There Be Birds

 So now my little corner of the house is semi complete.

The study has been cleared out, but now we deal with the larger clutter issue.  I need to spend a day with elder to sort his room out, and then some similar time with younger.  And hubby and I need to do a divide and conquer on the rest of it. 

We picked up our rescued cockatiels on Sunday. I've already made an emergency trip to the vet because Paulie (the one they told me was 30--is actually closer in reality to 15, but anyway), who is missing half his tail and all of his flight feathers on his right side, looked like he broke a wing when he fell for the 100th time.  ("He falls. He's old," was what I was told. The reality is that someone deprived him of half his tail, so he can't balance OR fly.) When I couldn't get George in the carrier, I decided Paulie and I were going without him....except that the two of them started flock-screaming for each other, so I had to circle back and collect (a much more willing) George.

Long story short, the wing is fine, and I'll bring them both for a well visit next week. I'm glad they are close in age, because when one dies, the other won't be far behind him. I was stressing about George, but I think they will have a few good years with us.  Already they are pretty settled in, but neither of them are Nugget.  George is not hand-trained, and Paulie is downright feral--he goes after my feet if he's walking around on the floor. I don't handle him without covering up first. 

They don't need much.  They are happy to hang out on top of their cage, and when they are out, my door is closed--we decided as a family that they belong in my office. Because I am here all day, it's not a big deal, and they get a lot of time out of the cage to stretch their wings.  I have jazz on the radio, which they seem to like, and they have each other for company.  They tolerate me.  And I enjoy watching them. 

I will not have the same relationship with either of them that I had with Nugget, but I am okay with that. I just wanted to give these guys a good home.  I think it's a good fit all around.