Tango The Tantrum Thrower!!

As some of you know my wife and I don't have children. However I am not so ignorant that I've not heard of parents talking about the 'terrible two's'. Well Eclectus parrots have the mindset of a two year old..... and with this comes the tantrums!!!! For example this morning we had tradesmen coming to do some repairs (this can be another post!). Anyway, as they were coming early, Tango couldn't have his usual amount of time out of his cage at breakfast time. This resulted in a huge amount of noise and wing flapping!!! 

No amount of me talking to him through the bars would quieten him down. My wife had just finished a 12.5 hour night shift, so she's currently trying to sleep while the tradesmen are working and Tango is screaming. He also throws the odd tantrum if he doesn't get quite enough sleep..... Ahhh the joys!! lol

On a brighter note! Here's Tango in a good mood on his new play gym that he got just the other day. It's made from Australian native timber, so he can chew away till his heart's content and he won't get sick. It's sturdy, but also small enough so we can move it from room to room, depending on where we are. The play gym in these photos is sitting on our dinning room table, but we've also had him in the lounge room.

Tango having a taste lol

Tango trying out the lower perch

Tango doesn't know it yet.... But after the tradesmen leave, he's having a bath.. That's going to be fun for all I'm sure lol

Tango The Smarty Pants!

Tango has been with us one week today. I can't believe how far he has come! He spent the first two days not wanting to come out of his cage - I would literally have have to stick my hands in grab him. Now, we can't keep him in there lol! 

We've taught him "up". We say this word and hold our arm/hand out and he steps up onto us. He's now getting to the point where we don't have to say the word, we just put our hand in front of him and he steps up onto us. Yesterday I thought I'd try my luck at teaching him to come when he's called..... Honesty, I didn't think it would work!! He did it successfully four times! We only spend about 15 minutes at a time with training, otherwise he starts to get a bit bored and cranky. So after 15 minutes we then let him do his own thing, which is usually eating fruit on the kitchen bench or sitting on our arm.

Millie and Tango

He's so much like a dog when it comes to food! He'll do anything if he thinks he's going to get something extra to nibble on lol  The photo above is Millie the cat and Tango. Sorry it's a bit blurry. They were sitting together and closer to each other at the dining table, but I was too slow to take a photo lol

We didn't have time for training this morning, as we had an electrician coming around early and Tango was a bit grumpy, as he wasn't quite awake when we got him out of his cage for breakfast. But once the electrician is gone, we'll get him out and he can have a bit of a fly around the house.

Tango having breakfast with his old play gym.

I'm off to buy him a new play gym tomorrow. He has one on top of his cage, but he doesn't like it much as it's too far away from where we are. I did buy one for him that's a table top one, but it's a bit flimsy. So after making some inquiries, I've found one that will suit him. It's a little expensive, but it's bigger and stronger, plus it's built from native Australian timber, so he can chew it till his hearts content and not get sick. Once I get it, I'll take some photos of him using it :o) 

Okay, well enough parrot talk for now lol I've got an electrician to talk to lol

Meet Tango!

Three days ago I purchased an Eclectus parrot. I have wanted a parrot for a while. . . To be honest I wanted an African Grey, but in Australia you're looking at $8000-$10,000 for a well bred bird!!! No that's not a typo... I can't justify that kind of money for a pet of any kind, let alone a bird, who could drop off its perch at any time.... lol So to speak.

So my next choice was the Eclectus. They're similar in many ways, but also quite different (I could list them all, but I'd be here all day). They're both known for their speaking/mimicking abilities and they are both very intelligent critters. African Greys are cuddly birds, where the Eclectus isn't so much, they're happy to be with you, but don't have the need to be constantly touched all of the time, they're a little more independent.... Plus, they don't have that big fat price tag. I think the non-cuddly, more independence and much, much lower price tag are both pluses for me lol

Tango

Anyway, three days ago I drove 2 hours from home to meet and collect my new feathered friend. He's four months old and really inquisitive!! Seriously! Just today before I started this post, he was running all around the kitchen bench. Now our kitchen is in the middle of the house, so you can stand on both sides of the bench. So he decided that he just had to get to the other side where I was... He looked into the sink and saw that he couldn't step down into it, so he decided he would try and jump the sink..... He landed in the cats bowl that was full of manky cat food water LOL!! At the time I was rinsing some things out, so when I helped him out of the cats bowl he was grabbing at the dishcloth and trying to bite the water coming out of the tap. It was very funny! LOL

