Wings Over The Rainbow

I just read the post about someone who's been 'trolling'.  This is so disturbing.  I may not understand why this person has decided to make life even more miserable for WOTR but it's all so childish on his/her part.  I myself do not contribute much here but I am supportive.
I am not a volunteer nor have I been in WOTR as much as many others here so cannot be supportive in a major way.
What I can do is tell you what Deb helped me through.  I had a tiel, Candy, who was given to me two years ago.  Candy was as well cared for by her owners as she could have been but the owners really had no clue about her.  I thought she was “stressed” and was plucking her feathers because of her original home life.  When she came to me she had bare shoulders and a partial bare belly.  I was told she was five or so years old.  Candy was so very loving and of all things liked to cuddle.
My limited knowledge of cockatiels at the time made me turn to Deb by phone a couple of times.  As time went by, I realized Candy was much, much older than I was led to believe.  Something Deb cautiously tried to confirm as she had yet to see Candy.
Even so, it was true. After speaking to the original family I found out my poor girl was probably closer to twenty.  When I saw Candy was in trouble, I did take her to Deb.  I think Deb thought I was “dumping” her off but she realized how upset I was at the state Candy was in.  Deb was so kind to me and so tender with Candy.  Candy was dying.  Deb could see this, I could not.  Two days later, September 11, 2011, Candy died while she and I cuddled and said good-bye.
       Just so you know; the real reason I do not go into WOTR is that I am allergic to so many feathers!  I know; it’s odd that I have a cockatiel.  I also have an elderly zebra finch by the way.  Two friends with feathers don’t usually bother my allergies and when they do, it is very minor.  But that day back in September when I stepped into WOTR-well-suffice to say it was a bit over whelming.
On the flip side of that, I love what WOTR stands for.  I’m so proud of Deb and the volunteers that have made such a difference in the lives of all the birds.  Not just that, she has made it possible for people like me to be a part of WOTR by allowing us to take part in making loving homes for the birds.
I was missing Candy so terribly by February.  A friend of mine who has two tiels and a pair of keets from WOTR surprised me with Micah as a gift.  He’s a male tiel and young and has filled a void in my life.

Micah has settled in very nicely with Mr. Mister, my Zebra Finch.  Micah is whistler but he has picked up a few words from somewhere.  I can’t make them all out but “pretty birdie”  “whatcha doin”  “Mister” and sometimes “pretty boy” are obvious.  He can wolf whistle better than any man I know, and has picked up a couple of tunes from me.  He whistles the “Mexican hat dance” and is currently working on “whistle while you work”.   Intertwined with all of this is his, what I call “jungle talk”.  He loves to do this every day and it just makes me smile when he does it.  Unintelligible it might be but he seems so happy when he’s “talking”.

I’ve written this for several reasons.  I know Micah came from a loving home to Deb simply because the family Micah lived with could no longer care for him and his brothers and sisters.  But many of the birds that come to Deb have not been as lucky as Micah.  They’ve been abused, physically and mentally.  I know Deb and the WOTR staff and volunteers have taken these birds in, given them someplace safe and loved them.  I know they care for them.
I may have been in WOTR only once, and even though I was upset, I saw what was going on that day.  Feeding, watering, cleaning, talking, laughing and most of all loving.  It was so obvious how much these birds are loved by everyone.  I can honestly say it is so.  My thoughts and prayers are with Deb, the board of directors, the volunteers and staff, and most of all the birds.  It will be so until they are returned to the safe and loving environment of Wings Over The Rainbow.

Just for the sake of Time

I've been remiss in writing.  Not just that but I've changed blog sites twice now.  I know it should be easy but to do this, but I find it a bit difficult to "catch on" to blogging.  I haven't been back to blog spot in over a year and find it changed.  I hope I'm doing it all correctly now.

I hope to catch up this year.  Especially since so much has happened since I last wrote.  AND, I'm thinking the year will bring more happy changes.

My last writing was about my niece Anna and her new little one Evie.  The baby I pictured in that blog is a walking, talking sweet toddler now.

Also, Anna's older sister Catie has added to her family.  Victoria was born in September of 2011making Ellie a big sister.

It was a happy occasion last October that I got to see my three lovely Florida nieces, my grand-nieces and of course my brother.  It was wonderful.

I have pulled my blogs from another blog space so the dates are not going to be correct.  Sorry about that.  Be patient with me, I'll get the hang of this yet.

