Born Free but Loving Life as it is...

How many times have we had some of our birds flying away over the years...too many times to count that is for sure...but I think since we have been here it has been far more often than ever before. 

I have to admit though that we are truly blessed when it comes to them returning and we being able to catch them again.  It is usually from the second day that we notice them moving closer and I am sure it is because they know that it is here that they are assured of a meal.  On more than one occasion the door to the end Love Bird cage...the one with the most birds in as it is a communal cage where they grow and/or rest before being put down to breed...has not been securely latched.  When this happens it doesn't take much of a wind to loosen it and have the door spring open, giving the birds inside an opportunity for a 'great escape'.  Every time, we have managed to catch all but one or two as they slowly but surely came home.

The day before we went away, you may remember me telling you that our ringnecks had flown away. The morning we left, Johan had already caught 2 and in the following few days, after coaching from Johan, Mariana and Bryan were able to catch another 5, leaving just one that more than likely was left to the elements and the natural order of life.

Just before this last weekend, one of our Timneys made his way out of his cage and I only noticed he was gone in the late afternoon when I went out to do the afternoon rounds.  I must say my faith was lacking here as I did not think that he would return, so I am humbled by the fact that our Lord graciously sent him flying back...not the next day mind you but the day after.  I was busy with the early morning feeding on Saturday, when I thought I heard him nearby.  I scanned the trees around the house and close to the fence and there I saw him perched in a silver oak.  I was just so excited and immediately started talking to him, loud enough for him to hear....although I am sure he saw me long before I saw him.  I carried on with my chores, keeping an eye open all the time, as I noticed him coming closer and closer.  Suddenly he swooped down from the tree he was in towards me and as he did, Todd spotted him too.  He jumped up in the air, snapping at his tail, while poor Mansen tried to take flight again towards the front of the house.  By this time both Barney and Purdey had also seen him and were running and chasing him much faster than I could run.  All the while I kept repeating, 'NO' over and over and in louder monotones, hoping that for once our ill disciplined dogs would listen to me.  Well they did, and as Purdey was about to pounce on him, I reached him with NiQi close behind, and scooped him up in my arms.  As I cradled him, walking with him back towards his open cage I could feel his heart pounding.  Safely home, he certainly looks none the worse for wear and was only to happy to have a bowl of food which included a pile of peanuts....

Update After Clinic

So we went to clinic on the 5th and NiQi blogged about that so I thought there was no need for me to do one too, but here is an update post clinic.

Ummmmmmmmm..........

Contrary to what she thought and remembered after her treatment and release at the end of March, she both lost weight and her lung function was down.  The weight loss is mainly due to her not having her night feeds, and to date the machine she was using has still not been replaced.  It has been more than a month now and the kilos are starting to fall at a rapid rate.  The days she has been in to the shop haven't helped either, for if she stays past lunch time she doesn't eat until she comes home which makes her feel full at supper time, meaning she eats less...sigh.  It is a real problem and she has to approach it head on.  She needs to eat throughout the day, which is difficult when serving customers and working with staff that don't always eat between breakfast and supper....anyway she is working on a solution, one of which is to rather be given things to do at home, where she can peck at food all through the day.  It sounds like she doesn't eat, but she does - and often - but definitely not enough to replace the energy she expends.  I can see that clothes that have been packed away in suitcases because they were too small  are now making an appearance again and belts are being worn to keep things up.  At clinic she was down two kilos...now it is more...not sure yet how much as she is too scared to get on the scale.

Her lung function, which she thought had remained constant, was actually down from 33% to 31%.  The coughing has increased both through the night and during the day with higher production levels of mucus in her lungs.  Thick, sticky, green stuff is making itself at home in her lungs, making her more tired and generally lethargic.  Look at her breathing when you talk to her and hear the crackles as she breathes and you will know that she is battling a bit at the moment...BUT...asks her how she is feeling and all smiles, she will tell you she is good, nodding her head as she says it, not convincing herself, but convincing you...

Other than that, she is happy...with a boyfriend, friends, family and two new little kittens who arrived with dad on Thursday when he came home from work...they are her newest delight and subjects for her photography - already spoiled rotten with new feeding bowls, toys and a scratching post.

What more can she ask for than anything that keeps her happy....

 Proof indeed that she does eat...and often

 Enjoying company...

