blood on my feathers

this merits a public post

2008-10-27T03:14:01Z

All I have to say is – I have some of the most incredible friends. Seriously. I don't even know what to say that would begin to sum up how I feel about these people.

Anyone who says that online friends aren't "real" friends is a drooling dumbass, because the last 24 hours have shown me the true colours of the people I know online and all I can do is sit here, stunned by their kindness and generosity.

houkie @ 2008-07-10T23:07:00

2008-07-11T03:37:24Z

Basically, for those who are wondering what's going on with WWS: In short, our host decided to pull the plug on us because apparently our database is overloading their servers. They took our entire database offline and "restricted it" so that I have no access to it whatsoever. This, of course, was all done without any prior notification, warning, or communication to me. I came home from work and thought that WWS had been hacked and our entire database had been deleted. And then, when I checked my email and saw a message from IX in my inbox, I put two and two together and proceeded to spiral off into a dimension of pissed-off I haven't been to in many, many years.

Right now, Sarah (ravnwolf) and I are working on obtaining a copy of our database files from our host. Once we get those, we'll figure out what to do from there.

Please see http://wws.sentirai.net/ for news updates on our progress with this issue.

jods, I'm sorry I never got around to contacting you like I said I would. Things have just been an insane, chaotic mess since I got home from work and I just didn't have a chance. <333

houkie @ 2008-04-28T00:01:00

2008-04-28T06:20:25Z

BIRDIE BREAD
This is a: MEAL

· 2 boxes of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix
· 3 eggs
· ¾ cup of milk
· ½ cup of frozen peas
· ½ cup of frozen corn
· 1 jar of Gerber carrot or sweet potato baby food
· ½ cup of seeds (optional)
· ½ cup of pellets

Combine ALL of the ingredients into a large bowl and stir together until well mixed. No need to cook or thaw out the corn and peas – just throw 'em in frozen and they'll thaw as they bake. You can spread the mixture into a 9"x13" cake pan or arrange it in a muffin tray. Bake at 450°F for 20-25 minutes or until done. The bread should be golden-brown on top and when you insert a toothpick in the middle, it should come out clean. Cut into small squares and feed to birds warm; some birds like to pick the bread square apart themselves, others like theirs crumbled. Freeze whatever is left over. This recipe makes enough Birdie Bread to fill one and a half gallon-sized Ziploc bags.

I made this tonight and it was so quick and easy. I used ZuPreem Avian Maintenance pellets in the "Fruit Blend" flavour, so between that and the vegetables there are all sorts of fun colours baked into the bread. It smells wonderful as it's baking, too. I had to remind myself that there was bird food in it just to avoid the temptation to taste it! I didn't finish baking until after the birds had been put to bed for the night, but I'll be feeding them this for breakfast tomorrow. I think they're going to love it. :D

Assume = making an ASS of U and ME. Think before you speak.

2008-04-26T01:14:16Z

This is in response to information I've received regarding a post that was created on parrot_lovers exclusively about me, attacking and berating me for assumptions made about my skills and situation as a parrot keeper based on sketchy information people have gathered from the few public posts on my LJ (which will be going away shortly – I knew I should have kept this thing entirely private). I was going to post this on parrot_lovers, but I figured it'd just get instantly deleted and do me no good whatsoever, so for those of you who check out my journal for sheer curiosity or if you're here to troll for more drama, let me set the record straight before you draw your conclusions.

Before I go into this, I would like to make it very clear that the person who originally wrote the attack did contact me and apologize. I have forgiven her and am trying not to hold any hard feelings (which is a real effort for me, considering my personality), but I want EVERYONE who might have been involved or might have seen that particular post to know the truth.

1.) I do not "horde" cockatiels. My friend shiola and I have an inside joke about this, but I am not literally a bird horder. I've got TWO cockatiels, each of whom are in a large cage and have full run of my entire house. If this makes me a horder, well, for-fucking-give me. If you've got suggestions for making my situation better than it already is, by all means I would love to hear them because not even I can think of anything better than two cockatiels having a 2,500-square-foot house to run around in. Oh, and I have three finches too, who also have several cages that are more than sufficient to allow them flight.