So much else has happened, but like I said, this is just a catch-up update.  More to come, I promise.

Evelyn Davidson Abella

Evelyn Davidson Abella was born to my niece Anna and her husband Gabe on February 15, 2011. She was 'Evie' long before she was born. 

Since I live so far away, I rely on Facebook posts and photos. Many of Anna's family and friends, including myself, anticipated a Valentine's Day birth since she was late in making her appearance. She held off until the day after. 

Some of the first hospital photos I saw weren't at all surprising. What did surprise me was her tiny long fingers and tiny long legs. I surmise she gets this from Anna. Her dark hair and eyes she gets from Gabe no doubt. Even as a newborn, I see much of her father in her. 

I know, she's too new to know whom she looks like but these are photos remember. This is the way I get to see her.

Family photo. Anna and Gabe look so happy although a bit tired.

Proud Grandpa and Evie. My brother.

She's so tiny in his arms, yet her eyes are quite open and looking very alert.

Three sisters.

Five Sweet Girls.

Lee, Anna and Catie. Beautiful and precious to me. Lee is such a proud aunt and Catie, who is holding Ellie, is pregnant again.

Life begins.

February 1, 2011 Ice Storm

Everyone is freaking out with the weather. 

I woke up at fourish this morning and saw the sleet. It was pouring and even at this time most everything was covered in ice. By the time I was up and dressed at six-thirty, the sleet was diminishing but there was an inch or better of ice on the street, cars and just about everything else.

I took pictures this morning. My favorite view from my apartment windows made for some interesting photos.

The first photo was taken about six in the morning.

This was taken just as it was starting to get light. It was around seven or so.

This is my favorite of this view so far. I like the lights.

I suppose the reason I decided to blog about the
Dayton weather was because we haven't seen weather like this in awhile. That's what everyone says anyway. I sometimes think I can remember every snowstorm we've had. But, the ice storm is an oddity for most people. Especially younger than myself-and maybe older as many of them simply do not remember the last time they saw an ice storm.

We have had snow since the first week or so of December 2010. It was lovely. The temperatures stayed cold enough the entire month for the snow to stick around. Not just  that, but it seemed we had snow just about every week which kept the ground covered and the landscapes beautiful.

It even snowed on Christmas Day! Then, we had a little bit of a warm up and gradually, the snow began to disappear. Then, just like December, the first week of January 2011, the snow reappeared. Unlike December, we had a heavy snow move in toward the end of January.

Just as everyone was digging out of that storm, the ice storm moved in this morning. I watched it from my fourth floor apartment window. From my window, the trees began to take on a shimmer. It didn't take long for each branch, limb and twig to become encased with ice. And the ground below, beautiful as it was, became slightly perilous.

The ice was heavy on the trees and bushes. 













        Encased in ice, everything took on a different
look.

This is a close up of the tree outside my window. Notice the ice simply, hanging down? Then the wind began to blow...

Above, a C   Close-up of one of the smaller limbs show ice, re-shaping in the wind.

And the wind continued. Early that evening it began again. The ice was bearing down on everything, and the wind began causing major problems. By about nine the lights here started flickering and while I was on Facebook, several friends found themselves without power during this storm.

From my apartment, I could hear the cracking and crashing of tree branches and limbs. I cringed each time I heard it. I finally turned my computer off around ten and went to bed. If the electricity went off, I wanted to be in bed. I made sure the birds were covered up really well before turning the lights off.

The following morning the count was 55,000 without electricity just in the Montgomery County area alone. I'm not completely sure, but I think the only people that were out when the light of day came up, were emergency workers. My apartment building, as far as I know, managed to survive the night. The lights and heat were working properly.

In the very first photo at the top, you can see a shot of the parking lot with trees in the lower left of the photo. The photo on the right shows one of its mangled branches. It was hanging on the ground in the drive way.  This shows where someone picked it up and pushed it back in between the two trees.

This photo shows the tree just outside my bedroom window. Notice, there is no more ice on the trees.

Most of the trees woke up to no ice after the wind during the night. Everything else was still covered in ice. The photo above makes the driveway and parking lot below it look like a frozen pond. Not quite that bad, but almost.

It's been awhile since I've seen an ice storm this bad. A long while, but it wasn't as bad as some I do remember. It was scary, believe me, but there have been worse.

Note: Today is February 10th. I started this post on the first of February. We've gotten back to some normalcy, although this morning when I got up, the temperature was -5. I am so looking forward to forty-something weather this weekend. Until later.

