Category pets

Birds and Beds

Angel Ackerman 2 Comments

So this morning while I was cuddling Nala, she slipped off my shoulder, and of all things, she grabbed my full, fresh, hot cup of coffee.

She pulled it off the table and spilled it in my bed and all over my carpet.

Then she was very mad at me for letting her fall.

I cleaned up the coffee, removing the soiled blanket. I started keeping an older blanket on my bed in case Nala has an accident. I never meant in case she spilled a cup of coffee.

Before I finish the tale of bedding and coffee, I have to tell you I am very worried about Nala plucking. She’s really stripped the edges of her wings. I try to relieve her anxiety and keep her entertained, but she has really regressed the last two weeks.

And that upsets me. She’s a lovely bird.

But now, my room smells heavily of coffee. While I enjoy a good cup of coffee, old coffee smell in my room is gross.

So I was just scrubbing my rug with a towel and some Johnson’s lavender baby soap “finding” and attacking the smell.

A friend heard me tell the tale and asked if I had enough bedding to keep myself warm. Oh, but do I!

I have on the bottom of my bed, my electric blanket usually on high.

Next I have my vibrant pink sheets with the big white polka dots. They aren’t as soft as my white sheets with the pink and orange confetti but they are so happy.

I love polka dots.

Love, love, love.

Let’s see… next is my 12-pound weighted blanket with the super fuzzy pale grey duvet cover. It’s only a throw so it’s not quite big enough for my liking. But I got it significantly on sale.

I had borrowed my neighbor’s blanket, and I think she has the 18-pound. Now I’m 130 lbs so technically the 18-pound is way too heavy for me, but I liked it.

If I’m honest, sometimes that blanket was so heavy, and the way it rested against my body, I could almost imagine it was the weight of a man against me.

That was the nicest part of the 18-lb versus the 12-pound weighted blanket.

And on top of that is my fairly standard queen duvet with a gleaming yellow duvet cover. With flowers. The other side is gray paisley. When I bought it I wanted it for the paisley, but it turned out I thought the paisley was lackluster and I love the screaming yellow.

But that’s not all.

I also have this odd, really really thick custom-made jersey blanket from my mother-in-law. She crafted it for me as a Christmas present as she knows I am always cold. She picked colors to match my vivid pink and bright teal bedroom.

And on top of that, I have the throw blanket my husband bought me as a Christmas present months before our marriage ended. He bought the teen and I the same throw. It’s soft and so fuzzy it feels like you are petting a cat. It reminds me of my deceased cat, Zoot.

Zoot is the cat in the back. This photo is probably 5 years old. Oz is in the front. Opie, in the middle, still has 4 legs. And Zoot is probably about 15. She looks old.

An average day

Angel Ackerman 2 Comments

This will be a walk through my day today, a tad random, a tad sporadic.

This will include lots of silly animal posts.

But let’s start with my alarm at 6 a.m. I let myself sleep in because my rest has been irregular. I’ve had mild bouts of insomnia brought on by stress and hormones so it was hard to get out of bed.

A French Dream

I woke from a dream I don’t quite fully remember but I remember when the alarm sounded, I was dreaming that I had reached the end of some sort of tour, while on a trip, and was ordering alcoholic beverages for everyone in my party in French. I think I was the only person who spoke French. And I really was speaking French. I don’t usually speak French in dreams.

Perhaps this stems from my executive director eating a vegetable sandwich on a croissant at the networking event we attended last night.

Speaking of work, today started better and I feel a little less discombobulated about my job. I have an important report due Friday and three grants I need to have ready by Valentine’s Day.

Then the high school called.

An automated message informed me that my child was not in school. Text to teenager, who left at 7:15 with a heavy backpack. “You in school?”

No response.

(A sign that she is in school and not on her phone.)

“The school just called. They don’t think you’re there.”

She responds. “Sh*t. I must have forgotten to sign in.”

I tell her to fix that and to text me a photo from the school office holding today’s newspaper. She didn’t respond to my comment, though she did tell me she talked to the attendance office.

I had lunch with a friend who always lightens my spirit and has intelligent conversation. I’ve worked so many hours this week, I need to remember to make these connections.

And you always need those friends who give good hugs. A friend who bakes brownies is also good.

The afternoon went quickly and I decided my teenager and I would have a picnic. I took the leftover pizza from last night and a big old salad and we ate it on my bed with all the animals out, normally (to my chagrin) the kittens are locked in my teenager’s room.

Menagerie tales

So the kittens ran through the whole house, up and down the stairs, up and down the hall.

And, of course, Nala, the cockatoo, refused to eat salad in favor of pizza. Video of Nala eating pizza

Then I hung laundry and watched Opie, our 3-legged cat, play with the kittens.

Videos:

Misty attacks Opie

Opie and the kittens

My sore arm and the gym

I opted not to go to the gym as I’m still not sure I’ve recovered my strength. That fall scared me. A lot.

(See Grit and getting published on The Mighty.)

I have noticed my right arm has that vaguely sore feeling like after you get an inoculation. I couldn’t figure out why. Then I remembered, I fell on that arm. And I also noticed a bruise on my elbow. And a new bruise and scratch on my leg.

