Scolded by my Parrot.

Tonight R and I had sat down to eat dinner, but before I started eating, I decided to check my cellphone. Kai was on his dinner stand next to me, but he hadn't started eating yet. R had started eating already.  Kai looked over at me while I was tinkering with my phone and said, "Eat your food."

I wasn't paying attention, but R said, "I think your bird is saying, "Eat your din?"

So, we sat and listened for a while as Kai proceeded to scold me, demanding I, "Eat your food. Eat your din. Kai, Kai, be a good boy! Eat your food, Kai! Eat your food!" LOL!

I told him, "Okayyy, okay! Look, I'm eating!" Once I started eating, he finally stepped down off his dish and started eating with us. He cracks me up so bad.  Be glad your cats and dogs aren't capable of scolding you, folks.

Another moment of cuteness: while I was at the sink deboning the turkey for dinner, I grunted and went, "Nnnnngh!!" due to difficulty with removing tendons.  Kai, who was perched upon the faucet, looked over at me, wingflipped, and said, "It's okay!" 

♥ Kai ♥

Such a Good Boy / Thanks for not mauling my husband!

This afternoon while I was cleaning the kitchen, I stepped out for a moment to clean and refill birdbaths, set fresh seed out, take the compost out and set out expired leftovers on the Crow Pile.  Das Hubby was milling about in the kitchen for a while (does anyone else have husbands who "hover" while you do housework?).

When I came back in, Kai had flown from the faucet over to R's shoulder.  The two of them were staring at each other in a very curious manner holding stock still as they checked one another out.  Kai will let R pick him up if I'm not there, or if he winds up on the floor without issue, but neither of us are sure if Kai would bite him if he tried to remove him from his shoulder.  My guess is he wouldn't.

I laughed and watched them staring for a while, then went to pick Kai up.  He got lots of kisses for stepping up easily and for not mauling my husband.  It's spring and most parrots are hormonal as all get-out, but I've been careful to manage Kai's hormones each year, and he's never been aggressive with R or the cats.  The exception is when they come up to his house or somewhere he feels cornered and can't easily fly away, but that's understandable, and it's just posturing.

I reminded y that it's mating season, and warned him that Kai might be a little moody.  He replied, "Oooo, so Kai wants to do it with you!"  >.<  Blarrrr......

Kai: I can feed myself!

Kai enjoys red palm oil and coconut oil straight from the spoon.  I give him a small portion off of a tiny condiment spoon each night after supper. 

Tonight, I decided I would let him hold the spoon and eat the oil from it at his leisure.  He spent several minutes licking every last bit of oil from the spoon, then played with the spoon itself for several more minutes.  He had a wonderful time and eventually dropped the spoon into my hand so he could clean his beak off.

I wonder if he would eat other things using a spoon?  :)  It was quite precious!

Warm, soggy moment with Kai. (Bathtime)

I had an incredibly cute, warm, soggy (fuzzy) moment today in the shower with Kai today in the shower.  Some people may ask, "Why was Kai in the shower??"  Well, whenever I take showers, I take Kai with me so we can shower together.  He gets showers in the shower, but also over the kitchen sink while sitting on the faucet with the hand sprayer.  I give him a bath that soaks him completely three days a week, and he gets light spritzes in between.  It keeps him happy and softens up any pinfeathers that he may have so he can work them free easier, especially during his molt.

I was rinsing my face off with my back towards Kai, and I hear him try to fly from his perch onto my head.  My shoulders are too small, and he doesn't like to slap me in the face, because I squeaked the first time he tried.  He doesn't like to hurt me on accident.  Kai landed on the bottom of the tub, instead, and when I turned around to make sure he was okay, he waddled right over and perched on my toe, looking up at me.  Some of the water from the showerhead sprinkled down on him, and he spread his wings and tail out and started to bathe right there on my foot!  It was so adorable, I sang to him and he continued to bathe until he gave me his, "I'm done!" honk, then I picked him up and finished showering. 

It was a super adorable moment...Afterwards, we ate a bit of lunch together, and now he's here with me in the computer room.  I close both my doors up so it stays warmer and he can dry off faster.  Brrrrr......it's 43F here right now.  Go figure that NY still thinks it's winter well into spring....

Kai likes to share.

Birds are social animals.  They do everything together, and absolutely hate to be separated from the flock. This means they also eat together, which is why Kai always eats with us at dinner time, and also why he eats when I do if we're in my craft room together.  Earlier, I was eating fish sticks, and since I was starving, I ate them well before Kai was done eating....The following is a transcript of what happened...!

Kai: *Eating a walnut out of the shell, stops to look at M.*
Me: You can keep eating, Kai, I'm full.
Kai: *questioning chirp, followed by...* Want seed? Good seed?
Me: No, that's okay, thank you!
Kai: Want seed. Good boy. *flings the walnut at M.* That's good seed!
Me: *Cracks up, picks the walnut up and pretends to eat it.* Thank you, you're such a good boy!
Kai: Good boy, such a good boy. That's good.

It was so endearing that he felt I should be eating more, and especially that he wanted to share with me.  He often asks me, "That's good?" if I'm eating something he's never seen before, too.  Oddly, he doesn't seem to care for sunflower seeds anymore.  I wonder if it's because he just likes other "good seed"s better.

Kai: Seed?
Me: Okay, Kai, you want seed?
Kai: Seed?
Me: What seed?  Flower (sunflower)? White (pumpkin)? Peanut?
Kai: SEED. (give me a seed, woman!)
Me: Okay, how about Flower seed? *offers.*
Kai: *picks it up and drops it.* Seed?
Me: What about White seed? *offers.*
Kai: *flings that, too.* Want GOOD seed.
Me: What is good seed?? *holds out an assortment.*
Kai: Mmmm!  Good seed.  *selects peanut halve.*  That's good seed.
Me: Hnnnnnnn.....okay, then.  You're such a little diva!
Kai: Kai's a good boy.
Me: Yes, Kai's a good boy.


Good seed also seems to indicate pistachio, pecan, and walnut....

You're So Cute! (and moderately hormonal....)

The weird, warm/sunny winter weather here in Upstate NY is causing Kai's spring hormones to come early.  I worry about birds down south taking the warmer weather as a cue to begin migrating back up to Canada prematurely, then having a sudden cold snap come through to wipe them out.  It would be horrible...!

Kai has been very talkative lately and still enjoys singing along to metal music the best!  I was stretching the other day, and he told me, "You're so cute!"  Last month, he told me, "(I) love you," also.  I hope he never stops learning words, he's such a smart little guy!  Who knows how long he was practicing before he found the courage to speak above his little Pionus mumble?

