Sid's Adventures in Foraging

*I plan on doing full features in the future with pictures, etc to help give people some ideas and what worked for us*

Well recently I started my full on efforts to teach Sid foraging. According to his previous owner, he really had never foraged. According to her, he hated all toys except his one rope toy. And he did just have a
dish of seed that he just ate from. And he chewed on his perches that were made of apple wood. That was it. Since he came to live with us, he's barely touched that rope toy, by the way, but once or twice. I've offered him a variety of toys, some not "official" toys, but he's been very receptive to new things, sometimes it just takes him a few days but he evntually figures it out. But most of the time, he'll go right to a new toy to inspect. Since he's a little piggy, I've noticed that if I can integrate food into it at first, he'll continue to play with that particular item later even if there is no more food. Here are the foragers I've tried this week.

Balsa Wood Pieces- This had been a bird kabob toy. He acted scared of them for a week or two. Then I took the pieces off of the toy, pushed some sunflower seeds and almonds into it a piece of it. It only took him a day to finally figure out to tear it up to get the seeds. He his now tearing up the wood pieces, even without the treats, with vigor, which is awesome to watch him make a glorious mess! He's now eaten all 6 pieces!  I'm in a panic to find more balsa wood quick! So I bud on some on ebay! I'm also planning to make a few bird kabobs for his cage.

Foot toy wood pieces- His own gave me a bag of toy parts that she never used. I put an almond in one of the wood pieces and he went right for it. So I've made a variety of these so that he can have a new one daily or whe never, and they're ready to go.

Plastic Chain/Coffee Filters- This one he went right for the first time I put it in. It's the first foraging toy I offered and it was a hit. I put one filter full of buttons, one of flax seeds, one of almonds. I also
switch it up and put some pellets, or whatever else I can find. I put this in a location that he had to go onto the boing. He's not been scared of the boing, as he'll go on it in a training session, but I haven't really
seen him hanging out on it. Gus loves his but it did take him a long time to get to that point.

Foraging cage- He was initially scared of this, so it's been slowly moving closer to his cage to get him used to it. I put some coffee filter balls full of pellets in it as well as some index card strips. It took him another 3 days after being in his cage for him to touch anything inside, but he likes it now.

Foraging Tray- This was semi successful. For the first round, I put in toilet paper strips, paper, string, sunflower seeds, almonds inside of finger hancuffs, sticks, and buttons. I know that he got a few almonds out
of there but everything else seemed in place, including the sunflower seeds. He's not at fan but I'll keep trying.

Paper fold up toy- I stuck pellets and sunflower seed pieces in this and it took a few days, but he ate huge chunks of this one day. yay!

Shreddable hanging toy- He's not really been interested in this one yet so I put some seeds in this one also. I'll give it a few days and watch.

Small bird nest- These were like a $1.50. He took some stuff out of it but hasn't found the stuff inside yet but he'll figure it out.

Future Plans:

I'd like to get some acrylic and plastic foraging puzzle toys because I
have a feeling he'd be good at them. But I'm stocking up on the things
that have been successful first! Then we'll move on to new things.

His previous owner gave me a huge bag of Birdie Bagels. I want to find
stuff I can stick in there. I have nutriberries but he's not liking those yet.

I am going to buy a bag of shelled nuts, drill a hole in them, and see if
he'll go for them. They're cheap enough and I think they could keep him
occupied.

I really want to invest in a dehydrator. Right now I'm using seeds and
nuts to get him to forage. But if I could get him to eat dehyrdated
veggies and fruit, that would be SO much better for the little porker.

Mash foraging- right now the only foraging opp I have for him with his
mash is the coffee filter or paper on the dish. The problem with mash is
that it's obviously wet, so you're limited in what you can use without the
item getting soaked, or moldy, or even just staying put where you insert
it. There has to be better stuff. Some ideas I have heard: put mash in a
cooked or uncooked whole grain shell (jumbo shells or manicotti or
something), wrap a lettuce or similar leaf around it and tie it, put
things on top of the mash like twigs, rocks, buttons, or beads that he'd
have to throw out to get to his mash, tiny craft flower pots hanging,
stainless steel hanging buckets, and I think that's all I can remember at
the moment.

Kabobs- I want to see if he'll eat some veggies or fruit from a kabob. I'm
going to start offering one and see what happens.

Origami- I told April to relearn some origami so that I can make some
paper foraging toys, since he loves tearing up paper and/or cardstock. I'd
like to make some hanging toys and some foot toys with this method.

Changes I've seen in Sid already-

He's been coming out of his cage in the morning and immediately starts
chewing on stuff and playing. He was previously a little devil in the
morning and it took him an hour or two to even start moving in his cage.
Now, I turn the lights on, uncover gus (not covering Sid yet), open the
cage doors, and he's out getting into stuff!

He leaves no part of his cage or above his cage unexplored throughout the
day, which is GREAT!

He seems to be getting out much more energy and seems alot less moody to
me already. He's still typical bird moody but it seems like he's quicker
to go into a sweet mode, and he seems to be stepping up more readily for
me. He's even started making a few noises for me that he usually only
makes for April!

