Another one lays a clutch, another one lays a cluch! (to the tune of another one bites the dust) September 2, 2008

As you may recall from previous posts, Simon laid a few eggs at the beginning of the summer. Well, guess what she decided was a good idea AGAIN! She laid the first egg on Tuesday and I committed bird abortion to ensure the egg did not hatch. Forgive me Father for I have sinned… I know I am going to hell for this!

Yeah that’s right I boiled it. (gross, please don’t judge me for how dirty my stove is!) This way, she can sit on the egg, but it won’t hatch or break and make a mess. She then proceeded to lay three more, sits on them all day and is being quite the little mother. I decided to do a little more research to see why she continues to do this even though I really don’t think they are fertilized since Sam wants NOTHING to do with her or the eggs. From what I have read the father will feed the mother by regurgitating food so she doesn’t have to leave the eggs and he will take his turn on them as well. So either they are not his babies or he is one bad dad. So, I decided to submit a question to a breeder to see what they have to say about the situation. I mentioned that she lays them right next to the little mirror I have in the cage and that she often talks to her reflection. He said that she could be laying the eggs for the bird in the mirror thinking it is her mate. However, his next incite was the one that made me laugh so hard, I almost fell off my chair. He said,”she could also be laying them for you.” I thought to myself, what does that mean and decided to read on. He also said that if I cuddle with her, preen her (which is what birds to do each other to help get rid of the sheath around their new feathers) or give her lots of attention she may think you are her mate. Well, I guess my dad was right all along… I am a lesbian, because I think she is laying them for me. I preen her all the time, because Sam is too mean to do it and we sit on the couch together and she preens my hair as well. So… I have decided not to do that anymore! I have rearranged the cage and took the mirror out as the breeder suggested as well. I sure hope this works. I am sick of boiling eggs and not getting any egg salad out of the deal. Oh, and just so we are clear… I’m not a lesbian!

    

A day on the lake with the butt sisters September 2, 2008

Saturday I headed to Merrifield to spend some time with my friends from another generation. You see, when I started at Forestview, I was 24 and the next youngest person in the building was 36, so I didn’t have a lot of people my age. I have never been one to discriminate and if you are fun, then I want to hang out with  you. Well the ones I found are very fun and many are in their 50′s. Sara is one of my bff’s at school and she introduced my to Kathy, her best buddy from their first year of teaching. They also had a great friend Pat and they all worked at the State Hospital together. They are now all special ed. teachers and love to get together whenever possible. Pat moved to Winona a few years after teaching in Brainerd but when these girls, along with Sara W, who is Pat’s EA in Winona, get together they tend to have LOTS of fun… even enough to entertain my 26 year old self.

We got to Turkey Bass Lake around 1:00 and headed strait for the pontoon. It was unfortunately quite windy and Kathy was not confident in driving the boat, so we just sat on it, tied to the dock until around 4:30 when her husband Dan got off of work. We had some drinks, snacked, laughed, told stories and had some more drinks. We were on the boat until about 10:30 and then headed in for some dinner/midnight snack. It was an absolutely fantastic day haning with my girls… even if they do need cheaters to change the radio station!

p.s. check back for more pictures when I get them from the other cameras on the boat that day.

Making the Grandmas proud September 2, 2008

After ending my time at Xziex and Starting my time back at Forestview, I was able to enjoy a week off all to myself. I decided since I didn’t have time to do as much as I usually do in the summer, I might as well make it a fun filled week. I started off by heading to Forestview for the first day of workshop for the teachers. I enjoyed a little district picnic of big daddy’s pizza and salad and caught up with all my friends. Colleen, the master gardener gave me a plastic grocery bag FULL of green beans as well as 8 cucumbers. I love green beans but new that even I couldn’t finish them off before they went bad. So, I cut them all up, blanched them and froze them for later this year. Yummm… I can hardly wait! I also decided to make some refrigerator pickles out of the cucumbers she gave me. After telling Grandma, she was so proud. In fact she is now on the look out for a little canning machine (I have NO idea what its actually called) for me so I don’t have to freeze them next time. I have to say, it was fun to do a little cooking like they used to and not by popping it into the microwave.