2.) From what I'm told, certain stabs were made at me for wanting to add a pair of parrotlets to my little "flock". I assume this jab was made on the basis that I'm a bird horder and shouldn't be adding more birds to my horde. First, refer back to #1 if you feel that my adding two parrotlets to my family would be "too many birds". Then, ponder the meaning of "mind your own damn business". If I want more birds, I'll get more damned birds. I don't need anybody's permission or approval (except, of course, for the lady who happens to own these particular parrotlets).

3.) I guess attacks were directed at a comment I made in regards to money being an issue at some point ($45 being too much money for a bird or something?). First of all, my personal financial situation is nobody else's fucking business. If you want to drag my financial situation onto a public forum and tear me down for it, you can kiss my fucking ass. Unlike so many people I know (especially in the LJ world), I don't leech off mommy and daddy, I don't freeload off my husband/wife/meal-ticket/etc., and I don't suck the government tit for money. I live with my parents, but the only thing they give me is a roof over my head. I work my ass off for every dime I make, and it's not very much in my field, unfortunately. I pay bills, I buy food, I pay everything on my own, and in the end, there sure as hell isn't much left over to do anything with. Every last scrap of cash I have after bills goes into my birds. Toys, food, cage accessories, vet bills, you name it, all of it goes into them.

If you think I'm putting myself before my birds financially, just know that on FAR more than one occasion, I've gone hungry so my birds could eat. Or because they needed some new toys, or because someone needed to go to the vet. Stick that in your pipe and smoke it, asshole. Yes, I'm a poor girl, and yes, $45 (or whatever it was) is a big deal to me. That's why I haven't bought another god damn bird, despite how much I'd like to take in a few more (even though that would, you know, make me a horder).

4.) Shit was said in reference to a photo I've got posted on my journal of Lyra with her head stuck through the bars of her cage. If people would take the time to learn more about me and my birds instead of jumping to their own ignorant conclusions, they'd know that this is not something that I encourage, it upsets me a great deal, and I'm already working on a solution to the situation. Since, again, I don't have money growing on trees in my yard, I'm having to make do with what I've got right now, but next month I'm planning to purchase a much larger, safer cage for both of my 'tiels.

5.) More shit was said about a photo I'd posted of my finches, in which said finches are sitting on a dowel perch. So, you see a photo of JUST these birds sitting on ONE dowel perch (the rest of the cage not being shown), and you presume to attack me and berate me for being a shitty bird owner because I condemn my birds to life in a cage of nothing but dowel perches? Get a clue. Seriously. Yeah, I have a dowel perch in there, but you don't know what else I've got in there – such as the wild-cut branches and the big, natural wood perch – so keep your damned mouth shut until you get your facts straight.

I'm sure there were other things said, but just like everything I've pointed out above, it's more than likely all a bunch of half-assed assumptions and bullshit. Make whatever conclusions you wish, but if you are an intelligent person I will trust that you know what you're talking about before you make a public, personal attack on somebody you don't even know. And then, have the maturity and the decency to come to me personally and ask me about certain things you feel I might be doing wrong. Don't go making an ass of all of us by flaming me on very personal levels at a damned community on which I've done nothing to offend anybody.

I am not a friendly person by nature, but I go out of my way to be courteous and respectful of people on communities because I myself manage a very large forum-based community and know exactly how one ought to conduct oneself when interacting with a big group of people. What has this gotten me? A flame job, that's what. These photo posts of mine...I've always enjoyed posting them because people really seemed to like seeing them and watching my birds progress with time. These, however, will no longer be available to the public. I'm going to friends-lock all my other posts on this journal because I don't feel comfortable having people I don't even know trolling my personal journal searching for shit to tear me apart with. :/

houkie @ 2008-04-20T23:27:00

2008-04-21T04:37:10Z

Damn. Ponch bit me in the face today and it hurt like hell. It didn't even break the skin, but youch. I had almost forgotten how cruel those little beaks can be. ><;

Anyway. Unless you're a parrot owner, this post probably won't interest you. I'm going to start writing down recipes for good birdie meals so that I can keep track of them all in one place. If you're a bird owner (Harper!!), I would encourage you to try some of these out and see how your parrots like it!

