she said she couldn't ring up my purchase. I began laughing out loud as I went to find a different register, wondering in the meantime what that girl was going to do with her free time behind the jewelry counter!