Finally

After teenager and I gathered the trash, I hopped in the shower. I found the teen “trapped” on my bed with an Oz on her back.

And now I’m drinking a double stiff mug of Traditional Medicinals Nighty Nite Valerian tea.

Cuddly kittens and a fresh cup of iced tea

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I can’t stand the cuteness in my house today!

I’m sitting here with Nala, my Goffin’s cockatoo, and Oz, my teenager’s big, dumb 9-year-old cat who thinks he’s a teddy bear. I just had some ring bologna for breakfast and made myself the best glass of iced tea:

This particular glass is two parts Tazo Organic Earl Grey Noir and one part Tazo Vanilla Bean Macaroon black tea.

In the crock pot, dinner is bubbling. Crockpots are the perfect cooking tools for witches. It’s a cauldron with a plug!

I made a marinade of organic apple juice, brown sugar, Briggs liquid aminos, Chinese cooking wine, fresh ginger and garlic and dropped a pork loin and some potatoes into the mix.

But wow! I totally digress. We’re hear to talk about kittens and cuteness!

Kittens and cuteness

So the teenager is with her dad and I’ve been taken care of the kittens. Fog, the last trapped member of the brood, followed Opie out of the teenager’s room. Opie is our 9-year-old cancer survivor 3-legged cat.

Fog apparently adores him.

Oz tried to join, but he was afraid of the kitten. Opie heard Oz hiss and served as bodyguard for little Fog.

Video here: Opie protecting Fog.

Now I waited as long as I could but I needed to vacuum the dining room. Even though it was in another room, Fog heard the noise and hid behind the cat tube.

Opie stayed on the ottoman as if standing guard. When I finished vacuuming, they got back on the couch together.

I was worried that Misty (short for Mistofelees) might think something happened to Fog. So I brought Misty to the porch.

Misty wasn’t as enthused. But Fog stayed with Opie.

You can’t really see it, but they are touching.

Household update

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The kittens still eat as if they don’t know when their next meal will be.

I gave Nala a shower today to evaluate the extent of her plucking. She spent most of the day with me. I even let her have a small piece of Cool Ranch Dorito. She liked that.

I went to Petco and used my $10 off $30 coupon. Bought Nala a perch she hopefully can’t eat and some more parrot food.

I worked myself to exhaustion doing chores today. And had a big bag of Doritos and two slices of ring bologna for dinner.

I did chores all day and the house doesn’t seem cleaner. It still looks gross.

Let’s see if I can recap.

  • I cleaned the kitchen/bathroom cat box.
  • I ran the dishwasher. Did the dishes that can’t go in the dishwasher.
  • Cleaned bird cages.
  • Fed all the animals.
  • Gave the cockatoo a shower.
  • Scrubbed the tub.
  • Tried to unclog the drain. This became a laborious process.
  • Went grocery shopping.
  • Put the groceries away.
  • Folded laundry and put clothes away.
  • Vacuumed my bedroom.
  • Cleaned the roomba.
  • Stripped my bed.
  • Remade my bed.
  • Did a load of linens.
  • Hung the linens to dry.
  • Unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher.
  • Scrubbed the kitchen sink.
  • Gathered all of the newspapers for the birds.
  • Organized my tax paperwork (my last W2 came so now I’m stressing about doing my taxes).
  • Went to the pet store.
  • Fed all four cats.

My soft heart

Angel Ackerman 2 Comments

It’s almost 10 pm.

Sobaka has gone home, so I am alone in my bed.

I’ve had a long hard week month. But I know next month will be easier.

I closed Nala and the budgies alone in my room when I went to work, started Sesame Street to keep Nala company and made the decision not to come home for lunch because I can only stay 10 to 15 minutes and that might cause more confusion and anxiety than it prevents.

And Nala seemed fine when I got home but she may be missing a few more neck feathers. I adopted the bird version of a “cutter.”

The teenager had some friends over, and I agreed to drive one of them home. I retrieved Nala after work and introduced her.

But Sobaka got jealous, barked a lot and so when I tried to put Nala on the dishwasher, Nala bit me, hard. I flinched, that’s the best way I can describe it and Nala almost fell off me. We were both disoriented and I felt terrible for not alleviating Nala’s distress.

We had tea together as I did some kitchen chores and then I brought Nala up to the quiet bedroom, leaving the dog with the teenagers.

Harry Belafonte’s “Angelina”didn’t even brighten her mood and that’s her favorite song.

And then I played a trick on her. About 7 pm, I started watching Gordon Ramsay in my room in the dark hoping Nala would fall asleep before I needed to chauffeur the high school children.

At 7:30, I left the iPad playing and crept out of the room in the dark. Nala yelled for me, but I had to go. When I returned an hour later, she didn’t hear me come in the front door. I think she went to sleep!

As if my soft heart doesn’t have enough to deal with, YouTube has been suggesting I watch a video of a kitten name Smurf who was given to a dog as a chew toy. My daughter watched it, and assured me it had a happy ending but I couldn’t endure it.

It just makes me ask again and again why people are so selfish and cruel.

