A Day With Einstein

My Human, Jeff usually wakes up first. He takes me to the shower with him. Sometimes I will get wet. Sometimes, I just like to sit on the edge of the shower and I enjoy the steam and sometimes I take a little nap.

As he gets dressed, I'm talking. This is when I talk the most. I practice practically my whole vocabulary. Then Marcia wakes up (could it be because I'm so noisy? You think?) and we go to the kitchen. She feeds me breakfast. It is a grain mixture of Cooked Kashi (Whole: Hard Red Winter Wheat, Oats, Rye, Barley, Triticale, Long Grain Brown Rice, Buckwheat, Sesame Seeds), brown rice and mixed veggies. It's yummy! She cooks all my food in large batches and freezes them in small batches. That way it's easy. All she does is warm it in the microwave. (Recipe and tips are noted at the end of this article) I imitate the microwave beep sound, so I'm usually beeping way before she even gets up in the morning! I eat and I make a mess. Then, I take a nap for a little while because I'm pretty worn out from all my morning talkin' and breakfast was so good!
Marcia cleans up my mess after I eat.

Then about Noon it's time for lunch. If Marcia is busy and not at home, I get a muffin that she bakes for me. They are easy to make and so yummy! If she is home, I get a warm meal on my perch. It is a cooked concoction of beans, pasta, grains, veggies, and sweet potatoes. Again, very yummy! I also have pellets available and I eat those too, but Marcia's cookin' is so good! I prefer it. I eat and I make a mess.

Marcia cleans up my mess after I eat.

Then I usually want to play on the towel drawer. This is a new activity! Marcia and Jeff let me go over there one day and I had the BEST TIME! Now I beg to go over there almost every day!
As you can see Marcia has removed everything from the counter, otherwise I would throw it on the floor. (I like to see things fall.) She also put bird safe paper and some toys in the drawer for me. I had the best time tearing all that up! Good Job!

Sometimes Marcia has to go out, so I go to my cage. I just hang out and play with my toys, or I nap.
When she comes home, I usually start talking a lot around dinner time. Marcia cooks the human dinner and I help by making the microwave beep. Sometimes she goes over to the microwave and nothing is in there! That's because I made the beep and tricked her!!! I LOVE Doing That To Marcia! One time she was preparing a new and complicated recipe. I was taking so much that I really got on her nerves! She said, "Einstein, please! Can you just be quite for 10 minutes!" So I started to count to 10! "One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Seven, Eight, Nine, Ten!" After all, isn't that what she wanted? She was laughing hysterically and seemed to be in a better mood after that!!!

When Jeff comes home from work, we all eat dinner. I usually get the same thing that I had for lunch and also I get a little of the human dinner too. (Providing, that it is safe for me. You see there are some things I can't eat. But it is OK to feed me some people food.) I love chicken! (I prefer dark meat.) Salmon is good too! All veggies that don't have salt or butter on them. I love pasta with tomato sauce. And anything spicy! LOVE Mexican! (But please no avocado. It is VERY TOXIC for birds!)

After dinner, Jeff and Marcia clean. Marcia cleans my perch. She gives it a good scrubbing and Jeff disposes of all the dirty paper under my perch and vacuums the kitchen floor.

Then after dinner we all hang out. I watch Jeff work on the computer, or we all watch TV.

Right before bed I get a treat. "Wanna Nut?" is what I always say around 10PM. I get a pecan and a couple of almonds, and a few pistachios. I'm such a lucky BIRD!

"NIGHT - NIGHT!"

Recipe and Tips

Breakfast Grain Pilaf

Lightly oil an 8" by 8" Pyrex glass pan with olive oil. In the prepared pan, combine
1/2 cup brown rice and 1 package (1 cup) Kashi Grains
Add 1 Tablespoon olive oil.
Pour in 2 1/2 cups boiling water.
Cover tight with foil and bake in a 375 degree oven for 1 hour.

When grains are cooked, lightly steam or boil about 8 ozs. of any frozen vegetable. I usually use organic mixed veggies (corn, carrot, peas, green beans) Then add them to the cooked grain mixture. Mix well.

I Love to eat all the products from Avian Organics The cooked mixes, the sprouts, and the birdie bread. I also enjoy the birdie bread from Momma Bird's Cafe.
Other cooked mixes that I like are: Cream of Tweet and Caribbean Crunch by Beak Appetit. As well as, Original Corn Bean Mix, Noodles-N-Nuts, Kung Fu Yum and Polly Pasta by Crazy Corn.

When feeding fresh or cooked foods, remove the food item from the cage/bowl after 2-3 hours. Bacteria may grow that will be harmful. Use common sense. If you wouldn't you eat it, then your bird shouldn't eat it and it should be removed!

Marcia likes to cook, so it's not a bother for her to do it. However, I would rather eat Marcia's cooking than my pellets and I'm totally spoiled in that regard! Another thing Marcia has found useful are those little 2 oz. single serve containers.

They are great to portion the food and freeze. When it's time to eat, 30 seconds in the microwave usually does the trick! You can usually buy these at any liquor store, because people use them to make jello shots. (Personally, I'd much prefer food in them!)

For more information on my diet and more recipes, go to my website!