His beak is starting to look very nice. Before it was all flaky and gross
and really needed a dremel job, bad. But now he's chewing and rubbing his
beak on stuff so it's cleaning up quite nicely!

A Great 24 Hours with Sid!

It's funny to watch my relationship with Sid evolve. As I might have
mentioned before, he LOVES April. The minute she walks through the door,
he's flapping, running around, talking in his little robot voice
(seriously, he sounds like a robot), he tries to get to her, and will
certainly always step up for her. Now, I've been a little jealous of this,
especially considering April does nothing with Sid. I do all the training,
the feeding, giving him treats, trying to play games, etc. She literally
gets home, picks him up for a minute or two, and that's pretty much it. I
think he wants her because she doesn't really care about him either way
(she "cares" about him, I just mean that she's not really interested in
birds or him the way that I am).

My routine on class nights (2 nights a week): I get off of work at 4, get
home around 4:20. I let them out of the cage right when I get home. If
they're in the mood, I'll do a little bit or training. Then I prep their
food, feed them, and leave for class by 5:10. Yeah, the only reason I go
home is for the birds. Now, when I open the cages, Gus comes right out and
is very excited to see me, of course. Sid takes his sweet time coming out.
Sometimes it may take him 15 minutes to come out. Which is fine, what's
the hurry, really? Then, normally when I get close to his cage, he screams
a bit at me, postures a bit, etc. I ignore this and start doing some
clicking with Gus. Even if it's just some stepping up. This immediately
shifts Sid's mood and all of the sudden he wants to play too.

Well last, night, I got home, opened the cages and he bolted out of the
cage. He then came to me for some immediate interaction! We did some step
ups and I gave him lots of treats. We did some retrieve to my hand from
the top of the cage (he usually doesn't like to do it there and just
flings the ball off the cage, but this time he walked all over the the top
of the cage to bring it back to me)! He did amazing! Then we did some more
step ups and some general body touching with c/t. Usually, I have to be
very aware and sensitive to when it seems like he might just be starting
to lose interest in training so that I can be sure to end on a good note.
Well last night, he was just so excited to train, that I couldn't detect
any sort of ensuing lost in interest. I just had to leave for class, which
is why we stopped!

Now, in the mornings, I wake up, start the coffee, and come uncover Gus
and open the cages. Gus is my morning partner in crime. He mostly snuggles
under my chin while I get ready until it's time to put my work clothes in,
in which case he sits there and makes zipper noises while I dress. I thank
him for the assistance. Anyway, I always open Sid's cage, just in case he
wants to come out. Usually he just pretends I don't exist, as I just think
he's not a "morning person." Well this morning, he came right out of the
cage. When I approached, he put his head down for petting! He even stepped
up for me once! That is unheard of for him!

What a great 24 hours!!

That being said, every time Sid takes 5 steps forward, he then takes 1
step backwards, which is ok. I just can't let the 1 step upset me to where
I lose sight of the 5 steps!

YAWN! Time for bed Sid!

Yawn 1
Originally uploaded by activistkate

While this may look like he's about to attack, it's actually Sid yawning. I though it was funny that I caught it straight on. Right now, it's 11pm and he's still up because April just got home and he loooooveess April.

Sid has been a good little guy today. He ate his food, tore up some toilet paper rolls, punched holes in some index cards, and explored walking on a piece of paper that I put on top of his cage. It's so funny watching him do things he's obviously never done before. Last night he even climbed down to he bottom of his cage to pull a few almonds out of a coffee filter foraging toy I made him. It was like he was walking in slow motion, waiting for disaster to strike at every step. But alas, all was well and safe and he repeated the process several times to get more almonds. We pretended not to watch, of course, because then he'd certainly stop. So this week he's gone in his new

cage voluntarily, explored the entire cage, inside and out, succeded in getting almonds out of a foraging toy, climbed his java tree perch on the top of his cage, mastered retireve, rung a bell, tore up a toilet paper, tore up index cards, and took a shower on his shower perch. What an adventureous little guy for a Senegal who was described as phobic, aggressive, and not tame.

He's adjusting well and we're really proud of him.

Sid's Cage After

Sid's New Mansion 1
Originally uploaded by activistkate

TADA!!!!! He went right into it. I think that he thought it was Gus' cage because he went right in, ate some food, took a nap, and acted like it's always been his cage. When I'm gone during the day, I do put up a barrier between their cages because Gus has been a little terirotirally aggressive and bitey when I get home. He's getting better though. I don't think we'll have to do that much longer though.

Sid's Cage Before

First day of cage by cage time
Originally uploaded by activistkate

This is Sid' old cage next to Gus'. Sid definitely needed a nice big cage. They say that a cage should always be AT MINIMUM 1.5X the wingspan of the bird. I think that the bigger the better. These cages are so cheap for their size. I got this one for $134US plus tax, on sale, from Varieties Bird Shop here in St. Louis. You can also find these only for about 150 with shipping. Now, if your bird is very into biting or chewing bars, then I wouldn't recommend these. But for any other smaller bird, I totally recommend this cage! It's A&E Model 13221 and they come in various colors

Retrieve: Part 2

So when I got home from work it was training time! Sid sat in my lap again after a few clicks, was picking up the balls for quite a while. I know with this they are supposded to be putting the ball in your hand but I just don't know how comfy he is with my hands moving all around him. So I offered this small white bowl that he's been around before. After around 3 broken down steps in clicking, he was putting it into the bowl. It was so awesome just watching him thinking about what he was doing, analyzing and problem solving... it was exhilirating and it felt really great. I'll try to get April to take pics at some point, because I certainly couldn't spare a hand.

