Bird-Day #4

     Round these here parts, we consider Tango's hatching day to be November 27th. This would make yesterday Tango's fourth birthday.

     He got to eat dinner with Daddy last night, and many things were revealed- mainly that I have been feeding him completely wrong for the last four years. He looked up at me with huge eyes that said "WOW! You finally managed to feed me the Potatoes Au Gratin that my kind eats in the wild! Thank you! This is even better than the Yam from yesterday!"

     In honor of that- here are some more of my Little Known Fictitious Facts.

•      Gold Capped Conures in the wild weave platforms out of branches that they can stand on and watch around them. What I call Cappy's "Drawbridge" serves this purpose here. 
•      The Wild range of Green Cheeked Conures is plentiful with naturally-occurring potatoes au gratin, multicolored round gourds with rattling metal seeds inside to chase and springs of gatorade to drink from. 
•      The deadly Black Ceramic Heater Asp is a terrible predator that Gold Capped Conures are incredibly watchful of. 
•      Sam will be blamed if I put something resembling this predator in the room, because Cappy loves me, so clearly I had to have been pushed into it. (this is actually a fact-he gave Sam the stink-eye all evening)
•      Under the Special Laws that govern the behavior of Gold Capped Conures, no matter what doors you open for them first thing in the morning they can only exit the cage via the food cup door. (Conure regulation 547a subparagraph 12/j)

This Plastic ball resembles the Wild Jingle-Gourd

the Drawbridge of Sir Cappy

the Black Ceramic Heater Asp is the most venemous variety

    And here is a shot from archery Wednesday- I had fun

Protecting the world from the Foam Zombie Hoard

Black Friday 2015

     This year I went 100% online, no plans to go to stores- I wanted 4 things:

1. Supernatural, Season 10
2. Arrow, Season 3
3. Longmire, Season 3
4. Flash, Season 1

     Thursday morning: I'm online with my tablet, and on bestbuy.com. The first three items are instock, and ordered- Flash is out of stock online. I buy what I can and ship it:

1. Supernatural, Season 10
2. Arrow, Season 3
3. Longmire, Season 3

     Thursday morning (later) in into Friday morning. I go from being philosophical to fretting. I check bestbuy multiple times- it never shows up available online.

     Friday morning, just before 8 AM- The Flash shows available for store pickup. I order it, along with Kingsman, and Days of Future Past

 

     Conclusion-

BEST BUY! You have NOT Failed this City!

In Gratitude

     Ingratitude...in gratitude. A very significant space between words. One that makes a world of difference. A universe of difference, nay, a multiverse. 

 

 

      I'm thankful for my flock, Tango, Cappy, Wallace. I'm thankful for Sam's flock, Sidney, Ichabob, Gingko, Ruby. I'm thankful Sam is still in my life. I'm thankful for the family members I have a lot of interaction with, and the others who pay less attention. I'm thankful for old friends and new. I'm thankful that I am more in communication with my daughter. I'm thankful for good neighbors who help each other out.

 

 

     I'm thankful for the things I enjoy, my collections, my archery, my old shows and new ones, the old books I remember and the new ones I get to experience for the first time.

     I'm thankful I have a job, a mostly reliable if eccentric car, a roof overhead and a floor underfoot. I'm thankful for great inspiration, a wide world of crazy shit on the internets. I'm thankful I have food to eat

 

     I'm thankful for the health I have, the pills that help to keep it where it is, and the pills I don't have to take anymore. And the pills I have never had to take.

 

     I'm thankful for you. You read my post, maybe some others. Maybe you smiled, maybe you nodded. Maybe you thought about what you are thankful for. But you shared a little of your time today with me.

 

     Thanks to all who made me and what I love.

Bird Calls

     It is a little known fact that the call of the Gold Capped Conure can be heard for hundreds of miles when I am on the phone with my Sister on the western slope or my daughter in California.

I admit that the phone helps carry the call that distance.

But Cappy is still really proud of his range. 

Represent, Cappy, Represent. 

New Hashtag for the Blog

     I will be adding a new Hashtag, starting with this post, but added retroactively where called for- that is the Hashtag for Little Known Fictional Facts (that I made up).

     To Commemorate this, I would like to inform you that Deer mice are the cause of all my car's problems.

    you have seen me, from time to time, report on the eccentricities of my 20+ year old Civic. The tail lights, the trick speedometer, all of it can be attributed to Deer mice.

     Deer mice are hard to tell from regular field mice in the fall. The fall is also the time when they are most active, and most able to get into smaller spaces because this is when they shed their antlers. In the spring, you will hear the tiny thumps as deer mice butt heads with each other, vying to impress the doe mice, but in the fall, they settle down and make a lot of noise in my walls at night. Probably yours too.

     Anyway- so if I have my Ficts (fictional facts) correct, they are also known to carry an illness known as Hondavirus, which I believe is what is affecting my car.

     More seriously, we have been dealing with occasional mice in this older house since about January, and have tried no-kill traps, spring traps, repellents, improvised traps, and finally glue traps. I hate glue traps, I hate killing anything. But I hate mice in Tango's cage far more. If anyone has a good, reliable, merciful de-mousing solution I have not tried, please Comment it below, and I will give it a shot.

The Tracks of the Years

    Full Disclosure- he's going to gripe about lost toys again- Tango

     As the bird said- yes I am, but hopefully for nearly the last time. Back in the 1980s, there were two toys I really really searched for. One was Optimus Prime, found finally at an Osco drug of all places. The other was Tracks- searched for, and finally located by my then-Brother-In-Law Doug where he worked, at Service Merchandise.

