Pictures from our two visits to Birdland. An awesome place!

Apologies for the lousy pics, only resizing done here, no editing at all.

Phew, it’s been awful busy this week. Work has picked up again, thankfully, though right now there’s not much to do. Nice sunny afternoon though

I’m working on a rather..interesting website for a customer; Stone The Devil. It’s based on a series of books he’s written. You’ll be able to read the books online when he’s done, as well as discuss them. I really don’t know how to describe it..when the site’s up and running I’ll post a synopsis.

Jake’s being..Jake. He’s been fairly good this week, he went through a phase where he was grabbing lips and ears but that’s starting to wear off now. Had some fab photos of him recently during playtimes. He looks like such a cutie when he’s caught on camera, it’s hard to believe what a monster he can be.

In those pictures he’s playing with a teething rattle I bought in Morrison’s. He lurves it!

I can’t remember if I mentioned it but I joined a choir (thanks to my lovely) back in the spring. We’re doing our annual concert (raising money for the alzheimers association). It’s my first big concert with them and I’m nervous as hell. We’re a female choir and aim to raise awareness about the welsh language but we also sing in English. Saturday’s programme includes:

Hafan Gobaith (appropriate in this case)
Ysbryd Y Nos
Fields of Gold
Calon Lan
Mamma Mia!
The Battle of Jericho
You Raise Me Up

I’m sure I missed one, but there you go. Really can’t wait. And it’s nearly home time! Off I go!

I am the worst at updating things. Have you noticed?

My office Biorb has been up and running for 4 months now! I haven’t had a single problem with ammonia, nitrites or nitrates so far, fingers crossed it’ll continue that way. I started with two pretty female guppies. Silver except for a light blue scripe stripe (I can’t spell) on the top and bottom of their tails. Had them from Fforest Mill Garden Centre in Swansea. They weren’t particularly young, both had big bellies and were pregnant again. A fortnight after my sweethaert sweetheart (can’t type either) bought me a gorgeous black tuxedo male. By the end of the month they’d dropped 40 babies between them and were pregnant again. I’ve kept two from that first batch, a male and a female. They look nothing like either parent. They have red, yellow, pink and blue on their sides. The male has black spots on his dorsal fin and black stripes on the outside of his tail, with blue stripes just inside as well as black spots on his body. They’re really coming pretty now.

The largest guppy died recently, looks like it was age. The second is still going strong, she’s just dropped some more babies and TuxedoGup is busy chasing her again. I’ve currently got about 20 babies in the tank. Perhaps more, it’s hard to tell.

Yesterday my father bought me what appears to be a neon blue (I’m not good with guppy mutations) guppy female. She’s very pretty, pregnany, small and has no belly so chances are this is her first batch of fry. She’s settled in quite quickly, TuxedoGup doesn’t know who to chase next. Spoilt for choice!

I’m surprisingly impressed with the Biorb. I’d heard a lot of ..not so much bad things but..they’re looked down upon by sirius serious fishkeepers for not having a proper filter and being bowl shaped.

The filter’s basic, but so are most others in small/starter tanks. It sits in the bottom and has charcoal, ceramic chips and a sponge. It appears to be doing it’s job, it needs a regular clean and the chemical levels are all stable. The tank isn’t that dependant on the filter for bacteria, the ceramic media that you use in the biorb (don’t use gravel!) provides a good home for it. Plus it’s perfect as a maternity/nursery tank as the substrate gives fry plenty of places to hide. There’s also a bubbler beneath the filter to keep the water nice and oxygenated. Now and again I drop in an oxygen tablet for good measure.

The only thing I don’t like is the heater stand. It’s not the right size for a baby biorb, it’s sodding useless. It’s all very well in the large biorbs where they’re tall enough to take a heater stand without it bending. They’d have been better off designing one especially for the baby Biorb. It’s the only thing that lets it down. The heater itself isn’t a ReefOne official heater but a small 25W one from what was the Garden Site and is now Aquarium Site. I buy everything biorb from there. They’re not especially cheap but they are good to deal with. I haven’t had a single problem. And my biorb box had a slip in it that informed me that everything had been checked by a gentleman named Tom. It’s a nice touch, so much stuff is sent straight out without being checked these days.

So, my biorb inventory to date:

1x Baby Biorb (15L)
1x Biorb Heater Stand
1x Theo 25W heater
1x ReefOne Submersible Digital Thermometer
1x BiOrb Magnetic Algae Cleaner
1x Biorb Ornament Tower and Bonsai 5.5″

I can’t say I think much of the range of ornaments for the baby biorb. I liked the Biorb 30&60’s grecian ruins. But the castle was the least tacky of all the ornaments. The others available includ a No Fishing sign, strange mushroom covered tree & a garish coral garden, none of which are particularly appealing.

My birdroom is still in the process of being built. It needs painting, wiring, cupboards, aviaries, cages, birds…
When it is all done I’m hoping to get a small tropical tank to raise the guppy babies in. Until then they’re being given away to anyone who wants them.