Gus actually tried fresh food today!!! Which gets us that much closer to doing some real clicking, since prior to this he wanted nothing to do with real food. Just pellets. But we did some targeting and he did a great job!!! We're still working on strengthening our step up, which half of the time, he seems to thinks means "preen mom's hand" time.

Retrieve! Part 1

So Sid has deifnitely mastered targeting! He doesn't run to target or anything, he takes his time. But he gets there and gets the job done. So I decided to move onto retrieve.

Such a smart birdy!!! I was a little concerned about this behavior because anything I put near Sid when he was on top of his cage, he would run from (small ball, ball of crumbled paper, small plastic ring, bottle caps, etc). I was hoping to find any object he would be interested in checking out on his own. Well last night, Sid was sitting on my lap. April brought one of the balls over that he had previously run from. She just held it while sitting next to us and Sid was fine. She put the ball in my lap and after a few seconds, he touched it with his beak. After one C/T, he was picking it up for 1 second. After a few reps, he was holding it for 3 seconds! I stopped after that so we could end on a good note.

1/18- Morning- Ok ok, I know I vowed no training in the morning, but he acts like he wants to train in the morning. Or I'm just *thinking* that he looks like he wants to train. He did, after sitting there for 15 or so seconds, pick up the ball. He picked it up 3 times and we stopped because it was like in slow motion.

I'm really hoping he adjusts to my wake up schedule because it would be nice to get a training session in before work. That would mean at minimumm, on my busiest days, I could get 3 sessions in per day. But that's not really up to me. lol. His best time for pretty much anything- training, affection, etc is around 8pm. I don't know why, but that's when he's the most alert. Now around 10pm, he starts getting feisty. I think that may be because April gets home then and he wants to mate with her.

It's interesting how different he is with April and I. There seems to be this trend amoung our pets- Gus and Gabby both have this odd obsession with her- Gus wants to mate with her and always tries to birdy hump her if she's holding him for longer than a minute or two. She is the item of obsession for Gabby the Bichon Frise, who follows her around like her shadow. And now Sid wants to mate with her. Lola's the only one who doesn't have a wierd thing with her- she's still my baby and will always choose to stay with me if April's in another room, etc. However, all the animals listen to me way more than they listen to her. I'm not sure if it's a thing where they are reading our energy or what. April's not had much experience with animals growing up, although she loves animals. I think animals feel the need to be alpha over her. Either that or it's some sort of weird hormonal thing she gives off. Who knows.

For Sid, he doesn't talk much to me. He makes little nosies for me and such but literally the minute April walks in the door, he starts talking up a storm in his little robot voice. Now, he won't train as well with her (I think because he's distracted by wanting to mate with her).
All my furry and feathered kids can have their favorites, as long as they'll come to and work for both of us and don't become aggressive towards the other. That's why it will be important for us to work with Sid consistently.

In other news- this week, I've got to go pick up my camera at my Dad's so I can start taking better pictures. My little crap camera is driving me crazy with the crappy quality. I just reinstalled Photoshop and Lightroom on my new netbook for this purpose.

Week 2- Sid Vicious

Alright so I'm trying to post more but I always forget. So we're been working on trustbuilding with Sid. He's been doing quite well with target training. He's not in a huge rush to get to the target, but he will take up to 10 or so steps to get to the target. He won't climb around on his cage to get to it, but he also won't climb on his cage to get to food, so I just think he hasn't had the chance to climb around on the outside of his cage much.

We've also been working alot on stepping up. He knew the word from his last home but he would only offer them when he wanted, which was rare. I didn't push him, he's entitled to not want to come to me. The trick is to get him to eventually think that my hand is the best place on the earth to be, so he'll (ideally) always want to be on my hand when it's offered. Part of this process is also gaining trust with Sid. Sid has no reason to trust me. All he knows is that I appeared, took him away from all he knew, and took him to a new scarey place.

So target training makes hand taming a much smoother process and helps to avoid recieving a bite. One of my biggest goals through this taming process has been... not to get bitten. Not because I was scared to get bitten, but more because I didn't want him to ever associate my hand with biting. I just never wanted to have that kind of precidence.

Well for whatever reason, last night, Sid finally started to trust me. And I got proof on camera!! Drum roll please....

I just couldn't believe this. He let me touch every part of his body. He even let me clean up his beak a little (it's been driving me nuts- his beak has been so messy!)!! I am so proud of his breakthrough. It's amazing how far animals can come in such a short time with a little love and patience. It's funny because Gus is my little lover but it took me months to get to this point with him. Sid gets here in a little over a week!

Now, just because we had this breakthrough doesn't mean we stop working. This is just the beginning because now we've started to move past any fear or hesitation from just being around a new person, now we just keep learning more together!

Now we really get into the nitty gritty. Now if I could only find a ball that he doesn't run from, we can start working on retrieve!!!

