summer_jackel

Merry merry and all of that.



( That's the pretty one. The others are of the dogs. )

May all of you have a beautiful Autumnal Equinox.




( Some animals this week )

Some pictures from the last couple of days.




( cats, dogs, beach dogs, wildlife )

I showered, just now, with two African parrots.
The grey one makes his "running water" sound;
it means something like "a little to the left" or
"stop hogging the spray, you."
The little greenish one is quietly blissful.
I am glad that there are no
pinfeathers on my face, it must be unpleasant
but warm water is nice for all of us.

I've come home late after dance class and am checking my email. There is a grey parrot on my right knee and a wolfdog pressed closely against my left. Jez holds her nose so tightly against my leg as I pet her face that it squishes upward and she has trouble breathing; this cannot possibly be comfortable, yet it has been her way all of her life, so who am I to judge? As I pet her, she will wrap one long paw over my wrist and meet me with a soft gaze, which is also a preference I only partly understand and don't question, so long as the paw is reasonably clean.

Nikola is in an affectionate mood and would like his face pet extensively; when I stop, he turns his head sideways, holds it in his claw and stares at me meaningfully with a half-lidded eye. When I am petting him particularly well, the pale skin around his eye colors delicately in a parrot blush. Jez has wandered off to be replaced by Bliss' long snout; when the dog gets too close, Nickola tells him to "go lay down" or "no." I move him away as directed, maintaining the requested boundary; Bliss is, well, blissfully unaware, as he usually is where his snout is concerned.

I'm tired and, as is often the case, a little lonely and somewhat sad. Before I sleep, I will give the animals I live with some touch and affection to the tastes and preference of each, and in so doing, my need for those things will also be met. This is not the only reason I keep them, but that's part of it---that many of our simple daily interactions are so kind, so physically affectionate, so honest and so essentially similar. That we are all very diverse animals is perhaps too obvious to state; the similarities, the suggestion of a universality of need, interests me.

When I got home today, Mr. Greybird was happy to see me, hopped right onto my hand and wanted pettings. I'm so touched. I introduced him to his play area and cage in my bedroom (essential to maintain household harmony; most of the sounds he's produced so far aren't any more obnoxious than my little birds', but Nicki isn't quiet, and he can project). He wasn't nervous or hesitant at all; he's hanging out on the tree, watching me ride now. What a sweetie.

Kyn called me this evening, and we both happened to be in the room with birds. Nicki and Ninja started whistling at each other over our conversation; it was hilarious. It is probably for the best that I'm seeing someone who also keeps parrots...

Gavin is regrowing breast feathers, which makes me happy. He still Wants Kaya More Than Anything. Kaya is seeming a little jealous and a bit needier than usual, so I'm giving her extra attention and taking care to handle her before I take Nicki out. None of the other pets seem to care, although of course the dogs immediately added Nicki's cage to their list of areas to check regularly. The area that skirts my birdcages is spotless. This is not because my parrots eat neatly.

Coba and I did a practice obedience trial, and he did very well! We have a real one next month, and I hope we pass it.

I finished a couple more pages of Bone Shard, which you can see here and here. I'm rather pleased at the coincidence that had me finsihing the pages which introduce Travis's Scottish Deerhound, Ghost, on the same weekend that a gorgeous Deerhound bitch took Best in Show at Westminster, for the first time ever. One of my favorite breeds taking BIS is not something that happens much!

I'm very pleased; Gavin's shiny new cage arrived today. It's a nice, roomy yet space-efficient model that appears to be the favorite of nearly everyone in my extended social sphere who keeps small parrots, and I am hoping that it, coupled with some other impending life changes, will rock his little birdy mind enough to knock him out of the hormonal haze a bit. There's hope; that sometimes works. He's in that 4-5 year age range where parrots more or less his size tend to enter actual sexual maturity, and (Sally Blanchard, parrot guru, reassures us) his hormonal behavior should level out a bit in a couple of years. I hope so. I REALLY HATE IT when Gavin picks his feathers out. Plucking is my least favorite parrot sin, though of course I might not say that if he was a biter or a screamer instead.

He's plucked a bare spot in the middle of his chest, for the first time in two years (WAUGH!!!!), but he has left alone the contour that grew back in that spot. Hopefully, that's a good sign. Bird.

I was really pleased to see that Gav's swanky cage is very nearly the same medium white-grey color that Kaya's is. The two will look good next to each other and be as attractive an addition to the decor that something as innately butt-ugly as a birdcage possibly can be. There's no real good solution; dark/cold greys are just too suggestive of jail cells, black is too visually harsh juxtoposed upon a small bird (though it may be the best option for a big one imho), pure white is too stark and hospital-y, green looks like it's trying too hard to pretend it isn't an ugly birdcage and draws attention to its ugliness while clashing with everything, even the bird, and blue just looks dorky.

