Paging Sue 777

[Mars]

Sue, I'd love to see the bird pics! I have a cockatiel that is one year old. He is the most spoiled thing in my house (besides my two bloodhounds). He loves his head and cheeks rubbed, but only by me! Probably has something to do with the fact that he was still being formula fed at 6 MONTHS old! I weaned him quickly!

I just love the relaxation of the animals - all kinds. They are always changing and you continually learn something from or about them. They also love me no matter what kind of mood I'm in or what I look like. Yippee! Can't find anything better than that!

[Sue777]

OK, Mars.... now you've done it - you've created a monster! If you want to see some bird pix that will make you want to run out and buy another one, go check out the birds

You have been invited to visit a photo album http://photobucket.com/albums/b57/Sue777/

The read only password to view this album is: Permission

[Mars]

Oh Sue, I was in HEAVEN!!!!! What a beautiful bird; and to raise him from a baby! I am soooooo JEALOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing. I'm gonna have to figure out how to use that site to store some pics on. So, so cool!

I would love to have a bird like that but they are just so expensive to buy here. I would also have to find a responsible breeder. I am not fond of the way a lot of the pet stores treat their birds. While looking for my cockatiel (Sydney), I found a few stores that told me they "didn't have time to handle the birds."

Thanks again!

[Sue777]

Yes, they are very expensive, unfortunately. Well, they are WORTH every penny, but getting one doesn't always fit into our budgets.

There is a petstore here that has gotten so big and beautiful, it's like a mini-vacation going in there. And they ALWAYS have tons of baby birds, and they are ALWAYS handling them and socializing them. At any given time there are 3 or 4 exotic birds out on perches for the customers to play with, and the ones in the cages are just begging to come out. But you're right - most pet stores should not even keep any in their stores. I got my macaw from a petstore.... he was 4 weeks old and quite gawky and very much the "impulse" buy. Here I am, 14 years later, so it was one of the best "impulses" I ever followed. Unfortunately I didn't have a digital camera back then but I should dig out some snapshots of him and scan them into the computer.

The African Grey did come from a private breeder a couple of states over, but he was worth the ride. He was inside my shirt the whole way home.

Some day you'll have a young bird, I know you will, but for now enjoy the heck out of your cockatiel. They are INCREDIBLE birds and I have seriously thought about getting another one - I just don't have the time for any more pets right now without being unfair to the rest of them. (sigh)
Sue

[starfire]

Sue,
Thanks so much for showing us the pictures!!! If Mars hadn't asked for them....I would have.

They are all so PRECIOUS!!

One question .......... I don't know if you work full time ....... I'm assuming that you do............ How do you find time to take care of two birds and two ponds??? I know those birds need a lot of attention. I am impressed to say the least.

Shirley

[Sally]

Hey, Sue, send the bird pictures to me as well as putting them in your own album. We need more birds on our Webshots!!!

Love,

Sally

[Jean]

Hi All,

Cool bird pics--I've had a Timneh African Grey for 6 months and just love her, plus my 16 greencheek conures.

I used to work with pond stuff. It's my understanding that turtles leave the water and hibernate in the ground, I could definitely be wrong. The real problem is that frogs try to dig into the dirt in the bottom of the pond. If you have a liner, they usually can't get deep enough and freeze to death over the winter. Of course, that's here in Michigan where it may get much colder. Sorry to scare you.

Mars,

Let me know if/when you decide to get another bird. I have lots of contacts with breeders. Breeders sell their birds for half or less than pet stores. Also, there are rescues all over the country where you can often find a good bird in need of a home. If you want to get an idea of prices and birds available, go to http://www.upatsix.com/classifieds/ Warning, it can be addicting! LOL

or Ohio bird ads at
http://www.ohiobirdfair.com/cgi-bin/atl/atl.cgi?ct=2


Love, Jean

[MaggieRedwings]

Sue,

Your pond is lovely and so love the pictures. You have a real knack for making it look so natural in its setting. Thanks for sharing your pictures with us.

Maggie

[Mars]

Thanks Jean!

[jenilake]

Hi Sue,

I loved all your pics!! Seems you live in heaven!! I also am that way about seeing the predatory parts of Nature. I just can't. It makes me sick in my stomache. I am also the official bug taker outer in my family.
My mother was the same way.

I wonder what makes us "different" that way? Most people I know think I am crazy. I just believe everything has a right to life.

I saw the "March of the Penguins," and it was very much worth seeing, but some parts I had to hide my eyes. I would love to relocate them to a warmer place, or tell them they can refuse to have children, if they want.

Thanks for sharing the pics!! You have some beautiful animals, what a way to live!!!

Love, Kathyp

[Sue777]

Hi, Guys.
Thanks again for the nice comments. You've reminded me to step back once im a while and just LOOK at the beauty of the pond, rather than look at the "oh darn - I need to get in there and change that filter" or "oh nuts, they've uprooted the bottom plants again, need to re-pot" etc.