Day 2 of Trustbuilding with Sid

2pm- Well, last night before putting Sid to bed, April got home from work and went in and sat next to his cage. He was jumping around all over the cage, seemingly excited! Which is like 900X more movement than he did in the 12 hours prior with me! Then, apparently he regurgitated for her. wtf! I have to say I was kinda jealous and slightly depressed. lol

So, as recommended by the clicker forum, I took his food out of his cage before he went to bed to ensure he'd be a bit hungry in the morning. I woke up 30 minutes earlier than usual to start some clicker training.

First off, he slept the entire night upside down, hanging from his cage. That cannot be comfortable! Although I have heard that Senegals have no concept of gravity lol. So anyways, he wanted nothing to do with my training nonsense. He took one piece of apple from me and that was it. He was pretty much in statue bird mode. I did put his potential target stick a little close to him and he wigged out. So I'm thinking about waiting a few more days to where he's more comfy with me before trying targeting again since I don't want to sent him into a phobic meltdown. I really don't know how phobic he is or isn't, I'm only going by what his previous parents said. He doesn't seem to be phobic like I always picture it to be when I think of super phobic African Greys. He's interested in Gus, he's becoming more interested in us, he is not at all scared of either of my dogs... So I don't know.

So when I got home from work today, I opened the cage door and sat on the bed to do some net surfing on my netbook. And within 15 minutes, he was slowly coming out! He is now on top of the cage and looks like he really really wants to come over here and check things out. I'm not going to push anything so I'm just going to continue to relax here and play hard to get and see what happens. I'm in no hurry and I'd really rather go too slow than too fast. The goal is not to cause even a bite attempt. It's not that I'm afraid of being bitten. It's just that I never want him to equate me with biting or for him to ever know that biting me is a possibility.

9pm- I have officially concluded that Gus is not phobic. I'm sure he has a few things he's phobic about, but he doesn't seem to be phobic in the traditional use of the word. Luckily he is much mroe interested in food today. He also got really close to my bowl of brown rice, rice, salsa, and sour cream. Luckily I planned for this, hoping he'd want some, so I brought a plain brown rice. He seemed to like it! But he also didn't freak out when I put the spoon near him- he came closer to it. Didn't come too close but he did a good job.

He's yet to go back in his cage and has not moved away from me when I've walked past the cage several times to get things in the other room.

Now I've gotta figure a way to entice him back into the cage while not actually putting him in there myself, so that I can go pick up April from work. I think I'm going to try putting a big chunk of apple on his perch inside. We'll see...

Sid Training- Day 1/2 - Day 1

Day ½- January 2, 2010

We got Sid home at about 9pm after our 90 minute drive from Irving, Ill. He hung in Gus’s travel cage- was obviously super stressed but did come to the bar openings for a head rub several times. When we got home, it was a little chaotic for him as we got his cage set up in the bedroom. When I was letting him out to go to his cage, he flew around the room pretty clumsily. I picked him up and he ran up to cuddle under my chin. I put my hand over his head which immediately seemed to calm him. I took the opportunity to clip his wings a bit since he couldn’t see the scissors. He didn’t even know I did it, which is GREAT since I was really concerned about traumatizing him in the first few weeks of our relationship. I go back and forth on my beliefs on clipping. But I watched him fly around his previous owner’s house, attacking his person’s husband. So I knew that, at least for a while, he’d need to be clipped. I left him in the room for an hour by himself to settle down. When I came back in, his signs of distress had stopped. He took a small piece of apple from me an a bit of carrot. I really wanted to get a little something in him because I was unsure how much he’d be eating the next day.

Day 1

Since I’m off today, I’m taking the day to just hang out quietly in the bedroom so he can get used to my presence. I also brought some of his supposed favorite treats in and figured I’d doing some clicker priming throughout the day. From the looks of his cage paper, he did come down for a bit of food and water while I was sleeping, so that’s a good sign.

In the morning he wasn't interested in apple, carrot, Gus’ pellets, millet, nuts, or seed. He was, however, taking some 12 grain toast, which is the only thing that Gus will ever eat as a treat. I’m going to get some Ezekial bread this week for sure.

For every hour that I spent in the room, I would have his cage door open. He expressed no interest in coming out, which is totally fine. I’ve been clicking and treating him through the cage bars. He's been taking the treats most of the time, and always does so gently and politely. He is, however, growling at me a little. I’ll click, put the treat up to the bars near him, he’ll growl, and then take the treat. Having no experience with Poicephalus, I’m not used to this growling but have been told that indicates fear, aggression, or warning. Wendy from the forum suggests just moving on to targeting to avoid the risk of reinforcing the growling. Unfortunately, Sid is no longer interested in treats so I’ll try again in a few hours, otherwise Ill take his food out before bed and work with him in the morning.

We made a little breakthrough. Sid’s cage door was open whenever I was in the room. Something must have spooked him and he kind of half flew out and landed on the bedroom floor. He stepped up for me and I put him on the top of his cage. He hung out there for a good hour while I sat ont the bed reading. Then he and I started making some clicking and whistling noises back and forth, which is really the first time he interacted with me actively. So yay for that! He also stepped up and we did about 10 step ups. He did break me a little bit once but it definitely wasn’t a real bite. I will try to avoid that in the future, however. I’m giving him some alone time in the room now.

