Blog Archives

Fall Fun!

9/30/2013

So Breaking Bad is over, and mommy did a nice round up write up of the series at her blog. Feel free to swing by, as I think she covered it well. I sure am going to miss that show. It was great fun. But never fear, because all is not lost! There’s still plenty of entertainment to come. I had mommy do some checking and we have:

College football season currently in progress. Go Gamecocks! We’re big University of South Carolina fans and SEC fans here;

8 days until the season premier of Supernatural;

9 days until the season premier of Arrow;

32 days until mommy’s new book, an apocalyptic sci-fi thriller called Splinter, comes out;

39 days until Thor – The Dark World comes out (and that big craft show that mommy and grandmommy love to go to and do Christmas shopping at);

60 days until Thanksgiving (bread dressing and rolls – nom nom!);

75 days until The Hobbit – The Desolation of Smaug comes out;

86 days until SANTA! (Christmas!);

91 days until MY 14th BIRTHDAY!; and

92 days until New Year's Day, when humans will drink copious amounts of silly juice and promise to do better next year.

I didn't include Halloween because we don’t do Halloween. When you live in the woods, the mooches don’t come knocking on your door. I hated that when I lived in a neighborhood. I bit one of the kids good on my first Halloween. Now mommy and daddy can’t go to Applebees near our house because that kid grew up and works there now. Oops! Oh well, there’s always Chili’s and it’s closer (and has margarita specials, which mommy likes).

I think we’ll be alright, as it seems there’s plenty to entertain us and keep us busy in the coming months. Fall is a fun time! The weather is nice and there’s so much fun! I’m glad I’m all recovered and ready for it.

That’s all for today. Take care and have a great week.

Luv,

Zack

All Better and Back on Track

9/26/2013

Finally, I took the last dose of that antibiotic last night. Thank God! It left me worn out and irritated my tummy sometimes. What's up with having to take medicine for days after you get better? I don't understand that. The parronts said it's to make sure that all of the infection is good and dead and gone. I certainly hope so. No more yuckies in me, and I feel better! My voice is back, I'm playing and active, and I'm back to my old self. Chloe, Ollie, and the parronts are very happy for that.

I'm happy to have such great friends too! You guys have been great. Very supportive and I appreciate your care, concerns and prayers during my illness. Thank you so much. I love Twitter and this blog because it allows us to have our own community of great birds and people to help and support one another!

I wonder what mischief I can get into now that I'm restored to health and energy. It's time to get back to living to the fullest! It's great being a bird, and to feel good again.

That's all today. I hope you all have a great end to the week and a wonderful weekend.

Luv,

Zack

Decreasing My Anxiety

9/22/2013

I've been so worried about my big brother this past week! Zack got an upper respiratory infection last weekend, and today is his 7th day on his antibiotic. He's doing better, but he just got his voice back yesterday. So I had to keep an eye on him and call the parronts if we needed anything. It's good to see him doing better. I know we've all been worried about him, and it was such a relief when mommy and daddy came home from supper last night and he belted out his first screams in a week! We all felt better hearing that. And Zack's energy has been increasing each day. He's been a lot more active today, and more like himself. He still has 3 more days of medication left, but overall it seems to be working.

Mommy was worried about me too, because I was so nervous about Zack. I was pretty high strung, and she was afraid I'd make myself sick worrying. She said that happened with her parakeets once before - one of the males got sick, and the female worried so much that she got sick too. But they care for us well, and I'm doing okay now. I've been more relaxed this weekend, now that I see Zack improving. I believe mommy, daddy, and Ollie are feeling better and their anxiety is decreasing too. All in all, the whole flock is doing better.

Thanks once again to all of our friends for your care and concern! Mommy and daddy cleaned up the house and did the shopping yesterday, so we've been taking it easy today. It's just what we all needed. Tonight, mommy said we'll pop some popcorn and watch Breaking Bad. It's gonna be fun!

That's all today. I hope you've all had a great weekend and that you have a good week ahead.

Luv,

Chloe

Health and Healing

9/19/2013

Hi everybody, it’s Zack. I want to thank all of you for your care and concern this week. As you know from Twitter, I got sick over the weekend. Daddy took me to the vet on Monday, and I was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection. The vet gave me a shot and said to do the following for 10
days:

·        Take an antibiotic once a day. It taste like pina colada, so I don’t resist it too much. Of course, I have to run and flap and give mommy and daddy a fit catching me to give me my dose every day. I can’t let them think I’m becoming subservient to them, after all!

·        Eat more Vitamin A. We birds tend to get Vitamin A deficient when we get respiratory infections. Mommy got me some carrots and sweet potato. I hate them. They have yet to shove that crap in my beak. I can move faster than they can!

·        Sit under a heat lamp periodically. I’m supposed to stay warm. I dipped myself in my water dish during today's treatment session.

·        A 20 minute “steam treatment” every day. This is done by mommy sitting my cage in the bathroom while she takes her shower every night. I sit and glower while Chloe throws a fit wondering what the heck’s going on. We have a good system going there.

