Last night Harley was helping me read my tools catalog:

Lucky for me, I guess, I wasn't shopping for pliers. Here's a close-up:

A little later, he climbed up to the back of the chair to warm his tail at the fire, and get scritches. Lots of scritches.

It was a good night. You know, apart from the pile of spitballs in my lap.

Harley got his wing feathers clipped, his beak trimmed, and his toenails trimmed yesterday. It was quite a day! Here he is getting a pedicure:

He's already learned he can't fly well anymore (we want him to be able to fly a little, but we need to get a screen door installed before we play too much with that), and he's fallen off a perch or two, poor fella. I'll be back to sanding his tree perch with a dremel tool so it won't be so slippery. Just goes to show those same pointy toenails that can scratch your fingers so much also help a bird hold onto perches.

Harley had his annual vet check-up today. He was very well-behaved, apart from regurgitating lunch like crazy! He sat on Bruce's shoulder at every opportunity — but considering where we were, that wasn't a problem. He stepped up very well for me (except when it was time to get back into the travel cage, but then he stepped up nicely onto a couple of tongue depressors), and he even stepped up for the vet! Of course, the minute he saw the towel he flew away and started barking like a dog. (Bruce hadn't heard that before, and was quite impressed with both the volume and the dog-like qualities!)

The vet confirmed that he's gained 7 grams since his last check-up, but she checked him carefully and decided he didn't feel overweight. As long as he doesn't gain another 7 grams by next years' visit, he should be fine. Otherwise, she declared him fit and healthy. And very handsome, of course!

Then, since it's been two years, we decided to draw blood for a few tests. Last time, they whisked Harley away for the blood draw, but we decided to watch this time. The less stress for a bird, the better, so even the minute or so it might take to transport him to another room was worth saving.

"You know we use the jugular?" the vet asked before she began. Yes, well, the right jugular vein is the biggest, and therefore the easiest to use for drawing blood in companion parrot-type birds. Not all vets use the jugular vein, but I'd heard about it before. You can click here for a bigger version of this photo — but don't worry, you can't see much. Unfortunately, the vet wasn't able to get too much blood. She jiggled the needle around quite a bit, but for some unknown reason the liquid just stopped coming, and after what felt like minutes but was probably just a second or two, she decided to stop. Hopefully we'll have enough for tests on liver and kidney functions. Since he looks fine otherwise, we should be safe with that.

Poor bird has to go back again for a toenail trim on Saturday, but hey — a dremel tool is nothing compared to a needle stuck in your neck!

Once again, yesterday it was warm enough to take Harley outside:

Today: overcast and cool. But still, it's a sign that Spring might actually stick in a few more weeks!

After 27 1/2 months of Winter, we were finally able to go outside in Southern Michigan on Friday:

67 degrees Fahrenheit (19.4 Celsius)! Unbelievable! It had been so long since he went outside, Harley didn't know what to do with himself! But, after a little while, he ate snacks. Can't go wrong with snacks.

And, yeah, it's been almost 30 degrees lower than that since then. Still, we enjoyed it while we could.

I've put food on skewers for Harley before. Here's a photo from the old apartment.

Although we didn't move this perch when we moved the cage to the new house, Harley rarely sits on it anymore. Skewers were often ignored in the apartment, but they're almost always ignored in this spot now. So I needed a new plan.

The thing is, Harley can be pretty lazy when it comes to — well, anything. He'll work pretty hard for a snack, but some of his favorite toys are ones he stands on and quietly chews to bits. This is not a bird that hangs upside down from one toe, screeching and throwing toys around. He's much more likely to sit on a perch, one foot tucked up, and doze the day away. That's probably why we get along so well.

Still, some activity is good. So I persevered, and finally managed to get the metal pole on Harley's tree stand angled in the correct way, and hung the skewer. Success! I found the sweet spot about two weeks ago, I've given him a skewer almost every day since, and he's played with the toy every day but one. These next four photos were taken on four different days:







That nondescript brown thing hanging from the bottom of the skewer in all four photos is a coffee filter with some of the so-called food I give him every day tucked inside. The food is a combination of lightly sprouted grains and seeds, cooked beans, and minced vegetables that he usually ignores while looking for peas, pomegranate arils and bits of apple. Surprisingly, it almost seems like he's eating it when it's "hidden" in the coffee filter.