Went back in after an hour. He let me scratch his head through the bars a few times, and took 3 r 4 treats from me without growling. I put the stick I plan to use for targeting near his cage and it didn’t seem to bother him. So hopefully when we start targeting, he’ll be cool.

As the evening has progressed, he moved to a closer to the front perch and was much more talkative and interactive with me. He did come down to his front most perch that is literally 3 feet from me, stood there for about 5 seconds, I praised him, then he went back up to the second closest branch. But that was definitely an improvement. I also asked to scratch his head through the bars and he came over for scratches several times. I also asked him about his pretty toes and he gave me his foot twice. He also let me give him a slice of apple in his cage, not just through the bars! Oh and he also kinda parrot tongue me twice through the bars very gently and nicely. I think this is great progress!!!!

This has also motivated me to retry Gus with clicker. So we did a little target training today and he did well. He can only go for a couple of minutes and then he's bored so I'm going to shorter training sessions. He's not very treat motivated- he really only likes toast and crackers. I'm thinking of making a really healthy birdy bread and toast that. At least he won't just be eating empty junk then.

This is all very exciting!

So it's been a while since I've posted on here. Mostly because I've been busy but most of all because I forgot all about this. ha. I'm now officially a St Louisan, I have a great little place in the city, am playing for the Stunt Devils and the All Stars with the Arch Rival Rollergirls, and am probablly the happiest I've been in many many years.

The biggest news is that I just adopted a Senegal Parrot named Sid! He was living in Irving, Illinois (90 mins outside of stl) with his parents and 2 dogs. Well, apparently one of the dogs wanted to kill Sid. And apparently Sid also wanted to kill his dad. So Sid didn't get out too often so his Mom decided to find him a new home. They were very nice people and I really respect them for making the right decision. I am glad to have Sid as part of the family!!! That's him in the picture there.

Sid is 15 years old, so he's a bit of a senior. You can find different numbers on different sites, but Senegals are expected to live around 30 years in captivity. But frankly, I don't think we know much about anything when it comes to birds, so it could me more, could be less.

Senegals hail from Africa and are of the same parrot species as the well known African Greys. After watching Sid in his home environment, I decided that I would start hin off on clicker training right away. Not only would it help me build trust with him, but show him who rules the roost here, keep his mind occupied, get some excercise, and most imprtantly, it was obvious he needed some re taming! Basically, he would fly around, land on his dad and proceed to run up his shirt and bite him. Or he would haphazardly fly around the room like a little maniac. So that wonb't be happening here. I have clipped his wings slightly so that he cannot get lift. And I will be teaching him manors that I expect him to observe here.

Sid has some fear issues, that is obvious. He's not into new things, he only has one toy that he likes, etc. Honestly, I thought the phobia would be worse but I think once I can give him some confidence and start introducing toys to him through positive methods, I think he'll be much more content.

I'm going to keep a log on here. I have clicker trained before but not with a bird with any sort of behavioral issues. I hope to be able to not only keep track of our progress, but to be able to see where I have made mistakes, and hopefully where I can get some guidance from experienced trainers. So if anyone reading this ever has any advice, criticism, or insight, please feel free to share!!!

Urban Homesteading

So I've been slowly integrating various green concepts into my life- vermicomposting, getting rid of wasteful things like paper towels, using the Diva Cup during periods, using only earth friendly cleaning supplies, trying to use and buy less, carpooling, trying to rid myself of water bottle usage, etc. Most things have been surprisingly very easy.

I have recently become interested in Urban Homesteading. That is, trying to distance myself from the dependency on others, specifically corporations, big business, and such. I love the idea of moving towards self sufficiency and it really horrified me how far I am in similarity to the lifestyles my grandparents once lived.

So now I am looking for a place where I can start my own little Urban Homestead when I get to St. Louis. I have to find a place with a fenced yard and some green space!

I stumbled across Square Foot Gardening. Basically you build boxes to plant your crop in. So we can do this. My problem is that I have no green thumb. But I was thinking that maybe I could get involved with one of the community gardens to learn. Also I heard the Missouri Botanical Garden holds all sorts of classes.

Food that I would like the grow (note: I've not done any research on the viability of any of these, so they might not all be feasible):

Broccoli, Cauliflower, Carrots, Squash, Zucchini, Onion, Garlic, Pepper, Tomato (for April... I hate tomato), Potato, Sweet Potato, Soy beans, Green Beans, Lettuce, and Spinach. Then I'd also like to grow some basic herbs- Basil, Oregano, Rosemary, etc.

Luckily in St Louis there are various Farmers Markets that I can't wait to visit. Old North city has one and Tower Grove has one. Tower Grove even does yoga on the lawn on Saturday mornings. I'm totally doing that once I get settled in STL. But yeah, if I can buy most of my stuff locally, that would be a huge help too!

So, of course, thinking about doing these things and actually doing them, is a whole nother concept all together. I think that if I take it slow and learn as I go, a year from now I'll be that much closer to significantly lessening my footprint!

