I was a bit depressed this morning. James had to go to work and I was a bit weary from not having slept well during the week. (Work is really stressing me out.) I had toyed with the idea of going up to Books-a-Million, then morosely rejected it, but I was still getting the call and left when James did—or actually ended up waiting to pay our lawn man and also for the mailman to come by. Yawn. How exciting.

The wind has turned and we have the smoke from South Georgia again. I find it mind-boggling that we can see and smell smoke from over 200 miles away. It was cool enough at that point to keep the windows open, so I stubbornly did so.

Made a stop at Michaels to pick up some styrene blanks. This is the same clear material I used to make the protective sides for the bird's carry box. The bookcase that the bird cage is on is not up against the wall—I didn't think about it; I suppose I can move it now, since it was only there since Pidgie had a little perch in back of the cage so he could play with the two buttons I had taped to the wall, first in the old house and then in the new (we didn't want to unsettle him last year by changing it)—so I bought the blanks to replace the printer paper I had there to keep quantities of seed (and bird toys) from falling behind the bookcase. It's got the encyclopedia in it, so it takes some prior work to move it.

Michaels isn't as much fun anymore. A few months ago they did a remodel to all the locations so they all are set up alike. That was the charm of the old ones. They were all in different size stores and one usually had a specialty the others did not. The "big" stores (like Northlake and Hiram) had more small furniture and other wood products. The one at Town Center had a better frame department. The one on Roswell had a good floral department, etc. Now they're all cookie-cutter.

I wish an A.C. Moore would move up near Books-a-Million.

I was about to just do a quick magazine skim at "BaM" when I came upon some games for only $10. One was the Family Fun edition of Cranium which I know Jessie likes, so we will have that for another game night. There was also a game I bought as a gift. Picked up an Armchair General for James and Reminisce Extra for me (watch, my subscription will finally kick in and I will get a second one in a couple of days).

If you read my book blog at all, you'll remember I gave an enthusiastic review to John Fardell's young adult adventure The Seven Professors of the Far North. This is a great old-fashioned Danny Dunn type story with neat gadgets; not surprisingly I found it in the International Spy Museum when we were in DC last November. Anyway, there is a sequel, The Flight of the Silver Turtle, and just last night when I was bored, not having really thought of the book since I finished it, I just happened to be surfing around different book sites seeing if it were in paperback yet and what the price would be. Still hardback and still pretty expensive. Oh, well.

Darned if I didn't find it in the remaindered book section of Books-a-Million for $4!

Ever get the feeling someone was trying to tell you something? Was that the only reason I'd felt like coming out here?

Anyway, I wandered over to Petco. They were having pet adoptions and, was Willow not so chary of other dogs, I would have brought one home. There was an adorable, full-grown terrier type dog, black and brown on white, with prick ears and all the face fuzz like Willow has. The color and ears were different, but he reminded me of the dog that is on the Pedigree "we're for dogs" pet adoption commercials that David Duchovny narrates, the little dog named Oliver.

I can't go into pet shops without looking at the budgies, so I walked to the bird section. Instead of having their budgies in cages or "tanks" they have them in a round enclosure in the center of the floor. Their birds always look better than the ones at the Petco at Town Center or at any of the Petsmarts. So there were about seven babies relaxing or blinking interestedly at me.

God apparently was trying to tell me something, and it wasn't just about John Fardell. One little bird captivated me. It was just sitting on the top perch with two other blue birds, a combination of blue and white, with white wings and a white tail and a little blue collar with an open spot at the front, like a minister's collar. Further along the perch there was a blue bird with a white "belt" around his middle; I thought immediately of The Karate Kid. :-) But my eye was still drawn back to the white-and-blue one.

So I asked for help with the birds.

My hands were actually shaking when I filled out the form. I'm nearly as frightened as the bird, who is now sitting blinking in that big cage. I have the classical music channel playing for her.

Yes, the lady at the store says it's a girl. The cere is still lilac-colored, but there is white around the nostrils, which is the indicator of a hen. I've never had a hen before. They're supposed to be bite-y. And I have no idea if there will be problems with egg-laying.

I guess it's going to be a new experience for both of us. There's always the vet to walk me through.

I have begun calling her Schuyler mainly because of the blue and white, but because it's gender-neutral, just in case. I have much history with the name "Schuyler" of both sexes: the hometown of Earl Hamner Jr, the real name of one of my favorite heroes, "Sky" King, Richard Schuyler (played by Michael McGreevey in the Disney Dexter Riley films), Schuyler Grant (Diana Barry in the Kevin Sullivan "Anne of Green Gables" stories).

A half-hour ago I was sure, now I'm not. This is the hardest time with budgies, when they're all big-eyed and scared and you wish there was some way to let them know it's okay. Like Sylvia Barrett I want to quote Edna St. Vincent Millay's "Prayer to Persephone": "'My dear, my dear, it is not so dreadful here.'"

Labels: birds, books, dogs, games, pets, shopping

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 2:35:00 PM

Comments:

When You told me her name, I heard "Skyler", I googled the name. Skyler is an Anglicized alternate spelling of Schuyler and means "Fugitive" or "Sanctuary" in Danish. OTOH, "Schuyler" means "Scholar" or "Protection" and is also from Danish.

# posted by  Anonymous : 5:10:00 PM

 

Oh Linda, she's so pretty! We had a girl bird when I was about 13 or 14. Her name was Odette; Mom had just rented the animated movie "The Swan Princess" the day before, and we thought she was as beautiful and graceful as any swan, almost all-white with a blue chest.

My sister had a girl bird named Diavonne for many years. Neither were biters; Odette was actually kind of shy. Diavonne loved to sing...or really make any kind of noise!

# posted by  Emma : 10:29:00 PM

 

Congratulations on your new family member. Schuyler is a very lucky (as well as very pretty) Budgie.

# posted by  FiveAcres : 10:06:00 AM

 

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