The forecast was for heavy rain.. Westminster Bridge was closed.. many bus routes were closed.. it was Marathon Day.. and Susan.. bless her heart.. had not given her the right information.. they were all due to meet at Streatham Common Station NOT Streatham Hill Station. OI VEY WHAT A DAY!
And she was sad to go.. why was she sad? The answer lies, I am afraid to tell you with me and my sadness. This is what I am talking about.. zoom back we go, back to the begining of it all in February. I now know that it was that horrid flu that she had but back then, when she became suddenly so sick, I thought something DIRE had happened.
She didn't talk, she slept most of the time and for a small grey person who loves her human mum very much, remember we have been together almost every day for nearly eleven years, it was an upsetting period. I became anxious.. not a good state to be in at all.. and what do parrots do when they become anxious?
We pluck our feathers.
She, of course, got better but it did take several weeks and by that time, well, my naughty plucking habit was being done every day. We went away for the week end to Wiltshire, I was looking pretty gruesome but she still thought it was a moult.
But the day before yesterday, she was up in Kensington High Street and called in to see Colin, an old friend who runs Animal Fair in Abingdon Road. They talked and then she just mentioned my moult.. and Colin, who knows me and African Grey's very well, said "She's plucking ....., what's happened to get her distressed, don't you remember that she did this once before when you started to be ill and you had to put a lampshade collar on her to stop it?"
"Oh, my goodness me, yes, I do remember and it is exactly the same scenario.. I was ill and in bed in February!".. and so when she came back, she took me down from the top of the bedroom door and turned me upside down.. yes, Dear Readers, I allow her to do this.. why, I cannot think! And she saw the extent of my plucking.
"Oh GeeGee baby girl, I am so sorry, why didn't I see this, you're a silly girl, far too intelligent for your own good"., tears were shed, I was the right way up by now you'll be pleased to know.
I climbed onto my swing and then up onto Goosie Head, my perch in YumYum HQ, she went out and came back with two things in her hands. I stepped back up onto her hand and we settled onto her favourite perch.. and then I realised.. OH NO.. it was that dreadful plastic collar and a screwdriver.. GULP.. and even my squeaksqueaksqueak did not stop her fixing it around my neck.
So now you know the awful truth.. I have stripped off every top feather from my chest, some from underneath my left wing and have nibbled some of my big back feathers which are on top of my wing blades. Not a good look.
So yesterday morning I had slept, if you can call it that, with this thing round my neck, it doesn't hurt, it just stops me bending or turning my neck to get at feathers. But I was grumpy.. very grumpy and so decided to let her know exactly how grumpy I was.. by refusing to eat those fast breaking eggs.
She retaliated by giving me some Homepathic remedy called Mimulus.. The Flower Remedies were developed by Dr. Edward Bach, Mimulus is used against the fear of known things.. the solution works on animals as well as humans.. and then I 'generously' let her feed me some of her toast.
Colin had said that the level of contact had to be stepped up.. no more allowing me to fly off and do my own thing in the bedroom.. yes, Dear Readers, I had stopped sitting on her head and was perching up on my little coffee branch in the bedroom.
She gave me more food on the hour, every hour until she left at midday. It had stopped raining but the buses were not running, Westmister Bridge was closed and the Marathan runners were running!
Thousands of runners were running.. she walked to Victoria Station, took the train to Streatham Hill, went to the agreed meeting point and waited and waited and waited.. in the cold.. We won't bore you with what happened because eventually they all met up.. however, Susan was in BIG dudu as she had given her the wrong station.
Never mind.. it was off to the river they going! And it had stopped raining! The group was made up of Regina, naughty Susan, and a woman whose name she cannot remember, Mary, who had realised what had happened and saved the day, Caro, Rosalina and her.. a small happy group.
Down onto Westminster Pier and on the river boat and off.. they chugged down the Thames! Jolly Boating Season has started and it was not raining! They had a happy time this gang of gaggling women.. they are the bunch that sing each Friday and it was such fun to be independent of that and to able to talk about other things and for her to be with Susan, whom she adores.