Also, in other Green news, I want to build a Doggy Poo Composter. Obviously you wouldn't want to but this compost on garden goodies that you eat, but it can go on ornamentals and such. What a great solution to wasting more bags and landfill space!

Once I get to St Louis I will also be making a much larger vermicomposting bin because the smaller one I have now is just too hard to bury the food in different sections. I have to redo the box anyway because I'm having a little fruit fly headache.

Birthday Gadgets!

I turned 26 on May 2oth. So now that I'm older than a quarter century, I think that I can officially talk about how old I am. I have been caught saying things like "I'm almost 30 years old!" at least 5 or 6 times. And it seems that now that I am so old, I'm acting it. I'm not really interested in drinking, partying, or being awake past midnight.

Yes, yes, I know I'm a "baby" blah blah.

One awesome thing about getting old is that I appreciate the cool stuff even more. For my birthday, I few really rockin gadgets from my two favorite ladies, my Mom and April.

I'll start with April's gift. Well, it really wasn't her idea. My old roommate upgraded her camera and go a new Canon 50D, leaving her poor Canon 20D cold, alone and neglected. So, she very nicely sold it to April for a really really really nice price.

I am now the proud owner of this awesome and very sexy girl. She's considered an upper level amateur camera and many pros use this beauty as a back up. You can look up the specs but it's 8.2 megapixels and shoots in RAW and JPG format. She also threw in a nice zoom lens that is lovely.

To accessorize, I bought a camera strap from Phatstraps.com . My first custom made one was going to be awesome. It had black skulls on it and blank minky lining. But USPS got it lost and don't get me into their crappy tracking system for standard deliveies. PhatStraps didn't have to, but because they are awesome, refunded me the price of the strap. So I went with an already made 40" strap that they had that looks like this, except with lavender Miky instead of Pink. I LOVE it!

I left my baby in St. Louis during my trip so I wouldn't have to check luggage on the way back. I wish I would have brought her though so I can stop to take some pictures on our drive up to St. Louis. I may have my dad ship her instead. We'll see.

Next, Id like you all to meet.... drum roll please... MOLLY!!!

She's an Acer One- also known as a netbook. It's 10 inches and it's adorable. It's not made to store much, having ony 1 GB, but I'm going to get a big Memory card or flash drive for it and transfer files to my external harddrive when things are getting full. Also we still have our two regular notebooks, although they are currently virus infected and I've only gotten one back to a some what usable state (unfortuantely, it's NOT the one with my new full Adobe suite, so I've been without all my yummy programs for a few weeks now).

I love her. My mom got one for herself and my grandma. My mom named her Malikai and grandma named her Mable? Oh I forgot what my grandma named hers. My mom named mine Molly. But for some reason there was a netbook naming emergency one day, per my Mom. And they all HAD to have "M" names. People wonder why I am like I am?

Bock Bock Bock

What is that white fluff ball, you ask?

Is it a cotton ball?

It is a puppet?

Is it a doll?

Is it a super fluffy alien from outer space?


Is it Gabby??

Nope! This is a White Silkie CHICKEN. A few months ago I stumbled upon a site about Urban Chickens. That's right- chickens you keep in your backyard in urban environments. I never thought this was possible.

I don't really eat eggs now (except the occassional lapse in morals when I'll have a scrambled egg) because of factory farming conditions. But alas, I could take care of a few rescued chickens, have fresh eggs, reduce my dependancy on external mass production, have natural insect control, and natural lawn fertilizer?! This fits totally into my quest to GO GREEN.

Haha- One day. When I have real land. I don't really want to keep chickens in the city. But one day maybe  I'll rescue some chickens. Puffy or otherwise ;)

So now that I'm... a.) Going to a cold climate and b.) Not running a roller derby league, I'm getting back to my craftiness. I hadn't knitted or embroidered in FOREVER it seemed. I actually got rid of my entire stash of yarn in my last move since I hadn't touched any of it in about a year and a half. Of course, once I rid myself of something, I decide to get back into it. But whatever.

So I knitted myself a seed stitch scarf with the only ball of yarn I did save from the move. I did this mostly just to get my knitting rhythm back and figure out what the hell I was doing.

Then I knitted the Everyone's Doing It Shrug with this yummy purple Debby Bliss cotton I got at Knitorious in St. Louis during my trip. I have to take a picture of it still. I'll post it on here and on Craftster when I do. I've been wearing it for 2 days. It only took me a few hours to knit up. Very basic lace pattern and it's done on 10 1/2 size in a wrosted weight, so it knit up super easy. I'm going to do a more complicated shrug for my mom's birthday in June.

I also just made up a little pattern to knit a little Bichon for my Mom, which is supposed to look like Gabby (my Mom's Bichon that I'm rehoming with me- a whole nother story in and of itself). When she's sad and missing Gabby, she can pet the Gabby dolls instead. I knit that with some fuzzy Joanne's Angel yarn.

On some little Size 2 needles I am knitting Snowflake from The Knitted Teddybear book (LOVE that book). I'm not making her with the recommedned Mohair, but just some beige Heart and Soul yarn I found at Joanne's. I was just excited to find some fine yarn because I wanted Snowflake to be tiny.

