The death of me, yet!

[Mare]

HUGE storm came thru Cali yesterday, last night..and still moving, hitting southern Cal now. We have friends living on their sailboat in a harbor near Ventura, Ca., ( just north of Santa Barbara). Lori posts this morn that winds hit 74.3 mph! They are safe and their "Silent Lady" sailboat, kept them safe :).

Tim is away for a few days, totally missed the action! I love storms..as long as me and my crew is safe :)
Amigo has been couped up for, going on two full days..I came home from town and the rain had been just a drizzle all day. Soo..I cut him loose, around 2:00pm. He LOVED every minute of his cold drizzle shower! Ripped around the property as I fed the horses and he procrastinated on coming in. Procrastinated till I was ready to give up and wish him the best! Am I weird for wanting to give him some freedom but still almost thinking I'm going to have a stroke waiting for him to be ready? He dove in, at the last minute. He saw me getting ready to give up and must of thought..OMG!..she CAN'T give up on me!! You got lucky, Amigo. I will only ACT like I'm giving up on you :)

[spiritbird]

How does he act when he cannot go out?

[Lady]

Aww Mare,

What's a mother to do. It's hard having kids who you know are trustworthy but sometimes push the limit. Glad all is well with you and yours. Bet you gained a gray hair or two tho!

[Mare]

Yeah, Alice, the grey hairs are piling on! Dianne, when he can't go out due to weather or me not being home to let him out, he's fine. He munches on his toys and is fairly relaxed. He seems to know when the weather is acceptable. I've let him out before when the wind wasn't blowing but cloudy and 40 degrees outside..he'll come right back. He loves being out, I think it clears his sinuses, even in cold weather. He can notice the wind from the windows and is very content just hangin' when this is going on. Now, if it's SUNNY, not windy and cold..he will find an acceptable sun perch, on a tree, to bask in :)

[2birds]

I've always thought that was the neatest thing that you can let Amigo out and have his freedom. I wish I could do that with mine but the conditions are not right.

[Mare]

Lori, I don't think you have birds close to big enough to handle the great outdoors. It takes a big bird, at least the size of a U2,,, then..one with a HUGE presense/personality to go along with it. If Amigo wasn't who he is..this wouldn't be happening.

[plax]

I've always thought that was the neatest thing that you can let Amigo out and have his freedom. I wish I could do that with mine but the conditions are not right.And you might lose them if they had unrestricted freedom like Amigo. It's unfortunately not one of those things that just works :(

[Mare]

Tony, should I restrict what I have to say?..should I add precaution after every post? Please, let me know. I tend to think that most folks reason..I hope with an open mind but if not..good sense, anyways :)

[plax]

Tony, should I restrict what I have to say?..should I add precaution after every post? Please, let me know. I tend to think that most folks reason..I hope with an open mind but if not..good sense, anyways :)You don't have to restrict what you say, Mare. But a frequent statement of caution may be a good idea. I'm mainly concerned about those browsing our archives via search engine result links. Occasionally some of them may think to themselves, "hey, that's pretty cool! I think I'd like to try it with my bird." All one need do is browse a bit through the pet videos on YouTube to know that there are plenty of folks who are far from reasonable thinkers... so we shouldn't kid ourselves about that. For example, you'll find myriad incompatible species interaction clips there. Plus even if most of those who happen to browse our site archives are reasonable decision makers, the mere one or two who aren't might become inspired to create tragic situations for their birds :(. And that's too many in my view.

I enjoy reading about Amigo and his adventures a lot, so I'm glad you post about him. It would be good though if you could either intertwine warnings in your posts about him or put a general warning in your signature area to highlight the risks involved and perhaps the special circumstances of your situation :)

[kendrafitz]

Nope, not weird, just a good mom. Even if you have an anxiety attack in the process. ;)

[2birds]

Mare, I would never let my birds out. Like I said, the conditions are not right including their size. I can still admire you and Amigo no? There are a lot of people who do what you do with success but I am smart enough to realize that I am not one of those people.

[Mare]

Thanks, Lori :) I guess, I WASN'T smart enough to think that I couldn't! It's all good, though, you have happy birds that you don't need to worry about!

[Mare]

Flying your bird outside shouldn't be an ultimate goal, this is for sure. Bringing home a bird, in the first place, (totally nuts), taking care with a bird, utmost importance.

[2birds]

Mare, Amigo is fine, he knows what he's doing. Although we all hope for a long life for ourselves and our pets, I do believe quality trumps quantity. Amigo has the best of both worlds, he's got you for companionship and the food handouts, and he's got quite a bit of freedom. It can't get any better than that.