Speaking of birds, my fids are as noisy and demanding as ever. The cockatiels are forever eating, playing and sleeping. The latest batch of babies aren’t really bothered about me, unlike their parents. There’s enough of them now to have a proper flock without the need for human interference.

Barney’s still shy as ever. For all people say that Barnard’s Parakeets are demanding..she’s lovely. Rarely hear a peep from her. She’s not tame, but still enjoys human company. She’s timid and afraid of new toys, except for her sandy perch which got beeped at and bounced on as soon as it went into her cage. She’s happy to sit and talk to the ‘tiels all day. She’s had quite an exciting time lately. Twice, a sparrow has ended up in my birdshed (I don’t know how, I don’t see it go in, only open up to find it bombing about. Barn sits and scolds it (and me) until it’s gone.

Jake’s..Jake. He’s currently moulting and it makes him a grumpy bird. He’s a typical Hahn’s, nippy, noisy, demanding, ever so loving and incredibly playful. His latest annoying trick is grabbing my bottom lip with his beak and hanging on. His latest neat trick is waving. It’s still a work in progress along with giving me a high-four. His newest mastered word is boo! He’ll sit and play peekaboo for ages. He’s also trying to say ‘where’s Jake?’ and ‘There he is!’ He’s got the sounds of the sentence right but not the actual words. He still can’t say Jake but instead says -K!

I actually managed to get a recording of him the other night, although no luck with a decent photo.

Listen to Jake!

Work’s pretty dead today, hence the update. I feel awfully guilty because I’ve missed so much lately. Had an allergic reaction to the bandages I have to wear for eczema. Leg came up in blisters, looked like a burn. Had to take a lot of time off work through not being able to put/wear anything on my legs.

Did have a gentleman in recently who cracked us up. He informed us that he was going to forget about the router and buy one of those wireless “dougals” instead. It’s such a nicer name, I’d love to have a USB Dougal!

We got us three black widows today from World of Aquatics. It’s my second time there and will probably become a regular haunt for me’n'my sweetie. They have a fantastic range of fish, birds, scaly and slimy things as well as mice and rats. It’s a really well kept shop, every cage/tank is clean and the staff are always polite and helpful. Their prices are very good.

Widows are settling in well so far, they’re the biggest ones we’ve got, near the size of some of our silver dollars.

I also finally got around to getting a picture of Jake uploaded. This was taken in February during his moult. He’s grown a lot since then!

Neat. I found out today that Cage and Aviary birds have their own blog now. They also tweet. On Twitter.

In other news, I bought a hideous pink suitcase today. Pretty sturdy but such a horrible colour.

The label claims it’s:

• stylish design
• fully lined interior
• expandable action
• comfort grip handle
• new fashionable wheels
• multiple fully zipped compartments.

Fashionable wheels? Do people seriously worry about how fashionable their wheels are?
To quote my love

I know I’d be positively mortified if my wheels were in last year’s “rolling” fashion

Honestly. Says something about it that the wheels are it’s major selling point. Funny how it doesn’t mention the awful colour.

Reason I bought it is we’re going to stay with his parents for a week this easter. Really can’t wait, I’m hoping the weather’ll be nicer than last time I visited (November). Got a long list of things to do including visiting Portsmouth’s historical dockyard again, Gosport’s pet store and an aquarium in S. Hampton. Really can’t wait <3

I forgot to mention, just before my holiday I came home to find Bee and Caru with a new cage mate. A handsome little lutino boy (complete with bald spot). He’s an early christmas pressie from my parents and an absolute darling. He’s fairly good with people but scared of hands. We’re working on that He’s called Sunny, pictures soon! Already he recognises me, he’s started calling for me with the others, with a funny high pitched squeak.

So I finally managed to grab a preorder or two of the CE of WOTLK yesterday. I must admit, I’m really excited about it. Over the past 6 months or so, WoW had totally lost it’s appeal. Same thing every day. Log on. Grind. Quest. Grind. Quest. Get bored and log off. So much so that I did the unthinkable and switched to LOTRO (Fab game!).

Burning Crusade was..fairly boring as a whole for me. Once you got past the fun of seeing new places, the lore was absolutely terrible. Wrath is promising to be pretty exciting both lorewise and other. Inscription is very popular and will be a money boost for my herbalist. The other professions have some fab items coming up. That’s not my favourite bit though. Nope, nor the dancing or hairstyles. The best bit has to be the achievements. I’m can be an obsessive collector/explorer. Got to get it all. Pets, patterns, event quests. And now you can show people what you’ve got rather than quashing the urge to see how many unusual items/tabards/pets you can equip in one day. (I hit about 10-15 pets, 3 tabard changes and 6 costume before I got distracted). I especially like that it counts one off events and things that aren’t available now like the old PVP ranks, etc, things you worked hard for to see no reward once the old system was scrapped.

Unlike BC, the more I see of this, the more excited I get, though I’m not entirely sure about the Dalaran thing yet. We’ll wait and see how well it’s done, huh? It’ll be great to level up alongside my sweetie too <3 For BC I levelled Elle on my own except for random quest help with some friends from various guilds.