And I said to my beautiful daughter, “That’s why I don’t want to separate those kittens. They are siblings. They deserve to be together.”

She tells me again that the latest kitten (whom we call “Fog”) is terrified of her and that her friend will be the best home. That we can’t afford and don’t need four cats.

She’s right.

But they are cute babies and I want to be sure they have a good and happy life.

Pout.

Oh Nala! Please don’t pluck!

Angel Ackerman 4 Comments

I’m caring for the neighbor’s dog so I came home to let her out at lunch time.

Now yesterday, Nala started eating her perch again. So I rearranged her toys, made sure the dog wasn’t in her room, and turned on Hulu for her. Then, I went to work.

She plucked herself badly this morning and it breaks my heart.

She hasn’t plucked in more than a week, but she really did a number on herself today.

Nala helps around the house

Angel Ackerman 9 Comments

When Nala, my Goffin’s cockatoo about to turn four, is a good bird, I let her sit on the dishwasher and drink herbal tea while I make supper.

Today I made her cinnamon tea. She kept taking the tea bag out, I kept putting it back in. I made myself a mug of lemon tea.

While I unloaded the dishwasher, she took her tea bag out of her mug. When I didn’t put in back, she picked it up and dropped it in my mug.

I put it back in her mug and moved my mug.

Then she jumped into the dishwasher!

Oh Nala!

For dinner, the teenager and I had tuna sandwiches. I mixed up the tuna with light ranch dressing, mayo, some seasonings and a heap of cooked spinach from which I had pressed out the water. I toasted some almost stale buns under the broiler, heated the tuna a bit too and served with avocado.

I also enjoyed a glass of wine that I almost couldn’t get the cork!

The third kitten

Angel Ackerman 4 Comments

Somewhere around late summer/early fall, my teenager and I started trying to help trap a young cat living under my neighbor’s porch. It disappeared before we could catch it.

And then, around Thanksgiving, my neighbor discovered she had kittens under her porch. Mama and her three babies.

Mama and two of her babies started hunting in December. And one little kitten was left behind.

We trapped it the weekend after Christmas and that’s our Mistofelees.

About two weeks ago we trapped a second kitten, now off to a home.

Last night, the teenager got the last one and we reunited it with Misty.

Videos:

The final kitten

Letting the kitten out

Kittens getting closer

Kittens reuniting

Kittens playing

Monday successes (kitten!) and Dollar Tree finds

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So I had my annual physical today. I adore my physician. I’ve struggled to find a doctor that, honestly, gave the impression that he cared whether I lived or died.

I got my flu shot. Better late than never, right?

We interrupt this blog entry to say… I just got a text from my teenager who disappeared while I was on the phone… Misty’s final sibling has been trapped.

Sardines.

But I get ahead of myself.

I went to the doctor this morning and apparently they have a calculation for your risk of heart attack, stroke or other heart disease or something like that in the next ten years. Mine was 0.5%. But my blood pressure was also super high due to stress. I need to keep an eye on that.

And today I went to the gym. Did ten minutes on the treadmill. Did 15 minutes worth of weight training. Really I could do the weights at home and walk around the neighborhood… and if I don’t start working out in earnest I may do that. Cancel the gym and use what I have at home.

In other updates:

I made an Asian-inspired chicken for dinner that was amazing.

I put the candy the teenager bought me in a pretty jar. Ate some yesterday. Have been good today. I don’t think this is what they mean by eat your colors.

And we stopped at the Dollar Tree to get sardines to trap Misty’s siblings and I got groceries. And not processed junk either.

They had lentils, cheddar cheese and riced cauliflower in dollar-sized portions. I forgot to check the sodium on the cauliflower… usually riced cauliflower is plain. The cheese is real cheese. They had a big bag of shredded cheddar cheese, but it turned out that was cheddar cheese food.

We reunited Misty and her sibling, but that will be a story, with video, for tomorrow.

For this week, we now have:

  • 1 dog
  • 1 cockatoo
  • 2 kittens
  • 2 cats
  • 3 budgies

Heaven help me. I have the start to a petting zoo.

Housework Saturday

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

I woke up at 6 this morning, but laid in bed for a while afraid to wake the birds.

I opened the curtains for them slightly before 8. Here is a glimpse of them in the pink nightlight. Good morning, Birds

I fed the cats, the birds, made coffee, put in laundry and hung wash before making a giant hot pocket for breakfast.

Ham, spinach, scrambled egg, homemade mozzarella.

I cut some cantaloupe. The teenager had a mango.

Then I did dishes. A second load of wash. Vacuumed the kitchen, living room and half the dining room. And the furniture.

I washed the living room and kitchen floor.

Picked up the teenager’s stuff and moved furniture.

Then I stopped to visit the kitten. Which the third kitten has returned. If the neighbors catch it, we have a former neighbor interested in it. But she is going on vacation with Sobaka’s mom so then we would get to foster Misty’s sibling!

Sobaka might be here in as little as an hour. I need to shower but I also need to rest.

I watched an episode of Gordon Ramsay’s The F Word last night and an episode of 24 Hours: To Hell and Back. His original BBC show and his current one.

Perhaps one day soon I’ll do an essay on my new obsession.