We've had great weather this past week. That's how it is when you live in Texas; spring comes in February. Or even earlier.
With all the craziness that has been going on around mi casa, we haven't had a chance to enjoy the outdoors much. So, we're trying to catch up, now that mom's return home is approaching. And it goes well with my Lenten attempt to spend my time qualitatively, and while I can, with the family. Here are 5 places we visited in the past two weeks.
1. We love taking walks at the Domain. When we are not out hiking, this is the best urban walk we found in Austin. The downtown is, first, too much of a drive to just go for a walk there, and second, there really is only couple of streets in the 2nd street district that are good for walks, and they seem oddly out of place. The Domain reminds us of European neighborhoods with shops and restaurants on the main floor of the buildings. And I find it amusing to see all sorts of people walking by in this hip area.
2. I got a groupon for European Bistro several months ago, and we were waiting for a good time to go there after my brother came back from India. The coupon was expiring past weekend, so even though we almost lost the opportunity to go because we didn't make a reservation for Saturday, we were able to get on their schedule for Sunday. I really don't know what the fuss was about, because they weren't that full while we were there. The restaurant is owned by two sisters from Hungary, and they have many dishes on the menu that are familiar to us from Bosnian cuisine. I celebrated my 30th birthday there, and my mom loved the place and the atmosphere the last time we were there. We missed the accordion player who also sings in Bosnian, on Saturday, but still had a very enjoyable evening. We'll have to come back for some Dobosh Torta!
3. The weather this past weekend was exceptionally beautiful. After some work around the yard, we didn't have enough time left to go out of the city, so we decided to try several park in town: Bull Creek Park, 360 Bridge Cliff, and Park next to Loop 360 Boat Ramp. They each had something different to offer, and were close by. We've never been to that cliff before, and I always wanted to climb up there to see what's it about. So glad we did; there are amazing views from the top! We ended the evening with dinner at County Line BBQ on Bea Caves Rd. And as a bonus, we enjoyed a gorgeous sunset from their terrace.
4. My brother and sister-in-law will have an official wedding celebration in November. And they picked this awesome place; House on the Hill, where her family will stay and where the party will be. They already reserved it (of course - those places are booked 12+ months in advance), and I've seen it before, but mom didn't. During February, they had an open house every Sunday, so, Zoran decided to take us there again, for mom to see for the first time, and for us to refresh our memories. Now that the springs is coming, everything starts to look much greener and prettier. Mom commented that guests should even bring swimsuits, because that pool is starting to look appealing!
5. Zoran couldn't join us for this little coffee outing, but it's a place mom and I enjoy more, anyways; La Madeline. Again, it reminds us of European cafes. The fact that the server speaks french certainly adds to the atmosphere. And we were reminded that exactly a year ago we set there and my purse went missing. Couple of days later we came back to the area with Zoran to see The Artist movie. Since mom doesn't understand English too well, unless she can also read it, we usually don't go to the theaters with her. We've been to the IMAX 3D show before, but there is not much dialog going on there. The Artist movie is a silent movie (I hope I am not spoiling it for your if you haven't seen it), and any dialog is written on the screen - like in the old silent movies. She could understand that! Oh, and the movie was good - it got 5 Oscars!
Since this is the first leap year/day since I started writing this blog in 2008, I thought I should record something special that happened today. Or something really odd.
Well, what waited for me at the office was certainly out of the ordinary.
This little critter was caught alive on this glue trap in the corner right next to my cubicle. 3 feet away. And I sit on the 8th, last floor! I actually didn't see it in the morning, but when someone stopped by my desk couple of hours later, he pointed it out to me. It was still moving. Gross!
I sent a quick (since I needed to continue conversation with this colleague) email to our admin about the finding, but haven't heard from hear till late afternoon. All-the-while, this creature has been squirming on the glue. It turned out, since my email title was "mouse", she thought I was just needing a new computer mouse, and didn't bother to open the email right away. Sigh.
A security guy came right before I left in the evening and picked up the "present".
Thanks to my friend Lauren for this tip, this is video of a really rare, funny looking parrot, the Kakapo. What makes his face funny to me is that his eyes are closer together, more to the front, instead of the sides of the face, so he doesn't look like most other birds. Kinda looks like an owl.
