About 23 years, or so, ago I went on a trip with my family to visit our Arizona relatives. It was a long way away and very hot when we got there. I have just a few distinct memories of that trip. One of which was I was sitting in my Aunt Jean's kitchen when my Grandma arrived. She came in the kitchen and said hi to everyone going around hugging and kissing. When she got to me she said, "Hi how are you - are you a neighbor friend." I didn't know what to say but luckily Aunt Jean was there and said, "Mother, this is Amy - don't you even know your own Granddaughter" Well Grandma laughed and was very embarrassed and then asked me if I wanted to go with her to run a little errand. I think she felt bad that she didn't recognize me. I had gotten pretty fat so I don't really blame her.
Another distinct memory I had also happened at Aunt Jeans house. All the adults went somewhere and we were downstairs listening to Micheal Jackson music. Greg or Steven (I think- one of my cousins anyway) was telling us how cool Micheal Jackson was and showing us his white glove. I wandered in to one of the boys bedrooms and noticed they had a window well. In Oregon most people didn't have basements so window wells weren't a common site for me. Especially this one because it had a bird living in it. I was so impressed. I don't remember what kind of bird it was or anything else about it but I remember I wanted one and I wanted it to live in my window well. So I promised myself that one day I would get a window well and a bird to put in it.
Well that someday is here. 7 years ago I got some window wells and yesterday I got some birds to put in it. Ever since we moved in I have been biding my time waiting for the right moment, Rick thought it was a ridiculous idea, it took him a while to see I was really serious and then he started throwing out all the reasons why that wasn't the brightest plan ever. The biggest hindrances was the winter. It gets a lot colder in Utah then it does in Parakeet land. I actually don't know where they are found naturally - probably South America. But where ever it is I am pretty certain it doesn't snow. So my thought was I would just let them go and they would fly south for the winter. Rick looked at me like I wasn't the brightest girl ever and just shook his head. I guess I didn't really want the poor little things to freeze to death so I put it off. Well I mentioned my brilliant plan to a neighbor. For once someone saw the brilliance of it and he went out and bought himself some parakeets to put in his window well. I waited to see how well they would winter. I wanted to know if they would die or not when the snows came. Well winter is over and he not only has the two parakeets he started with they had 4 babies and she is sitting on several more eggs now. So his success was my green light.
First I had to build them a home. It turned out like all my wood projects. Ok- but kind of resembling something your cub scout would bring home from day camp. I can't cut straight to save my life which makes everything a little skewed. I also just used scrap wood so it definately could be prettier looking. But it's done and hasn't fallen apart yet. I then had to get some plants to make their "habitat". My neighbor said just to use fake plants so I headed for the DI. I got this tree thing that someone had made by taking two branches and screwing them together. Not the nicest thing but since I buried the bottom you can't really tell. It only cost $2. I put it in but needed a bit more so I went back. There were several trees there. The first one I looked at was a bit ragged and it was $5. The other 3 trees were $15. So being the cheapo that I am I opted for the raggedy $5 tree. I stuck it in my cart and pushed it around a while. Then I noticed another price tag on on of the leaves. $15. Just like all the other trees. I was stunned. I didn't know what to do, I really wanted the tree but not for $15. So (here comes the bad part- no I didn't pull the tag off even though I wanted to) I went up to the cashier and plopped my tree right up on the counter being careful to turn it so the $5 price tag was showing. She rang it up as $5 and then went on to the other items, I was feeling really guilty so I said, "Um this one has 2 price tags," and kind of pointed at it. She just smiled at me. She was, ya know, a DI worker (kinda special) so I am not sure if she understood what I was talking about. I just smiled back said "Have a nice day" and took my tree and ran. I have felt guilty about it all weekend. I think next Sunday I will add an extra $10 to the humanitarian aid thing on my tithing.