 Camera and tripod in hand after photographing the horses...yet again

Resting with her oxygen

Releasing of Pigeons

Being home has made me realize more than ever that I am a 'homebody' and I love to have familiar things around me.  Our animals are an extension of our children, we worry about them when we are not around, or if they become ill...we play with them and make sure they are comfortable and not getting cold...lol

At the same time, I know that many of what we have around us are not really pets, but a way for us to gain an income.  It just helps that we are able to enjoy everything about them at the same time.  Having said that, it is really the birds - the animals that give us the most work - that I am referring to in this case.  I cannot believe that this month it is a year since Oom Gert passed away, how time has flown by (no pun intended)...after he died Johan purchased some bird cages from his wife and with them, she gave him some fantail pigeons and African collared doves.  It was the fantails that kept laying eggs and producing chicks that I blogged about last year, and after some time, Johan passed them over to a friend of his who was keen to keep them.  I was sad to see them go, but it's not a good idea to keep pigeons and doves in close proximity to budgies and parrots because of the different diseases they carry...so off they went.  The doves stayed though and the No. 1 reason they did, was because Johan loves the cooing sound they make, especially in the early hours of the morning.

While we were away, Johan did some thinking about the birds and decided, as much as he loves them, it is time to get rid of them too.  So a couple of days after returning, he opened the cage door to release them...and they stayed...lol

We now have a flight of doves that keep hanging around....so I keep feeding them...and they are not flying away.  Where they go during the day I don't know but it can't be too far away, because come late afternoon I see them returning one by one.  They sit on top of the suspended cages, perch on the gate, waddle on the ground...waiting for the food that is coming their way.  I guess that in this case we all win - Johan hears their cooing, I see their beauty and they feel they have a place to hang around at...a place to call home...

 I turned a bin upside down to fill with seed for them...

 Sitting on the gate

Barney watching, and hoping for one to come within his reach

 On top of the cage

On an old frame

Last Day - Market Day

Well it's certainly taken me a while to 'relive' our break away, but in a way that is a good thing because it gives me a chance to remember what a great time we had...so this is the last post and it will be short...but I have lots of photos...lol

The one thing I did want to do before leaving Bloemfontein was to go to the Saturday market as I remember how much I enjoyed it last year when we were there and quite frankly it is the best market I have ever been to.  It is well organized, well set out and has a variety of stands - most of which are crafts and home made products and the rest a mix of fresh produce and food stalls.  It is refreshing not to see cheap imported stuff for a change and maybe that is one of the other reasons I enjoy this market so much.

So yes we...and by we I mean Daleen, NiQi and I...did go to the market and I thoroughly enjoyed myself, looking at all the stalls, getting ideas, buying gifts...AND did I have fun looking through all the book tables.  I picked up a few classics, a couple of biographies and a book for Johan - who doesn't read, but I told him he can  look at the pictures - on growing strawberries.  I had lots of careful re-packing to do when I arrived back, but managed with ease in the end.  We definitely arrived home with more than we went and surely that's a good sign of having had a good time...

 Mixed medium - fabrics, knitting and crochet together to make blankets and cushions

 I was fascinated by the street names, which happen to be the same as those in the area we live.  Having these markers makes it easy to locate a stall at a later time if need be...

 By the time we were leaving, stall holders were packing up already

Bloemfontein Show

Well I haven't been to the Royal Show in Pietermaritzburg in many years, but I have heard it said that recently it has become very commercialized and not as interesting as it used to be.

Bakkies convinced us that the Bloemfontein show is well worth the visit, and so we made our way into town to the show grounds on the first day it was open.  At the show grounds, Johan has both played badminton and shown budgies, so is familiar with both it's location and the layout.

From the entrance we went in at, we found ourselves right next to the craft hall...much smaller than the main craft hall at the Royal Show and probably displaying about a tenth of what I ever remember seeing on show, however I was still impressed at the workmanship involved.  There was plenty of artwork from school children along the outer walls, giving an array of emblazened colour to an otherwise cold and dull hall.  The craftwork was all in glass cabinets, no doubt to protect them from dust and dirt kicked up and blown in from outside the hall....interesting indeed and lovely to look at.

From the craft hall we wove our way in and out of the other halls, a combination of provincial government departments, displaying and advertizing; small and large businesses - both non profit and other; plenty of food stalls and at last we found the arena.  Dressage was on the go, and that is where we sat for the next hour or so, watching different age groups come in and perform for the judges.   NiQi was very excited and moved closer to take some photo's while Johan and I sat and rested on the stands.  I felt so awful when finally we decided to make a move to look further at the show, and discovered that a packet that had been lying with NiQi's 'things', had disappeared.  While the cleaners came along and swept all around us and gathered up rubbish, they must have picked up the packet with 5 scarves NiQi had bought earlier, thinking it was rubbish.  On our way out, we found the hall with the scarves and I let NiQi choose another 5 to replace the ones lost....

From the arena we went to the sheep and lastly found the SAPS horses, magnificent specimens, before buying some lunch.  By this time we were exhausted and decided to make our way 'home'...resolving that the zoo will have to wait for another trip...