(Kai's Pionus mumblings below!)

Kai turned one this past summer, but it would appear that he's growing up and becoming an adult, which makes me a little teary-eyed.  It's not that he's changed all that much, but there have been slight differences in his behavior.  Even if he stopped wanting to be with me and decided to pick R, instead, I would still love him!  His hormones don't appear to be that dramatic, not like some of the nightmarish attack birds that some people report, at least.  He's just been mouthier, enjoys biting his shreddables more, and attacks his perches more aggressively during play.  Since he's been able to fly, he's been much more confident and happy!  There's still minor, occasional territorial aggression when it comes to his house in my craft room if R comes near, but half the time, he's content to sit still and not clamber to his drawbridge to appear all 230 grams of menacing, threatening, blue-and-green fluff.  I had been worried that since he can fly, he would be flying around assaulting everyone in sight, but that hasn't been the case, thankfully.

I've been giving him lots of foraging containers and materials to look through to keep him busy.  The only receptacle that I leave in his cage in the same place every day is his water bowl, which I've been having to clean more like three times a day.  He seems to like soaking food more this month!

Kai really enjoys the mixed nuts that I give him, too.  Almonds have fallen out of favor since I introduced him to pecans and walnuts!  I partially crack the shells for him, since Pionus beaks aren't as strong as other parrots' beaks.  He still loves "chio" (pistachio), though.  I feel it's important to give one's parrot a couple nuts each day, as the oils and fat in them are probably needed.  Kai is also going through a minor molt right now, so I have given him a bit more protein to help him through.  I seriously worried that he was going bald at one point, because a pinky-finger-tip sized bald spot turned up right above his cere!  I watched to see if his skin was irritated, and in a couple days, teeny little pinfeathers started poking through.  I felt so bad for him, he was absolutely miserable for a week while they grew in.  I just kept soaking him to soften up those itchy bits and to give him some relief.  When he's molting like this, I bathe him ever other day, at least. 

I'm not sure if it's just that he's in much better health since I've switched him mostly off of artificially colored, sugar-filled pellets and onto 20% TOP pellets, 10% Lafaeber's, and 65% veggies/fruits, and 5% nuts/other (including a scrape of coconut oil and red palm oil), but his feathers look much better!  He's also much more active and healthy since he's been able to fly around to get exercise, also.  When he was younger, he tended to just hang out in one spot, but now he climbs around much more and enjoys being able to fly from room to room following me.  I'll tell him, "I'm going kitchen," and he'll know to fly to me in the kitchen after I've gotten a head start.  He also knows, "Let's go house!" as meaning we should go to my craft room where his house is.  "Let's go perch and eat dindin," well, he knows that one really well, too!  The only thing is, since I'm so small, my shoulder makes a horrid landing pad.  Kai really really dislikes hitting me in the face, I think because I made a sound when he accidentally slapped me, so he's taken to landing on my head instead.  He's very considerate like that.

I don't really mind if he lands on my head, because he steps down onto either my hand or another spot, like the counter or the faucet, if I ask him to.  R gets annoyed if Kai lands on his hoodie, mostly because he doesn't want to get pooped on or bitten.  (Poop from any species is a huge deal to R for some reason, I forget that he didn't grow up with a lot of animals like I did much of the time.)  Since Kai has been able to fly, though, every time that he's landed on R, there has been absolutely no aggression whatsoever.  In the past, he liked to try to give R nips, and R REALLY wasn't helping as he'd do all kinds of "fun" things to encourage that behaviour in Kai.  (You bet I scolded R for it...though I'd do it where Kai couldn't see me.)  If we hear Kai flying into the kitchen, R knows to duck, because chances are, he's wanting to land on the sink faucet, which is his favourite place to hang out so he can "help" me prep to cook dinner. 

We had a "visitor" in early February, also!  My friend's daughter, Cailey, had an (awesome!!) school project where they mailed the "flat" versions of themselves to family/friends!  It's based on a book called Flat Stanley, where a little boy is flattened and is able to go on adventures, because he can slip under doors or be mailed in envelopes.  I took Flat Cailey all over the city one weekend.  We visited the adoption clinic at PetsMart, had lunch at our favorite Korean BBQ restaurant, went to a bunch of other shops, had dinner at our favourite Thai restaurant, and she got to meet all our animals.  The next day, we took her to Lollypop Farm, and she got to meet a MASSIVE 180 lb Great Pyrenees dog!  I had never seen one before in real life, and flashbacks of Mr. Tadakichi (of Azumanga Daioh fame) instantly sprung to mind!  I was also fortunate enough to get Cailey in time for one of the few winter craft shows going on.  We got to see Kira, Casey and Amanda, as well as Robert at the show, so we got pictures with them, and I was able to give Cailey samples of their crafts!

R was a bit exasperated with me by the time I finally sent Flat Cailey back home, but I told him that if we ever had kids, he would understand.  I printed out about seventy-five photographs and wrote descriptions for Cailey's mom to read to her on the back.  My hand was just about dead by the time I packed her away into a box with goodies in it.  I also packed some cute paintable ceramic stuff in for Cailey and her brother to play with.  It's really cute, because apparently I "already live at Cailey's house", and Cailey "has me over to play in her room" often.  Does this make me an imaginary friend?  I wonder what Cailey imagines me as being?  (I'm kind of scared to ask!)  Either way, it's sheer adorableness.  I wish kids didn't grow out of stuff like that so fast...

I'm starting to do things early so I'll have stuff to sell at this year's Mayday Underground, also.  More samples of what I'm making will come later.  Nanaa's begun planning to make things for our shop, too, so I'm excited to see what she comes up with.  I'm a little worried that my portion of stuff will have mostly to do with birds and not kitties at all, but they're just so much fun to draw cutely.  I really need to remember to have my banner printed out, too, urghh...

Well, I should get back to the drawing board now.  I'm also due to go to my doctor's appointment in two and a half hours - joy of joys.  I guess I figured out (half a year ago!) that I would still be awake at 8am.  At least I'll be avoiding traffic, too, because the city traffic trying to get home is insane and I can never get back home, because I'm (terrified!!) not an aggressive driver at all.

Coming in for a Landing! One Week of Flying with Kai and Lots of Poop.

Kai is progressing very nicely on learning to fly!  He's become more confident, but he's also become a little more territorial where his cage is concerned.  It troubles me a little that people say that you should clip their wings so "they have to depend on you".  They already depend on you for food, water, and companionship, that shouldn't necessitate mutillating their wings.

I had listened in on a presentation that a man was giving when he spoke of his raptor.  He mentioned that if he could never show fear, anger, or upset, or his raptor might lose confidence in him and possibly hurt him very badly.  He said that he would have to starve his raptor for a few days, because he was the one who controlled the food source, and then work on building his raptor's trust all over again.

