Bird Talk Magazine

So I've been getting issues of Bird Talk magazine for the past year or so. I absolutely love this magazine and would suggest it to any bird owner who truly cares about their feathered companion. Lately I've been trying to get my birdie pictures in their magazine. I can win some treats for the birds if they show up in the magazine, but ultimately it would just be super cool to see them featured in a publication.

This is an example of one of the pictures I sent to them. This is Orchid on the left and Josh's deceased bird Pinky on the right. They were having a birdie hoot about something. Lets see if it makes it in the magazine.

Tammy Update

A few posts back I recorded my struggles in attempting to keep some newly purchased goldfish alive. Sadly, they passed away the night that I bought them. Goodbye forever Mingo and other fishy.

In other news, Tammy my special needs rescue parrot is coming along very well. When I first brought her home she was scared out of her mind but in the last few weeks we have bonded well. The other night she spent an hour and a half hanging out on my shoulder and cuddling up to my face while we watched the movie Walk The Line. I really enjoyed Johnny Cash's life story and I also enjoy Tammy's new habit of licking my bottom lip and the tip of my nose. It's super cute....and no I am not afraid of catching "bird flu".

In this picture you can see her bare chest from feather plucking. This is a characteristic behavior of parrots with emotional  turmoil or  skin/medical conditions. Not all parrots end up plucking themselves. Tammy was a neglected soul who was not fed properly and was housed in a cage literally ten times too small for her and this led to her feather plucking.

Orrin and Orchid hanging out with Tammy on the bird chair. 

Lately I had been accumulating a lot of great looking photos on my camera's memory card, but who knew that "would you like to format your memory card now?" actually means "you're about to permanently delete all of your photographs dumbshit!" Probably everyone other than me : )

Anyway, I ended up loosing a summers worth of beautiful photos of my birds, visits to the beach, fair visits, demolition derby videos (Which was awesome btway. I saw a car flip over which is pretty uncommon), boating videos, and photos from friend visits. Yuck. Regardless of the photos lost, I surely will have more to share in future posts.

Videos

She & Him is a band that I've enjoyed listening to for years and yet I never seem to tire of their music. Their songs have a very vintage sound reminiscent of radio hits of the 50's and 60's. Zooey Deschanel's voice is rich and lovely. This is one of my favorite songs from their album.

Orchid was sick of waiting and finally asked Orrin to marry her. He agreed but threw some tantrums, tossing a glass bird ornament on the ground. Silly bird!

Josh made this video for Wake Up Bedhead's song Put Your Hands Up. I listed the lyrics to the song below because I love to look up lyrics of every song that I listen to and thought that others may enjoy this as well. We're currently working on our next video for Eli's song Crystal Ball.

Put Your Hands Up

I know what you're doing in the summer 

And I know when you're looking in the mirror 

I know when you're floating in a cloud 

And I know when I feel like getting loud 

 Sometimes you get so high it's hard to breathe you worry

 A feeling in your chest can make you oh so sorry 

The music in your mind can play with all your senses

 Put you in another place 

Where you've got a different face 

and wake up 

 oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh 

 I know when you get a little older  

Things will get a bit less serious

 I know when you're looking 

 You won't find the answer then 

You need to know how to get back to the ground

 Sometimes you get so high it's hard to breathe you worry 

A feeling in your chest can make you oh so sorry 

The music in your mind can play with all your senses 

Put you in another place 

Where you've got a different face
and wake up

oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

 Oh put your hands up baby 

You've gotta give up  

Singing oh put your hands up baby 

You've gotta give up 

Oh oh oh put your hands up baby 

You've gotta give up

 Singing oh put your hands up baby

 You've gotta give up.

 oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh

Natural Lifestyle

I've been on a mad mission to accomplish my summer goals since fall will shortly start creeping in. As previously mentioned, one goal that I have made sporadic attempts at completing is to live a healthy lifestyle by eating well and using chemical free beauty and household products.

This time I've gone all out in hopes of continuing on with a healthy lifestyle. I've researched natural products online and have spent a lot of time searching through stores to find products that are as natural as possible. My hope is to eventually use products that are 100% all natural for all daily purposes. This is more difficult than it may sound due to the need for synthetic preservatives that are necessary for a long shelf life.  To accomplish this I may have to concoct my own potions daily, weekly, or monthly depending on ingredients used.

At this point I only have a few 100% certified natural, preservative, phosphate, paraben, fluoride, and sulfate free concoctions. The rest are very close to 100% natural. Some are recently purchased and others long-standing products that I use in my daily life.