PEANUT BUTTER RICE
This is a: TREAT

· ½ cup brown rice
· 1 cup water
· ½ tsp. butter
· 1 tbsp. peanut butter (chunky or smooth)
· ½ tsp. honey

Bring water to a boil; lower the heat and add rice and butter. Bring to a gentle boil and cook until done. Add peanut butter immediately after taking rice off the heat so that it will melt. Mix it thoroughly into the rice. Dribble honey into the mixture and stir well. Sprinkle ½ to 1 teaspoon of this over your birds' food.

JULIE'S BIRDIE MIX
This is a: MEAL

· ½ cup brown rice
· 1 cup water (for rice)
· 1 cup mixed veggies
· 1 boiled egg
· ½ tsp. wheat germ
· ½ slice wheat toast

Boil egg in water on HI for about 15 minutes. Cook rice until done – do not add butter. Put the egg, toast, and mixed veggies (I used peas, broccoli, and a little corn, but you can add whatever else you want) into a food processor and blend the mixture into a paste. I don't have a food processor but I've got a nut chopper/grinder and that works just as well. Put this paste into a bowl and add your rice and wheat germ. Stir it all together really well and serve to birds warm. You can keep leftovers refrigerated for up to 5 days.

I cooked both of these recipes for my birds tonight; between the two I've got well over a week's worth of food stored in the fridge. I fed the Birdie Mix to them for dinner tonight and they both went batshit insane over it (lol, Ponchy's dancing on his perch right now as he eats it, in fact). It's a recipe my breeder gave me when I got Lyra and it's a very healthy, tasty meal that you can feed them every day, and they get tons of vitamins, protein, and nutrition from it. The Peanut Butter Rice is a TREAT and should only be given in small amounts as such, never as a meal!

houkie @ 2008-04-17T01:22:00

2008-04-17T05:27:32Z

I don't know why I am still awake...I am so tired. ;_;

Random story time: I came into my bedroom earlier to get my purse (which is a little Skelanimals dead kitty backpack). It was sitting on my bed, where I usually toss it after work, so I went to get it and suddenly, out pops a little cockatiel head. I don't know what Lyra was doing in my purse (and I don't want to know), but it was the most adorable thing ever somehow, seeing this little bird suddenly jump up out of my purse as if to say, "OH HAY!!" LOL. The things that bird gets herself into...

Next, random picture time: ↓ Can you tell from my pants what I spend all day doing at work? :P

↓ I absolutely hate that she does this. I need a cage with a smaller bar spacing. :(

↓ Birdie yawn! XD

↓ These ones I took with YOU in mind, Kumu. CEILING BURD IS WATCHING YOU WORSHIP FALSE GOD CAT. :||||

Notice

2008-04-15T08:15:55Z

Most of the entries in this journal are viewable only by fellow Livejournal users who happen to be friends of mine. However, if you are a member of the avian community, I typically make my bird-related posts (and photos!) viewable to the public, so you are more than welcome to peruse them as you like.

If you are a LJ user and you wish to be added to my friends list, just leave a comment in reply to this post and I will consider it. Please note that much of what I write can be of a personal nature, so don't take offense if I choose not to add you because I do not know you very well. :)

houkie @ 2008-03-09T06:18:00

2008-03-09T10:21:57Z

I haven't much to post about since my brain is made of absolute fail right now; it's about 6:20 in the morning and I haven't yet been to bed. @_@

But I just thought I'd share a couple cute pictures I grabbed of Lyra yesterday while she was wandering on my bed. She's not a very photogenic bird and seems to enjoy screwing up good pictures for me, so it's rare I get a decent photo of her. Anyway, enjoy~!