So back to the birds. I got the trees and the house all in and it was looking pretty good. I hung some branches around, and then needed little food and water bowls. I thought it would look neat to have coconut shells hanging around for them to eat from or swing on, kinda a jungle tropical theme. So I went looking for coconut shells at the dollar store. They didn't have any so I just bought a coconut. I didn't think it could be all that hard to cut it open and scoop out the white part. Well those things are a lot harder than I thought. I tried sawing it and cracking it was a hammer - nothing. I tried to talk Rick into taking the circular saw to it, but my husband is a bit smarter than I so he refused. I was chicken to do it so I decided to follow the coconut opening directions. It said to put it in the oven till the shell gets hot and cracks. It worked, I got it opened and scooped all the white stuff out. The kids were really excited to try it and to drink the milk. When I told them the juice was called coconut milk they didn't believe me. Milk is white not clear. So we tried the coconut "water" and they hated it. So now I have 2 coconut shells to hang up in my bird "habitat".
Yesterday we went to get the birds. We got them from my neighbor, they are two of the birds they hatched. They are too young to tell which sex they are but we are hoping for a girl and boy. He clipped their wings for me so they couldn't fly away. The kids love to hold them. I was a bit scared but handled it. I had brought a box to put the in but my neighbor told me just to carry the home. I didn't want to look like a wimp so I did it gritting my teeth the whole way. But we made it. So all is well. The birds like their new home I think. They haven't actually ventured into the bird house I made them but in time I am sure they will love it. They are pretty used to being held - or so we thought. This morning when we got up and tried to hold them they ran from us. I think the kids scared them. Of course having kids jumping on top of your ceiling and then reaching in from inside the window for them probably was a bit unnerving.
The other problem is that since their wings are clipped they can't fly up into the tree branches if they fall down. They have to kind of climb their way up. It is tough for them so I guess I need to hang branches at various levels so they can kind of jump their way up.
Well my dream is fulfilled. I have a birds in my window well. They really are beautiful, I love to watch them. I like to hear them too - the good thing about that is I can just shut the window all the way and not hear them if their singing gets on my nerves. But for now I am loving my birds. We had a hard time agreeing on names for them. I wanted to name one Micheal and the other Jackson, in memory of my first encounter with window well birds. I still remember the moment I first saw them, Billy Jean was playing in the background. But my kids thought me a bit dumb probably just because they aren't old enough to remember Micheal Jackson. I guess Anna liked the singer idea because she suggested Taylor and Swift. Since my son is also named Taylor we decided that might be to hard. It might be confusing if someone said "Hey Taylor just landed on my head," or "Taylor pecked me," or "Taylor is swinging on his coconut." We might not know if they were talking about the bird or the boy - so to save ourselves that headache we just went with Tarzan and Darling.
Another distinct memory I had also happened at Aunt Jeans house. All the adults went somewhere and we were downstairs listening to Micheal Jackson music. Greg or Steven (I think- one of my cousins anyway) was telling us how cool Micheal Jackson was and showing us his white glove. I wandered in to one of the boys bedrooms and noticed they had a window well. In Oregon most people didn't have basements so window wells weren't a common site for me. Especially this one because it had a bird living in it. I was so impressed. I don't remember what kind of bird it was or anything else about it but I remember I wanted one and I wanted it to live in my window well. So I promised myself that one day I would get a window well and a bird to put in it.
Well that someday is here. 7 years ago I got some window wells and yesterday I got some birds to put in it. Ever since we moved in I have been biding my time waiting for the right moment, Rick thought it was a ridiculous idea, it took him a while to see I was really serious and then he started throwing out all the reasons why that wasn't the brightest plan ever. The biggest hindrances was the winter. It gets a lot colder in Utah then it does in Parakeet land. I actually don't know where they are found naturally - probably South America. But where ever it is I am pretty certain it doesn't snow. So my thought was I would just let them go and they would fly south for the winter. Rick looked at me like I wasn't the brightest girl ever and just shook his head. I guess I didn't really want the poor little things to freeze to death so I put it off. Well I mentioned my brilliant plan to a neighbor. For once someone saw the brilliance of it and he went out and bought himself some parakeets to put in his window well. I waited to see how well they would winter. I wanted to know if they would die or not when the snows came. Well winter is over and he not only has the two parakeets he started with they had 4 babies and she is sitting on several more eggs now. So his success was my green light.
