We got this backpack for Harley late last Fall. (I'm pretty sure it's the "medium" one of these, but I don't remember where we got it.) It was really too cold to take Harley outside in it, but we got him accustomed to the space by hiding snacks inside, and encouraging him to climb around on it and in it. Once it got warm out, we put him inside while we were gardening, or otherwise puttering around outside the building. This condominium complex is pretty quiet, but there are still a couple of dogs and kids around, so the backpack gave him more privacy than his outside cage (picture pops).

It's only been pretty recently that we started taking him for walks in it. Because, you know, we're lazy slugs. By coincidence, we ran into a friend while we were on our second outing — she thought it was the cutest thing she'd ever seen! But the backpack isn't quite perfect. First, the last time we took him out he seemed to get a little overheated, so that's something we'll have to watch out for on a hot day.

The biggest problem, though, is that the lowest perch attachment is slightly high for dainty Harley, and the perch that came with it is a little too big in diameter. So if he falls off, he can't climb up again. It's easy enough to make new, thinner perches, but so far Harley has insisted on perching awkwardly on the dishes instead — I'm guessing because they're higher than the perch, and he just feels safer being higher up.

Next time I might just remove the dishes, since we're not going out long enough for him to need snacks or beverages. I'm also thinking of making some sort of ladder, or platform, instead of a perch, so he'll be able to hang on more easily. It is a moving backpack, after all.

The outside of our condominium complex is being painted. Yesterday they taped all the trim around our building, and today they did some of (hopefully most of) the spray-painting. Next will be the trim work. The crew is working pretty quickly, but it's a big job, so it's a little hard to judge how long it will all take.

Harley's breakfast was interrupted by all the commotion this morning, and late this afternoon his Window Time was interrupted by a Man! Walking! In! Front! Of! His! Window! With! A! Ladder!

Harley was both terrified and utterly fascinated by all of this activity. Needless to say, we've had to be pretty careful with all the hustle and bustle. We've closed the window blind behind the Finsterium, and tried to bring Harley up to the bedroom only when we think there aren't men on the roof. We got that wrong this afternoon.

The new paint looks just about the same as the old paint. But I'm sure it's much better now.

Harley likes corn pretty well. A few thawed-out frozen kernels usually get added to the birds' food mix, and now that it's grilling season, we have chunks of corn-on-the-cob available most weekends. Despite its availability — or perhaps because of it — Harley doesn't eat it at every opportunity. Unless, that is, he has convinced his favorite lackey to feed it to him on a fork:

Cinnamon and Ginger don't seem to like corn as much as the other Finsters did, either. When they do eat it, their method is closest to the Society Finches'. This doesn't worry me, since — with its high sugar content — it isn't the most nutritious of vegetables. What does concern me, however, is that they don't eat millet spray. What's up with that? Are they not birds?!?

Be sure to read part one of How To Eat Corn.

Also, be sure to pop up this photo from National Geographic, which shows how rabbits prefer to eat corn. Well, obviously.

(Note that these photos of Harley were taken on my new camera phone. Yes, it's an iPhone. Yes, you can be jealous of me. But the pictures aren't the best in the world. Still. Harley eating corn: you just can't go wrong.)

As I think I've mentioned, Bob the ficus tree has not fared well during the move. He wasn't very healthy when we moved him, and we think the combination of being stuffed into a friend's SUV, plus the forced air heat in the new place (compared to radiant heat in the old place) just didn't help him — despite all the extra light here.

Bob was so unhealthy I decided to let Harley play in him a couple of weeks ago:

Ficus trees generally show up on both "safe" and "not safe" plant lists, I think because the plant materials are safe enough for most creatures to eat, but the sap that flows from the chewed bits can be itchy to skin. So, yeah, it's pretty safe to say that Bob doesn't have a whole lot of sap flowing through his plant-veins these days, and Harley had a pretty good time. Bob is currently outside on the patio, because — in a move quite contrary to our usual demeanors — Bruce and I have decided to be optimistic about Bob and the general healing power of the Sun.

In the meantime, we went to the annual show sponsored by the Ann Arbor Companion Bird Club, and picked up a new tree for Harley to play in. This was built by the friendly folks at Bird on the Rocks.


So far, Harley hasn''t been too keen on the thing. But that's nothing that a Finster Attraction Device won't fix.

The Goodyear Blimp was flying around today. It comes around fairly often, probably due to the football games at the University of Michigan. I've gotten better pictures before (including this one), but frankly, this is about as close as I want to get to one from now on.

Harley's verdict? DOES NOT LIKE IT. Worse than the garbage truck, when he's sitting in the bedroom window. Apparently it looks like a big, blue hawk. Bad.

There are seven home games this year. Siiiigh. The new place is farther away from the stadium than the old apartment, which thankfully means we don't have to deal with the 100,000 people coming into town to get drunk before the game starts watch the game. Unfortunately, we're closer to the Ann Arbor Municipal Airport, which means we might get more blimp activity. I guess we'll find out.

To be precise, I should say that Harley likes to chew hard-boiled eggs into tiny little pieces and drop those pieces into the sink. It's a very good game. But he also likes to eat egg, so this is a fine toy and snack wrapped up in one.

You may have noticed that there's something different about the kitchen faucet in this picture. In fact, it's a different faucet. Click here to pop up a photo of the old faucet.

As I predicted in May, the aerator was the next casualty after Harley pulled out the "Kohler" button. What I didn't expect was that he'd manage to nick the o-ring (or bearing washer, or whatever it was). Suddenly, the faucet was leaking, and after a discussion with the friendly man at the Big Box store, we decided trying to find replacement parts for a 15-year-old faucet was probably more trouble than it was worth. So here we are with a brand-new Moen faucet, "Moen" plug button (made of plastic, this time) already torn out and squished a little in Harley's Powerful Beak of Biting.

So far, the new aerator is intact (not for lack of trying), and there are no leaks. And I think Harley likes the rounded spout better than the old, squarish one. We'll see how long it lasts.

It's certainly a good perch for eating eggs.