Tango eating MY breakfast

The second and third morning, I cut up fruit and vegies for his breakfast and put them on a little plate for him. I put the plate on the bench.... Then I get my breakfast - plain old cereal and milk.... and guess what he wants? My breakfast! His was a much healthier choice! I should have eaten his! LOL The above photo was taken yesterday - day 2. This morning he actually had both feet on my bowl and was trying to get the cereal off the spoon when I was trying to put in in my mouth. If you've never owned a parrot, eating breakfast can be difficult lol

Tango checking out Facebook

He has this personality where he isn't interested in anything, until you touch it.... Then he wants it. For example if he's sitting on my arm and I'm just talking to him, he's happy to sit and listen and he makes these little noises where he sounds like he's a chook and other times he kind of coos. But, if he's sitting on my arm and I start to use the computer with the other hand, he wants the computer. When my wife has her ipad on and is playing a game (The Tribez), he has to walk right up and stand on the screen and he tries to catch the little men running around lol

His cage is in a fairly open part of our house, so he can pretty much see us all the time. Every time one of us walks past, he mutters something, I have no idea what he's trying to say, but he does it every time without fail lol Life living with a parrot is certainly going to be a very interesting journey.... The breeder said to me "You don't actually know what you say all the time until you own a parrot"...... After she said that, I've stopped swearing at home LOL!!!!

Sprouts and Books

I'm so excited!!! I woke up this morning, and I went to give my herbs a quick water before the heat set in for the day and look what I found!!

My tomato seeds have sprouted! It only took them a couple of days :o) Tomatoes are so easy to grow, I can kill most plants lol but tomatoes just keep on going. If I get half as many from these plants as I did from our last ones I'll have relish and chutney coming out of my ears. Except this time, because I've got other herbs growing, I'll experiment a little bit with herbs added in.

Ok onto my next topic lol (yes my mind jumps around a bit) Yesterday I was reading Behind Green Eyes Blog and she had a great idea... She has heaps of them lol She really likes to read and so do I. My problem is that I usually get stuck in a rut of reading books that are very similar to each other. Anyway, she found a list called:- 1001 Books to Read Before You Die. She also included a random number generator to select her books. So I gave it a spin yesterday and the number generated for me was 961 - The Vicar of Wakefield - Oliver Goldsmith. 

So I have downloaded it to my Kindle, as I'm already reading a book at the moment called:- Being a Sceptic is Oh So Easy - Linn B. Halton. It's okay.... I'll finish it, simply because I hate not finishing a book, then I'll read The Vicar of Wakefield. I'm not going to solely rely on the 1001 list, because there are other books I want to read, but I'll alternate between my choice and the generator. I've also added the list to my tabs at the top of the page, and I'll highlight the ones I read as I get through them.

2014

Okay, so it's the 3/1/14..... I know I'm a couple of days late, but - Happy New Year! Christmas has come and gone, and New Years Eve has done the same. We probably all ate too much, but we did live to tell the tale lol. I hope that you all had a great Christmas/holiday period :o)

Guess what? Easter is next.... My wife was at Coles yesterday and they're already selling Easter Eggs and Hot Cross Buns!!!! WTF!?!?! Are they serious?!?! Give me a break! Before you know it, there won't be a gap between Christmas, Easter, Valentines day, St Patricks Day, Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Halloween and any other day that I can't think of right now. It will be like shopping in a supermarket that has 'theme week'. Rant over... 

So how many of you made New Years Resolutions? You're going to lose weight, save more, renovate the house, spend more time at home, cut down how many takeaways you buy, spend less money, win lotto, drink less, give up smoking, learn an instrument..... The list goes on. I didn't make a single one! That's right! Not one! Why? Because I have no idea what my last one was.... So it was either too unrealistic, or not all that important. Plus, I'm okay with my life as it is. If I need to change something I will, I don't need to wait until the first day of the first month of a new year to do it. 

You know those Bitstrip thingies that people post on Facebook? I made my own and posted it.... A comment was left that pretty much went along the lines of, that I had no goals and it was rather negative in tone. I wrote:- If it ain't broke, don't fix it. This is how I view it.... I'm not going to write a great long list, and tick them off as I accomplish them. As I said, I'm happy with my life, I know which way I'm going, so why would I need a list? To those of you who did make a list, good luck! I hope you make it! :o)

I haven't had much time to play with Echovox with all that's been going on, but I did manage to plant a herb garden! As our kitchen is in the middle of the house (grrr), we don't have a kitchen window and the dinning room window sill is too narrow for pots to sit on. I had this old church pew sitting in the garage, which I only drag out at Halloween.... Except the spot where I put it, now has another piece of furniture permanently in that spot. Anyway, I decided the pew would look good under the dinning room window. So I grabbed a bunch of miss matched pots, and after a trip to the shops for plants and soil.... There you have it! An indoor herb garden :o)