First I had to build them a home. It turned out like all my wood projects. Ok- but kind of resembling something your cub scout would bring home from day camp. I can't cut straight to save my life which makes everything a little skewed. I also just used scrap wood so it definately could be prettier looking. But it's done and hasn't fallen apart yet. I then had to get some plants to make their "habitat". My neighbor said just to use fake plants so I headed for the DI. I got this tree thing that someone had made by taking two branches and screwing them together. Not the nicest thing but since I buried the bottom you can't really tell. It only cost $2. I put it in but needed a bit more so I went back. There were several trees there. The first one I looked at was a bit ragged and it was $5. The other 3 trees were $15. So being the cheapo that I am I opted for the raggedy $5 tree. I stuck it in my cart and pushed it around a while. Then I noticed another price tag on on of the leaves. $15. Just like all the other trees. I was stunned. I didn't know what to do, I really wanted the tree but not for $15. So (here comes the bad part- no I didn't pull the tag off even though I wanted to) I went up to the cashier and plopped my tree right up on the counter being careful to turn it so the $5 price tag was showing. She rang it up as $5 and then went on to the other items, I was feeling really guilty so I said, "Um this one has 2 price tags," and kind of pointed at it. She just smiled at me. She was, ya know, a DI worker (kinda special) so I am not sure if she understood what I was talking about. I just smiled back said "Have a nice day" and took my tree and ran. I have felt guilty about it all weekend. I think next Sunday I will add an extra $10 to the humanitarian aid thing on my tithing.
So back to the birds. I got the trees and the house all in and it was looking pretty good. I hung some branches around, and then needed little food and water bowls. I thought it would look neat to have coconut shells hanging around for them to eat from or swing on, kinda a jungle tropical theme. So I went looking for coconut shells at the dollar store. They didn't have any so I just bought a coconut. I didn't think it could be all that hard to cut it open and scoop out the white part. Well those things are a lot harder than I thought. I tried sawing it and cracking it was a hammer - nothing. I tried to talk Rick into taking the circular saw to it, but my husband is a bit smarter than I so he refused. I was chicken to do it so I decided to follow the coconut opening directions. It said to put it in the oven till the shell gets hot and cracks. It worked, I got it opened and scooped all the white stuff out. The kids were really excited to try it and to drink the milk. When I told them the juice was called coconut milk they didn't believe me. Milk is white not clear. So we tried the coconut "water" and they hated it. So now I have 2 coconut shells to hang up in my bird "habitat".
Yesterday we went to get the birds. We got them from my neighbor, they are two of the birds they hatched. They are too young to tell which sex they are but we are hoping for a girl and boy. He clipped their wings for me so they couldn't fly away. The kids love to hold them. I was a bit scared but handled it. I had brought a box to put the in but my neighbor told me just to carry the home. I didn't want to look like a wimp so I did it gritting my teeth the whole way. But we made it. So all is well. The birds like their new home I think. They haven't actually ventured into the bird house I made them but in time I am sure they will love it. They are pretty used to being held - or so we thought. This morning when we got up and tried to hold them they ran from us. I think the kids scared them. Of course having kids jumping on top of your ceiling and then reaching in from inside the window for them probably was a bit unnerving.
The other problem is that since their wings are clipped they can't fly up into the tree branches if they fall down. They have to kind of climb their way up. It is tough for them so I guess I need to hang branches at various levels so they can kind of jump their way up.
Well my dream is fulfilled. I have a birds in my window well. They really are beautiful, I love to watch them. I like to hear them too - the good thing about that is I can just shut the window all the way and not hear them if their singing gets on my nerves. But for now I am loving my birds. We had a hard time agreeing on names for them. I wanted to name one Micheal and the other Jackson, in memory of my first encounter with window well birds. I still remember the moment I first saw them, Billy Jean was playing in the background. But my kids thought me a bit dumb probably just because they aren't old enough to remember Micheal Jackson. I guess Anna liked the singer idea because she suggested Taylor and Swift. Since my son is also named Taylor we decided that might be to hard. It might be confusing if someone said "Hey Taylor just landed on my head," or "Taylor pecked me," or "Taylor is swinging on his coconut." We might not know if they were talking about the bird or the boy - so to save ourselves that headache we just went with Tarzan and Darling.
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