Lavera Intense Volumizing Mascara
This product is made with organic beeswax and refined mineral pigments. At $24.50 I thought that it would make my eyes dazzle and maybe even give me special super powers. It didn't. Honestly it does not make my lashes look half as beautiful as my previous Lancome mascara, but I will continue to use it in lieu of my life goal.

Lavera Soft-Eyeliner Brown
This eyeliner is made with organic jojoba oil and shea butter. Again, this does not work as well as my favorite chemical ridden eyeliner, but the benefits will outweigh the negative aspects of the product.

Lavera Lipgloss
This lip gloss is very pretty, but I'm a huge lipstick fanatic and have been wearing it almost every day since I was 13. It will be a very healthy change once I find the perfect organic lipstick. Or I might start making my own. No more ingesting nasty chemicals every day.




Alba Coconut Milk Cream Body Wash
This body wash is 100% vegetarian and smells really great. It is a non-foaming body wash, so it feels a little funny not having soapy bubbles in the bath.                    

                                                      Cococare 100% Cocao Butter Stick

I use this lotion stick every night on my dry skin trouble areas. It smells like chocolate and I'm generally not thrilled about smelling like a brownie, but it works really well and is 100% natural. It is incredibly cheap too!






Burt's Bees Natural Fluoride Free Toothpaste

Fluoride free is the way to be! 

Burt's Bees Pomegranate Lip Balm

100% natural and made with pomegranate oil,       

I really enjoy how this balm smells and tastes.

          100% Extra Virgin Coconut Oil 

This stuff is great! Due to spending way too much time boating on the Mississippi the other day, my skin was burnt to a crisp. I usually don't burn, but I look pretty lobstery. Anyway, I broke open a few capsules of coconut oil and slathered it all over my skin. It helped with the pain and my skin has yet to peel. Coconut oil is also an incredible cure-all. 

eos lotion

I love this lotion so much and it is 97% natural. It has a very soft, 

fresh scent and my skin feels so incredibly silky after every use.

Also, Yes To Cucumbers Shampoo and Conditioner, {pirk}, Crystal Deodorant, Giovanni Natural Mousse, are new additions to my life.

The absolute hardest part of my lifestyle change will be the healthy and eventual organic,  low-sugar, gluten and preservative free diet. It won't be easy but I plan to slowly make these changes, even if it takes months or years.

Wish me luck on my life journey!

Fish

Today my parents came to visit and to drop off a much needed dining room table. I had previously been eating my meals on the coffee table and sitting on the floor, so this will be nice for a change. Unfortunately my dining room is a meager 9'x10' and I've had to re-arrange everything a little goofy like since I'm also planning on using it as a birdie play room, bass practice space, computer room, and an artists lair during winter seasons.

I took a trip to Wal-Mart with the parents and thought it'd be a nice gesture to buy some more fish for Vince the goldfish to play with. Out of all the fish in the tank I picked out a jolly looking goldfish sub-species, and a white and orange mixed color goldfish. I brought them home and was so happy watching the fishies swim around, but suddenly one of them started floating. Then within the next ten minutes the other one started to show signs of deterioration as well. I've been looking for cures on the internet and added some salt and peas to the water, just in case there is any hope for them. Somehow I feel that this is my fault because I took them from their home.

Maybe it seems strange to try so hard to save them, but I truly believe that every living creature is a special soul with a purpose in this world. I refuse to kill bugs unless they are harming me or others, and obviously through accidental circumstances with my feet, car, etc. I'd actually feel better about myself if I were a vegetarian, but because of my hypoglycemia and eye problems I've been told to eat a lot of complete proteins, which are animal proteins.  Maybe incomplete proteins can be combined to make a complete protein? Someone please teach me these things!!!

Anyway, I hope my fishies survive...the poor things.

Oh Beautiful Chair

China King buffet always makes me sick. The food tastes great, but it's the after effects that aren't so hot. So I've kinda been dragging through the day. Good news is that I found the perfect chair for my dining room/birdie play room. Paid $8.50 at the Salvation Army and I am a happy camper!

I couldn't resist throwing my Hofner in the picture. It's such a great bass.

Jonas has been sitting around all day playing Rio on his Xbox in anticipation for watching the DVD tonight. I love that I've turned him into a total bird freak. In case anyone was wondering, yes we will be watching the movie with the birds.

Wake Up Bedhead has been on a bit of a hiatus because our drummer Jason, aka Action Jacksen, hurt his hand by falling off of his bike. Jason is a really, super nice guy and deserves to have some lucky lady mend his wounds and make him feel all better! Ice that hand buddy!