The Kakapo is a flightless, nocturnal parrot (its name means night parrot), endemic to New Zealand, that is on the list of most endangered species.
They call him old fashioned in this video because of his physique. They breed every 2-5 years, and from this video it seems it's that season again! The parrot mistakes photographer for female bird and leaves big scars on his neck. This is why I would only have small birds for pets!
This poinsettia is still holding up two months after Christmas. The other 3 that I got at the same time are still alive, but don't look nearly as happy as this one. It didn't receive any special treatment. I don't know, maybe it's the basket!
I actually picked them up at my work when they were taking holiday decorations down, so they were already sitting there for a month or so.
So, I feel that I have been slacking in writing on this blog. In documenting the adventures in my life. Or, I didn't think there are major adventures to write about. Or, more importantly, I have been failing to recognize the many little and not-so-little things that happen every week, that are still the building blocks of my life, and to be grateful for those. Maybe if I lived more in the moment of those everyday things, the life won't seem like it's been flying by pass me, like it felt lately.
I thought to give this a try: To have a "theme" once a week to give me a nudge to write about something here more often. The idea is that the topic would change every week, but it would be in a sets of five; Five topics, five subtopics, five quotes, the best five moments of the week, five recopies... you get the idea.
We'll see how well I keep with it, but I am willing to give it a try. So lets see....
Yesterday was Ash Wednesday, the start of 40 days of Lent. I got this 5-things idea on Ash Wednesday, so even though I am writing about it the day after, I have this one count. (I actually didn't want to spend time blogging yesterday) To be fair, the idea was planted from several blogs that I follow that have themes of "number something" repeating every so often.
So, this week, I'll talk about my five hopes for this Lent. Lent is the season of preparation for the celebration of the Lord’s Passion, Death and Resurrection through the works of penance, that is, prayer, fasting and almsgiving.
1. I'll start with Fasting. Most people would first think of food when hearing the word fasting, but we can fast from many things. Fasting from food for me would not be much of a penance, anyway, as I not so rarely would go a whole day at work without eating anything. If anything, I need to force myself to eat regularly, but that's a different topic. I do hope to make myself drink more water throughout the day to boost my energy level. Really, thinking about eating is like a chore to me and healthy habits like a penance.
One thing, though, that I felt I indulge too much in is the computer, and most specifically - Facebook. I would log in several times a day to make sure I keep up with Every Single Update on my wall. Which is why I am going completely off of Facebook during Lent. I let my FB friends know that I won't be using it so they don't think I am ignoring them if I don't respond. I changed the profile picture to "off the air". And I even removed the Facebook link from my web browser favorites bar, so I am not tempted to click on it. I hope to better use that time (see next #s) that I was spending on the social networking site.
2. During the next 6 weeks of Lent, I hope that I find some balance in my life again and find time to Prayer again. I picked up again this Lenten reflections printout I used in previous years, but I am not too happy with it. I am going to look for some updated version that has more meaning for me at this point in time. I also hope to go to a weekly Mass once a week. I am not saying "at least once", because I didn't want to set that goal "too" high (I've done that before) to something I knew I was not going to keep up with by week two. I went yesterday during lunch time, and felt a sense of peace in those oddly comforting words: "Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return." They bring a real perspective on the problems in my life I make into mountains.
3. A colleague at work just a couple of days ago sent an email about getting a group together to volunteer with Habitat for Humanity. What a great idea for alms giving, I thought, and I hope it turns out to be a repeat project, so I signed up. Still not sure what date exactly we will be starting. And today I found out that the house I helped build the last time with HforH is complete and they will have a dedication ceremony on March 3rd.
4. The ashes we received on Ash Wednesday on our foreheads I always understood as a symbol of penance, to help us develop a spirit of humility and sacrifice. But yesterday on radio I heard a new analogy for the ashes. I can't actually remember all the quotes, or any quotes (maybe they said "Felix rose from the ashes" and how Jesus raised dead from the ashes - although that's not really accurate). But basically what I got out of it is that when we think that our life is in the ashes, if we let Him, God can raise us up. And maybe that somehow goes back to that "Remember that you are dust..." - the dust, the ashes I feel my life is in right now, God can help me rise out of. And with that new perspective, today was already better than yesterday. So, instead of seeing so many negative things, I hope to focus on the positive in my life, to be more cheer and optimistic. Just seeing all these "hopes" in here makes me chuckle. :)
5. And finally, I hope to keep up with this 5-Things thing, now that I am not wasting all my free computer time on Facebook. So far, so good!
