Company on the Porch!

Last summer the back porch was screened in so I would have a place to get fresh air and sunshine. You can read about it here. This summer, we have been busy decorating the porch!

While it is a nice place to perch, the humans need a place to perch too! There are a couple of white plastic chairs on the porch that we've had for years. They just needed a little something to make them more suitable for the space. I think these are a wonderful addition to my porch!

LOOKS LIKE I HAVE COMPANY!

Not only do the chairs look better, they are more comfortable too! As a bonus, they look like ME!  Marcia was inspired to make chair covers from a picture she saw on the internet.  That chair had been painted. Marcia's not handy with paint, but she can make almost anything out of fabric.  She searched and searched for a suitable pattern and found one on Etsy.

I was more than happy to be the model for the design on the chairs.  She used machine appliqué to make the design out of various pieces of fabric.

I like the end result! I'm giving it a final inspection.

Marcia also thought it would be nice to have something on the wall too.  She has a friend named Angie who makes beautiful jewelry out of pretty stones and wire. In fact, her business name is Weirdly Wired Jewelry. Angie can be found on Facebook too! Marcia commissioned her make this copper wire design for me, and then Jeff mounted it on a piece of old wood.  I just LOVE IT!  Thank you Angie!

My play area is growing too!

It takes me a little more time to get used to new things.  I enjoy perching on my play perch, and I do have a boing and a swing that hangs from the ceiling.

 As time goes on, I'll have more perches and toys hung.  There is even talk of a shelf! Oh! That sounds like fun!  I have been told not to get my hopes up for a drawer. That will not happen!

Einstein's Sweet 16 Birdhouse

This is my back porch.  It's small.  4 1/2 feet wide by 28 feet long. It gets morning sun and afternoon shade.  The humans hardly ever use it because it's just too small. The view of the back fence is not much to look at either.

Long...........

and Narrow! 

Not Much of a View

One day Marcia mentioned to Jeff that she would love a screened in porch for ME!  Someplace to hang out, get fresh air, and some sunshine.  It would also be nice not have to worry about mosquitoes.  Jeff said, "Well, let's screen our back porch in!   WOW!!!!! What a perfect Sweet 16 Hatchday present!!!

HAPPY HATCHDAY TO ME!!!!!!!!!

After a few months, Marcia finally found someone to build my "Bird House"!  The men with lots of tools came and there was a lot of banging, hammering, and loud sawing going on in the backyard.  I was not allowed to supervise this project.  It was too dangerous, so I watched from inside.

If they only knew how badly I wanted to help!

The building continued for a couple of days...

Wall is going up!

Needs Paint!

Inside View.  Big enough for me!

Ready for Screens and the Door!

After a few days I began to worry.  Don't you think I need some furniture to go in this new house?  Something to perch on? Come on!  I mean REALLY!  You expect me to stand on a concrete floor!

One day a BIG TRUCK arrived and delivered 2 BIG Boxes!  Just LOOK at what was in those boxes!!!!!  OH! MY GOSH!!!!!!

Java Tree

It's called a Java Tree Perch!  It's really BIG!  It's about 5  feet tall and 3 1/2 feet wide. It has a lot of nice horizontal branches that are just the right size for my feet to get a good grip.  

Marcia ordered this from The Platinum Parrot.  Lisa is the owner and she went to the distributor's warehouse and "handpicked" this perch just for me!!!!!  The toy you see hanging on it was a Hatchday gift from her!  Thank you so much Lisa!  I am a very Happy Birdie!!!!! 

There are not a lot of toys on it right now.  But there will be, I have plenty of time to decorate it the way I want!

The screens arrived and got installed.  They are made of a heavy duty screen material called PetScreen. It is very strong and will keep insects and animals out, but will allow the wonderful UV rays to come through.  I won't be in my Bird House all of the time, just during nice weather and to get fresh air and sunshine, but I need to be safe.  

Screened windows 37" wide by 55" tall

UH! OH!

Do construction projects always go perfectly smoothly?  Every thing was going along great.... THEN it happened!

We have a problem with the door!  

Do you know the difference between a right-handed door and a left-handed door?  Marcia didn't!  She explained to the salesperson what she wanted and which way she wanted the door to open.  The salesperson said we needed a righthand door. That's what she ordered.  WRONG!!!!!  We got the door, (which, by the way, was a special order) and it didn't open the way we wanted.  The door was put back in the box and taken back to the store.  The people at the store where very nice and allowed Marcia to return the door and order a new one.  The only problem is that we have to wait 2 weeks for the correct left-handed door to be made and delivered.  

In the meantime, there is this lovely piece of plywood attached to the opening.  

 The Temporary Plywood "Door"

Update:  Today my door was installed!  All done!

Door installed! Looks pretty good!

Watch the Video!

by Einstein Parrot