I also started making April a hat on some circular needles I have. I never learned to knit on circulars and DPNs so that's what I'm doing. Over the next month or two, I'm going to teach myself all of the skills that I was either afraid to learn or just never got around to:

1.) Cables

2.) Intarsia

3.) Lace Work

4.) Circulars

5.) DPNs

6.) Customizing a pattern

The problem is that I tend to be impatient and I'm a slow knitter. So I try not to take on any projects that will take me more than a few days to complete. Like the chances of me every knitting an adult sweater are pretty slim. But you never know....

Alas, I have returned.

So I'm back from a week long trip to St. Louis. I went to do some job interviews and well, mostly to skate with the Arch Rivals. April (Jack U Up) had already been there for a week prior and had gotten several practices in with them and I was jonesing to see if I would share her impressions.

I only got to hit one practice but it was scrimmage night so I was very excited to see how they would play and how I would adjust in the pack.

First off, their practice track is like skating on ice. I'm sure that after a few practices I'll get used to it, but I was so embarrassed... I splipped out and fell 7 times.... yes, 7 times. And I was wearing my mojos. Granted, they're a bit worn, but still. 3 of the falls were during warm ups! Ok and I didn't just knee fall small and pop back up. No. I would like freaking collapse all big and crazy and sloppy. S

Otherwise I did an ok job. I was definitely skating at the 50 percent.

Arch Rivals play a much different game than they do compared to teams in Florida. Their actual pack speed didn't phase me, as I prefer a faster pack, but the speed and ferocity at which they skate in the pack took me by surprise. They move around quickly and efficiently, like bees. I'm used to staying somewhat static positionally in the pack and the movements of opposing players in packs here are more predictable.

At ARRG, one minute they're here, one minute they're there. It was alot of fun watching everyone buzz around me!!! My first scrimmage I felt like it was my first scrimmage ever... I was just watching them, trying to slow the play down in my head, start seeing the patterns, the trends, the holes, etc. My the second scrimmage, I was starting to see what I needed to see. I took a few people out but ARRG seem more about containment, which is great because I'd rather contain than throw blows and risk penalties.

One thing that I also enjoyed was the amount of communication that was happening in the pack and from players watching on. While I'm sure at first I might be overwhelmed having several people, whos voices I don't yet recorgnize, yelling at me at one time, I'm looking forward to getting instruction in the midst of an action, a play, or a pack. Gives me an opportunity for on the spot improvement. I really really need that.

I'm both scared and excited to be a little fish in a big sea. I have alot of learning to do and alot of adjusting to their style of play. I'm looking forward to the challenge and seeing how far I can get on this team. Coming in as a transfer is already daunting... and it's not like I'm going to a team that has played me or knows me from leadership stuff. I'm noone and I have to pay my dues like everyone else. It's an uphill battle from here!

Widdling Yarn

So now that I'm moving to a place that actually has SEASONS, I can knit again!!! Before, there wasn't much to knit, living in the tropics and such. But now there will be a winter in St Louis, so I've already started knitting stuff in preparation!

Of course, I had to kind of reteach myself to knit. And then I realized is I really never evolved from basic stitches.

So, in true Me fashion, I made a list of knitting skills I am going to learn:

1.) Lace
2.) Cable
3.) Knitting in the round (just started a hat for April on circulars!)
4.) Knitting on dpns
5.) Knitting actual wearable stuff
6.) Adapting patterns

So far in the past two weeks, I've knitted a seed stitch scarf, started on a hat for April, made a mini Gabby for my mom, and now I'm starting on the Everyone's Doing It Shrug. I'm making it for my mom for her birthday at the end of the month.

I'll post pics of my work soon.

Meet Me in St. Louie

So not that I'm suprised at the fact that I haven't posted in like... months... because I've been too freakin busy to even remember I HAVE a blog...

But I'm writing to announce that April and I are moving to...drum roll please... St. Louis, Missouri!!! Yes, this is one of my childhood homes. I was born and raised here (for the most part- I moved around the midwest a few times growing up but always moved back to STL) until Sophomore year of high school when my parents dragged me to South Florida.

Most people save up all their lives to one day move to (and die in) South Florida, so you're probablly wondering what kind of crack I'm on that makes me want to leave the beach, palm trees, lack of snow, etc etc.

For you people who have never been to St. Louis, I will give you some of the top reasons that I love St. Louis, in no particular order.

1.) St. Louis Style Pizza- I've had pizza in over 15 states and NOTHING compares to St. Louis' pizza. It's made with provel cheese instead of mozzerella amoung some other yummy and uniquir tastes. It's sstacked with cheese and OOOOH so yummy. You can't really understand unless you've had it. My family even has a system for tight packing 3 or 4 pizzas so that it fits in a small duff so that we could easily bring it back to Florida.

2.) Gooey Butter Cake- Again, if you've never had it, you don't know what you're missing. At 500 calories a piece, you're already forced to savor each bite. Shnuck's makes it the best, in my opinon. Then Missouri Bakery. Seriously this stuff is the best and most sinful stuff you've every had. I brought a tray for some of mmy teammates at a recent tournament in Indiana. Even the desert haters loved it. Probablly not what we should have been eating before a tournament, but whatever.