About a month before I moved into the house, end of 2005, we saw a first sign of his illness. I wasn't there at the time, but my brother had Ciro on the shoulder while he was sitting in front of the computer. The way he described it to me, Ciro kind of stiffened, held tightly to his shirt, and almost fell down. The next time it happened, he did fall to the floor, and started bouncing around while flattering and twitching. It only lasted a minute, and our first thought was that he maybe fell down while still asleep, and then was just in shock. But then as I read about it over the next months, even years, we came to conclusion that he suffered from a form of epilepsy. Some sources claimed that epilepsy is fairly common among lovebirds, while others said if wasn't. But the symptoms looked just the same to us.
In the next years he continued having seizures irregularly. They would last 1-2 minutes, were mostly months apart, but sometimes more frequent. We had terrible experience with vets back in Bosnia, had no confidence in them, so I delayed taking Ciro to the vet. One pair of lovebirds that my birds Ciro and Zeljka had in Bosnia, which we gave away, also developed seizures later in life. Eventually they had them repeatedly every day, in the last few days of their life, which was probably the cause of their death. My Ciro's seizures were not that frequent, so we learned to kind of just live with it.
In mid 2009, Ciro's flying first started to get erratic. He would sometimes miss the landing spot and struggle to land or crash on the ground. At first it was kind of funny, and we would tease him about his landing skills. I worried that there was maybe something wrong with his eye sight, but he followed objects with his eyes so that was probably not it. One time in July 2009 he started flying from the window in the dining room toward the formal living room, through a pretty wide and high passage in the wall. He somehow managed to hit the edge of that wall and fell down. It left a huge scar right next to his left eye, which was also the side where he hit the forehead on the glass all those years ago. Again, there was no blood, and he seemed alert, but still it was very scary.
Another scary flying experience happened in early 2010, when he crashed from ceiling height down to the floor. Other times it wasn't even flying that was the problem. If he was perched somewhere up high, like kitchen cabinet or shower door, and he looses balance, because of a seizure or just when his balance got really bad, he would fall down to the floor. And it was hard to tell a stubborn lovebird not to fly at all.
By mid 2010 he was still flying but crashing more often. I tried to discourage him from flying long distance or high up. I remember when in Sep. 2010, while we were spending days on installing floors in my room, we had Ciro there next to us. We would let him walk around and chew on papers to keep him busy, but every now and then he would want to fly up on the window coverings. We had to keep a close eye on him not to fly, because he would crash, but at the same time let him be outside of the cage and not be neglected.
By the end of the year he struggled to even jump from the table to the couch. It's not that he didn't have the strength, or that his wings were not functioning. It's that there was something wrong with his balance and he started to be afraid of flying.
I took him to the vet for the first time on Sep. 22nd 2010, to the Research Pet and Bird Hospital. (Actually, we were at a vet for the first time at Wells Branch Pet & Bird Clinic on May 11th 2009, when I thought she was egg bound - but she wasn't (see, Ciro is now a "she" again). That was another poor experience, when the vet, for $40, wasn't sure if she was feeling her rib cage or pelvis!) There are few good avian vets in Austin, and this new place was recommended on several web sites. We saw Dr. Anneliese Strunk, and from the beginning I was not very happy with her. She might have been knowledgeable, but she kept wanting to do many tests.
The main reason for our visit was worsening of Ciro's balance. But the dr. had all sorts of ideas of what could be wrong, including egg yolk stroke. I was confident it wasn't it, since the condition has been slowly getting worse over months, not a new thing, but the vet insisted that before we can do a blood work, she had to do an ultrasound. She was concerned about laying Ciro to the side for blood work if there was some fluid from the abdomen that could get to her head. I was present for the ultrasound, which looks pretty much like human ultrasound, and she found what I think she called an "undeveloped follicle" with some pockets of fluid in the abdomen. The vet then wanted to poke Ciro's belly with a needle to drain some of that fluid, but thankfully Ciro was wiggly enough not to allow her to continue with the needle! He was quite tired after this, so the vet suggested we come back the next day for the blood draw. It eventually showed no infection, normal white blood count, which assumed no tumor and normal liver and kidney function. Over $300 later, we were still nowhere closer to the answer to the issue we came there for - what is causing her balance problems. The vet, of course, suggested further tests, all the way to an MRI which they don't have, but in the end said that it could be some neurological thing that they could never have an answer for.