That does make sense to me, in a way, though it isn't very kind.  Before anyone becomes upset at such treatment, I can't recall how many times I've heard of children being sent to bed without supper as a manner of discipline.  It's basically the same concept.  No one is going to die from not eating for a 12 hour period.  I don't recall being sent to bed hungry, though there were plenty of other times that I was starving, but had no access to food.  (Besides, if the kids are smart, they'll already have foxholed caches of food in their rooms, anyway, like I usually did!)

I would prefer to reward good behaviour rather than resort to punishment.  That being said, there is also a big difference between parrots and raptors.  Raptors are not affectionate; they learn that life with their master is a sure way to survive and depend upon them for food, shelter, and care.  In return, the falconer must trust that their raptor will return to them.  Parrots, on the other hand, are social birds, who are affectionate, and form strong bonds with their families. 

Would someone ever clip a raptor's wings?  No, of course not.  Raptors need to be able to fly to be physically and mentally healthy, and also to hunt.  Flying is what makes a bird so special and set apart from other species - there is no other animal (with feathers) which is capable of flight.  There is nothing as beautiful as a bird in flight, a butterfly fluttering from one flower to another, or a horse galloping across an open stretch of field (even if it's gleefully bucking and farting, ahem).  Flying promotes the best health they can be in by providing exercise as nature intended.  So why should anyone clip a parrot's wings and rob them of their flight?

I also feel strongly about other similar, related controversial issues, such as genital mutilation (circumcision), declawing, debarking, pinfiring, racing horses without closed knees,  ear and tail cropping, etcetera.  Why, for the love of children, would you do something like that to your helpless, vulnerable baby?  Why risk the slip of a scalpel, which accidentally severs the nerves which will later bring them pleasure and condemn them to a sexual life lacking sensitivity.  Why risk the doctor royally screwing up and severing the glans off completely?  Or how about a botched job and infection causing your son's penis to become necrotic and fall off, completely?   (It's happened....and it has been estimated that as many as 209 babies die every year from circumcision and related complications.)  I don't think I need to bring up MRSA.  Why risk mutilating and deforming a limb of his body, which will affect a large portion of his adult life later on?  I've seen some tragic examples due to botched jobs.  It isn't just their love life that's affected, it's their self-confidence, self-worth, and self-esteem.

Why would anyone surgically remove the claw at the distal phalanx and cause them a remaining lifetime of insecurity, biting due to fear aggression and the inability to fight back, trauma, and chronic pain?  For those who don't believe declawed animals suffer, they have but to ask someone with an amputated limb if they can still feel it, or if they still feel pain, because of it.  The answer is yes, and much of the time, it's chronic and lasts for the rest of their lives.  With debarking, people remove their dog's natural ability to communicate, causing a wellspring of behavioural issues and detriment to the dog's well-being.  Why don't more people notice their animals are suffering?  They have higher pain thresholds than people, though their trauma generally manifests in unfavourable behaviour, such as bite aggression, marking, excessive licking/plucking, and other self-mutilating examples.

That being said, it stands to reason that a parrot is also affected on many levels, not just physically, but also mentally. 

I found a site that has good information on it.  Also:

http://www.parrotchronicles.com/features/freeflight/freeflight.htm

http://www.flyingparrotsinside.com

I absolutely love and stand by the article written by Pamela Clark.

On a rather unsavory note, husband made the comment that, because Kai was flying from room to room, he thought it was time to clip him again.  I reasoned, "Well, then, we should cut off your cat's legs.  He doesn't need to play, tear around the house, or exercise, either..."  He said that his cat doesn't fly around the house like Kai does, and I said, "Have you never seen the cats running around the house before...?"

I have a long list of things that the cats have eaten, spilled, broken, damaged, or otherwise ruined in our house and past living spaces.  We buy furniture with the knowledge that it will become defaced by claws, covered in a veneer of shed fur every fall and spring, shredded, possibly peed and or pooped on/in, and otherwise made holey.  His cat not only mauls the couch corners to ribbons, but he also chews and eats the foam that comes out of it.  My cats poop in the bathtub, or on the kitty bathroom floor.  The bed has been christened numerous times when Ollie experienced blockage due to his bladder crystals, and twice when B's cat peed on it for no real reason at all.

My dog's stomach is extremely sensitive to treats and weather changes.  Quite often, if I'm not around, am sleeping, or if B ignores his pleas to go outside, my dog will go as far away as he can from either of us and do his business.  Then he'll run and hide... I've never so much as raised my voice at him for doing so, but he's always so ashamed and embarrassed that he did what he did where he did.  And my husband is worried about Kai flying around the house a little, occasionally pooping on stuff?  Let's compare poop size, shall we...?  This dog's head is also so insanely hard, once, he was doing his Husky 500, took the corner too fast, and ran straight into the steel wall corner reinforcement.  He was fine, but he BUCKLED the corner, broke through the drywall, and made a dent that was over an inch thick.  Boy did I spend a lot of time trying to disguise that one with tablespoons of spackle, my airbrush, and acrylic paint diluted with rubbing alcohol.  I also had to hammer the buckled part flat again on the other side.

My life revolves around cleaning up sh*t, literally and figuratively.  I've done it for years - since I was 4 or 5, at least, and we got our first cat.  It doesn't bother me, seriously.  Some day, if I have a baby, I'll be cleaning up its poop, too.  Hell, I'll make my husband do it!  It'll be a nice dose of reality and an actualization of responsibility for him.  Maybe it will make him more sympathetic to what I deal with on a day to day basis.  Dog poops on the carpet?  I just sigh and make for the paper towels and the green machine.  Every morning, I change Kai's papers.  Every couple of hours, I scoop the litterbox and flush the kitty poop.  Every day, I clean some part of the house.  It's routine, I'm used to it, it doesn't bother me - and B comes home, none the wiser to what I've done.  He just knows that dinner is almost ready, that he can change out of his work clothes and into his freshly laundered comfy pants, and that he should feed everyone just before we eat.  And yet, when Kai poops on the floor, he freaks out a little?

Pshhh.  I told him it was training for all the poop that'd come with a child.  He said kids wore diapers and eventually potty trained.  I just gave him a look.  I told him about my friend's daughter, who has taken to removing her diaper, scooping her feces, and flinging it downstairs at her mother, followed by her poop-filled diaper.  If he thinks kids won't potty in bizarre places (like outside in the yard, like the dog, in planters, on doormats, in litterboxes like the cats, etc), he's sadly mistaken.

