Houdini

We now have a yellow-and-green-feathered parakeet named (appropriately enough) Houdini. The bird had been flying around the backyard for the past three or four days.... letting me come close to him, listening to me as I talked to him... and making himself at home with the birdseed we put into the feeders for the wild birds here.

I knew that Houdini had been an inside bird... he was out there panting his little heart out as the temperature was getting up near 109 degrees yesterday and today. I had taken a little decorative bird cage and put it out near the rose arbor that he was perching in, and within half an hour, Houdini was inside that vintage gold cage. Into the house he came... and upstairs I went to get ready for a drive to the pet store so we could get a proper parakeet cage and accessories.

Within minutes of being in the kitchen in his little gold cage, Houdini had managed to squeeze himself out between the too-far-apart metal scrolls, and off he went flying around the kitchen. Thankfully, the cats were in the TV room and didn't have a clue as to what was going on in 'their' kitchen. We really didn't have anything that could safely hold the parakeet until we got back from the pet store, so we let Houdini outside again. I knew that he would stay near the bird feeder and I would just have to catch him all over again.

Which is exactly what happened, except it took almost an hour to out-smart that little green and yellow bird. My husband suggested putting some peanut butter on one of the bird treats we got at PetCo, and that worked just fine. Within minutes, Houdini was inside the little gold cage again and my husband carried him into the house and we transferred him from the too-tiny vintage cage to the appropriate cage from PetCo-- complete with bird toys, a little ladder and a mirror, colorful plastic keys and twirling gadgets hanging from the top of the cage, and food and water dishes attached to the side. Parakeet heaven.... and Houdini has eaten his fill of seeds and treats, washed it down with fresh water, and now he's happily perched on the upper bar with his little green and yellow head tucked into his feathers. Surely, a well-accessorized bird cage in an air-conditioned house is safer for him than a sky filled with hawks who would be able to see those green and yellow feathers from miles away.

Houdini... he became famous decades ago as the master of escape...... and this little green and yellow bird (who I would have named 'Chartreuse' if it were a girl-bird) has also had a few escapes-- once when he got out of wherever he was before he found his way to our yard, a second time when we had to let him go because the first cage wasn't parakeet-worthy, and then again when I tried to capture him in an over-sized crocheted doily. It was my husband's peanut butter trick that caught him, and I'm sure he'll be happy that his days of bird-escapes are over. My husband thought of the name Houdini.... and he wouldn't have liked the name Chartreuse anyway.

The two-story cage is in a corner of our kitchen..... Houdini can see what's going on in the breakfast room and kitchen, and the laundry room if I have the door open there, and he can see out the window in the back door. Much better than finding a spot among the thorns in the rose arbor, don't you think?

After we had Houdini settled in his cage on the cabinet (which is about five feet high), we let the cats out of the TV room. Within seconds of their paws touching the kitchen tiles, all three of them knew there was a bird in the kitchen..... six little eyes stared up at Houdini and three little cat-butts plopped down on the floor around the cabinet holding the bird cage. As my husband and I were saying how cute the cats looked, they were so intent on watching Houdini..... Sweet Pea jumped up on the cabinet and was hanging by a paw on the wood top near the cage. I quickly grabbed Sweet Pea with one hand and the cage with the other hand.

Needless to say, the cats will be kept in the TV room from now on... no more adventures into the kitchen and the breakfast room unless I move Houdin's cage to another part of the house to give him a different view for a while and to give Mickey and Sweet Pea a break from the TV room. The TV room and the attached bathroom are very large rooms, but no matter how much room you give to a cat, they always want more. The 'cat-room' (formerly our TV room) also has big windows and wide screen doors so they can look out into the yard. I figured that Sweet Pea would be the most interested in the bird today, but I didn't think he could jump that high. Lesson learned, and quickly.

So now we have three cats (two inside/one mostly-outside), four chickens, and one parakeet. And my cousin F says there must be a sign on my back or somewhere near the house that says "Welcome All Stray Animals."

I keep saying that I don't want any more pets... that there's "no room at the inn." Somehow, there's always room for just one more.... for stray and orphaned furry or feathered animals that are super-cute and super-nice.

I wish people who get pets would take care of their pets. If they don't want the on-going responsibility, then just DON'T get a pet. Is that too much to ask?