The boys

Here we have 'the boys'.  At the top of the bird play-pen (yes you did read that correctly), we have Archie.  He is a typical grey cockatiel, relatively smart, knows a few tricks and whistles, and manages to fly around even though he is still very young.  Then on the lower level we have Hugo.  He is a lovely mottled yellow, and is my special needs weiro.  We bought Hugo from a breeder when he was still quite young, and he has proved to be very special, in his own little ways.  Archie is only a recent addition to the family, and Hugo has learnt a lot from him about how to be a real bird.

For example......I don't think that Hugo realised until we acquired Archie, that when birds jumped and flapped their wings they should become airborne and move forwards.  Hugo's attempts at flying have always been referred to by us as 'doing a tumble-weed'.  Hugo would, at irregular intervals, jump off his cage and become a rapid revolving mass of squawking feathers before hitting the floor.  Luckily we have sprung wooden floor boards so he has always bounced to relative safety.
His latest attempts however, have involved if no actual steering, then at least some sort of  a discernible flight path before skidding his landing.  This is a vast improvement, and if he can manage to grow some tail feathers without mashing them (another quirk of his) then he will really start to acquire some air time!!

This is the first time I have had two birds rather than just one.  I must admit I am really enjoying listening to them burble away to each other, and given that Hugo hadn't really been bird socialised before we bought Archie, they are learning to get along with each other quite well.

The Easter long weekend was rather quiet around here.  We don't really enjoy going away when it's hard to find an unpopulated place to go to.  We pottered, ate chocolate, did some washing and gardening, and booked tickets to go to Malaysia in the next school holidays...oh yes we did!!  Yeeeeharrrr!


We are suitably excited, and for Jojo and I it will be only our second ever trip overseas.  We all still have valid passports, the flights and most accommodation is booked, so all that is left is the fun part..... pouring through this.....

We used the lonely planet guide to great effect when we visited Singapore.  In Singapore we were each allowed to pick something that we really wanted to do, for example Jojo really wanted to go to Sentosa Island, and Bretsky wanted to ride in a bumboat.  Whatever else happened, we made sure that we were granted that one wish each.  We are going to do the same with Malaysia, except we get one wish each for Malacca, KL and Penang.  It's a great way to get Jojo reading up about the country, and certainly means we all find out a fair bit about the history of the regions we will be visiting.

Only about 67 sleeps to go!