I feel bad that I haven’t been updating like I should. Things have been crazy and stressful lately. I do have two cute things to share.
One is that the birds had fresh coconut for the first time ever. I love fresh coconut and my dog does too. I cooked up a nice dish with tiny cubes of coconut and other delicious things. When I feed the birds I always feed Malachite last (I think I’ve mentioned my insistence on feeding them all in a certain way) and I usually pick up a piece of the food and offer it to him to try because he is spoiled and wants me to hand feed him. Sometimes he plays silly games and pretends he isn’t interested in what I am offering. He will nibble a few times before going in for the kill. This time he took a tentative bite and then immediately grabbed the coconut cube from me and ate every scrap. They also had papaya since it is one of the only fruits Romeo and Juliet like. I can’t understand how they could like icky papaya and not like my favorite fruits in the world. I actually gave everyone a raspberry to see what they thought and for a minute it looked like Romeo and Juliet had tried it. Not sure but I will try offering them raspberries again and see what happens.
The other is that Juliet is simply adorable. She decided I wasn’t paying enough attention to her. Hm, I guess I should have said “he” and “her” but my brain rebels. The solution to this is to screech as loudly and obnoxiously as possible. I replied with my best budgie screech and we had a screeching war. My neighbors must avoid me at all costs because everyone knows not to make eye contact with crazy people. Juliet realized she might lose the war so she decided to have a battle with her cuttlebone. She kept slamming her beak into it over and over and then looking to make sure I was watching.
I rearranged their cages recently. Except for Malachite, he is still waiting for his renovation. Squeaky and Iggy have the grapevine perch Iggy loves so much and I also put all the platform perches back in. Only Malachite had his but the other two platform perches were unearthed and put in. Romeo and Juliet are on platform perch strike again but Squeaky and Iggy are very happy. Romeo and Juliet do have their favorite perch again, a big Y-shaped perch that they love to rub their little faces on. In between their epic fights over who gets to sit where.
I have finally left my house and rejoined the human race. My knees were feeling good for a while but they are hurting again. I think I may have stressed them out with all this physical activity. Ugh. I start physical therapy in a week and I am looking forward to it. It will be in a fancy shmancy gym I could never afford in a million years. I feel like a pauper let into a palace. Actually it’s not nearly as nice as I thought it would be. It is a very nice gym of course but it seems pretty small and doesn’t have enough equipment/space/stuff for all the people who go there. I looked at the online reviews and found out the location I am going to is pretty small and it seems other locations have much better reviews.
Gym talk makes me wonder what I will do if I ever get better. In an ideal world I would move to Chelsea and join Chelsea Piers (because if you’re going to spend a lot on a gym that’s the way to do it!) and since I would obviously be rich if both of those things occurred I would also be able to afford cab rides to Chelsea Piers. My gym membership at the gym that shredded my knees is going to be over soon. I only paid for two months and I think the two months will be up at the end of May. I don’t know what to do. I will probably hold off on any gym going until I finish physical therapy.
I’m thinking about just taking a few classes at the gym by my house instead of renewing my membership because most of the gym is machines and I am terrified of machines now. I really don’t ever want to use a stupid workout machine again. They have fighting and yoga classes at my gym so I may pay for those individual classes. Even if I have a membership I have to pay full price for these classes (usually $10) so I’m not losing out on anything by just paying per class. I may end up paying for a membership to the boxing/kickboxing/self defense/awesomeness classes taught by this boxer who is really fun. I had so much fun doing that and I have a few neighbors who want to take the classes with me. Unfortunately I won’t be doing anything like that for a while because even the warmups would hurt my knees.
I’m also thinking of going upstate for a little while. They have to put a new lining in the pool so I think I will wait until that has been done because I would like to go swimming. Probably good for my wimpy knees. I will probably bring everyone with me.
There is one other thing I think I forgot to mention. A few months ago I was walking down the staircase in my building to take my dog for his walk when he stopped dead in his tracks. There was a cat sitting on the staircase. My dog is an embarrassment to his kind because he is terrified of cats. Like he will run away from them. He was not going to pass by this cat because he has experienced how evil and deceptive cats can be courtesy of a deli cat who clawed at him years ago. I picked him up and carried him safely over the tiger loose in the building.
