Democracy for New Mexico

Sunday Birthday Blogging

OK, so I usually do bird blogging on Sundays, but today I wanted to highlight a recent milestone of one of our most active, passionate and wise members -- the 90th birthday on June 26th of Jeanne Carritt. Here's Jeanne contemplating her candles at a small gathering last weekend:

And blowing them out:

Note the Dean Speaks for Me and No W buttons. (Click photos for larger versions.)

Jeanne has logged literally thousands of phone calls to potential voters, provided many hours of practical advice to activists (including me) and generally kept things stirred up in a most positive way via DFA-DFNM Meetups and beyond. She slogged many hours of volunteer work during the Dean campaign for president, the Miles Nelson primary run for Congress and for America Coming Together during Kerry's run.

A definite Deaniac and one of the founding members of DFA-Democracy for New Mexico, as well as our Meetup, she remains active, committed, politically saavy and willing and able to speak truth to power whenever she deems fit! Need to gather signatures for a petition or plot strategies to raise money or achieve goals? Jeanne's there. Want advice on a good political book or a must-read article? Jeanne has suggestions. In need of the kind of long-term perspective 90 years on the planet can provide? Jeanne's the one to consult.

Perhaps most importantly, she's a joy to work with, very funny and just an all-around terrific spirit and presence on the scene. We love her!

I hope you'll join me in wishing Jeanne a Happy 90th Birthday and Many Happy Returns!

Sunday Austin Neon Blogging

Because so much has been going on, I haven't managed any new photos of the parakeets or Bosco the peachfaced lovebird. However, I'm pleased to report that all are doing very well, even the baby runt parakeet that was having trouble thriving for so long. "Peanut" is now running about the cage like a dynamo, covered with a full complement of healthy green and yellow feathers and eating quite well on its own, thank you very much.

Bosco the lovebird accompanied us on our week-long jaunt to Austin and DemocracyFest and was an intrepid traveler. I'll write more about DemocracyFest when I get more time but suffice to say we loved Austin and thought the Fest was a terrific experience. I'll put up a photo album soon.

For now, here's a good example of why we liked staying at the retro-50s Austin Motel so much, in the funky and hip SoCo neighborhood:

The Austin attitude shows up in this sign from one of our favorite cafes as well. The Magnolia boasts it's open 24 hours, 8 days a week:

(Click on photos for larger images.)

Sunday Baby Bird Blogging

Well now the oldest and second oldest baby parakeets are out of the nest:

That's Hambone (left) the oldest and Jumbo (right) the second oldest, now apart from their mama (Whitey) and in their own small cage. We called the second oldest Jumbo because he is alot bigger than his older sibling. We're thinking the oldest one, Hambone, may be a female.

At first, they tended to stay on the floor of the cage and in the furry "tent" that hangs nearby. Next it was climbing rather clumsily onto the perches, flapping their wings and scampering all over the cage in between frequent naps. They also clean their feathers alot, eat seeds all day and into the night and spend time carefully preening one another.  Hambone likes to bang a hanging string of beads as noisily as he or she can against the cage. Listen to all the noise I can make!

The youngest surviving baby is finally getting feathers and starting to grow more rapidly, so we think it may now be out of danger. In another week or so, he'll probably be out of the nestbox as well:

We think it helps that the other two babies are on their own so the littlest one can get all of the mama bird's feeding. After appearing to be in some danger of surviving, it's doing much better now, as you can see.

Here's one more photo of the oldest baby, Hambone, before being joined by his or her sibling in their own cage:

(Click photos to get larger images. Click to see the earlier Bird Blogging photos.)

Sunday Baby Bird Blogging

The oldest of the three surviving baby parakeets started getting up on a little perch within the nestbox and gazing intently at the world outside this week:

In the shot below you can see the difference in development among the chicks and with their albino mama:

(Click photos for larger images.)

We are a little worried about the smallest chick on the left. As you can see, its feathers are still not in and it seems to be growing slower than the older two did. However, when we take the chick out, it's very strong and energetic, pushing against us and crawling about. We checked with some experts this week and they suggested we add a supplement to the parakeet seeds that Whitey eats and then feeds to the chicks. We hope it does the trick!

For the past couple of days the oldest chick, who at least for the moment is known as Ham Bone, was climbing up into the nestbox entry hole and stretching out to taste the cage and box. Yesterday we decided to take him away from mama and try him in his own cage since he was eating seeds on his own. Big step! We're happy to report It's been a huge success and Ham Bone even got up on his perch by himself this morning and started cleaning his feathers and singing with the grown-up parakeets. It's just amazing to compare what he looked like just 4 weeks ago with how beautiful he looks today.

I'll try to get a photo up of Ham Bone in his new cage later today. In the meantime, you can see some earlier photos of the baby parakeets here.

Regular Old Sunday Bird Blogging

Even though I put up a special edition of bird blogging a couple days ago, I'm going ahead with my regular Sunday edition because things change so quickly in the baby parakeet department. Here's this morning's photo from inside the nest box:

You can see how big and feathered the oldest chick is, and how undeveloped the youngest surviving chick is to the left. The middle chick is over in the back corner. We are kinda worried about the survival of the youngest one, it being so small at this stage.

