I got a bike! It’s a Kona Dew Plus. It was on sale because it’s last year’s model. I bought it from my old friend Peter Conway at McCrank’s Cycles, right next door to Irene’s Pub. (Peter and I are birthday twins. We met for the very first time on my 19th birthday, which was also his 24th birthday.)
I love my new bike. I rode it home from GC’s house yesterday. An 80-minute walk is a 20-minute bike ride! The gears change so smoothly and intuitively, compared to my rusty old Canadian Tire bike. (That’s rusty, not trusty.)
Speaking of my old bike, I put it out on the curb on Saturday morning, and five minutes later it was gone. I hope its new owner likes it as much as I like my new bike.
The other big news is that I purchased a nesting box for the lovebirds. You know what that means, right? Baby lovebirds.
Lovebirds apparently won’t mate, no matter how much they want to, unless they’ve got somewhere safe to lay their eggs. Lester and Billie (named after Lester Young and Billie Holiday) want to mate. They’re showing all the classic signs of sexual maturity – he’s regurgitating food into her mouth, and she’s flapping her wings a lot. Last night we cleaned and redecorated their cage and assembled the nesting box and attached it to their cage, while they were out enjoying a flyabout.
Then we settled down on the couch to watch them mate.
But they didn’t. No. Not yet. They haven’t figured out what that big black box in their cage is. It’s got a perch on the side, next to a round entry/exit hole. The floor has a rounded depression in it, where the eggs go. There’s a two-part sliding door at the end – one part is plexiglass, the other is dark plastic. We can slide the dark piece up to peek at what’s going on inside the box.
So far they’ve just been eying the box suspiciously. I think once they work up the courage to venture inside, Billie will turn to Lester and say “Doesn’t this remind you of a hollowed out hole in a tree? Wouldn’t it be a great place to lay eggs and raise a family?” Then they’ll go back out and look for nesting materials. (Nest-building is bird foreplay.)
After they’ve built their nest, they’ll have sex while balancing on a perch (she’ll flap her wings furiously to keep them from falling). Then, over the course of the next few days, she’ll lay 4-6 eggs in the box. About 24 days later, the first egg will hatch!
That’s what I expect to happen, anyway. GC is convinced I’m some kind of expert on this, but really I’m just flying by the seat of my pants.
My Dad tells me that about a third of the time when he clicks on his desktop icon for knitnut.net, he ends up at the Washington Post site instead. The address bar says he’s at knitnut.net, but he’s not. This has been happening intermittently for a few weeks now. I’m mystified. Has this been happening to anyone else?
Nice bike!
Your dad’s problem sounds like a browser issue. He could try installing another one (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc) and seeing if the problem goes away.
Interesting bird reproduction experiments you got going on there. You have a plan on what to do with the birds when the eggs hatch? Maybe that’s what’s holding them back.
I got to go in and check out Peter’s new space. A friend of mine was a real regular at the mystery book store that used to be there.
– RG>
Nope, I’ve got you bookmark and it goes to your blog every time.
Milan, that solution would probably work, but why do you think his browser would do that in the first place?
Grouchy, I saw you in the paper the other day! Nice pic. GC cut it out for our scrapbook. As for the baby birds, don’t you think they’d make lovely gifts? (And as for Peter, yes, he expanded into Prime Crime’s space. I was pleased to see that the skeleton survived the transition and stayed with the window.)
Sally, thank you for letting me know.
Nice Dew + Sue… Nice Dew+ and may the silk wind of time always be at your back. Congrats
Thanks Milan – I will try firefox to see if it helps
Two notes about your love birds. No, three.
1) My mum had a pair of lovebirds in a cage much too small for them (we didn’t know better at the time), and they had sex ALL THE TIME. Maybe because they had nothing else to do?
2) I gave a nest box to some zebra finches, who ignored it for months I’m sure. But when the male finally got the nerve up to go inside, OH MY! You should have HEARD the happy happy happy song he sang from inside that box! Nothing better than a “Happy bird song” with the acoustics from inside a box.
3) Yeah, I forget #3.
So are you gonna do the naked bike ride with your new spiffy bike?
Mud, you are sooo funny.
Thanks Guy – I love the words and the sentiment.
Dad – let us know.
Pamela – GC and I were both thrilled to read your comment. We can’t wait til Lester and Billie start having sex ALL THE TIME. (GC was pretty excited to at the prospect of Lester singing a happy happy happy song, but I reminded him that Lester is a love bird, not a finch, and therefore doesn’t actually sing – but maybe he will shriek happily.) Last night they both went in and out of the nesting box a whole bunch of times, so things are looking promising.
Mudmama, I’m going to ride my bike to the naked bike ride for sure, but fully clothed – my sole purpose in going there is to videotape it for my faithful readers. (By the way, did you recognize anyone in my video from last year’s naked bike ride? Hint: It’s someone who has seen you naked.)
Deb, does Orangeville have a naked bike ride? (It’s a worldwide phenomenon.)
I have you bookmarked…no technical problems. Congrats on the bike and the nesting box. Have you tried playing some mood enhancing music? Maybe the lovebirds like Barry White or Marvin Gaye.
I know I’d want Barry White, if I were a lovebird needing to “get in the mood”! Maybe Lester will shriek along…
Well, you know, they don’t call them “love” birds for nothing! Please tell us if you ever hear little happy chirps form inside the nest box. And, don’t get all jealous if your birds start having more sex than you do.
Enjoy the new bike – it looks terrific!