Candy and Mr. Mister - Mother's Day 2010

Candy-Mother's Day 2010. She was quite unsettled at being in a new home. Candy's last owner couldn't take care of her any longer. No one had seriously interacted with her; in that; loved on her, held her, talked to her etc., in some time. She began plucking her feathers; a sign of distress.The day she came to me, her cage was moldy and nasty. I literally had to take the entire cage apart and clean it. She never tried to fly that day. Friends were with me the day I got her and they baby-sat while I scrubbed her cage. Once the cage was up, I had her sit on top of it for awhile to see what she would do. I didn't realize at the time that her flight feathers were so diminished from plucking that she probably couldn't fly. 

This photo is from June 2010. In the short month that I had her, she began to look much healthier. I still don't know her age but anyone can see the difference in her from May. I know looking at her front however is a bit alarming.Candy will continue to 'pluck' and preen deeply the next few months. Research on cockatiels have explained much about diet, interacting and personality. 

She absolutely loves to have her head scratched and will bend down to have someone, most anyone, do so. The most flying she is doing at this time it taking off and landing on the floor. I was pleased to know she at least remembered how to fly. I'm positive that she can not fly much more at this time. She has also started 'loving' the person she is with. By this she tries to preen their ear or hair. She will also regurgitate a seed or two to let you know how much she likes you. 

This is July 2010. Look at this photo compared to the May photo. She has new feathers just under her neck. Her bare shoulders are slowly closing. Very slowly. So slow, I honestly have no hope of her feathers coming back in for a long time. She now has different food bowls, water tube and a couple of toys in her cage. She also has real wood posts to climb onto and perch. She now talks to me constantly. Chirping mostly and rarely 'twitters' the way cocatiels are supposed to. I find it sweet when she does though. 

In the first two or three months of Candy and I getting used to one another, a question concerning her sex began to make me wonder. Her last owner took it on word that Candy was female. Again, research pretty much confirmed it. Males are very vocal. In that, they tend to not just talk the way Candy does, they do it loudly. Also, males, will mimic sounds and words fairly quick. Females can mimic but not as much as a male. I also learned that stress will deter any cockatiel from mimicking. I was resigned that Candy would probably never mimic. But to prove her sex came in an unusual way. I have a video but for some odd reason Blogger has a hard time with uploading videos.

I heard her one day constantly chirping. When I looked at her, she was sitting on her front perch. Her toy with large beads and and bell hung near the cage wall. She loves this bell. She will often use it as a way to comfort herself. She will pull the toy in motion then let the bell rub her head. It's sweet to watch her do this. But on this day, she was, like I said, chirping and sort of singing quietly. When I looked at her she was-well-how can I put this?

Candy was in the proper position waiting for her mate. I should say, the proper position for a female cockatiel. I think you get the picture. She doesn't have a mate. If she did, in this position, the male would stand on her tail, and sing just as she is singing. They can be quite noisy during a mating. He would also "kiss" the top of her head or "pet" her with his foot. This is why Candy is using the bell to stroke her head. This went on for a little longer than two minutes until the quiet sing-song chirping stopped. The above photo is a snapshot from the video. It was the best that I could do.

Candy and Angel meet. Angel is the sweetest girl and is a wonderful companion to a friend in my apartment building. She was quite curious about Candy when she came to visit.   Candy wasn't so sure. I can't say she was afraid of Angel, but you can see by her top comb that she is a bit shocked at this sudden face so near her cage. My friend has canaries but Angel is used to them in her apartment. She was surprised to see other creatures in my apartment as she hadn't visited since I took charge Candy and Mister.

As Candy began to adjust to her new home, some of her transitioning has been difficult. Me too. I've been heart broken watching her sometimes. Although cockatiels should take to a shower or play in a sink of water, Candy is overcome with fear of water. Add to that, I assumed far to much of her previous owners. Apparently they never bathed her or gave her the opportunity to splash about.

Thinking a gentle spray of shower would entice her to get a good soak I took her to the bathroom. Bouncing the shower spray off the wall in the shower is the best way. As I was not taking a shower myself (many owners take their cockatiels into the shower with them) I sat her on the edge of the tub. Thinking this would be a natural act for her, I watched. She didn't  ruffle her feathers in anticipation of the water. Nope. She ran for me, grabbed a hold of my jeans and crawled up my leg as fast as she could.

Up until this point, she hadn't bathed at all. The most she was used to was me spraying her with water. She apparently was just tolerating this action because she was terrified of the water from the shower.