My block has a bunch of feral cats. I see them running around at night and sometimes see people feeding them. This cat was not feral. He was sweet and friendly, his coat was brushed, and he had quite a bit of extra cat flesh on him. No collar though, which is a pet peeve of mine. Cats should always have collars with ID tags on them. I’ve found lost cats before and was able to reunite them with their owners because of the phone number on the tag.
Anyway, I knew this was a pet and not a stray and I had a feeling I knew which apartment the cat belonged to. No one was home. I heard a rumor that they were considering getting the cat out of the building in a cruel fashion and also that they were going send it to the pound. My worst nightmare as a dog owner is losing my dog and having him get (inhumanely) euthanized in the city shelter so there was no way I was letting them take the cat to the pound. The door to the building was also left wide open and I was worried the cat would run outside and get hit by a car.
Because I’m a nut I have a collection of dog crates in my apartment so I grabbed one and chased the cat all over the building. Crate remained empty. Finally we ended up on the top floor, my floor. I figured it would be easier to chase the cat around my tiny apartment than the entire building. I locked my dog in the bedroom and opened my front door. The cat ran right inside. Then I remembered I have pet birds and they might be afraid of the cat. The cat ran right into the room where the birds are and hid under the couch. Then I spent a while chasing the cat around and he is running under the cages. What do you think the birds did?
Absolutely nothing. No reaction. They just watched me run around in circles after the cat. It was hilarious. They are so used to random animals coming in and out that they did not even react to the cat. My dog was barking like a maniac because he knew exactly what I was doing. This cat was a sweet cat except for the whole crate thing. He did not want to go in the crate and once he realized that was the goal he was not very cooperative. He also had all his razor sharp claws and I was very respectful of them because I really did not want to get clawed. I finally managed to get him in the crate with some food and water and then took the extra precaution of putting the crated cat in another room with the door closed so if he magically escaped the crate he wouldn’t be able to get near the dog or the birds. Then I went out and found his owner and gave him a lecture about the importance of ID tags and collars and how the building was about to send the cat to the pound. I have a feeling the next time the cat gets out (because apparently this is not the first or second or third or fourth time) he still won’t have a collar.
Collars and ID tags are useful things people! Your dogs and cats should have collars and ID tags. In New York most dogs have a bunch of tags, usually proof of rabies, NYC dog license tag, and an ID tag. My dog has all of those and he also had a fourth tag that lets people know he has a microchip. Actually, looking at his tags I realize he needs some updating and he also needs new tags. I have to get him another rabies vaccination soon and I also need to get him an official dog tag. A high quality one. The brand I am planning on getting is Red Dingo and I would absolutely recommend them to everyone. I love the quality of the tags and they are extremely durable. And cute, which doesn’t hurt. There are actually a million different options for tags and no reason not to get them. In an emergency you can get a tag made immediately in certain pet stores. I’ve gotten emergency tags made at three different locations and they usually cost $10. They are not the best tags and will fade after a few years but are much better than nothing.
That reminds me of something else. I saw the funniest leashes in the world and I am determined to collect a bunch of them. They are called Max Pawfection leashes and they appeal to my twisted sense of humor. Here is a link:
I don’t know anything about that site and have never ordered from them, just showing you the leashes. I want so many of them. Since most of the leashes have suggestive slogans I will refrain from posting them here but I assure you that some of these leashes are hilarious. I cannot decide which ones are my favorites. I love the balls one, the hairy legs one, the grass one and the stick one. Those are the ones I want! I’m not sure about the stick one though! That’s a bit much even for me! I have a feeling my boyfriend will refuse to use any of these leashes if I get them. Obviously the balls one would be for him though I can only imagine the looks of confusion I would get if I walked my dog using that leash. Something to consider.
And here is a really cute dog bed I want to get for my dog because he loves watermelon more than anything else in the world!