Where damage is concerned, I also don't think my husband realizes that Kai seldom chews.  Compared to other species, it doesn't appear that Pionus really chew much at all.  He'll snap wooden disks and take apart vine balls, maybe chew his hanging wooden feeder box, but he's never really chewed aside from that.  I've been trying to teach him to forage through cardboard, but that's not going very well.  Besides, I don't think Kai could ever cause nearly as much damage as the cats. 

SO.  I'm really not worried about Kai being flighted.  I'm working on recalling him, but so far, he's only really mastered flying from my hand to his house, his perch, or to the faucet.  He knows the difference between stepping up for me to go somewhere, and stepping up for me to practice flying.

Me: Kai, let's go!
Kai: *looks at finger.* (Na, thanks.)
Me: Come on, Kai, let's go!  Do you want to go kitchen and help make dindin?
Kai: *disinterested stare* (Ehhhhhh....)
Me:  Hnn.  Well, Kai, let's go whee!  Do you want to go whee?
Kai: *eyes sparkling* (We're going to fly?)
Me: Come on, Kai, let's go whee to perch, okay?
Kai: *steps up immediately!!* (Okay!!!)

He has found the confidence to fly from my room into the kitchen, usually up onto the top of the fridge, but he has yet to figure out how to fly to me.  I can tippie-toe to get him off of high places, but I don't know what I'd do if he got up onto something higher than I could reach.  I don't shoulder him at all, because I like my face, ears, and earrings.  I hold my arm out at a right angle to my body with my finger pointed as he flies towards me, but he winds up flying right over me.  I guess it'll just take practice!  I'm still optimistic.

Please note that if I'm cooking with the stove on, Kai is NOT in the kitchen with me and all the kitchen doors are closed.  Kai gets to eat bits of fruit and veggies on the faucet as I'm doing the prepwork, but as soon as it's time to turn the burners on, Kai has to go to his livingroom perch.  I'm not going to risk burning my bird.  It helped that my mother would totally flip out if my sister or I ever stepped within two feet of the stove or oven while it was on.  Why was she so paranoid?  Well, when I was a toddler, apparently she had the oven open and I fell against the door and burned my arm.  Lesson learned!  Years later, I still maintain that lesson with all of my animals (and my husband.).  My kids, human or furry/feathered, will always be kept safe from hot things...I'm very cautious, considerate of my animals' needs, and am a responsible individual, who has an understanding of each of their distinct personalities and temperaments.

One thing that I have been having him practice is flying from his playstand to his house.  That's been going swimmingly!  A couple times, he's flown in circles around the room, which I found delightful, only to land on something awkward for him to stand on.  Tonight, he landed on a framed picture that I have leaning against the wall waiting to be hung.  He was nearly face-flat against the wall as he clung to the frame.  I resisted the urge to go get him, because I want him to learn that mommy isn't always going to rescue him.  I told him, "Kai, if you don't like it, you should go house.  Come on, you can do it!"  After a couple minutes of looking at me pathetically, he sucked it up and managed to turn himself a little, then launched and flew right to his house!  I cheered and praised him as he crowed about what a good boy he was, then I gave him his beloved sunflower seeds and aya (papaya).  He's always so pleased with himself when he flies and lands right.

So far, so good - he hasn't tried to dive-bomb my husband yet.  We'll see how he does during mating season.  I'm going to take pains to try to keep his hormones at low levels by limiting his light exposure (our house is dark, anyway!), not feeding him large amounts of meat protein/eggs, and by not encouraging mating habits.

While on the subject of behaviours, I tried something new with his territorial cage aggression.   He struts around on his house, all puffed up like a macho bird if B walks by, or if I'm changing his papers and cleaning his tray out.  The strutting while cleaning his tray out is a new behaviour I haven't seen until recently.  T.T  My little baby is growing up... So, anyway...I don't want to encourage him to be territorial and show signs of aggression like that.  Well, while eyeballing my little puffball, I open up his treat bin and pull out a handful of pumpkin seeds and exclaim, "Seed!!"

Kai went from aggressive to perky bird in half a second flat.  I was mightily pleased and dumped the pumpkin seeds into his dish so he could eat them while I finished cleaning his tray out.  It only seems like he has aggression if he's out on top of his cage, but not if he's inside.  If I close his drawbridge up and change his tray, he shows absolutely no signs of aggression.

On another note, I also might get a little flight suit for Kai so I can take him to other people's houses or to the store, but we'll see how that goes...if I have any skin left on my fingers after trying to get it on!  Okay, I should really sleep now, it's 9:12 am as I finish this up...I need to sleep sometime today!

Someone's instant messaging me! Wait, no they're not!

Earlier, I was chatting on Skype IMs.  

 When someone sends an IM, it goes, PWOOP! Well, I keep hearing multiple PWOOP!s like someone has messaged me, but there's nothing new added to the conversation!   What the heck?

Then, I realize that the extra PWOOP!s are coming after someone actually sends me a message. I look to the right...

 LO AND BEHOLD, Kai is mimicking the sound...and is calling back, PWOOP!, after someone IMs! Augh, it's so unbearably cute!!

The forum post I submitted to the Bird Channel forum.

I did hours of research before I brought home my very first parrot, a blue-headed Pionus, January of 2009. Based on my research, I had also been considering a Senegal, but it was Kai who stole my heart. I wanted to make certain that whichever species I brought home would match my own personal temperament and lifestyle, which is calm, quiet, and peaceful for the most part. It was very important to me that the parrots I looked at wanted to be with me, because in my experience, if an animal isn't interested in you, then it may not be a good match when you bring them home. Kai was the only one who marched right over to me for head scratches, cried when I walked away, then stepped up onto me when I put my hand out. The thing that clinched the decision for me was when he tried to regurgitate food for me... Kai chose me, so I chose him, and it has been a wonderful relationship since!

Pionus are well-known for being wonderful beginner's parrots, because they tend to be quieter, quite amicable, level-headed, very good about socializing with other people, are independent, and are very affectionate. Obviously, every pi is different, though, and it varies by individual. It seems that Pionus are rarely rehomed, because they're such wonderful birds and they don't tend to have some of the less favourable traits and behaviours of other parrots.

Noise-wise, Kai is chattier during the morning when he first wakes up, then again before it's bedtime, which is normal for most parrots, I've read. If we're listening to music together, he loves to sing along, or if we're watching a music-oriented television show together (he LOVES watching Metalocalpyse with my husband and I), he also talks up a storm/sings. His chit-chat is generally on the rambling, quiet side, on a conversational level. His natural parrot sounds are very pleasant to listen to, varying between a rolling chitter to chirps to crackles to popping peeps. If you were in a room talking to someone else, you might not even notice your pionus talking, they're so quiet. That being said, when they want to be heard...a pionus WILL be heard!