·        My tests also showed an increase in yeast, so no bread for me until I’m all healed up. Boo!

I am improving. My voice isn’t all the way back yet, but I am more energetic and I’m eating better and playing more. I still sleep a little more than usual, and the medicine did a number on my tummy. I know now what mommy meant when she said that the first few days of treatment leave you wondering whether the illness or the cure is worse. Side effects suck! But I’m adjusting and showing signs of improvement every day.

Thanks again for checking in and for your care and concern. You’re all such great friends! I’ll be sure to keep you posted on my progress.

Luv,

Zack

Zack Update

9/16/2013

Hi everybody, we're here with a Zack update. He went to the vet today and was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection. The doctor gave him a shot, and he was also given 10 days of antibiotics. The vet also recommended more Vitamin A. So Zack's going to be okay!

We're very happy to know what's wrong and to have medicine and treatment suggestions to help Zack feel better. I'm relieved to finally have some answers and help for Zack. I didn't sleep at all last night, worrying about him. But Zack has perked up some today, so that's encouraging.

Thanks to all of you for your care and concern! We'll keep you updated on Zack's progress this week.

Luv, Sherri (mommy)

Slow Weekend

9/15/2013

It's been a slow weekend for us. Daddy is sick with a cold, and mommy has been tired from a hectic week at work. They didn't even go out yesterday, except for mommy to pick up lunch. And there was an incident with that - a man was having a tirade at the place over not liking where his cheeseburger was. He was leaning over the counter, pointing and screaming that it should be in his hands and not on the counter being made. She said that's it, people are crazy. I'm going home. People always go looney when there's a college game downtown and it seems yesterday was no exception. I mean, geeze people. Football is a game. To allow it to dictate your mood like that is silly, even to a bird! I can only imagine how stupid that must have looked. And really, it was dumb to go to the most crowded burger place on the way to the stadium - at noon! - if your fuse is that short anyway.

I guess humans really like their recreation, but sometimes they get a bit too involved in it. Then again, mommy says that Zack can attack a chew toy with a lasar focus that rivals the biggest college football fan on game day. He can. He can tear up a yucca toy in hours. He calls it focus and precision. I don't know what I call it. Scary? I don't know. It's fun to watch him gnawing and grunting with that single minded determination sometimes too. That's our Zack - small bird, huge personality. There's not another bird like him in the world. And we do love our brother.

I guess I'm a more somber, balanced bird. I like to savor my toys and enjoy food and fun with an even keel. I'm more mellow and take life as it comes, which is also good. There's no need to get stressed or upset over things. Unless there's a predator around, or my tail is stepped on. Then it's on at a whole new level!

That's all today. I hope all of you are having a good weekend. Take care and have a great week.

Luv,

Chloe

Things Coming Together

9/12/2013

Check out the cover art for mommy's sci-fi novel that's coming out in November! The title is Splinter, and it's a sci-fi novel being published through Whiskey Creek Press. She's been busy with pre-production the past month, and it's great to see things coming together. You can visit her website at SherritheWriter for more information on this and her other titles.

Mommy really does enjoy her writing, and we're proud to have helped her with this project. Splinter is the first book she wrote after adopting me and Chloe, so we're especially proud of this one because this is the first book we've been through with her from concept to publication. It's been a lot of hard work, but exciting and fun too. She does enjoy writing and promoting her work.

We've also helped daddy with his website design this week. He works on a couple of websites on the side and he really enjoys that too. We have so much fun helping our humans with their projects! And it's good to see them doing things that make them happy, too.

I hope you're all doing well and helping your human parronts with great endeavors and fun tasks. Have a Happy Friday tomorrow and a great weekend.

Luv,

Ollie

Human Mishaps

9/8/2013

Hi everybody! Sorry to once again be late on the update. This time, it was an injury. Mommy got stung by a wasp Thursday afternoon, and had a "large scale reaction" to it. It's not a full allergic reaction. She went to the doctor on Friday, and he said that sometimes the human body "over-reacts" with the histamine response to bug bites, which happened with her. He gave her steroids and antihistamines to help the healing process progress. She is getting better - not as fast as she would like, but she's healing.

I think she has a grudge against the wasp. She killed it - smashed it against a birdhouse post with the bug zapper. Daddy scooped up the dead wasps and put them in a large ziplock bag. Mommy's stomped on the bag once or twice passing by it. Mommy, take it easy! Your arm will heal. That wasp is dead FOREVER!! She is so silly. Injured, but still silly.

But she is better today. She's returned to doing her chores and errands today, but she is a bit slower about doing things. She said the arm is sore sometimes and very itchy, but it doesn't hurt all the time so it's healing. She appreciates the well wishes from our birdy buddies on Twitter. Thanks for your concern and well wishes.

We don't want to overwork that arm, so I'll wrap up this entry. Take care everybody, and have a good week.

Luv,

Zack