Please ignore my jacked-up blinds in the background. They're right beside my bed and I beat them in my sleep. XD

I love this picture just for how happy she looks. :P

houkie @ 2008-03-03T17:00:00

2008-03-03T22:07:26Z

Lyra's finally getting into our shower routine. For the first couple of months I had her, I misted and hand-sprinkled water on her to encourage her to clean herself, and later started taking her into the shower with me. The shower is quite drastically different from misting and hand-sprinkling, so it took her a while to get comfortable with it. Today was the first time she's really opened up and enjoyed it, and it was the most comical and adorable thing I've ever seen a cockatiel do.

She puffed her feathers out from her body as far as they would go, fanned her wings out in front of her, tucked her head under a wing, and just soaked it up. I'd move the water off of her every few moments and she'd get to work cleaning her feathers, then she'd tuck her head back under her wing and spread out again to tell me she wanted more water. Auughh, it was so cute. After a while of this, she sat up, relaxed, closed her eyes, and just enjoyed the warm water on her back.

Damn, I love this bird.

Crappy, crappy cellphone picture, but here she sits now in her cage, preening her feathers like mad. XD

houkie @ 2008-03-01T02:51:00

2008-03-01T08:02:22Z

Augh, Lyra made me so angry tonight. This bird...I swear, she's going to be the death of me. One of her favourite little "games" is to sneak up to my laptop while I'm using it, steal keys off the keyboard, and run away with them while I chase her. Ordinarily this is pretty comical and I don't usually mind it when I'm actually at the computer; however, tonight she got to it while I was away and did some damage. This is a $1500 computer which I can't afford to replace or even repair, so I was pretty pissed. I managed to fix everything except one key, only because the tiny little rubber boot that fits underneath the key itself is now missing and I can't seem to find it. So my "F1" key is now dead until I can miraculously conjure that rubber boot from wherever it's hiding.

I MISS PEPPER SOMETIMES. *Points at her user-icon for this entry* He didn't eat keyboards – he just liked to walk all over them and watch words appear on the screen. ;_;

Damned bird. I know it's my fault because I shouldn't have left her out of her cage, unsupervised, with the laptop sitting right there on my bed, and she was just doing what a curious cockatiel does. But it still made me pretty angry. Gah. First my "A" key is broken, now my "F1" key...but at least the "A" key is still usable. >___<;

I need to do some further research into bird training and psychology and see if I can learn how to curb some of her less-than-desirable behaviours. One such behaviour is her apparent love for pulling her food and water dishes off the side of her cage and dumping them all over the cage floor. I'm no stranger to cockatiels and I know they'll do whatever they can to amuse themselves (especially if they're bored and stuck in a cage), but this is horrendously messy and pretty expensive considering the fact that her feed isn't exactly the cheapest stuff on the shelf, heh. She's still very young – she'll be six months old later this month (March already, jeez) – so it's not too late to start working with her and teaching her some manners. I just have to learn how, since working with birds – especially ones as intelligent as cockatiels – is nothing like working with dogs.

houkie @ 2006-09-15T19:00:00

2006-09-15T23:01:41Z

(Posted at WWS and Bleeding Souls)

As some of you might know, I am an active member of the ASPCA (American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals). I receive a weekly newsletter from them in my email, and this came in my most recent newsletter. I thought I would share it with you all, since I'm sure many (if not all) of you share the same feelings about animals that I do. Please, look it over and add your name to the list!

---(From newsletter)---

"The World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) is asking for your help, ASPCA supporters. The UK-based group has launched the “Animals Matter To Me” campaign, which represents the biggest-ever global animal welfare initiative linking the entire animal welfare movement under one strategic goal—global recognition that animals are sentient beings, capable of feeling pain and suffering. As such, WSPA is seeking 10 million signatures to let governments of the world know that we are serious about achieving a Universal Declaration on Animal Welfare at the United Nations. Please add your signature today!"

CLICK HERE to get more information and add your name to the list!

Friends Only.

2005-05-17T18:03:17Z

Yep. As the title says, this here journal is Friends Only. Rarely will entries be made public, and if you want to be added, simply comment here and I'll consider it.