I remember the first day that Kai came down off his perch by the couch, because I had told him, "BRB", which means that I would be back in a second. Well, I took a little longer than a few minutes, so he came looking for me. My dog came over to say hello, and I heard this totally unfamiliar, LOUD, startling honk from the living room. It sounded like a bicycle horn, except with a honk. My dog took off in the other direction, terrified, and I stood there in the doorway staring at Kai in disbelief. It was so funny when he strutted over, because he gave me an exasperated look and huffed as if to say, "Look what you made me do! I had to walk all the way over here looking for you! What's taking so long?" He understands the difference between "BRB" (minutes) and "I'll be back later" (hours).

Kai has also learned the shrill, single note whistle that I use to call the dog and cats (unfortunately....I didn't realize that I was doing it until he mimicked me!). So...if he wants me to come downstairs, he dog-whistles for me. I've been working with him on this so that he'll say a softer word. I think it also helps that I never yell around him and always speak quietly to him. He knows several words and phrases, knows how to ask for things, and picks up new words after a week or two of working with him.

I really love that he doesn't have to be on my arm constantly, or that he needs my attention all the time. My friends say that some birds will scream if they're not on you all the time. He's perfectly content to sit on his drawbridge door to his house and play with toys or chewies, or perch on the branch sticking out closer to me. Kai really loves foot toys, which I tie to his drawbridge to prevent from falling onto the floor. He likes to pull them back up to play with them again, too. He isn't much of a chewer, but he does love the thin wooden discs and small clothing pins, which he breaks and snaps for fun. He really loves vine balls, which I stuff with treats. After we've eaten dinner, he's very happy to step up onto my arm for head kissies, head scratches, and allopreening. I like that he's also not a tiny bird, but a good, stocky, solid size that can defend himself if need be.

Where size is concerned, because he is also a decent size, this means that he is capable of powerful bites, which can tear skin. Kai has bitten me two times before I learned exactly why he bit me at all. Please respect your pi's personal space and do not force them to step-up, bother them if they appear to be aggravated, physically grab them, or stick your hand into their home. Imagine the world from their perspective, envision yourself from their point of view, and empathize with how small they are, versus how large a human is. A human can be very formidable and threatening. It's always best to use positive reinforcement, but it's even better to give them a choice. They should step up and down, because they want to. It took me at least two months to show Kai that he could trust me, and I never forced him to do anything he didn't want to do. After he bit me the first time, I realized that he didn't want to come out, so I let him come out on his own. Once I proved to him that I wasn't going to grab him out of his cage, push against his chest to make him step up, he began to step up onto me if he felt like it. If he didn't/doesn't feel like stepping up, he will politely turn his beak away from me and give me his back. (The other bite was because he was startled.)

My husband complains that he doesn't like Kai, because Kai always tries to bite him if he comes close to the cage. I explained to him that that is Kai's sanctuary and home, so of course he feels protective of it. I told him that it's like a dog's kennel, and how once a dog goes into his kennel, you should never try to pull him back out again, especially if he's feeling upset or defensive. I'm trying to encourage Kai and my husband to bond in neutral ways that do not involve physical contact, such as showering together and having my husband give him treats on a spoon so he can't be bitten. I also remind my husband that if Kai does bite him, he can't scream and do other entertaining things that Kai might enjoy...

So it's very important that you socialize your Pi with everyone in the family, because you don't want a situation where your Pi doesn't like certain people. I find that Kai is more than happy to step up onto complete strangers, also, though he becomes almost silent until he's comfortable with them. He can be passed around to a whole room full of people and not show the slightest bit of aggression, which is wonderful. Kai is also tolerant of my other cats and dog, as well. He loves my fluffy white cat, Murmur, going so far as to lower his head and fluff up for head scratches if Murmur approaches him. (Mur doesn't know what to do, so he just sniffs him.)

When Kai is excited, he emits his unusual Pi scent, which my husband says smells like burned honey. It's quite sweet, and I find it rather pleasant. He's really cute and lets me know that it's bedtime by whining at me and telling me, "Let's go!". When I put him onto his drawbridge, he goes inside onto his favourite sleeping perch, and I draw the blanket over. I've never had to close his drawbridge, because once he's on his house, he stays there unless I take him with me.

As another note, Kai doesn't want to poop on me. I'm not sure if that's common with all parrots, but he lets me know that he needs to go back to his perch to potty by either telling me "Potty!" or "Poop" or by whining at me if he's on my arm. If I don't put him down, he makes a burbling sound and mouthes/beaks me. If, for some reason, I'm totally not paying attention, he'll nip me a little harder. If he's on my knee or leg, he'll just back up as far as he can and poop on whatever's below. It was really cute this one time, because he shook his tail before he pooped while he was standing over his food dish, and I squeaked and pushed him back a little with my finger so he wasn't over the dish. He got defensive, opened his mouth to nip me - then paused to poop, closed his beak, looked a little embarrassed, and uttered, "Thank you."

Another thing that Kai does, which absolutely tickles me, is that he exclaims, "OOoo!!" if I give him something that he really likes - like a piece of papaya, a sunflower seed, or bellpepper.

I have my own organic garden that I grow during the summer, so Kai always gets fresh veggies and fruits from the garden, but during cold months, I buy organic produce from the store. In the mornings and at dinner time, he gets his SSG mush. I call it SSG, because when I cook it, my husband always comes home and remarks, "What is that? It smells so good." It's a mixture of organic ingredients, including azuki beans, mung beans, split peas, spinach and bellpepper rotini, white quinoa, barley, steel cut oats, forbidden rice, wild rice, green, red, and yellow lentils, dried fruit (nothing with sulfites or sugar), chopped almonds, edamame, chopped carrots, flax, sesame, pumpkin, and millet seeds, ground cinnamon, and a sprinkle of dulse. I simmer it for about 25 minutes, then store it in the fridge. When it's time to feed him, I mix in a little hot Bolthouse Farms fruit juice (carrot, mango, berry, and the new holiday flavour are his favourites), stir it, and serve it warm. I've also begun supplementing his diet with a tiny little condiment spoon sized dab of coconut oil and red palm oil. When there is ample sunlight, I also sprout a variety of seeds for Kai (and wheat/rye grass for the cats) and he gets to graze on the plantlife that grows from them.