So we went home, with no answers, and just an advice to make sure he doesn't hurt himself trying to fly or fall down. It took several months to adjust to no flying. For few months Ciro could fly down from the cage, but not up. I then hung a fabric, old red drapes, from his cage on the side table down to the floor. He learned to climb down and up on it, and would then walk around the main living area on the floor. Once he learned to do that, we were just fine. I could leave the room with his cage open and know that he can get in and out without falling. We just had to pay attention where we step, because he walked all over the place. One of the favorite places was to get under the coffee table and shred any papers he found there. He would also occasionally practice his wings, or "exercise" as we called it, by just flapping his wings while still attached to the floor. It worked best while he was on those drapes on the floor because he could hold on to them.
Without him flying and looking for trouble, we spent more time together playing and cuddling. He could spend couple of hours just sitting in front of my chin while I lay on the couch, and just give me kisses. For a while he could still sit on my shoulder when I moved around, but that became dangerous about six months ago. I would then always hold him in my hand while I walked. If he was not in the cage, or his blanket (drapes), or on the table surrounded by towels, we would snuggle on the couch together.
He loved singing to himself, when he thought no one was around, but would stop abruptly when he'd see us and get ready for some action!
When he stopped flying, I even took him outside and let him walk in the grass, gathering twigs, but he didn't like being away from me for too long.
Life was good until that dreadful event from July 17th 2011, when Ciro had seizures all day.
In the week that followed, I was uncertain if he was going to make it. But he did. He was such a fighter! I was able to have Dr. Paul Skellenger at Research Pet and Bird Hospital see him this time, whom I liked much better than the other vet, and he had administered a few feedings (over $200). After a week on in-home intensive care, and lots and lots of love and attention, he recovered. I even switched him to the pellets diet in a couple of weeks, which was supposed to be better for him than just seeds. He was again his new normal self, and was able to get down his blanket and walk around. Even so, I was quite worried when I knew I had to leave him at the end of August, for my trip to Bosnia, and for the first few days he had to stay with a friend. My friend Norma did a great job taking care of Ciro, and Ciro did really well playing with them and moving around, no calls to the vet were needed!
Then in November 2011, his balance got progressively worse again. Within weeks he seemed to get from getting down the blanket, walking around the house and chirping, to falling to the side when standing. His seizures got more frequent, too, about 2-4, even 5 a week. My brother urged me to take him to the vet as soon as possible. We went to Dr. Skellenger again, and he suggested doing the heavy metal testing. My gut feeling told it can't be it, because I knew where Ciro moves, and that there was virtually no way he could have been exposed. But of all the options, that was the only one that had a concrete possible result and real treatment meds. The vet took what I thought was a huge amount of blood, for zinc and led testing, and I left with my poor exhausted Ciro hoping I was doing all that I can to help him. On one hand I was hoping it would be positive just so that we would have some treatment plan, but on the other I of course didn't want him to have the poisoning.
The test results came back a week later - negative. I was devastated. I think that was the first time I felt there is nothing else I can do to help him. Now the options for testing were much more radical, for slow growing tumors, slow developing liver or kidney diseases .... all of which, according to this vet, had less than 5% of being detected, and even less of being properly treated. At that point I decided to not do any more tests, but just try to adjust to his new state as best as possible, and make him as comfortable as I can. And I took lots of pictures of him in the last few months.
He was no longer able stand on the perches without falling frequently, so I moved all his food bowls on the bottom of the cage. Eventually I lined it with wash cloths because he would get his feet stuck between the wires on the bottom and had a hard time getting them out. He had no more use for the draped blanket, so I had to transfer him to the floor when I wanted him to get out and make sure the cage door was closed so he can't get out and fall from the table's edge. In the last month he couldn't even get out by himself. There were couple of weeks when he had nightly seizures, like at 3am, and I would get up to calm him down and would then lay on the couch with him for a while.
