Clean all the things?

This was me just over a week ago:

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html

I was on a spring cleaning spree, determined to get our home completely clean and uncluttered.

This is me now:

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html

My energy levels are depleted, and I seem to have reached the point where everything I need to do is dependent on getting something else done first.  It's all intertwined.  I want to get everything done NOW but I don't know where to start.  It's very frustrating.

But I am not admitting defeat.  I've still got two months of spring to achieve my spring cleaning goal.  I will earn my trophy of adult responsibility!

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html

 

 And I'll never let it go!

http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/06/this-is-why-ill-never-be-adult.html

 

In the meantime, here's some more motivation I just found:

http://greenpop.tumblr.com/post/5006232853

I don't like housework, but I do love that feeling of relaxing in a clean house!  The last project on my list is to clean up our balcony - sweep up all the leaves, get rid of the dead plants, clean the plastic chairs.  When that's done, I plan to sit out there on a lovely warm evening (daylight savings is starting soon, after all!), with my bird pattering around at me feet (he needs a place to wander around, and he can't fly away, since he's missing half a wing - poor birdy) and enjoy some Bulmer's cider that I've had in the fridge since last summer.  Can't wait!

Alas, poor Alex.

This is sad. Alex was a cool parrot. We watched videos of him in philosophy classes on cognitive science. While he might be able to say more words than my darling Mate, he's not nearly as cute. Cool, but not as lovely as my little Matey-bird.

Awwww...

How cute is my Matey-bird?!

For those of you who have never met my gorgeous bird, this is Mate. We've enjoyed his company for about 16 or 17 years. I'm not sure exactly how old he is. He was originally my brother's bird. For some strange reason, he didn't feel the need to record Mate's birthday and celebrate it every year. When Tim moved to Canberra several years back, I inherited Mate. I don't know why, but Mate had always liked me. Maybe it's my hair - he used to like landing on my head!

For the first time in his life, Mate visited the vet today. He took it quite well actually. Impressive - he's apparently the equivalent of 70 years old! I can tell he's getting on in years - he's slowing down a bit and getting grumpier - but he's still going well.

I was a bit suspicious of vets since my budgie died last year the night after a visit to the vet. However, Mate had been getting quite agitated, squeaking and picking at his feathers. So, off we went to a specialist bird vet in Waterloo, Mate's cage strapped into the passenger seat in my car. I don't think he enjoyed the car ride much. The intertia from accelerating and decelerating disturbed him a bit, but he was still happy to chirp and whistle to me.

Mate coped very well with the vet - I was very impressed. He even had a blood test and an injection of antibiotics. I could tell he wasn't happy with me, because he ignored me all the way home, but after a bit of a rest he was talking to me again. It's probably nothing serious, but he does have a slight skin infection, and the vet also tested for kidney and liver disease (still waiting for those results). Apparently, feather-picking can be brought on by boredom and hormones. It seems that this wasn't the best time of the year for me (his 'girlfriend', as the vet called me) to have gone away for a whole month!

The main outcomes of this experience: I have to give Mate antibiotics twice a day for 10 days - holding him in a towel and putting two drops directly into his beak. I just tried this for the first time. He was not impressed! Also, Mate's diet is apparently not good, and while his weight is on the low side of normal, he has some fat deposits somewhere he's not supposed to. I didn't know this, but bird seed is the equivalent of fast food. Sunflower seeds are like McDonalds. So, Mate needs to eat more greens and stuff like pasta, rice and potato. It will be interesting trying to train him to eat this stuff! Such an old bird - he's quite set in his ways! And I've tried to give him more things to play with and destroy with that powerful little beak. I think he's a bit confused by all this new stuff!