I like to make carrot "pasta" by steaming ribbons of carrot that I've peeled off with a peeler. This also works with zucchini, squash, pumpkin, and any other firm veggie/fruit. Kai also gets a fair amount of parrot safe table food, but he absolutely adores: bellpeppers, grapes, snap peas, edamame, apples, pears, baguettes. At lunch time, he gets Roudybush's Orchard Harvest and Totally Organic pellets soaked in warm water along with a sprinkle of Zupreem pellets. There is a cuttle bone in his house that he enjoys. He wouldn't so much as touch the mineral block, so I took that out. I like to tie little baskets to the sides of his house in various places and add pinches of food and treats so he can forage. He also has a couple other foraging devices in his house that he checks regularly for goodies, a kebab feeder, and I'll tie bits of veggies and fruit to the bars.

I'm looking into getting an air filter soon, but I'm doing a bit of research, first. For these darker winter months, I have a full-spectrum light for both of us, because it helps me, too!  Kai absolutely adores showers, whether by the spray mister in the shower with me, or with the hand spray nozzle in the kitchen sink.  He absolutely burbles and babbles and sings when he's in a place with running water, the computer fan, or oddly enough, the vacuum cleaner running.

It seems like a lot of people like to teach their parrots tricks, but I'm happy to just have Kai act like his normal parrot self. He knows basic things like step up please, step down please, switch fingers/arms, and stay there. I'm wanting him to learn to fly, but I'm not having much luck there in that department so I'm going to do more reading. He has grown in all of his flight feathers and looks absolutely stunning! I've been working with him on learning to flap his wings, but I'm not sure if it's enough to exercise him, and he doesn't seem to enjoy it very much. If anyone has tips on teaching their parrot to fly, I would love to hear their advice.

Kai has taught me so much about parrots in our first year together, and my life is richer for it! While I enrich my parrot's life, he also enriches mine.  It's really kind of funny, because the girls at Birds Unlimited said that he was one of the nastiest little birds at the store!  Hee hee.....he's come such a long way.  I love Kai so much.

Toys, whee!

 Oh no, no need to get up, Murr.  I'll just sit on the ottoman instead.

 You might have noticed the adorable owl pillow he's sitting in front of?  Hubby got that for me for Valentine's day - along with the adorable little sterling silver pendant below.  I love them so much!!  They're so cute!

 We went shopping at the petstore out in the city and spent about an hour roaming around.  I picked up a lot of neat stuff while we were in there, but for the most part we just enjoyed ourselves.  I had never seen an automated dog wash before, it was bizarre!  Hubby pointed it out to me, or I would have missed it completely!  You just load your dog in and put the money or tokens in, and it soaks your dog, soaps it up, rinses it, then dries it all in about 20 minutes!  It was big enough for something labrador-sized, so Sacha would have fit, but wow...I'd never seen anything like that before!

Kai got a couple goodies, like two new swing perches and a fruit/veggie skewer with a bell on the end that I can stick food on for him to snack on.  He got really pissed off at first, because the food kept moving away from him when he'd go to bite it, but he got the hang of it.  There's nothing quite as funny as a bird throwing a tantrum, but I tried not to laugh at him as best I could.

 My order from Busy Bird came in, too, so I got a bunch of those straw balls and also shreddable paper rings, though Kai doesn't quite understand he gets to tear them up yet.  He absolutely loves the straw balls! I also got him a couple new perches in the order, then I hit up Walmart and picked up a couple more.  His cage has several perches, which is really nice, I also have a couple outside of the cage for him to play on, too.

Early Valentine's Day Dinner, a sad dream, and Kai loves asparagus

I don't know if it was because Kai was sleeping with me last night in his carrier, but I dreamt of birds.  I dreamt that we were in a weird psuedo modern, older house that was abandoned, and we were cleaning it up to make it livable again.  I guess we were moving in.  There were two cats who had been abandoned, and they had gotten into the house through some secret way we couldn't see due to all the junk and clutter.  I finally found the way they were coming in and fell through the hole into a whole new, secret part of the house.  There were several dead birds on the ground surrounding a tree, which had several sickly looking parakeets and cockatiels on it.  Some of them were blind, and they all looked as if they were starving.  There was a bag of seed nearby, and I started filling their food bowls, which were empty, then searched around looking for fresh water.  Some of them were beyond my help, and I held them in my hands trying to warm them up, and I tried to give them water.  Some of them started to eat on their own, but I was so sad...I didn't think any of them would make it, but I started calling up for help.

I woke up feeling so sad and depressed...I don't know if it's because I'm reading a parrot owner's guide to parrot illnesses and diseases, or something.  Kai also had his first vet appointment at East Ridge Animal Hospital.  The doctor was really nice, and we talked about his African Grey, but also about how Kai was doing.  He showed me how to palpitate Kai's pectoral muscles to make certain he wasn't starving, but Kai didn't particularly like it.  He sulked a lot when we came home, and I don't blame him.  He probably wondered what he did to deserve being man-handled by a strange man!  His gram stain came back negative, too, which was great news.

Hubby and I celebrated Valentine's day early, because we both figured it would be more enjoyable on Saturday than Sunday.  I cooked a rack of lamb spread with (mayonnaise, wholegrain dijon mustard, garlic, fresh thyme, rosemary, oregano, cumin, coriander) and breaded in panko, fried golden brown, then roasted. Side dishes included steamed asparagus with browned butter sauce, couscous with caramelized shallots and onions, cumin coriander, and paprika. For dessert, I made extra chewy Ghiradelli brownies served with Starbucks cappuccino chip ice cream.  We also had Chaucer brand honey meade, which was absolutely delicious.  Hubby said it cured his neck soreness instantly!

I let Kai sit on the table, as it has an upraised lip, which although it's slightly curved, makes a great perch for a bird if they're balanced enough.  He was very happy to be brought between the table and his dinner perch for food and snacks.  Before I salt my food, I'm certain to set food aside for Kai.  He gets his own assortment of birdie veggies and fruits to try out, and I'm certain never to touch my mouth before I give it to him.  Kai was really excited about the asparagus stalks for some reason, so I gave him a whole one that didn't have salt on it.  

At first, he just pulled all the leaves off and made a huge mess, but then he got to the white core and he was delighted with the taste.  There were soon bits of outer stalk everywhere: me, the couch, the table, the cat, the floor....

Ollie didn't mind, he really loves steamed veggies.  Mia and Murdock will also eat veggies.

Ollie thinks he wants some of Kai's food.  The cats are all very comfortable with Kai now, and with the exception of Mia begging Kai for food, they leave him alone.  Mia will sit under his dinner perch and put her paw up next to him and meows, which upsets him a little, but she only does it to beg.  Mia also paws at me when she wants food, and she never uses her claws.

Kai even ate a little piece of center cut lamb! (I made sure it didn't have any seasonings on it)

Ollie got tired of getting food on his head, so he switched over to play on Hubby.