Speaking of my sweetie, it’s his birthday today, so happy birthday love! He’s gone home for his birthday (he’s living near me in uni accomodation), as it’s his mum’s birthday tomorrow and I must admit I’m a little lost without him. He won’t be home until Monday Unfortunatly, I couldn’t go with him this year, I had a funeral to attend yesterday. On the plus side, it does give me time to finish the present I’ve been trying to sew for him. I’ll post pictures here when it’s finished.

He did give me a wonderful treat the night before he left. He took me to see Beauty and the Beast, they’re currently in the Grand in Swansea. It was fantastic, and well worth seeing. Every character was perfect, the pyrotechnics were great and the music astounding. I found it more enchanting than the film it’s based on, I loved the extra songs and scenes, especially the beast’s theme. There was extra depth to every character which was lovely to see. I couldn’t have imagined a better show. Certainly up top on the list of my favourite shows. They have local children playing Chip and were great with the lad who was in the show we saw. He didn’t mix up his lines, he was perfect. He did a little booboo at the end when they came to take their bows. He wasn’t sure which way to go, bless him. I’d definitely go and see it again, let’s hope they do another tour soon! I came away with a pretty locket keyring from my sweetie and t-shirts for us both from me.

From happy news to sad, the second pair chicks we tried to handrear both died. Unlike the others, these two were abandoned in nestboxes. The parents must have picked up that there was something wrong with them. The first died within a few days. Wiggle, the second, never grew properly despite all that he ate. Towards the end he had trouble swallowing no matter how thin the food mixture was.

On the plus side, Bee and Caru are doing great, both spoilt rotten. They’re now out in the aviary learning to be real birds with their cousins. They do come to me, but they prefer the company of the other cockatiels now. Although I do get the sulks and jealous attention seeking should I cuddle someone other than them, which is kinda cute. Caru’s getting sneaky, she creeps out of the flight after me to grab the food dishes as I fill them before the others can pinch the tastiest treat. Little madam!

Zorro’s baby has now fledged, he’s (or possibly she’s) the prettiest chick this year. He’s a whiteface pearl, absolutely stunning. He sounds like a squeaky toy at the moment. Pictures soon I hope!

Work’s busy as anything at the moment, which is nice to see. As a small business we’re pretty vulnerable, especially in the current financial climate. We should be moving premises soon, although it’s only next door. Hardly seems worth it but it will be nice to have an office that stays warm and no cracks in the walls. And good storage too. Fingers crossed we’ll be moved by Christmas!

Apparantly, the above quote is true. Yes! My babies are almost all grown up now. A few nights ago, they took their first flight, and came straight to me. I’m both suitably smug and bursting with pride over that right now.

Since their first flight, they’re pretty keen to fly, normally to one of the family, generally my parents or myself, as we’re the food-bringers. They’ve got their priorities straight.

Asides from that, they’re being adorable and annoying. They recognise each member of the family, and if they see one of us for the first time in a few hours, we always get a hello squeak or ten from each. They’ve been upgraded to an adult cage, and are loving the extra room for toys.

The annoying and frustrating part is getting them to eat. Weaning is always difficult, but thanks to the neglect of their parents, their development seems a little behind. They’re starting to go off the hand rearing mix, and starting to pick seed on their own. Just not enough seed. I’m hoping as they continue to grow they’ll quickly gain the strength to crack seeds. Bee is a much  heartier eater than Cariad however, he’s tucking into sunflowers with and without shells. It’s just getting them to eat the baby mixture – whenever they come out of the cage they want to play, not eat ><.
Other than that, everything’s great. They aren’t anywhere near as demanding as they were – yet still very much demanding. They’re keen to be out and play and be cuddled, which is lovely. Most of my other cockatiels, all the ones I’ve bred myself, were parent reared and once they started to grow up properly, lost interest in human contact. Most are tame enough, and will come to me when asked or bribed, but they’d rather be playing with their own kind.

They’re so freaking adorable! c:

Just a quickie update, I haven’t had a chance to do anything much with the site lately. Things are a little chaotic, birds, birds, everywhere!

Baby and friends managed to hatch Herbie’s babies, they’re nearly ready to leave the nest. One pearl pied, one normal, one who’s feathers aren’t quite through yet; he looks like he’s going to be a pearl pied too, but unlike our others, he has a yellow crest.

We’ve got two normal zebra finch babies and two fawn, both pairs cute!

We also hatched seven canary chicks, but only two have survived Oh well, two is better than nothing for my first breeding season in years. I think there’s either a genetic problem with the parents -or- they’re related. Either way, I won’t be breeding from them again. One got squashed by his siblings, the youngest. The parents stopped feeding the others.

To top things off, Zorro and Loony hatched two chicks then abandoned them, I think he was unnerved by the high winds and bad weather we’ve had. We have no other chicks of the same age, so we’ve got to hand feed them. It’s the first time I’ve ever hand fed and they were about two days old when I found them. We’ve got them through a whole week, so fingers crossed!

Grr. It’s come to my attention that the site’s giving problems. If you can view my site, yay for you! I’m surprised I’m having issues, normally Freeola’s pretty good. I’ll give them a few days then get in touch.

Thanks for reading!