     Tracks was a bit of a quandary for me- he was not a particularly likable character, being narcissistic and conceited, and very obsessed with his appearance and finish. but he had a showcase episode, and man, did he look cool.

so I had Tracks, and still have his gun and missiles.

and over the years, I have tried to replace him.

     There was Alternators Tracks. The Alternators were innovative for their time, and taught the Takara and Hasbro engineers a lot. but he's... flat. Horribly and unforgivably flat. And no flamey design on the hood. and awkward. For being fully articulated, a lot of him gets in the way of a lot more of him when it comes to movement

     The next tracks to come my way was Reveal-The-Shield Turbo Tracks- Hasbro has needed to make some of the more general names more specific, so they add and "Autobot" here, a "Turbo" there, a "Special Ops" someplace else- you get the drill. I ended up with the US and Japanese (United) versions because... flamey hood

     

We are more alike than unalike

     Is he tracks or isn't he? Blue Corvette, Red face, but he is AOE Hot Shot. no wings, but he has that bitchin' trench coat. the original design had this with a flame-painted hood, so I think Tracks may have been the original intent- he is movie Tracks to me, anyway

     And then, there was a rumor, and then confirmation...

     MASTERPIECE TRACKS

     He was delayed, about a month, but here he is from my friends at The Chosen Prime

     Tall, Graceful, with a shiny finish and requisite flamey hood, he mostly fills that hole in me that the loss of G1 tracks left. I'm going to pause for a point here- you are asking yourself..."why didn't he just Ebay up another G1 tracks?"

     Well- I have asked myself the same question over the years, gone looking and...it's someone elses tracks, not mine. I can't get myself to buy an actual replacement. I have complicated rules. 

     The last point about the Masterpiece tracks is this- he has one advantage over his brothers.

He Can Fly

     Tango can respect that- Tango stayed on my shoulders all the way through the photography session for these cars. 

If It's Monday, I Must Still be Amazed...

....After Seeing The Bloggess  on Wednesday, at Tattered Cover


     My sister went with me, we had Pizza and Salad beforehand and then settled in to see the signing.
Jenny Lawson read two chapters and went to Q&A, and then we waited patiently for Two-Hundred, Twenty-Nine other people to get their books signed.

     I love book signings- I have fond memories of Douglas Adams, Bruce Campbell, and Scott Sigler, all at various times and years at the Tattered Cover.

     In Person, The Bloggess is frank, fun and gives the definite impression that she just loves the fact that you came. She is extremely open about her anxiety, her depression and her health issues and I really appreciated seeing her in person. Reading her work was part of what gave me the courage to face some of my own mental angels and demons. I loved the fact that she was thrilled that my copy of her first book was a "rescue". She pointed out that my leaving the price tag on it was "just part of the book's story" and even told a story of someone bringing in an autographed copy from 1/2 price books, autographed to someone else.

     I Bought my Copy of Furiously Happy at Target a couple of months ago, planning to take that to Tattered Cover with me. And then I found out that you could not be guaranteed a signing unless you bought a book and ticket at TC- so I ventured out, Sunday morning and bought a second copy- after I found out that tickets were selling big. Ergo, my place #230 in line.

     This was my sister's first ever book-signing, and my extra copy of Furiously Happy was autographed to her, for all she does for me and everyone else in my family. I am happy she had a good time. 

She took this selfie of me and the Rory Stand-up

Likewise it was her hand on the shutter in this one

A Night of Civic Unrest

     Not talking about Paris or anything to do with that. Not that I am ignoring that- we will have events like that as long as people are primitive and violent. It's sad, and humans just need to be better.

     This post is about my moody Honda civic. A few days ago, my rear indicators, which had been weird and intermittent, stopped giving me brake lights.

     I took it in to my mechanic, who determined that the aftermarket tail lights I put on to make the car pretty had a failure in the wiring.

     Enter me, waking at 130 a.m. Saturday morning. And shopping for a fix, or new lenses, or something.
 

     So they got it sort of working. I have the middle brake light, and turn signals, and tail lights.
 

      I'm just trying to decide which way is best. New lenses with wiring (about $35) standard lenses with standard wiring (don't ask) or try to replace the converter that failed, which converts a two bulb system to a single bulb for brake and turn.
 

     And to top it off, I have Sam asking me where my limit is on fixing the car. Where do I say enough is enough?
 

     I know it's not here, and not now. I just want some tail lights. Fixing this is a civic responsibility

R'Kea PSA

    Time to talk about a serious subject. Many of you out there are not bird people, and don't know about R'Kea.

What is R'Kea?

  R'Kea is a serious condition that affects one in three Conures. An ordinary, quiet, well behaved bird will suddenly burst out into loud, shrill noise, like so.

 What can I do to help?

     With your awareness and your help to spread the word, we can tell birds like Cappy that, no, it's too early for R'Kea, and they are waking up everyone in the damn house. We can tell them it's OK, and no, they don't need to R'Kea. We don't need R'Kea right now. we can tell them..."Use your words, Cappy"


    Please give birds like Cappy a chance; help us strive for a R'Kea free tomorrow

seriously, this is how Cappy talks to the birds in the other room, and in Nebraska

Daylight Savings

Tango knows daylight savings time is a lie.

I'm laying here, reading, and listening to him fuss.

He started about 15 minutes ago,kicking seed out of his bowl, and I asked him: "What are you doing?"

"Wakeup!"

" not time yet, Tango"
"Muttermuttermutteroutrageousmuttermutter"
" I will feed you guys at 630, Tango. That won't be far from what you expect."
"Grumblegrumblegrumbleoutrageous"

A little-known fictional fact I made up is that green-cheeked conures have a quartz core in their stomach which pulses at one beat per second and keeps exact time. You could literally let a conure set your watch for you if you didn't want it to still have buttons afterward.