Sacha sleeps on the right side of Hubby, curled up so cutely!
Overall, it was a very enjoyable evening.  Hubby and I watched episodes of LA Ink, which got us excited about tattoos again, then he played MAG, and I cleaned and vacuumed.  He has promised me a brand new vacuum cleaner for Valentine's day!  I'm so excited!!!!  This old one is just so awful, I can't stand it.  Every time I want to use it, I have to stop it, tip it over, take the roller and belt off, then scrape all the collected, wound-up hair/fur off the metal part that the belt loops around, dustvac all the extra furbits up, reassemble it, then vacuum up all the mess I created.  Every time... It's so annoying!  Plus it's ridiculously heavy, is a pain in the ass to change, gets dust everywhere when I change it, doesn't seal completely, and leaves a trail of dust as I drag it around.  Grrr.... Anyway.


HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR!!!!! Gong hay fat choy!!  And Happy Valentine's day, too!

I'm a cute, wet bird!

Self-explanatory!

I'm a cute, wet bird!

Mom always coos over me when I get washed.

I like looking my best, I never know when one of her

cute friends will come over to coo at me!

My desk set up...

Kai can sit very close to me without sitting on me :) 

His little desktop stand is very comfortable and handy to have.  He takes great joy in having a water dish so close to him, because apparently he enjoys moistening his pellets in water before eating them... I wipe foodbits off my monitor, glasses, face, clothing, desk, floor, dog, and cats daily.

Normal nape!

Poofy nape!

Kai is very happy with my new desk setup!  He likes to watch me play World of Warcraft and often chirps up a storm as he makes comments on my dungeon runs.  he particularly likes when the Druids cast Hurricane.

Hello?

It was the cutest thing!  This morning I came downstairs to get Kai out breakfast and, well, just because we hang out in the mornings together while I check email.  I always call through the door before I open it so I won't startle him, then give him a second to wake up.

Me: Good morning, Kai!  Good morning!
Kai: Hello!
Me: Awww!  You're such a good boy! Hello!  Hello, Kai!
Kai: *whistles!*

It was the cutest thing, I swear!  I've taken to saying "Hello!/Good Morning!/I'm back!" when I come in/return to him, and "Be Right Back, BRB!" or "Good Night/ Nighnight!" when I leave for the night.  I think he is beginning to understand the meaning of my various greetings!  He's such a smart boy!

Peaches Comes to Play!

Kai's Fairy Birdmother, Peaches, came over to play last night :)  She had a few cute little felt scenes for me to photograph, but for the most part, we just hung out and talked, and played with Kai :)  Kai was very surprised by how tall a girl could be, because I'm only about 4'10 - my chin comes up to right about where Kai is sitting in the photograph below.

"Err, hello.  You sure are taller than mom..."

I've been socializing him with other people where I can, though I'm a bit nervous about bringing him out due to the cold weather right now.  Kai did very well with Peaches playing with him, though he was just a little wary of a new person.  Poor Peaches nearly (or partially!) dislocated her arm falling down the stairs the previous day, so she couldn't hold him for very long, but he was content to sit on his house's drawbridge.  He always gets plenty of attention there, and he's very happy about that.  I also put some of his favourite toys on the drawbridge, and I think he has a great time picking them up just to throw it over so I have to retrieve it for him.

"I'm trying to decide if I like this person..."

We went to visit Lauren and her family a few days before, and I brought Kai with me in his carrier, covered in towels to keep the chill out.  He sat a little pensively on his perch, then did extremely well being passed around stepping up between my hand and Lauren, Fran, or Mimi's hand.  Lauren's kitty and puppy scurrying about startled him a bit, because he's used to my docile, slow-moving cats, and my dog being bigger and very curious, but he's also also absolutely silent unless I prompt him.  I should add that Kai also barks at me now, though it sounds more like, "Park!  Park!" 

Me: "She's petting you, you should like her!"

I've been reading parrot magazines and I find training your parrot isn't unlike training your dog - it's a lot of positive reinforcement.  Like training your parrot to enjoy being on top of his cage and teaching your dog to heel or stay by your side - you give them treats and teach them that's where they really want to be, and that they'll be rewarded for hanging out there.  Being that I do plan on letting Kai's flight feathers grow in, I'll be teaching him very early on that his various perches are very fun places to be - rather than on a boring old table, or a curtain rod, which has nothing fun to play with on it.  One of my fun projects that I plan on working with is a natural sisal rope cargo net for various places throughout my room.  I've got a lot of really great information from here!

"Yes, okay.  I've decided I like this person."

Me: "See, that didn't take much convincing, huh?"

The doors to my room are always closed and he'll be able to fly freely in here.  I'll also be parrot-proofing this room carefully, and everything will be safely enclosed in cabinets or bins.  We've been working on "come", and he responds quite well, because he gets his beloved papaya ("aya") or a pistachio ("chio") or a piece of almond ("almond").  We have curtains on all of our windows, and there are stickers that I'm going to put up on the window panes come spring to prevent him (and other birdies at my feeders) from flying into glass. I think I may turn the sun room into Kai's parrot paradise :)  It's a really long, slightly narrow room, which I think would be PERFECT for an aviary/flight room.  There are windows at each end and along the side, so I could get new windows installed and set up bird-friendly trees for him to fly to and land in, and it would be perfectly safe.  I could even have Dutch Doors installed so I only have to open the top half, then call him to me if I want to bring him back into my room.  This room will probably also double as my kitty sun room.  Kai has learned quickly that the cats and dog are nothing to be scared of, mostly because they're content to loaf around on the furniture or my husband and I.  The cats learned that Kai isn't very interesting, either.  I always supervise them together, however, and I would never force them to inhabit the same area if Kai shows signs of distress.

"Mom, she's playing with my toes...What should I do?"

Me: "She's just playing with your toes...You'd better be a good boy, don't bite her!"

"Okay, okay."

Oh....I dream of walkways for my cats and an aviary for my bird, plus an agility course for my dog once we get our yard fenced in, and...I don't really know where my hubby is in all of this, but he's probably the one manufacturing all the devices I use.  Hubby is a tinkerer, and I'd really love for him to be involved with this sort of stuff :)

Bathtime with Kai, and other fun things.

 

Kai really enjoys getting baths :)

As planned, I'm having Hubby give Kai baths once or twice a week so he can bond with him a bit more.  Right now, Kai is sitting up with Hubby in Hubby's room atop his wicker basket so he can bond with him visually, if not physically.  The last thing I want is for Kai to think Hubby is a threat if I'm away on vacation and he needs Hubby to care for him.  To keep Kai from biting Hubby, I give Hubby a piece of papaya - Kai's single most loved treat ever, aside from soy beans - to show Kai, who gets all excited and steps up easily and eagerly.  It also kept his beak occupied while I tied some toys to the basket...

