Happy birds

Thursday, 8:49 pm

By Kate

Jan

15

2009

The new bird cage has been assembled and the birds moved in. The process wasn’t without glitches, naturally. The first thing I did was drop one of the casters on the floor and...it broke. While the cage itself is magnificant, the stupid casters are made with a plastic housing. For crying out loud, of all the places to cut corners. Well, determination and desperation being what they were, I broke out the super glue and a roll of duct tape. That seems to have done the trick. I’ll probably replace the casters at some point, but they’re all holding steady for now.

The cage was super easy to put together. And it is substantial in feel. It should last a (human) lifetime. And it really is pretty.

The second disappointment was that no light fixture was included. I had thought one would be, but no. There is a place for one—I have to provide my own. No big deal. I popped over to Home Depot today and picked up a cheapo aluminum worklight, some chain, and a couple of small hooks. And a full spectrum CFL bulb. Cost me $9 and change. It’s fully hidden under the roof, so it doesn’t matter that it isn’t an elegant looking fixture. It works and the birds love it.

So. How are the birds doing in their new home? Well, I introduced Lucy first. She was overwhelmed by all the open space and the couple dozen colorful geegaws hanging all over the place. But when she spotted her heated perch, all was well. She was prepared to settle in when Dobby popped through the door. Oh my word. They have been inseparable ever since. Much time spent nibbling each other’s beaks and preening each other. Lucy curls her head up into Dobby’s neck and lets him preen her endlessly. She is soooo in love.

Periodically, Dobby says he’s had enough of that nonsense and flits around to check out the new real estate. He has poked, pushed, pulled, and tweaked just about every thing in the cage already.  He really likes his new home. Lucy is a bit more reserved when it comes to exploring, but she does have her eye on a set of play rings. She hasn’t worked up the courage yet to actually touch them, but she will soon. I can see her bunch up her muscles, preparing to fly over to it, but she can’t quite bring herself to do it.

I have taken a couple of photos, but I can’t find the cord to hook the camera into the computer. The last time I cleaned and organized, I put it away where I’d know where it is. Well, I can’t remember where I put it now. So much for being organized. In the meantime, I’ll fool around with more pictures. The cage is so huge that it’s a challenge to find an angle where I can get a good shot. My house is tiny and this cage is one of the largest things in it. I love it, though!

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In other news...it’s cold outside. Really, really cold. Frigid, even. It’s already down to 3° and there’s a lot of time left for the temps to fall overnight. I heard on the news this afternoon that the temps in MA will range between -7° and -30° tonight. We haven’t seen those kinds of temps in years. The house is staying reasonably warm without burning through a lot of wood. So far. Warming up the house over the last couple of days has helped tremendously. If this weather lasts for much longer, though, I think we’ll close the upstairs off. The lad seems willing to move his center of operations if it means being warm. I don’t want to waste too much wood trying to heat the upstairs when we can make other arrangements for a couple of days. This cold won’t last too much longer, I’m sure. I hope.