Jason of WUB

Tammy Katy Parrot

So Tammy has been a bit scared since coming home. It's another chapter in her life and hopefully the last major change she will have to go through. She's been through too much.

 Now Tammy is not a first name choice for a pet of mine. At one point in my life I knew a Tammy and upon hearing this name it would bring me back to a darker period in my life. It's strange how we can associate words, smells, or basically anything with good or bad feelings. The mind works in strange ways.

I do not know how long she has had this name and don't feel right completely changing it. I was watching MTV and a Katy Perry video was on. Tammy perked up, shook her tail feathers, and squawked when asked if she liked Katy Perry. So I call her Tammy Katy Parrot and she doesn't seem to mind. I think she looks just like crazy Katy Perry.

Tammy

Saturday turned out to be a great day for this bird lover. My family is finally complete with the addition of a friend that I officially adopted from the Center for Avian Rehabilitation & Education, Inc. in Hubertus, WI. 

I did not sleep well the night before my departure to pick out my new loved one. Anxiety had taken over my mind and I was tossing and turning all night. Three sleeping spots later I finally dozed off on my couch. All of the negative aspects of bird ownership kept on creeping into my mind. Daily cage cleanings, fresh food expenses, accidental and intentional bite wounds, and incessant squawking half an hour before my alarm is set to go off each morning. 

Despite my apprehension, I woke up early Saturday morning to start the four hour journey to the CARE center. It was a very long drive, but I was in great company and I saw something extraordinary!  Within the first thirty minutes of the journey Jonas and I witnessed World Guy, a man named Erik Bendl who has walked over two thousand miles for diabetes awareness. I was disappointed that I didn't have my camera, but at least I found him on the Internet.

He looked just like this and was with his dog when I saw him.

So after this I drove another two hours and took a much needed break at a Wisconsin rest area somewhere past Wisconsin Dells. It was the nicest rest area I have ever seen! I thought about taking a nap on a bench in the air conditioned building, but ultimately decided to push on. Jonas drove the rest of the way and when we finally got to where we thought we were supposed to be, we couldn't find the town of Hubertus. So we stopped at a gas station and asked for directions two times, then finally found our destination. 

I wasn't sure what to expect of CARE, but let me tell you that it was ear-piercingly loud. Apparently Saturdays are a little bit more rowdy than days during the week and the birds were pretty worked up. I saw many species of birds; love birds, conures, cockatoos, parrotlets, budgies, amazons, lorikeets, cockatiels, and I even saw a macaw for the first time. It was gorgeous, though that beak could cut a person's hand right in half. 

So we walked through the center and Chris, the lady that I had been communicating with over the phone, showed me a few birds based on my application. I was searching for a bird who wasn't as adoptable as others due to special needs or appearance.  

I first met Puzzle who was an absolutely adorable, well mannered and social lorikeet. He seemed to really like me and I had a hard time not taking him home. He was fed the wrong diet and had some complications due to this. Lorikeets feed on nectar, pollen, and fruits in the wild and need to be fed a specialized water and powder mix along with fruits. Because of this their poop sprays out like water and later crystallizes. I know this first hand because he pooped on me. Haha! Anyway, he was a doll and my heart still aches a little for not taking him home. I did not feel that I had the right living situation for him, but he was so adorable that I'm sure he'll find a new home soon. 

Puzzle 

I also met Mork, the elderly Patagonian conure who I spoke about in a previous post. He was very sweet, but he was very fond of a specific volunteer who worked with him weekly. I felt that it would have been a shame to take him away from a place where he had such a strong connection with another human. 

Mork

Finally I was introduced to Tammy the Nanday Conure. From what I've been told she has had a very rough life, but it doesn't show in her personality.

If you click here you can see Tammy's story as it has been updated on CARE's blog. Start reading at the bottom of the page under Meet Tammy, and read through her story backwards. If you click on newer post you can see more info about her. It's really quite sad. She was housed in a canary cage for 23 years and was barely alive when she was brought to CARE from lack of nutrition. She was the weight of a parakeet and she should have been three times that weight. She was then adopted by someone who tried to make money off of her on craigslist. When she was surrendered back to the center she made a bird friend named Rocky who ended up dying from egg laying complications. Such a hard life for a poor little bird!

So here I come...I see Tammy for the first time and knew that I had to give her a good home. She's my little love. 

Tammy resting on my chest during a long ride home