Above is Whitey, the albino female who's the mother of the brood. Although she looks rather bluish in this shot, she's really pure white with red eyes. You can see how harried she is from feeding and caring for the chicks 24/7. They only sleep for minutes at a time before they're up begging for food again. Her face is dirty from the glop she feeds the babies.

Above is the father, Queenie. You can see how the coloring of the oldest chick is very much like the dad. Green is the dominant color in parakeets and it's likely all the chicks will take after Queenie given the mother bird's albino genes.

Special Edition: Bird Blogging

As you might recall, I usually do my bird blogging on Sundays but our new parakeet chicks are growing so fast and changing so quickly from pinkish blobs to feathered beings that I thought I'd share a couple of our lastest photos inside the nest box:

Above are the three (out of four) surviving chicks this past Monday, with their mom, Whitey the albino parakeet. The eggs hatch every other day or two so the development of the chicks varies. That glop on the beak of the chick at the right is dried up food and "parakeet milk" from mama.

The eldest chick has feathers growing in fast! Looks like he'll resemble his dad, Queenie, who is the typical green parakeet. Two of the three chicks now have their eyes open and are hustling around the nest box making noise.

Compare with the ugly parakeet-lings in my earlier post from about a week ago.

(Click all photos for larger images.)

Sunday Bird (Nest) Blogging

I haven't had the time to introduce the lastest additions to our avian family. Our parakeets Whitey (mama) and Queenie (dad) produced four eggs in their nest box after numerous amorous encounters. Those four eggs have now hatched and we have four rather ugly parakeet chicks. Here are two early pics of the brood:

You can see gorgeous glop on mama Whitey's beak. This is the delicious regurgitated food and what's called parakeet "milk" that nourish the babies. Whitey does emerge from the nestbox at times to eat at the food bowl but mostly it's Queenie, the father, who eats seeds and then passes the food into Whitey's beak who then does the same for the babies. Perhaps more info than you'd want or need, but you know how it is!

In the one above you can see that the oldest chick can hold its head up and has huge feet!

This is the latest shot. You can see that the feathers are starting to come in on the two eldest chicks. The eggs are laid about every other day so once they start hatching, one emerges every other day. Unfortunately, we learned today that the runt of the brood probably won't survive, which isn't unusual. The tiny chick was barely breathing today, and didn't look like it would survive the day. Ah, joy and tragedy in the world of the parakeets!

(Click on photos for larger images.)

Sunday Birdbath Blogging

Bosco our peach-faced lovebird loves to take a bath. As soon as he sees the tupperware lid filled with warm water coming his way, he gets all excited and jumps onto the edge of his private pool:

Then he wades right in:

He loves to dive in head first and swish himself through the water, belly-flopping along the bottom to get as many feathers wet as possible:

Voila! Aquatic lovebird:

Who knew that tupperware would provide the perfect bird bath? Afterwards, Bosco emerges from the water all wet and skinny looking and likes to rub his head along your neck and hairline to dry it off. He is one spoiled lovebird!

Sunday Spring Bird Blogging

(Click photo for larger image.)

Bosco the peach-faced lovebird in his new traveling cage. Dig the palm trees! As you can see, the "window" shades can be up or down, we can secure the cage  with a seatbelt in a car and it has a pair of straps for carrying the cage like a backpack and one at the top for toting by hand. The top zips open, as shown, for toy or food storage. Very cool.

Bosco has one of his very favorite toys on the left, with a cowbell obscured by the hanging strings. If you ask him to ring the bell, he runs and does it. He is one smart cookie. You can see his blue "muff" hanging from the front of the cage. This is where he crawls in and sleeps every night, all cozy and lying down, taking the load off his feet.

This photo was taken on Bosco's first extended trip, down to Socorro for the State Central Committee meeting. He did quite well and was very curious about everything he saw.

Next up is his first camping trip. Later this month we'll be heading down with some friends to Caballo Lake or Percha Dam on the Rio Grande with our little Dolphin-Toyota rig:

It will be Bosco's first night in Gypsy Melody, which we purchased late last year at bargain rates from some bluegrass lovers--hence the name. (One of the previous owners is shown in this photo.) For the first time in many months we'll be spending a weekend entirely free of political activities. Brings a smile to our faces.

Sunday Bird (Doggie) Bloggie

Once again, we're featuring a canine version of our regular Sunday Bird Blogging. Sue, my long-time friend and partner in crime, got a new pet this week:

The sweet and friendly Heidi Mae is a 7-month-old cross between a Greater Swiss Mountain Dog and Australian Shepherd. She looks more like a Mountain Dog, but will be residing in Rockford, Illinois, which is flat as a pancake. I don't think she'll care! I imagine her days will be filled with love and fun, and playful romps with Sue's several felines who are just a might wary of Heidi Mae so far. Cats are like that. Soon they'll probably be riding on Heidi's back!

Click to read more about Greater Swiss Mountain Dogs. (Click photo for a larger image.)