This is what Flapper looks like on Google Earth.
French Fry Monster
Flapper got his french fries tonight, and as you can see, he is a french fry monster. He LOVES french fries very, very much. He only gets a few of them, broken into little pieces, every once in a while. They are his favorite thing ever.
And you can also see they make him a little bonkers.
He seems to be feeling a bit better, which I’m very happy about.
French fries all around!
Flapper to the Vet
“How do I look, doc?”
Flapper went to the vet today for a check-up. Since his surgery in August 2008, he has scar tissue build up over time, and sometimes that scar tissue gets irritating to him.
Today he had a quarter-sized piece of scar tissue removed from just inside and outside his vent. Ouch! I knew it was there but was afraid to pull it off. That spot is still sore, but having the scar tissue removed made him much more comfortable, which is great.
Flapper’s plumbing is different since his surgery, and it can leave him with irritated skin all the time. Today he got a shot of lupron to calm down his hormones. He also has anti-inflammatories and pain medication (if he needs it).
“I do not want a shot. Let’s talk about this more first.”
He is going to come in the house for a bath in a few minutes. Then we can put some antibiotic cream on his vent and see if he needs any pain medication. If we can keep his vent from getting irritated by keeping it covered with diaper-rash cream, he might not have scar tissue build up so much and he might be more comfortable long-term. So that’s what we’re going to try.
Flapper also had blood work done, just to make sure he’s doing well overall. We’ll get those results back on Tuesday. He weighs 2.92kg or 6.44lbs today, which is a little bit less than a year ago, but just fine.
He is always really good at the vet, and he’s really easy to take out and about. He doesn’t mind riding in the car a bit and he trusts me to make sure no one hurts him.
In short, he’s a sweetheart. And he’s doing just fine.
Flapper in the House
Flapper fell asleep watching TV tonight inside the house with me.
He is having a little trouble with his vent again, unfortunately. Hopefully he will just need some anti-inflammatories and pain medication for a bit. It has happened a few times before in the past 2 years since he had his big operation.
His operation in August 2008 got rid of a granuloma tumor but it left him with some re-worked plumbing that sometimes gives him trouble. Today he got stopped up and couldn’t poop! Poor guy.
Tomorrow at 3:30pm he’ll go to the vet. Until then, he’s been hanging out and watching TV with me.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
Donkey Honker
Flapper? Why don’t you show everyone your impressive “donkey honk” move?
“Okay. Are you ready belly?”
“Haaaaaarumph!”
Good one, Flapper! I am impressed.
Flapper makes that “donkey honk” move when he is trying to get my attention away from the other boys. I think it’s such a funny move. Once he has my attention he will either make a “bwah” sound and rub his belly or he will preen behind one wing and fluff up his head feathers. Sometimes I can get four or five “wing thingies” out of him, when he’s really trying to impress me. Right now both he and Chewy are trying to impress me and Petunia, since we’re the only girls around. Petunia is happy with just O’Malley though, and O’Malley gets very angry when the boys hit on his girlfriend. So mostly they just try to impress me and my shoes. Today I saw Chewy make the “donkey honk” move himself for the first time, but I didn’t catch it on camera. It’s such a silly move, but I guess it impresses the ladies.
Here’s a collection of all of Flapper’s “donkey honks” through the years.
April 2009.
July 2008.
February 2008. Look, there’s Eddie!
October 2007.
January 2007. Awww, we miss those kids who’ve passed away.
July 2006.
I’m still impressed after all these years, Flapper.
Spring must be right around the corner if Flapper and Chewy are honking to impress the ladies. Stay tuned, and keep honkin’.
Petunia’s Request
“I know we talk about Cheerios a lot but… do you have any Cheerios?”
I do. I think I can share them, too.
“Good! Let’s have ‘em.”
Will you eat them from my hand, Petunia?
“Hmmm… let me think about it.”
“Of course I will!”
Ha ha. Good girl, Petunia.
“Nom nom nom.”
“Yeomch mmmm yummy.”
“Hey! Let go of those Cheerios.”
Hee hee. Sorry, Petunia. I was just playing.
“I really do love them.”
I can tell! You have Cheerio dust falling from your beak.
“Thanks for the Cheerios. They made me cheery!”
You’re very welcome, Petunia.