Rosalina told her a simply wonderful tale of about flying first class with BOAC and having David Hicks, the famous now deceased interior designer, sitting beside her, that had her squeaking with laughter as he had been an old client of Miss Betty's and then they were 'off and running' with tales of other interior decorators and designers.
And is a good thing it was so noisy and there was absolutely no possibility of these tales being overheard by other folk! For many scandalous tales were told.. for most of those decorators AND a lot of their clients are a 'funny' bunch of folk.. to say the least! Nope! It is more than my life is worth to tell you any of these tales.. Beaky's sealed.. for at least fifty years!
They came back and she said "Sorry, I have to go home", she had told them the shameful truth about my tumtum and she raced home.. no buses.. the street cleaners were cleaning and the organisers were putting London back together again.
Whoosh.. down the steps she came at a quarter to seven.. I was sitting on the edge of the nearest cupboard in oir bedroom.. she plucked me off and I was immediately wrapped up in a huge cuddle.. I tried hard to register disapproval but it was a bit hard when I was so happy to see her back.
Into YumYum HQ.. but not for her, she had eaten far too many tasty sandwiches and was feeling overly full.. should not eat wheat bread.. hummus.. carrot.. more Mimulus was drip-dropped into Beaky.
I played very hard to feed, so she sat on the sink and ate a little of this and a tiny bit of that, I gave up being so stubborn and ate a little too. Then it was time to get into bed, an overly emotional 24 hours had been had by all.
She'd switched on the heating pad and we climbed into a cosy, warm bed, for although it was not cold the early rain had made the air very damp. We sat and she chatted about her day, then it was time to go to sleep and today, well today is another day! She's taking me with her to Rotary tonight, we'll go by train as that journey is quicker than going by bus.
It was flu, she's not ill, I have to get over my fears, stop being naughty, eat properly and forget that naughty habit of plucking my feathers.
The sky is clear, it is a bright sunny day and there are big fat eggies from kind Debbie Goaty Mum, who has a goaty called Lampshade ~ I couldn't make it up!
GeeGee parrot.
April 27th, 2015.
And she was sad to go.. why was she sad? The answer lies, I am afraid to tell you with me and my sadness. This is what I am talking about.. zoom back we go, back to the begining of it all in February. I now know that it was that horrid flu that she had but back then, when she became suddenly so sick, I thought something DIRE had happened.
She didn't talk, she slept most of the time and for a small grey person who loves her human mum very much, remember we have been together almost every day for nearly eleven years, it was an upsetting period. I became anxious.. not a good state to be in at all.. and what do parrots do when they become anxious?
We pluck our feathers.
She, of course, got better but it did take several weeks and by that time, well, my naughty plucking habit was being done every day. We went away for the week end to Wiltshire, I was looking pretty gruesome but she still thought it was a moult.
But the day before yesterday, she was up in Kensington High Street and called in to see Colin, an old friend who runs Animal Fair in Abingdon Road. They talked and then she just mentioned my moult.. and Colin, who knows me and African Grey's very well, said "She's plucking ....., what's happened to get her distressed, don't you remember that she did this once before when you started to be ill and you had to put a lampshade collar on her to stop it?"
"Oh, my goodness me, yes, I do remember and it is exactly the same scenario.. I was ill and in bed in February!".. and so when she came back, she took me down from the top of the bedroom door and turned me upside down.. yes, Dear Readers, I allow her to do this.. why, I cannot think! And she saw the extent of my plucking.
"Oh GeeGee baby girl, I am so sorry, why didn't I see this, you're a silly girl, far too intelligent for your own good"., tears were shed, I was the right way up by now you'll be pleased to know.
I climbed onto my swing and then up onto Goosie Head, my perch in YumYum HQ, she went out and came back with two things in her hands. I stepped back up onto her hand and we settled onto her favourite perch.. and then I realised.. OH NO.. it was that dreadful plastic collar and a screwdriver.. GULP.. and even my squeaksqueaksqueak did not stop her fixing it around my neck.