End of November/start of December also brought the terrible car issues and Zoran leaving us for a few months. This was just a start of a very stressful period when I was constantly torn to spend more time with Ciro, and offer more care, more attention, make best decisions based on his condition that changed daily. During those solo car-search days, I had to take Ciro to the vet for daily observations and feedings, which gave me a peace of mind that he is getting the care when I could not do it.
When mom arrived in mid December, he pretty much stopped walking at all, because he would just spin in circles until he freaks out and starts seizing. Mom did a great job taking care of him, making sure he eats, and is well cared for. Ever since his day long seizure in July, I had a skype video connection from work pretty much all the time, so I could see how he is doing and if I needed to come back home for lunch to feed him. My time with mom was always limited to just few hours away from home at a time, because we couldn't leave Ciro alone for longer without making sure he ate, since he could no longer move around in his cage. We kind of dictated his eating schedule, and would stress when he doesn't eat when offered. We never knew if he's just not in the mood to eat at the moment, or if he is getting too weak. The mood in the house was somber when we'd sit for an hour and he refused to eat, but all cheery when he ate for us for an hour! That was the best present for our eyes.
During the last couple of months, I spent almost $450 on vet visit. When I now add all those bills over the last two years, it totals to about $1000. My mom jokingly said that I could have bought 10 new birds for that much, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. I felt he was a gift given to me and it was my responsibility to give him the best care possible. He didn't choose me, I chose him, and I had the responsibility and was completely emotionally invested to help him as much as I could. That bond cannot be purchased and replaced.
Ciro became such a cuddler as he got more sick. He was dependent on me completely, which gave me opportunity to be near him all my free time. Having to go to work, or any other place I had to go, I was always stressed, wanting to get home and check on him. And with mom being here, I was torn wanting to spend some quality time with her, go places with her, and just be there with her, but part of my mind was always with Ciro. Just two weeks ago, after feeling emotionally and physically drained, we were able to take that lovely vacation together. We relaxed, spent every minute together without any need to be apart, enjoyed the most awesome weather outside, and took walks together. I am SO blessed to have had that opportunity.
A week before that trip, I found a pea-size lump under his throat. It could have been a tumor, but I also thought it might be an enlarged thyroid gland, whichtoo could have been attributing to his rapid weight loss. I got a gram scale few months ago, just for him, and he could barely stay at 50 grams. For comparison, he had 64 grams in Sep. 2010 and 58 grams in July 2011. In the last few days, he only had 48 grams. That is 17% weight loss in just 6 months! About a month ago I found a bruise on his right shoulder, after I saw him holding the wing up. The vet checked that the bone was not damaged, but even after the bruise went down, he continued holding the wing up. I think there might have been another lump on his shoulder which made him raise the wing, so that and the other lump on the throat....who knows how he suffered.
In the last few weeks Ciro's condition was changing daily. He would be really weak one day, falling to the side and not being able to stand without leaning onto something and I would have to feed him formula. Then the next day he would perk up, do something to surprise us how well he was, like bite us, chirp, or even make a few steps. He still had seizures at least 3 times a week. When we got back on Saturday, and on Sunday morning, I had to feed him because he didn't want to eat. The rest of Sunday he ate better, and even started walking around. (I even dared to say how he made it to see Zoran when he comes back on Tuesday) We would put a towel on the coffee of dining table, surround him with other towels, while offering him food, and that day he wanted to walk around. I was so happy to see him that way. In general, his balance was much better lately, compared to December when for days he would be falling to the side and not be able to stand without help. To see him actually walk now, even if it meant few steps, and not too much control, was a progress for me.
On Monday, Feb 6th, morning he was even more active, even slid down my leg to the floor while on the coffee table (by accident). I even washed his head and wings a bit, as he seemed good enough to groom himself later, and to be clean after being hand-handled so much lately. He didn't want to eat, so instead of spending another hour struggling with that, or leaving it to my mom, being stressed that he's not eating, and then maybe having to come home for lunch, I again made him the formula. He usually took that stuff right away, and ate continually. But that morning he really had a hard time with it. He was eating it really slow and with difficulty. I was thinking more and more that the lump in the throat is making it hard for him to eat. He ate so-so two more times during the day, as I watched him over skype from work, and the last time I saw him was about 3PM. Mom then took a nap with him, and was hoping he'll eat better afterwards.