Yes, Shirley, they are a lot of work, but since I love the rewards and the chance to be out by myself, with nature, with no phones ringing and no one asking me for things, it's not really work at all. But it is time-consuming, and that's something none of us have enough of. I live close enough to work to come home for my hour lunch, and spend 30 minutes of that out by the ponds, feeding, adjusting, checking, etc. Right after work I'm usually out there for a couple of hours, and mostly all day on the weekends. We haven't gone away anywhere overnight since I dug the ponds..... I just couldn't! Heck, I even have a webcam set up on the turtle pond so I can keep an eye on things from work! And since I get 3 weeks vacation and we don't ever leave the state overnight, I take most of those three weeks one day at a time, and that's when I do my projects and major work out by the ponds.

Sally - what's the best way for me to send you the pix? E-mail, or maybe give you access to my PhotoBucket account?

Regarding turtle hibernation, I've only been hibernating turtles and frogs for four years now, but thank goodness, each year has been successful!

The box turtles (land turtles) hibernate underground, after I dig a big hole for them and give them a few feet of mulch, compost, leaves, etc.

The aquatic turtles hibernate under water, after I dump some shovelfuls of dirt into the bottom of the pond. I've actually seen them swimming under the ice on some winter days - it's amazing. I'm not sure where the frogs go.... but I know some hibernate under water because I've "woken" them accidentally early spring.

March of the Penguins: my husband says he's going to buy that as soon as it's available because he's sure it's something I'll want to watch over and over. I told him he was wrong - I'll probably cry too much seeing it ONCE to want to do that to myself several times. Sometimes I just start to cry from the mere beauty of them, but heaven forbid if I see one suffering in any way, going hungry, or getting attacked, I lose it. I'm actually afraid to see the movie - I may be very depressed for days.

Yes, I do feel like home is heaven. And when you're trying to relax yourself and someone tells you to picture a calm, tranquil place, or picture what heaven would be like, I'm always in a rainforest surrounded by birds and monkeys. THAT would be heaven to me.

Soon I'll have to upload some of my monkey pictures for your
viewing, but I'll have to have the hankies ready.
Sue

[Jean]

Sue,

What a great idea to put dirt in your pond for the hibernators!!! I never thought of that. I can't tell you how many upset customers I had every spring because of all the dead frogs. I never heard of a turtle though. Maybe they are smart enough to move on when there's not enough soil to protect them.

I used to have a box turtle and had him hibernate in cocoa fiber (2 ft. deep) in my unheated sunroom. She did just fine. I kept my bonsai trees in there too and made sure that it never got below 40 degrees.

Do you dig your turtles back up in the spring or do they unearth themselves? So interesting.

Love, Jean

[Momster]

Lucky lady with all those pets. I don't know if you've gather it yet, but Peg and I are huge pet lovers and would love to be able to have as many as you have. I think our hubbies would have something to say about that, though. Well, Peg has Duke, her cockatiel and Buster the cat and, of course, Ronny (tee-hee).

I just have my kitties, Emily and Emma.

Love - Momster

[Sue777]

I guess I'm lucky in that I knew my love for animals was very strong BEFORE I married, and made sure the man in my life was OK with that before we got real serious. I told them (yes, more than one marriage) that if they ever asked me to choose between my man or my pets, the pets would win every time. And whenever I start talking about another pet I want to add to the family and I see my husband roll his eyes, I remind him that this is much better than having a wife who's out drinking and partying at night, and he agrees quickly and asks what we're getting next. LOL

Yes, the land turtles come out of hibernation by themselves when it starts to warm up, usually end of March. I always refer to it as having my own little groundhogs, because you see the leaves start to rustle from underneath and a few minutes later you see just a head an neck pop out of the ground and look around. They go back in and try again in a few days, and when they think it's warm enough, they crawl all the way out. But for the first few weeks, they still bury themselves at night and only come out during the daylight. (I just stuck a couple of pix into the album under the title "Who Needs Groundhogs?" )

You have been invited to visit a photo album http://photobucket.com/albums/b57/Sue777/Who%20Needs%
20Groundhogs/

The read only password to view this album is: Permission

What's that bright orange thing next to the turtle? An outdoor, industrial heating pad, of course! You didn't think I'd chance my kids getting chilly out there, did ya? I bury one end of it a few feet under the ground, and with the leftover end I make a "dome" or tent above ground that they can crawl under for warmth and shelter.

OK - I'm verifiably nuts - so sue me!

[Jean]

Sue,

I'm with you about picking between pets and a man, no contest! I used to tell my exhusband that is was either a new pet or another kid. That worked pretty well.

Now I have pets that reproduce themselves. It's so much fun. My only problem is parting with the babies! I've sold one to a freind and traded one for my African Grey, but I still get to visit her all of the time.

Love, Jean