Good lord, I'm beat.
Dec. 4th, 2002 11:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
skreidleFatigued physically and emotionally.
Let's see...
Worked 7am-2:15pm, learned fun things like how to test the water, cleaned a bunch of fish tanks, collected a bunch of dead fish--the plecos aren't doing so well lately--and was about to go, when..
There was a woman in the store eyeing the macaw and the Amazon; she had plans to buy both, after "falling in love with the macaw" after a day, and wanting to breed her Amazon with this one (if ours was female). So at 2:15 she asks about putting a deposit on the macaw, and I mention that "I think there's someone on the waiting list for the bird ahead of her, let me go talk to my manager." (That someone was me, of course, but I didn't figure she'd appreciate an employee having dibs on bird.) Ross showed up right then, we walked off toward the office, and he tells me he needs a definite answer from me immediately. I call home, discuss it briefly with mom, and she says "I think you're stupid for doing it, but ok.. and I'd kinda like to have it around the house anyway." So I okay it to Ross, make plans to come back later that night, and head home. (The woman was then shown the younger baby macaw, which I think she's buying.)
From home it's off to Rockville to visit Esther, which was cool--she's studying abroad in Israel and decided to visit home for the week following Thanksgiving. Hung out for an hour or so, met her Corgi and her parakeet, and headed back home in rush-hour traffic. :P
Once home (around 1900), I returned Carson's phone call that I'd just missed. He was inviting me to join him in seeing Paul Oakenfold at the 9:30 club, set time 2200, meaning I'd have to be at Carson's house by 2100, meaning leaving here NLT 2030. Given that I still had to eat dinner, get to Petsmart, select and buy supplies and a bird by 2100, and come home and set it up.. I had to pass. Would've been a great show!
So, to Petsmart I went, with plans to meet Matt and Steph there--they wanted to cover some of my supplies as part of my birthday present. Visited Christina in Aquatics, talked with Ross, filled out the appropriate paperwork, met Matt & Steph.. Then Ross discovered that the large macaw cage on the floor was the only one they had--he thought there was another one in the back but it turned out to be a custom order that was never picked up and wasn't large enough for a macaw. So, I opted to take the floor model--for an additional 10% discount, as it was slightly beat up and missing a bolt or three.
While I was in the store, one of the hamsters was almost killed by one or more of the other hamsters.. described as a "medical emergency" by Christina and Joseph to Ross.. I didn't see the damage up close, probably fortunately, because it was messy and near-fatal.. I felt a bit unwell just knowing it had happened. :(
Picked out the rest of my supplies--bedding, hand-feeding food, regular food, perches, toys, treats--and rang it all up. (Everything but the cage at 30% off, the cage at a net 37% off.) Grand total on the order of $1500, as my birthday present to me. :) Fit the cage into the back of my truck, sticking out the back and tethered in with some utility straps; the rest of the supplies went elsewhere in the truck; the bird went in a large box and to my house in Matt's Jeep Cherokee--wouldn't fit in Steph's Jetta.
During checkout, a guy came through with two leashed ferrets in his cart.. they were adorable. :)
By the time I got home, they'd gotten the [rather distraught] bird out, to the utter fascination of Brendan (nephew, 10mo old); I entertained and calmed the bird while Steph/Matt/Dad got the cage inside and into the dining room--it replaced the cradle that's been unused in there for a while. The dining room table was moved a bit, with my computer on it, to allow for some walking and cage-access space. I set up the perches and some of the toys in the cage, added food and water, and later hand-fed the bird (gender unknown! Very annoying, but determinable!). The new powder (LaFeber NutriStart) doesn't mix as well as the one the store uses (Exact), but she (might as well pick a pronoun) liked it anyway. Likes the new food, too (Kaytee Exact, rainbow, chunky, for large parrots). (Both recommended by the specialty manager.)
I can't find the yogurt treats, which is inordinately annoying. She's been quite good and deserves a reward, and I can't find the damn things. Also, the life-long care of an intelligent, long-lived creature is now entirely in my hands, which is a very stressful realization. (I knew it was the case, but now it's hammered home.)
So.. long day, momentous decisions, tired and stressed out. Catching up on LJ, keeping an eye and an ear on my bird, probably to sleep shortly after catching up..
Pictures, um, eventually. Soon if I borrow Steph's digital camera, less soon if I have to finish a roll and develop and scan pix. :) (For the moment I'll just refer you to the digital pix I took in late October. :)
Let's see...
Worked 7am-2:15pm, learned fun things like how to test the water, cleaned a bunch of fish tanks, collected a bunch of dead fish--the plecos aren't doing so well lately--and was about to go, when..