So now you know the awful truth.. I have stripped off every top feather from my chest, some from underneath my left wing and have nibbled some of my big back feathers which are on top of my wing blades. Not a good look.
So yesterday morning I had slept, if you can call it that, with this thing round my neck, it doesn't hurt, it just stops me bending or turning my neck to get at feathers. But I was grumpy.. very grumpy and so decided to let her know exactly how grumpy I was.. by refusing to eat those fast breaking eggs.
She retaliated by giving me some Homepathic remedy called Mimulus.. The Flower Remedies were developed by Dr. Edward Bach, Mimulus is used against the fear of known things.. the solution works on animals as well as humans.. and then I 'generously' let her feed me some of her toast.
Colin had said that the level of contact had to be stepped up.. no more allowing me to fly off and do my own thing in the bedroom.. yes, Dear Readers, I had stopped sitting on her head and was perching up on my little coffee branch in the bedroom.
She gave me more food on the hour, every hour until she left at midday. It had stopped raining but the buses were not running, Westmister Bridge was closed and the Marathan runners were running!
Thousands of runners were running.. she walked to Victoria Station, took the train to Streatham Hill, went to the agreed meeting point and waited and waited and waited.. in the cold.. We won't bore you with what happened because eventually they all met up.. however, Susan was in BIG dudu as she had given her the wrong station.
Never mind.. it was off to the river they going! And it had stopped raining! The group was made up of Regina, naughty Susan, and a woman whose name she cannot remember, Mary, who had realised what had happened and saved the day, Caro, Rosalina and her.. a small happy group.
Down onto Westminster Pier and on the river boat and off.. they chugged down the Thames! Jolly Boating Season has started and it was not raining! They had a happy time this gang of gaggling women.. they are the bunch that sing each Friday and it was such fun to be independent of that and to able to talk about other things and for her to be with Susan, whom she adores.
Rosalina told her a simply wonderful tale of about flying first class with BOAC and having David Hicks, the famous now deceased interior designer, sitting beside her, that had her squeaking with laughter as he had been an old client of Miss Betty's and then they were 'off and running' with tales of other interior decorators and designers.
And is a good thing it was so noisy and there was absolutely no possibility of these tales being overheard by other folk! For many scandalous tales were told.. for most of those decorators AND a lot of their clients are a 'funny' bunch of folk.. to say the least! Nope! It is more than my life is worth to tell you any of these tales.. Beaky's sealed.. for at least fifty years!
They came back and she said "Sorry, I have to go home", she had told them the shameful truth about my tumtum and she raced home.. no buses.. the street cleaners were cleaning and the organisers were putting London back together again.
Whoosh.. down the steps she came at a quarter to seven.. I was sitting on the edge of the nearest cupboard in oir bedroom.. she plucked me off and I was immediately wrapped up in a huge cuddle.. I tried hard to register disapproval but it was a bit hard when I was so happy to see her back.
Into YumYum HQ.. but not for her, she had eaten far too many tasty sandwiches and was feeling overly full.. should not eat wheat bread.. hummus.. carrot.. more Mimulus was drip-dropped into Beaky.
I played very hard to feed, so she sat on the sink and ate a little of this and a tiny bit of that, I gave up being so stubborn and ate a little too. Then it was time to get into bed, an overly emotional 24 hours had been had by all.
She'd switched on the heating pad and we climbed into a cosy, warm bed, for although it was not cold the early rain had made the air very damp. We sat and she chatted about her day, then it was time to go to sleep and today, well today is another day! She's taking me with her to Rotary tonight, we'll go by train as that journey is quicker than going by bus.
It was flu, she's not ill, I have to get over my fears, stop being naughty, eat properly and forget that naughty habit of plucking my feathers.
The sky is clear, it is a bright sunny day and there are big fat eggies from kind Debbie Goaty Mum, who has a goaty called Lampshade ~ I couldn't make it up!
GeeGee parrot.
April 27th, 2015.
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