To discourage Kai from biting Hubby's finger, which he did last time, I had him step up onto Hubby's arm instead.  Kai doesn't seem to be able to latch onto smooth surfaces, so sometimes I fall back to my reptile days and treat him a bit like a snake.  (A snake can't latch onto your palm if you hold it flat out in front of his face.)  I tell Kai, "You're getting nowhere, son, now be a good baby."

Kai has quickly learned the phrase, "Do you want to come out and play?" as meaning, "Oh boy, mom's going to take me out and we're going to go somewhere awesome!"  He is SO incredibly adorable in his excitement... He squats down and puts his wings out slightly as he practically hops up and down with an excited look on his face.

 

Kai was doing something REALLY cute!

He napped for half an hour holding onto the little chewie ring!

He's still developing strength in his feet, though, and sometimes he slips or falls off.  I've taken to weaving a bit of leather through the bars of the cage, or wind them around his stand perches to give him a bit of a grip.  The branches on his stand in particular are absolutely smooth with no texture, so they must be really slippery!  Kai really loves the spirally rope thing with toys hanging from it.  I gently swing it back and forth for him every now and then so he can have a bit of a ride.  You can see here that I tie fruits and vetties around the cage so he can forage a little, also.  I hang grapes from the top of the cage so he has to go up really high and work to hang on up there to get super tasty things.  I stuff his various toys with food, too, especially the toys he has to learn to tear into.  He's still learning how to play and how to use his beak, which is really cute.  Hiding pieces of papaya in the straw toys is working really well!  When ever I put him on his playstand next to my computer desk, I also rearrange his cage a little and hide new food for him.

This week when I go grocery shopping, I'm going to get some organic almonds, pistachios, and see if they have any unsalted shell-on pistachios.  I've seen places that sell the unsalted shells to use as foraging material, which I think is a great idea.  The idea is that you mix the shells in with the food and the parrot has to pick the shells out, thus, "foraging" in his food bowl.

Also!!  My friend Sue, Kai's Fairy Birdmother, sent me a package, and I was so excited to get it today!!  I opened it up, and was promptly confused by the scent of cinnamon!  The other paper pamphlets and articles distracted me, however, and Hubby took that as an opportunity to sneak upstairs to play with The Other Woman...I was so excited, because seeing The Bird Lady's familiar literature, I knew what the scent meant!

Opening up the padded white envelope, I discovered a 1.5 lb bag of Continental Cuizine! I haven't been to the store yet, but I was going to look into finding some grains and lentils to mix together, but this is so wonderful!  It's like nutritious birdie juk (congee/porridge), except way better tasting, I'm sure.  I can't wait to make it tomorrow morning, I think Kai will love it!  He's not very fond of oatmeal, as I found out earlier today while I cleaned most of it off my desk, wall, and floor.  Hee... I tried giving him a bit of unsweetened almond milk and some organic, unsweetened fruit juice, but he wasn't too thrilled with either of those, either.

Thank you so much to Sue!!! The pamphlet also had new food that Ms. Anderson's site doesn't list, so I'm so excited to be able to order some great food for Kai!  Enclosed within was also book:  "Alex and Me", by Irene M. Pepperberg, which I'm going to start reading tonight when I go to bed!

This morning as I prepared Kai's breakfast, I thought, "Making small amounts of birdie cereal is silly, if I had more birds, I could make larger portions!"  *cough*  No, one parrot is enough for me!

 

Z...z....z.....

Oh my god...it's time to go to bed as I write this, and I'm laughing so much, because I put Kai back up in his cage...and he went nutsos for the almond...but then he spotted the papaya.  He promptly tucked the almond into the bottom of his beak and climbed up the cage, then tried to free the papaya...and wound up dropping the almond.  He looked so disappointed and filled with contention!  Geez...anyway...bedtime!

Foraging fun and scars...

I got some great ideas to keep Kai active and foraging for food through the day from various sites!

http://foragingforparrots.com/

http://bestinflock.wordpress.com/category/parrot-enrichment/

http://www.parrotenrichment.com/

On another note, Kai bit me pretty good twice today.  My pain tolerance is pretty high due to dealing with arthritis and what I suspect is fibromyalgia, so I didn't really feel him bear down as hard as he did.  I'm so used to being bit, scratched, mauled, even flung from horses and trampled by a pissed off cow that hated me, I stuff like that doesn't really register to me anymore.

I was trying to get him to step up onto my finger so I could carry him to his play stand, but he was up high on his cage and didn't want to come down.  He sure told me...I know I'm supposed to push on him to get him off balance, but uh...the platform he was standing on was flat.  I tried turning my finger towards him, instead, and gee...I see how how they're able to "skin" things.  It was pretty impressive!  Kind of how lions being able to lick the flesh off carcasses is impressive.

At least there was a little flap of skin left for me to press back down.  Now, it didn't really "hurt", and I sure didn't scream or yell, I just told him, "That wasn't very nice..." and left the room for a few minutes while I disinfected my bites.

I like having scars from my animals, they're like little badges that help me remember them.  They last even after my beloved children have gone on.

"I got this scar from when my rat was protecting his mate when I went to change their food bowl...I couldn't get the bleeding to stop for two hours!  It was pretty cool!  He must've punctured my vein."

"This one is from where I was going to drop a mouse into my arowana's tank, and she leapt up a foot and a half, latched onto my hand, and hung there for a second..."

"This scar here is from when Spot decided to scale me like a tree to get up to the top of the recliner..."

"These are from the damn roosters on the ranch..."

"That one is from when Chuerio didn't want to stay in the shower and climbed up my arm so I would hug him, he was fine after that..."

They all have stories.

My most recent scars, Kai-bites aside, include where Sacha startled Mia when he came up behind her while she was checking out the tree stand for dropped goodies...and she leapt up onto my left arm, clawed her way up and over my shoulder, and perched there with her claws buried in me like a parrot.  I told Sacha to back up out of the door, then crouched down so she could hop off once she was calm, but then she had gotten her claw stuck in my shirt and the flesh of my back...and started flailing/twisting... That hurt pretty good.  She clawed her way back down my back, and since I couldn't reach my back, I just showered off and drizzled soapy water over my shoulder.  Later on, I asked Hubby how bad it was, and he said it was pretty bad.  It just looks awful while it's all puffy, but once the swelling is down, it's no big deal.

So now I'll have little Kai-bites :)  I'll never forget them, and it'll just be another way to remember him if I do manage to outlive him.