There was a woman in the store eyeing the macaw and the Amazon; she had plans to buy both, after "falling in love with the macaw" after a day, and wanting to breed her Amazon with this one (if ours was female). So at 2:15 she asks about putting a deposit on the macaw, and I mention that "I think there's someone on the waiting list for the bird ahead of her, let me go talk to my manager." (That someone was me, of course, but I didn't figure she'd appreciate an employee having dibs on bird.) Ross showed up right then, we walked off toward the office, and he tells me he needs a definite answer from me immediately. I call home, discuss it briefly with mom, and she says "I think you're stupid for doing it, but ok.. and I'd kinda like to have it around the house anyway." So I okay it to Ross, make plans to come back later that night, and head home. (The woman was then shown the younger baby macaw, which I think she's buying.)
From home it's off to Rockville to visit Esther, which was cool--she's studying abroad in Israel and decided to visit home for the week following Thanksgiving. Hung out for an hour or so, met her Corgi and her parakeet, and headed back home in rush-hour traffic. :P
Once home (around 1900), I returned Carson's phone call that I'd just missed. He was inviting me to join him in seeing Paul Oakenfold at the 9:30 club, set time 2200, meaning I'd have to be at Carson's house by 2100, meaning leaving here NLT 2030. Given that I still had to eat dinner, get to Petsmart, select and buy supplies and a bird by 2100, and come home and set it up.. I had to pass. Would've been a great show!
So, to Petsmart I went, with plans to meet Matt and Steph there--they wanted to cover some of my supplies as part of my birthday present. Visited Christina in Aquatics, talked with Ross, filled out the appropriate paperwork, met Matt & Steph.. Then Ross discovered that the large macaw cage on the floor was the only one they had--he thought there was another one in the back but it turned out to be a custom order that was never picked up and wasn't large enough for a macaw. So, I opted to take the floor model--for an additional 10% discount, as it was slightly beat up and missing a bolt or three.
While I was in the store, one of the hamsters was almost killed by one or more of the other hamsters.. described as a "medical emergency" by Christina and Joseph to Ross.. I didn't see the damage up close, probably fortunately, because it was messy and near-fatal.. I felt a bit unwell just knowing it had happened. :(
Picked out the rest of my supplies--bedding, hand-feeding food, regular food, perches, toys, treats--and rang it all up. (Everything but the cage at 30% off, the cage at a net 37% off.) Grand total on the order of $1500, as my birthday present to me. :) Fit the cage into the back of my truck, sticking out the back and tethered in with some utility straps; the rest of the supplies went elsewhere in the truck; the bird went in a large box and to my house in Matt's Jeep Cherokee--wouldn't fit in Steph's Jetta.
During checkout, a guy came through with two leashed ferrets in his cart.. they were adorable. :)
By the time I got home, they'd gotten the [rather distraught] bird out, to the utter fascination of Brendan (nephew, 10mo old); I entertained and calmed the bird while Steph/Matt/Dad got the cage inside and into the dining room--it replaced the cradle that's been unused in there for a while. The dining room table was moved a bit, with my computer on it, to allow for some walking and cage-access space. I set up the perches and some of the toys in the cage, added food and water, and later hand-fed the bird (gender unknown! Very annoying, but determinable!). The new powder (LaFeber NutriStart) doesn't mix as well as the one the store uses (Exact), but she (might as well pick a pronoun) liked it anyway. Likes the new food, too (Kaytee Exact, rainbow, chunky, for large parrots). (Both recommended by the specialty manager.)
I can't find the yogurt treats, which is inordinately annoying. She's been quite good and deserves a reward, and I can't find the damn things. Also, the life-long care of an intelligent, long-lived creature is now entirely in my hands, which is a very stressful realization. (I knew it was the case, but now it's hammered home.)
So.. long day, momentous decisions, tired and stressed out. Catching up on LJ, keeping an eye and an ear on my bird, probably to sleep shortly after catching up..
Pictures, um, eventually. Soon if I borrow Steph's digital camera, less soon if I have to finish a roll and develop and scan pix. :) (For the moment I'll just refer you to the digital pix I took in late October. :)
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no subject
Date: 2002-12-05 08:46 am (UTC)Kibbe.
no subject
Date: 2002-12-05 08:54 am (UTC)It's just that there's a mental shift required between knowing all these things academically with the bird still at the store, and knowing them with the bird at home. No problems, just a change. :)
no subject
Date: 2002-12-05 01:41 pm (UTC)What you describe here sounds like the way I felt when I got married. There was nothing unexpected, and I certainly knew I was doing the right thing, but the enormity of it hit me all at once and made me a little dizzy. Happened right before the ceremony, too, so my knees were knockin'. Fortunately you can't hear or see it in the video. :)
I have tried to find out what it means to give a macaw "attention" but nothing's very specific. What do you have to do? Pet it? Talk to it? Be in the room with it at all times? Who's going to pay attention to it when you're at work? Or will you take her to work with you?
no subject
Date: 2002-12-05 06:11 pm (UTC)Attention means talking to it, petting, letting it play outside the cage, providing toys and shiny things to play with, etc. No good way to regularly take it anywhere; it'll be fine for the hours I'm at work as long as it has sufficient toys, changed around every couple weeks, and preferably a TV or radio on a timer to come on when I'm out, that kind of thing.