Let me clarify: the game is definitely "I MUST REMOVE ALL THE LITTLE BITS FROM INSIDE THE BROWN PAPER!" But it seems possible that he's actually, occasionally, swallowing a molecule or two of food while he's playing. This is not swallowing inhaling cheese, mind you — it's more like osmosis. But I'll take it.

He also enjoys playing with the vegetables, which generally entails tearing them into little bits. But sometimes he'll take a bite, chew it up in his beak to drink the liquid, and spit it out again. His favorite seems to be zucchini, but sweet potato and the greens usually get bites taken out of them as well.

Bruce called me up today to tell me about an article on the health benefits of peanut butter. See "For love of peanut butter" by Nanci Hellmich, in USA TODAY. The article states "It's an almost ideal food when eaten in moderation because it's rich in protein, high in healthful monounsaturated fat and relatively inexpensive."

Of course, we all know Bruce only mentioned this article because he wants to give Harley more peanuts for dessert. A LOT more.

Harley doesn't actually eat walnuts, but occasionally, they make pretty good toys.

If he actually ate walnuts, we probably wouldn't give him a whole one in one sitting.

Well, Bruce might. But Bruce is very weak.

So now, if I don't keep Ginger and Cinnamon sufficiently supplied with grass for nest building, they tear up their poop paper.

What's up with that?!? Don't they realize it's still Winter?!? Haven't they noticed we've gotten almost twice as much snow this year, as we had this time last year?!? Don't they realize it's at least 6 months until Spring?!?

I haven't had Finsters this excited about nest building since I had Zebra finches — and they're the bunnies of the finch world!

Our new bathroom is large enough for two people and a bird to be in it at the same time! So Harley's forays into the room have expanded from simple Night Time Scritches on the towel rack in the old bathroom (pop up an adorable picture), to Ripping The Aerators Out Of The Faucets, Peering Into The Medicine Cabinet And Pulling Things Out Of It, Dropping Bruce's Toothbrush Into The Garbage Can (he's good at this one!), and Looking At Your Human Because They're Crazy If They Think You'll Take A Bath In The Tub.

The bathroom is fairly modern, although not luxurious: it has two sinks, and a bathtub and a shower stall. But we had to install our own medicine cabinet, an extra towel rack, and a floor-to-ceiling tension pole for the shower that has a few wire basket-type things on it to hold shampoo and stuff. (We also had to install a toilet paper holder in the bathroom downstairs. And no, we aren't the first people to live here. What's up with that?)

Surveying Activities From The Shower's Sliding Door Frame has become another favorite bathroom activity, and one we've encouraged, since baths in the tub aren't popular, and Harley only splashes around in his water dish about once a month. I haven't noticed a change in his feathers, but the steam from a shower is supposed to be good for keeping them in good condition, so we're pleased that his daily routine now includes a sauna.

You can imagine my surprise, I'm sure, when Harley decided one day that he really wanted to be on one of the baskets in the shower stall. Particularly since his attempt to glide there from the top of the door frame landed him on the floor of the shower. While I was there. Inside. Taking a shower. Naked. Which I mention not to encourage naughty visits from complete strangers on the internets, but because MY TOES WERE NAKED TOO!

Lucky for my toes, Harley was just as startled as I was, so I managed to take him to the basket before he chomped their tasty pink goodness, and since then, this has become his preferred place to be while the humans take showers:

You'll notice I still have pink in the bathroom. Oh well, at least there isn't any blue.

Harley loves sitting on his basket, and although occasionally he'll climb down to the basket below him to toss the razors onto the floor, he's more likely to sit here, happily, long after the shower is finished. For awhile there, he was even letting me mist him, but lately he lunges and bites the spray bottle, so we're taking a break from that game.

The only problem with the basket is that it's pretty narrow for a perch. The wire is too small in diameter, and his feet are too big, for him to get a good grip with one foot. So instead of raising one foot high to "step up" onto my fingers, he holds that foot a little lower than usual, and once in awhile his longer back toe gets caught up on the basket. About a week ago, his toe got a little stuck, and in his unhappiness about being off balance he bit me.

Well, it was my fault entirely. So now I take him out of the shower stall with a stick — he may still get off balance, but he can't hurt the stick if he gets scared. I've still got to sort out that razor thing, though.