It has been ages since I posted to my blog. Real life has kept me hopping lately, and what little spare time I've had has been taken up with commissions which I can't show anybody until the new owners have received them. One of the real life things happening here has been the arrival of our latest rescue, Sam the Galah, in April.
As you can see from the photo, Sam was plucking his feathers when he came, a condition caused by stress in captive birds. Sam is a very social bird, he was brought up in a household as a pet and is a great talker. Since he came he has spoken over 200 words, phrases and sentences! He even seems to know the context of what he is saying - he says things at the appropriate times rather than just 'parrot fashion'. The funniest thing is that he asks questions, and expects you to answer!! Thankfully he has stopped plucking his feathers since he came and seems to enjoy his new life in his extra large cage, he has bonded really well and calls us by his previous owners' names (he seems to think he thinks he's back with them). He should put on new feathers with his next moult and be a much prettier (and warmer) bird. I'm working on handling him so that he can have some time out of his cage too, he seems to enjoy the attention but still bites me every now and again. His favourite toys are those with wooden blocks, which he takes a great delight in reducing to sawdust.
Another reason for my absence is a furry friend who is staying with us for a time while his owner is overseas.
Ninja is an Italian Greyhound like my rescue dogs, he took a little while to settle in but has buddied up with one of my girls now and seems very happy. Here he is (top left) with several others enjoying the heat from our wood heater. These guys really love the heat. I have to move all the bodies before I can stoke the fire!
Last but by no means least, our dear little dog Banjo (nicknamed LoLo) lost a hard fought battle for his life in July and it has taken me until now to be able to write about it. He had such a hard life before he came here and consequently had many health and psychological problems and he was very old so he took more work than all the others put together. But he was worth every second of it and I would do it all over again a hundred times just to hold him in my arms again. For all the terrible things that human beings did to him, he was the sweetest, most affectionate little dog anyone could ever want, and he was such a character, he made us laugh constantly. Everyone who knew him said he was special, he touched a lot of peoples' lives in the three years that he lived with us. Through him, I have been fortunate to know many kind hearted souls. You can see one of the last photos I took of him above (he's the one on the extreme left in the front row), he was very ill here but was still enjoying lying on the sheepskin rug in front of the fire. Rest in peace, dear little LoLo, you will always have a place in my heart.