But, after 4 he suddenly got really weak, could not even hold his head up, much less eat. Mom did her best to try to get him to eat, tried giving him the sweet potato mash balls I made for him recently, which he usually loved, but his head was just falling. Mom was telling me how he is not eating anything, that I need to feed him as soon as I get home. She weighted him and at one point he even had 46 grams, so she was freaking out. At one point she even told me he was dying, but that wasn't the first time she thought it was his end. He also had several loose stools, which is never good, but I thought it's probably from being washed in the morning and it usually doesn't have drastic effects on the bird that quickly. But I guess he was really weak already.
At 5.40-5:45 she asked me when I was coming home. I said I'll leave in 15 minutes, around 6. She understood 5 minutes, and we no longer communicated over skype. I tried to call the vet again, left messages about that possible thyroid gland issue, and was waiting to hear back from her till 6.15. As I was leaving the building, mom called my cell, but the battery died before I could answer it. I feared the worse. As I pulled to the driveway, I saw mom through the blinds standing in the hallway. My gut told me this was it. As I walked in, she was sobbing in the kitchen, holding my Ciro, now dead for 45 minutes. Ciro #2 died in my mom's hands, just as Ciro #1 did.
We were sobbing together for hours that evening...
It took me over a week to be able to write about this. It was also really hard telling Zoran about it when we picked him up from the airport just 24 hours later. We buried Ciro on Feb 8th in our backyard. To say it was hard doesn't scratch the surface of how I felt. I had lots of "what ifs" and "could haves", lots of doubt and guilt about the decisions I made over the last months. For the sake of my sanity, I had to conclude that I've done the best I could, and that this poor little lovebird probably died from the complications from that lump in his throat, which made it hard for him to eat, and maybe even breathe.
Rest in peace, my dear Ciro. You were a great fighter and made me want to fight even more for you to live despite all your obstacles. We got many hours to spend together in the last few months, but especially days. It makes me a bit more at ease that your last days you got to spend in the nature, seeing beautiful things and hearing sounds of birds. Now you can fly again in the birdie heaven, free of all disease and pain. Love you. Lots.
Ciro adjusted nicely as a family member. He was free to roam around almost all the time while we were at home, he shared our family dinners, and went on trips with us.
We almost lost him just after we moved into the house. Since he was so clever, he figured out how to open his cage door. We had a clip on it, and when we took it off, he would open the door for himself. But then he also figured out how to slide up the little side door for his food bowls. The door didn't stay up, so for him to get out he had to slide it up and then quickly jump out before the door slided back down. One day, on Good Friday 2006, while I was at work, my brother left him on the patio table while he was inside the house. Ciro didn't care that much for being left outside alone, so he kept pushing up that door until he finally got out. At the moment my brother heard him make the noise with the door, he ran out but just in time to see Ciro fly away to the nearest tree!
He called me frantically at work, I quickly made a flyer with his picture, and rushed home. By the time I got there, my brother was already running with the cage through the neighborhood following his loud chirping sound. I posted couple of flyers on the mailboxes and joined in the search. Ciro was at that time one block away, parked on a tallest tree in someone's backyard, and chirping his heart away! He responded better to my chirp calls then Zoran's, so I started calling for him so that we can follow where he is by the sound, as we couldn't see him that high any more. When it was apparent which tree he was in, we asked the owners to get into their yard to try to get Ciro to come down. Next, Zoran went up on their roof with the cage, so that Ciro could see him better and come down, and I kept calling him. He spent probably about 3-4 hours on that roof, got sunburn in 90 degree heat, and I jaw cramps from making the same sound, but Ciro wouldn't move. Since it was going to get dark soon, I had the idea to try the magic oven mitt, or paper towels, both of which he loved to attack. We borrowed some extra long ladders, taped a paper towel to some long metal pole, and Zoran climbed up the tree as far as he could go. After some more calling and encouraging, Ciro finally came down to grab the paper. That was one long day!
THE oven mitt
Aside from that one event, he didn't seem too excited when we took him in the cage outside. He didn't respond to other bird calls outside. He also had little opportunity to play with other birds. When he was still a youngster, some good friends of mine had a parrot larger than Ciro, and we would pet-sit for each other, and sometimes bring our birds when we visited. Ciro had no issue with the other bird's size, and would chase him around.