3.) Seasons- Most people in the USA don't understand what the big deal is here. In Florida, specifically South Florida, nothing changes. Sure, it may drop to like 70 or even 65 for a few weeks during the year, but the only change you see is hot, hotter, and f*ing hot. The trees don't change. You could look outside any day of the year and unless there's a hurricane, you will see the exact same thing. As much as I'm not specifically looking forward to scraping ice off of my windsheild, I AM looking forward to fall leaves, COLD during Christmas (I'm sorry but sweating while putting Christmas lights on palm trees DO NOT make me feel the Christmas Sprirt), relaxing at a park during Spring, listening to secadas and watching fireflies at night, and I will NOT MISS HURRICANE SEASON!!! But all my Floridian friends are welcomed to come evacuate to our house when that next Category 5 comes through!

4.) Arch Rival Rollergirls- I'll post a length rundown on this later! It really deserves it's own post.

5.) People- When I first moved to Florida I was in culture shock because, well, I was from the midwest and people are pretty freaking nice there for the most part. I came to FL and people were rude, pushy, downright mean, or they would just pretend that you weren't even there. Well after 10 years here (yikes!!), now I'm kind of like Floridian anti social. I kind of panic when strangers want to talk to me. I don't make eye contact in stores... I stay to myself until I get to know you, then I'm talkative. So I'm excited to be around friendly people again. Now I just have to get back to that too!

6.) Family- We considered places where we would eventually look at putting down roots one day. I refuse to raise kids in South Florida. Refuse. Sorry but refuse. Oh yeah, plus gay adoption LEGAL in Missouri. Ahhh the irony. We'll see, after being there for a bit, how gay families are actually treated... now that's a whole nother ball game.

7.) The St. Louis Arch- Sorry, but it's just that awesome

8.) Culture- St. Louis is just one of those cities that has soul. I lived in a few diferrent places in St. Louis- Kirkwood, South St. Louis near Carandolet Park, and West County. West County didn't really have alot of what I'd call "soul"- it was nice and peaceful but very much suburbia. But I remember in the city always loving the sights, sounds, and smells. From University City and The Loop to Soulard and Downtown, the Hill. Forest Park, The Muny, The Fox Theatre, etc etc... you just feel the history and soul of the place when you're there. Oooh the Magic House, the Science Center, there's just so many cool things to do. In Florida, it's beach culture. Which is awesome- just not for me.

That's what I've got at the moment. I'm sure I'll add to this list later.

Hapiness Is...

Apparently today I'm making lists. So I'll continue:

Hapiness is...

1. Finding different ways to wake April up... I wake up, I open the blinds to get all the yummy sunlight to wake April Up... Ok that didn't work... Jump on April... Ok that didn't work... put Lola and Gus on April... Gus plucks out April's eyebrow... Ahah! Now She's Up.

2. April and my Sunday Morning Routine... wake up, get dressed, bundle Lola up, walk to Dolce Vita, this little Italian cafe on Hollywood Blvd.. eat some scrambled egss with goal cheese, toast, and a double espresso that's so thick I almost have to chew it. Lola naps and gets lots of attention from passerbys. Then we walk around downtown, take a lap through Artspark, check out the little shops, obsess about Lola.

3. Competing.. I've always been more of a game day sort of athlete, no matter what sport I was playing. I really have always hated practicing any sport that I've played. I just want to compete. Obviously, you have to train to compete, so I tolerate it. I don't care about the crowd or fans (I love each one of them, I'm just saying that I don't play for fanfare), I just want to compete... oh yeah and win.

4. Lola- pretty much anything that involves Lola makes me abundantly happy- petting her, looking at her, talking about her, thinking about her, watching her sleep, watching her prance, dressing her up, taking her places, whatever- if she's involved, I'm happy. I mean, just look at her- who wouldn't she make happy??

5. Espresso- There's nothing like making a fresh batch of espresso in the morning to get me going. YUMMMMM.. add a little sugar, some soymilk, some ice, and I'm ready to roll!

6. Being on skates- I wish that I could wear them everywhere. MUCH easier and quicker than walking. Maybe I should invest in some of those shoes with little wheels on them... what are they called? Heelies?

7. Having no voicemails on any of my phones (I hate phones!!!!!)

8. Quinoa... my new addiction

9. Drinking a bottle of wine with April and just hanging out, talking about nothing of any importantness

10. Crunchy Eggplant Rolls from The Sushi Room! omg they are sooooo good.

Top 10 reasons I want to move to Portland

So I'm always scoping out places that I might want to move someday. It's hard to find an ideal place, but mostly I want to find a place where I can fit in, have a family, own a home, have some land, and somewhere where I can be generally content. I also want this place to be politically liberal but a family- friendly place where I can feel save raising kids. Portland is one of the cities that I think I might love. Have I been there? No. But here are some reason that, in theory, I want to move to Portland:

10. They have a ton of tree huggin hippies

9. Real estate prices are lovely compared to South Florida- maybe I could actually own a house! With a yard!

8. The Rose City Rollers are a pretty rockin league if you ask me

7. I can legally adopt there

6. I have some actual legal protections as a lesbian

5. Strong lesbian community there

4. It's very very green

3. It's very outdoorsy people friendly

2. The public transportation system is very efficient

1. It's far far away from the tropics