It was always the plan to order the birds a big, customer two-section bird cage when the new house was built. They lived in their tiny little vacation cages for entirely too long while we tried to work on the machinations of the cage and it's accessories. It doesn't sound like it should be hard, but customizing a bird cage is a huge, expensive pain in the ass. Eric finally ordered the cage about 2 weeks ago and we were told it would take 4-6 weeks to arrive. Imagine our surprised when the cage was delivered last Saturday. We rushed back home from a family outing to put it all together late Saturday night. At around 3:00 am we gave up. There were an insane number of parts, all poorly labeled or not labeled at all, and a manual that put the worst stereo instructions you have ever seen to shame. Many, many times I thought Eric was going to throw the whole thing out the window.
On Sunday we tackled the cage again for a few more hours and got it almost all together, until we realized that the instructions had not made a crucial step clear and we were forced to take the entire thing apart yet again. At around 2 am we again went to sleep, parts strewn about the house, pissed off and exhausted.
On Monday night after work, armed with this new knowledge, we put it all back together again, this time the right way, and finally got the thing really to roll. All that was left was for Eric to buy new perches and toys, which he did Tuesday at lunch and Tuesday night we put it all together for, hopefully, the final time.
Ringo absolutely loves the cage. The second it was even remotely together a few nights ago he was inside of it and playing around on top of it. Yesterday, before he was actually ready for him to move into, he squawked and squawked until I let him out of his temp cage and into the new one. He sat there for hours silently, which if you know Ringo, is pretty unusual. He's a very clingy bird, he loves to be on someone's shoulder at all times and if he isn't he'll make your eardrums bleed until you make it happen.
Maui couldn't be convinced to go in—he fears change and kept trying to fly out. Then he fell down off the perches a few times, banging himself up a bit and seemed generally skittish—poor chicken. But by this morning they seemed to be adjusted and seemed to be really digging their new digs. I think once he got over the initial newness, he realized how cool it is!
Pictures!
Designed to match the stairs with the black and silver metal railings and red wood panels.
Ringo is a lover
Maui is a maniac with a giant red butt
He may look cute, but he's really trying to bite me.
Dual Chicken Action!
And not to be outdone, Jules crawled under a pile of warm socks straight out of the laundry and struck this pose.
OMG! That thing is larger than the room I had when I lived with my parents.
Posted by: Dad | May 09, 2007 at 09:50 PM