Love trumps freedom

Logan is practically blind now from the diabetes or the insulin, I’m not sure which, so he moves very slowly. After returning from a walk one day last week, he was taking a long time to step through the back door. As a result, Oboe, the winged speed demon, managed to slip outside. Suddenly the little captive lovebird was free as an eagle! He perched in the lilac tree in the back yard, nibbled on a twig, and pondered the meaning of life.

GC panicked, but even in his panic he couldn’t help but notice how gorgeous Oboe was, sitting in the tree. I ran outside with my wand and my little silver bowl of safflower seeds. I called Oboe. He immediately flew back and landed on my head. I turned to walk into the house, but Oboe flew back to the tree. I called him again, he returned, and this time it worked. We were safely back in the house with the door closed. Love trumped freedom! Phew.

There are a few little jealousies simmering among the pets lately, mostly among the birds. Everybody wants to be special, so I’m trying to give them each a little one-on-one time every day, when they don’t have to compete with anyone else for attention.

Yesterday it worked like this: Simon got to come upstairs and have a real shower with me. Later, Kazoo ate supper at the table with us. Oboe was allowed to stay up a little later than the rest. We took Logan for a walk by himself, after which Duncan joined us for a drive to Tim Horton’s.

I think I’ve mentioned before that GC had no prior cat experience before meeting Duncan. Now he thinks that cats go for walks with their people, love riding in cars, enjoy being houseguests, and eat dog kibble. (Duncan likes Logan’s food so much, GC had to buy a special bin to make it inaccessible – and he has to take the empty dog food bag home with him, otherwise Duncan will raid the garbage to eat the bag.)

What else is new? Well…I made up another four-month supply of bird food. It’s a little different from the last batch – it’s got seaweed and bee pollen and kale, brown rice, wild rice, beans, chick peas, quinoa, parsley, broccoli, jalapoena peppers, carrots, squash, yams, pumpkin seeds, celery, walnuts, and about 20 other ingredients in it. My freezer is full.

This is what I look like first thing in the morning.