okay, so i finally got cookie doing this on camera...my usual routine before putting cookie back into her cage at night is to put her down on the opposite side of the bed, run to the other side with a sliver of almond, and call cookie to me. at that point she usually comes RUNNING to me, steps up on to my arm and gets the almond prize. this is a great practice for her, i think, to step up - almost without thinking - nicely onto my arm. no bites as of yet. *knock on wood* :-D

here are some pictures of cookie hanging out on the new playstand. if you want to see some videos, see below...

breaking in the new playstand! we ordered this a few months ago and now its finally finished. i challenge you to guess what we paid for it - it probably won't be close! email me if you want to guess.

**The playstand was created by Frank Barrozo. His company is called Cimarron's Loma Rica Birds & Crafts. It is a WONDERFUL playstand and I recommend his craftsmanship highly! You can contact him at CLRBirdsnCrafts@aol.com . Tell him that the woman who special-ordered the 3-layer playstand sent you. ;-) **

Cookie finished up her 2 weeks of Cipro meds this morning - YAY! we have a recheck visit at the vet on friday of this week. *crossing fingers on no more meds!*. because i have had to towel her to administer the meds, she hasn't really looked forward to my presence lately. she doesn't want to play with me as much. but i do make it a point that after being released from the towel, i lure her with a piece of almond onto my arm. she almost runs to my hand (probably because she is a little disoriented but sees the nut and goes for it) to step up and get the nut. then i take her out of our bedroom (quaratine time is over) and mingle for a bit with my birds.

i did allow cookie and my amazon, pico, on the same playstand with a very watchful eye and a handheld perch at the ready. pico seemed a little over anxious to get to cookie so i reminded him, in a stern voice, to "be a good boy" he looked at me and slowed down a bit. but once i saw pico regurgitate a little, i knew he meant no harm. he approached cookie and showed her that he was regurgitating but she was uninterested. then pico moved a little closer and tried to slightly preen her shoulder - cookie didn't want it at all and side-stepped away from pico. pico decided to give cookie some room, so he went to another area on the play stand but kept returning to cookie and see if he could start up a friendship - so far, cookie would rather keep her distance. but was very polite with pico - no fighting or biting...just kinda backing away from pico.

cookie also went on an outing with us last sunday. my husband had to step in to umpire a few tournament softball games so we took cookie along to enjoy some fresh air. overall i think she liked it. she made some noise with the crowd when they became loud, and happily munched on some goodies i brought along with me.

Cookie on an outing this past weekend...

cookie has been taking her meds like a champ...i do have to towel her, but once done i lure her onto my arm with a sliver of almond and she walks right on. so far (knock on wood) her trust in me hasn't been affected too much.

Cookie does do things on her terms tho...i can't just put my hand in front of her yet and say "step up". if she doesn't want to, she will just put out a foot toward my hand and clamp down. i have to let her come to me to step up. i do this with a little piece of almond. so i usually give her, her space and if she wants to come to me, i treat her with a treat.

Cookie LOVES to chew and shred wood. i have placed 2 small vine-woven wreath thingies i bought at a bird store and she has chewed both up in two days. i attach them inside and outside her cage and for her, it doesn't matter.

I have been slowly introducing her to the world outside of our bedroom (quarantine room) since her q-time is over. i think she is feeling more comfortable each day and i think she wants to interact with my amazon, pico. when she saw the big "mansion" that pico lives in, she REALLY wanted to go inside. i thought she wanted to go into the cage, but when i put pico on to a nearby playstand, she wanted to follow to where pico was. I am a little hesitant of doing this yet. i think a week more and then maybe i will (under the most STRICT supervision) put them both on the same playstand and see what happens.

my amazon has been very nice to the foster amazons that we have had in our care. all he wants to do with them is to preen them. so im thinking it would be okay, but pico, i believe, needs to be slowly introduced to the new birds. so having them see eachother daily will be a good "introduction" time before actually placing them together in an area where they can actually interact with eachother directly. i'll let you know how that one goes.

this morning's cipro dose marked the first week of meds have passed. yay!

the above picture is of cookie eating some rice and wheat bread on her special plate. (she actually was surrendered with this plate, since her first owner used to give her table food on this plate. isn't that great?)

well, some bad news...at the last vet visit, the vet found higher levels of white blood cells than she would have liked - which could be a sign of some kind of infection. because of this, we are treating her with twice a day dose of .17 of Cipro for 14 day. i started the first dose wednesday night (8/29). morning of 9/12 will be her last dose and then a recheck is in order.

this week i found out she likes jalapenos!