Barely wet, I made her get back on the tub for another run at me and I called it good. I turned the shower off and she clung to me like a frightened baby. Her damp feathers would have been a perfect photo opportunity but I just didn't have the heart. She was too frightened. And scared. So traumatized by the shower incident, she barely "spoke" for three days and during that time, barely ate. She had me a bit traumatized.

Still, she had to be bathed. It is in their nature to splash about. She simply was never taught to do so. I did wait awhile before we "took a bath" again. When I did decide to do it, it was in the kitchen sink. Still a bit traumatic, but I covered her with one hand as I splashed water and even rubbed her down gently with a cloth and she was okay-not willing-but okay. I would love to see her enjoy it though. I hate that she thinks it is an ordeal.



This photo was taken in August. I didn't take too many pictures after this date in August. Summer got away from me then Autumn arrived. In October I was terribly busy and in the middle of the month took a trip to Tennessee. Two good friends stopped in twice a day to take care of Candy and Mister while I was gone. Both of whom Candy and Mister are quite used to.

Mr. Mister, May 2010. Mister is a hybrid Zebra Finch. Hybrid being he has all the right  markings but somewhere along the way lost his black and white stripe tail color. In other words, it was bred out of him. This photo shows Mister in front of his mirror. His favorite place. His reflection, he believes, is his mate. He talks to her, tries to get her to fly to the feed bowl with him by hopping back and forth from the mirror to the bowl and when this doesn't work, will regurgitate to "feed" her on the mirror. He will also, look for her. He talks and chirps to her then moves to the side of the mirror to see if she's back there.

Mister is quite happy to stay in his cage. He shouldn't be allowed out to "fly around" or even handled more than necessary. Apparently, finches understand their confinement and content to be left alone. I'm not too keen on this simply because being caged does not allow freedom.
Mister's talk consists of what I call his "feeding chirps". I can always tell when he's at his feeding bowl. Then there is is "whispering chirps" to his "mate". Finally, his "squeaky toy" chirp. There is no other way to describe this sound.

Both Candy and Mister roost when sleeping or napping. Candy tucks her head into her wing and sleeps. Mister sits in the corner near his "mate" and sleeps there. Both birds have lost their balance while sleeping and fallen. Mister has flown out of his fall and recoups. He has done this twice. Once he was covered up for the night and I heard him flying around so I know he had almost fallen. 

Candy has also gotten so comfortable while sleeping. Twice for her also. Once during the day, she actually fell to the bottom of the cage while I was sitting here at the computer. She looked at me if I had pushed her off. The other time, she was covered up at night but managed to catch herself. When I lifted the cover, she was hanging on to the edge of the cage. 


They both have gotten themselves into trouble. Mister will fly around in his cage and land anywhere. He managed to land where the door is and got himself hung up in the door. I had to give him a little push from this side to 'unstick' him.

Candy likes to walk the sides of her cage. Even the roof of the cage. Not long ago, I think she lost a little confidence in what she was doing. Usually she will hang from the roof by her beak and swing her legs up then either walk across the roof or hang upside down. For some reason, her little legs just wouldn't go. Had I not been sitting here and caught sight of what she was trying to do, she could have fallen. I opened the roof of the cage and pulled her out. She looked at me and shook her head as if to say "what the heck happened?"

Mister loves to play "dead". Too often while I  clean his cage, he flies around, objecting to my intrusion then will simply fall to the floor of the cage. He scared me to death the first time he did this even though the last owner warned me he has tried this in the past.



So with the help a friend, this time I got photos. Though you can't see it in this still, his little heart is just beating away, his chest rises and falls with each breath and his oil drop eyes blink; yet, he's pretending to be dead. 

This is Candy and me. What we do usually on a daily basis. She loves to sit here and let me  stroke her head. She's so quiet and still when we are doing this.

Sitting with me, whether she is on my hand, shoulder on on the drawer next to me at my desk, we spend a little time talking to one another. When she sits on the drawer, she is usually eating while I am eating. Something I read cockatiels like to do. And she does enjoy it.

A quiet chat. I talk, she responds in kind by chirping. Her tail feathers are close to perfect now. And her flight feathers have, for the most part, grown back. She can and will fly around the apartment but for some odd reason, likes to land on my bed.

Note:  This was written Mother's Day 2011.  On September 11, 2011, Candy died in my arms.  She had been quite ill for almost a month after having a stroke.