Living in Florida, I don’t tend to notice spring as much as those of you living further north. What we notice down here is that it’s getting even warmer. I noted to myself last night as I was loading my luggage into my car that very soon the uniform jacket was about to assume its “summer location.” That is, semi-neatly folded into my suitcase and left there until fall. It was nearly 9 p.m. in the airport garage and I was starting to sweat like a horse as I threw the poly-wool blazer onto the floor of the passenger side of my car. Sticky, sticky, sticky.

With the coming of warmer weather in mind, I thought about things that could be once again put into summer mode. For one thing, the birds can spend more time on the porch. The sun is good for them and I’m thinking about getting them a hanging perch to play on. If I put enough toys and chewable items on it, maybe Parker will deign to stay on it rather than leap onto the finch cage which practically gives Mark, Luke and Joan a collective stroke. I want to rearrange the front porch so I can  hang out there a little bit with them until it gets so hot and uncomfortable that even the birds don’t like it out there. Time to buy some fresh potted herbs? Why not? I can always use them when I make “Chop” and they would probably be a fun topping in their bowls of food. And of course, I can use them when I cook. So I’m planning on growing basil, dill and rosemary. Hopefully this year they won’t die on me again. And I know the spring and summer vegetables at the Hallandale market will be in full blast. So, it’s a good time to make a big batch of “Chop.”

I’m considering taking the bird cages one at a time to the car wash and blasting them with the power washer one uses on their car. That ought to get them really clean! Then I can bring them back and they can sit in the sun on the porch and air dry before I rearrange the inside of them.

And of course I have aspirations of doing a “purge” in my home and perhaps successfully getting rid of a bunch of crap I don’t need, don’t want, and have no use for. I also want to organize the bird toys so they aren’t just tossed into a box.

Spring always sort of snaps people out of their winter doldrums once they get over the initial lethargy from the time change and climate change. It always gets me motivated to make things better, cleaner, more streamlined and more efficient before I have to lock myself up in my home with the AC going full blast to keep Mattie the dog, the Greys and myself from melting all over the tile. So with this in mind, I’m open to more ideas. What are your plans to make things “Spring” for you and your parrots?

Advertisement