Ciro and Kiki
He loved to take showers. While we were in the apartment, since he loved the kitchen so much, he didn't mind bathing in the kitchen sink.
He also used any opportunity he got to shower in the bathroom sync, but he was fine with just a plate with some water, too. He was also known to splash in the glass of water! He got used to drinking water or juice from the glass, so the next obvious step was bathing in it, right?
After several years, I got an idea to build him a play station. I actually first bought one, and then realized it was simple enough I could make it myself and returned the one I bought. After few uses, I noticed that often when I place him on the perch there, he would first poop, and then look disinterested to do anything else there. So I got some bird cage litter sand, and from then on we used it as a "potty station"! It worked really well. He learned that's what it's for pretty fast, and would do his job as soon as I'd place him there. Even if he can't "produce" anything at the moment, he would still try and make the familiar motion. Certain times a year when he was in nesting mode, I'd hang a wire ball with paper pieces inside of it and he learned to just fly directly on there, do his thing, and collect papers instead from the other resources in the house.
Potty-station version 2 was an even better hit.
Like most lovebirds, Ciro never learned any words. They just have that raspy, high pitch voice, that makes any words they might learn not recognizable. But he learned sounds. He had a particular sound he would make after a cough, another one after a sneeze. We would say that he was making fun of us for coughing/sneezing. He also learned to imitate a squeaky kitchen faucet I had, and he would make the sound as soon as he'd see someone approach the faucet. It was really funny. Oh, and I can't forget a terrifying sound he'd make when he felt danger. There was a neigborhood cat that used to run through our backyard. As soon as he would see her, even if he was inside the house, by the noise he would make we knew without a doubt that the cat was nearby.
Calling for help from the squirrel
The one word he really tried to say, I think, was his name Ciro (Cheero). Sometimes if I said it right in front of him, or emphasize the first letter, his response would sound almost the same. Or when we played giving kisses, he would flap his wings and got all excited to respond back.
The sweetest sounds were when he was half asleep and singing himself a lullaby. He usually did this only when he couldn't see anyone around. Here I caught him singing and then played the recording back to him. He went nuts trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. So adorable!
He had so many of these cute moments and tricks, that when I talked about him to one breeder in Bosnia, he had me compile a DVD so that he could show it on his bird tv show!
Ciro ate many table foods with us. Probably more than he should have. Until the last six months, I only fed him a seed mix, with some sunflower, and some treats, all of which were full of fat (I didn't know that at the time). He enjoyed apples, grapes, and cherries. With us he would eat anything from carrots, peas, rice, bell peppers...to cheese, cookies, even chocolate (again a very bad thing for him - which I didn't know). The weird bird would even go for raw eggs when he saw them poured in a bowl for mixing, but we really tried to get him away from those. He really enjoyed certain multi-grain bread we'd share with him. He could spend an hour devouring a slice to get all the grains out. He LOVED ice cream! Like get-his-whole-beak-in-there and get-it-all-over-his-face type of loved.
mmm, cake!
He was pretty much into chewing on paper (or blinds, or anything he could tear up) up until the last year. When he was nesting, it was the worst. He was then not interested in anything else, just to find something to shred. He knew what a stern NO meant. I was convinced he knew. And he would stop what he was about to get into. For a second. But I would eventually have to get up and remove him from the situation, because that bird was stubborn! I would be rich if I had a penny for every time I had to chase him away from the blinds. All the cords have his marks on them. The arch window coverings took the worst beating. The large one in the main living area had to come down, because it was literally in pieces after he was done with it. The smaller one in my room was a big temptation for him every time the door to the room was even a bit open. He would wait on the corner of the kitchen cabinet for an opportunity to sneak into the room when I was not looking.
rascal
Ciro started laying eggs around the age of 2 years, and up to about 8.5. She usually had 4 eggs, and I would let her lay on them for a couple of weeks. If I removed them earlier, her body would produce new eggs right after, which was very draining on her. After 2 weeks she was ready to move on. She had eggs 2-3 times a year, but the last two times she only laid one eggs. The very last egg was a bit soft, and I was afraid she might start having issues from then on. That is why I took her to the vet for the first time thinking she had trouble passing an egg, but luckily that wasn't the case.
He was not sure what to make of this game
His demeanor and habits changed drastically in the last couple of years, especially last few months, when his sickness got worse...