Yes, you can all laugh at me for thinking about the harmony of my decor. My home is arranged, after all, in NorCal Hippie Modern, with tasteful accents of Coyote Den, featuring mismatched, scavenged couch-pillow dog beds, various rocks, bones and assorted geeky kitsch disarrayed on shelves and sills, and sufficient duff on the floor to always remind one of the redwood forest surrounds.


...Also, I painted Bliss, so have some art:

http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5236399/

Bitty jaybirds. I don't usually paint freehand, without any sketch, and I like how these came out anyway:
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5236357
http://www.furaffinity.net/view/5236324

The scanner mangled it, of course, but I painted Bliss.

I am just back from Furcon and had a great time...I'm still completely con-crashed, of course, especially since I stopped for my weekly dance lessons on the way home from the con, just to make sure that I was absolutely exhausted, not just a little exhausted.

It was a really fantastic convention, though. Speaking of dancing:



corpsefairy and I had a lot of fun foxtrotting in the fursuit dance competition, although we'd have been better if we had more opportunity to practice our routine. (I'm the lead in the gold leopard mask; she's the follow in the silver leopard. The heads will be better next year, too; I ran out of time and had to rush them). I giggle at the commentary to the video that claims we were "choreographed perfectly," though of course I'm happy that we were appreciated. What I led on stage was only roughly approximate to the routine we'd planned, partly because we had more stage than we were expecting and partly due to leader error. I was literally weak-kneed with stage fright, but I'm pleased to see on the vid that I don't look nearly as bad as I was afraid I looked. I'm fully aware of every glaring flaw in my performance there of course, but hey, it's a recognizable foxtrot.

I just began silver level lessons (omg omg how did that happen??), so next year's performance may be a silver foxtrot. If it isn't a Quickstep.

I have to say that it was extremely amusing to be the only slow ballroom dance in a show full of techno acts---some of which were jaw-droppingly amazing and all of which were quite good, but variety is nice. I'm making it a bit of a personal goal to encourage more partner dancing in the fandom, and to that end corpsefairy and I taught a waltz lesson on Saturday. I have never taught dance before, so let's just say that I now have a greater appreciation for my own teachers. Still, the class was really fun, we had good attendance and people were totally waltzing at the end! We will be doing all of this again next year, only hopefully with more preparation, more space and a better floor.

I did quite well in the art show and adequately at the dealer table, especially given that I had no real table decoration, prints to sell etc. and have not been a terribly active artist, other than my comic, for a couple of years. It has been a very hard couple of years, but I am pleased to say, quietly, that I am doing better now and really want to make a point of creating more art in 2011.

It was great seeing everyone I saw; it is a wonderful pleasure to spend time with all of you furry folks. FC is definitely a highlight of my year.

I also want to specially thank everyone who came to me offering support regarding eclipsegryph's cockatiel situation. It was gratifying and touching to have so many people care about this. If you don't already know, we won the case and all three birds are now safely home. I haven't written about this since I took the case; as a lawyer, I owe a duty of confidentiality that does not permit discussing such matters in public fora. However, my client and kynekh_amagire have made the story public here and in their journals, which I find personally gratifying since this is a case deserving of public interest and concern. So here's my own closure to the matter (including no confidential information and nothing that isn't discussed in much greater detail elsewhere), as a pet owner who once supported Mickaboo and never will again.

This situation should be of great concern to anyone with an interest in pets and pet rescue. Mickaboo's behavior was deplorable and appalling throughout the whole ordeal, and though justice did in fact prevail in the end, a pet owner shouldn't have to fight a corrupt rescue in order to reclaim animals fraudulently surrendered to it by an angry spouse. Some of Mickaboo's volunteers are trying to do good things, but its administration is corrupt and the organization deserves no tolerance or support. Behavior like this harms the birds in Mickaboo's care and the credibility and value of private animal rescue in general.

I have decided to adopt another green cheeked conure some time this spring (more detail about that later) and, wherever I end up getting him, I absolutely will not be adopting from Mickaboo. I urge everyone to continue to boycott the organization and its supporters---but be happy; we won. It's a brand new year, and hopefully this one will be even better than the last.

So, I am freshly returned from a week solo backpacking in the Ansel Adams portion of the Sierras. (well, solo save for my merles). It was glorious and I needed it a lot; this summer has certainly posed its challenges both emotionally and financially, and I just haven't been able to get away before now. Still, there's something incredibly special about being in the mountains in fall. I am so lucky.

Also glad to be back. Miz Kaya is licking the inside of my ear and making happy bird chirring noises at me, and as she is being gentle with her wickedly sharp parrot beak, I'm letting her for the time being. Unfortunately, Gavin plucked all of the damned contour feathers on his breast out, since he wasn't allowed out of his cage in my absence. I need to figure out something else to do with them when I'm away.

I brought y'all back photos! Lots of them; I will probably cut this into a few posts.



( First couple of days of pictures )

I haven't done a photopost in awhile, I realize. Kyn and I went to the beach this Saturday, it was lovely, and there were photos taken. I also have some neat bird shots I never posted from a walk last month.



( Dogs, birds, wild things )