“Did you save any for me?”
Sure, O’Malley. Let’s go get some more.
Have a good weekend, everyone.
Places Everyone
Hello! Hello? Hey everyone, I’d like to take a family photo. Can you cooperate and get into your places for me?
“Is this good?”
That is pretty good, O’Malley. Yes. Oops. Simon? Can you back up a little bit?
“MOM! O’Malley is not posing. He’s chasing!”
O’Malley NO! Come back. Chewy, wait! Awww crud.
“I am going on a bug hunt. Let me know when everyone else is ready.”
Okay, Chewy. I don’t think it’s going to work, so maybe I’ll just use this composite photo instead.
Aaah yes, this is much easier. There we go. What do you think?
What is it, Flapper?
“Why didn’t you just do that in the first place, instead of making me stand close to O’Malley?”
I don’t know, buster. Good question.
“I am ready for my close-up.”
That might be a little TOO close, Racquel.
“Is this better?”
Oh yes. That is very pretty, Racquel.
“You didn’t forget us, did you?”
Oh I’m sorry, crows. I wasn’t sure you’d want to pose with us since you’re wild.
“Is this my best side?”
“Or is this?”
They’re both very dashing, Mr. Crow. Thank you for posing.
Well we didn’t get everyone to pose together, but they all wanted to wish everyone out there a very happy new year.
And now that I have all of my family’s attention, I have a message for them.
Dear feathered and furry family members:
Over the past month or so, many of you have not been feeling well. Simon stopped eating for a while, Chewy got a random infection, O’Malley had feather cysts and Racquel had a cold.
Now that you’re all feeling better and all doing well, please… PLEASE take care of yourselves. Or at least learn to take turns getting sick.
In December we had way, way too many vet visits. So let’s start the new year by resolving to stay healthy, okay? We’ll cut back on treats a little bit, get extra rest when we need it and stay out of the rain (this means you, Racquel). Don’t hesitate to let me know if you’re not feeling well, but let’s do all we can to stay healthy.
Lots of love,
Your devoted human
XOXOX
The Mysterious Case of the Disappearing Food
Sweet boy Simon went to the vet for an ultrasound this morning, to rule out any serious problems that may have caused him to lose weight. The good news is that they found nothing serious, and he has also maintained his weight of 15.7lbs for three weeks now.
The bad news was that Simon could not eat food from midnight last night until his appointment this morning, which he decided was cruel and unusual punishment.
Simon looked and looked for his food all night long, and would stand on my pillow to update me on the mystery of his disappearing food. Every hour or so, all night long, Simon gave me an update on the status of his missing food bowl.
“Where could my food be? I looked everywhere. It is still gone. Paw to the face. Are you listening? Poke poke. This is an important mystery we must solve. How can you sleep at a time like this? I will go look again and come tell you the status again.”
At least his appetite is better.
He was happy to be home from the vet and even happier to see that his food bowl had returned from the mysterious disappearance. He kissed his food and told his food how much he missed it, and then he ate it. Nom nom nom. Now he is licking his belly fur to get the vet cooties off before nap time.
Chewy Check-Up
“Check out my scary shadow.”
Eeps! Very scary, Choo Choo.
“I am hoping it wards off stabby veterinarians.”
Chewy went to the vet for a quick blood-draw today to make sure his infection is entirely gone. Actually the blood draw wasn’t all that quick because Chewy jerked his leg right as Dr. Dan was trying to get the needle in, and Dr. Dan stabbed himself instead. So then he tried again but his thumb was bleeding. So Dr. Bennett came in to get blood from Chewy’s OTHER leg. That went a little better since two people were holding Chewy still, and we should have the blood results on Tuesday afternoon.
Chewy was not impressed, and could not wait to get all the human cooties off of his feathers when we got home. I tried to get him to apologize for stabbing Dr. Dan but he said “no way, he started it!”
Today Chewy weighed 1.94kg or 4.27lbs. This is a GREAT weight because on December 16th when he wasn’t feeling well he was down to 1.68kg or 3.7lbs. He has gained back the weight he lost when he was feeling sick. Yay!
Soggy Muppet
Racquel L’Oreal got a little too wet in the aviary today, so we dried her off with a Martha Stewart wash cloth before putting her in the night pen.
