I'm a Blessed Bird!

Blessing of the Animals!

October 4th, 2015 was a very special day for me! I got to attend a Blessing of the Animals Service at an Episcopal Church! I had never been to church before so this was a new experience!  Marcia and Jeff couldn't come because they had to go out of town to attend the wedding of my human cousin.  

It was a beautiful afternoon with mild fall Texas weather, just perfect to go outside! I was taken to church by my good friends and bird sitters for the week end.  They took really good care of me! If you'll notice, they even double secured my travel cage with strong zip ties! I'm very safe! I'm riding in style as we drove to church! They know how much I like care rides! Wheeeee!

When we arrived there were so many people with their furry companions! There were mostly dogs, a few cats, and even a hermit crab! Do you see me in the picture below! Yup! That's me in the cage!

There was only one other bird at the service. A cute little blue budgie.  Here is a picture of him getting blessed too!

Time for MY Blessing!

Father Andrew, a very nice man, wore a white robe walked around to each of the animals and said a short prayer. I was pretty quiet the whole time. I did't say a word, but I did "beep" a lot!

I kept doing my imitation of the door security alarm over and over. It was my way of letting everyone know we were all safe! You can listen to the beep on this video.

It was a very fun outing! I enjoyed meeting so many nice people and making some furry friends!

 St. Francis of Assisi lived in Italy in the 12th century. Everyone listened to St. Francis, including the animals. At times he found that no one listened to his preaching, however the birds always stayed and listened. Birds would fill the trees and completely surround him when he talked. They were intrigued by the power of his voice. They did not fly away! St. Francis is often illustrated as having a bird on his shoulder or holding a bird in his hand.  Marcia has always displayed this picture of St. Francis next to my 3 month old chick picture on a shelf in our family room.

It's Raining Tail Feathers!!!

Thunderstorms don't scare me... until the other night!  We've had a drought here in Texas and we've been with out thunder for a very long time.  The other night we had a really LOUD clap of thunder and it literally scared the TAIL FEATHERS out of me!!!  I was all comfy cozy in my cage with my cage cover on dreaming birdie dreams.  Then WAMO! I thought I was a Goner!  My instincts kicked in and I automatically released all but 3 of my tail feathers!  

You may not know this, but birds have a built in defense mechanism where we release our feathers when we feel threatened. Better for the predator to get a mouth full of feathers than get us! I lost 9 that night and molted 2 the previous week end. As a result the back of the bus has very few passengers! (If you know what I mean.)  Oh, don't worry... the feathers will grow back! I am fine and acting perfectly normal. No other feathers are ruffled.

All of my Facebook friends have been so nice and supportive of me.  Here are a few of the comments I have received:
    Can I have your feathers? :) ♥
    Aw, you're cute with short hair. :)
    Aww poor buttless birdy.
    Poor, poor E! Ask your humans for some knickers or coveralls!

They also asked some really good questions:
When you feather come back in does it itch or hurt. I guess what I'm trying to say is, is it uncomfortable?
Good question! Last time this happened, I didn't like my tail stroked. Marcia pets me with a long stroke
from head to tails with her hand cupped. When her hand got to the tail, I didn't like it and moved my tail
out of the way. My tail was sore. She will not be stroking my tail for a couple of months!
Does this affect your balance at all?
You would think it would affect my balance, but I still get around just as well as I did before. 
I can still fly-hop from my perch to the kitchen counter and to the table. I perch just fine, no problems!
Why is your cage so clean?
Ha! My cage got cleaned the night before. This picture was taken first thing this morning. My morning bomb was done on my play perch. Also, if the humans are home I'm usually out of my cage, hence a neat and tidy cage, but BIG messes around the play perches!

This has happened to me before.  Once, in September 2010 I was in my cage sleeping and all was quiet.  No thunderstorms that night.  Can't tell you what scared me exactly, might have been a bad dream or it may of been a Gecko. They come into the house during the summer. They are tiny little guys and don't hurt anything but to eat an occasional spider they find here and there.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_House_Gecko

Morning After: September 14, 2010 

Thinner, but still Pretty!  September 2010

Re-growth after  4 weeks

Re-growth after 6 1/2 weeks

Now, if you will excuse me... I have some feather making to do!