Firsts of the Year...

Aiden got his first ear infection of the year (really, of the winter) this week. Which is pretty good, considering he had had about 5 by this time last year. To make him feel better (aside from the antibiotics) we gave him his first lollipop ever. It was a big maple candy on a stick from Micah & Becky. He thouroughly enjoyed it and got completely sticky all over.

And we had our first life-bird of the year- a Hoary Redpoll. There was one adult male hoary in a flock of about 50 common redpolls that came to our feeder last weekend. We've been watching redpoll flocks for months to get that hoary!

A little something fishy...

Last weekend Micah and Becky came up to Vermont with Becky's sister Jenny's family for some winter fun. Sadly, our snow level was at about two inches at that point. And it was only a few degrees out, making outdoor activities both uncomfortably chilly and snowless. But Micah tried his best, taking Calvin, Jenny & Steve's 3 year old, down my parents 45-degree slope driveway in a plastic deathtrap. Andy and I weren't there, but Micah swears he reached top speeds of about 40 mph. Since everyone survived, we decided to go to the ECHO Aquarium in Burlington for the afternoon.

Jenny and Freddy

Aiden watching a snapping turtle

The biggest hit at the aquarium was the "Watershed Model" which is supposed to teach young inquisitive minds all about how rainfall moves through the landscape and explain the ecological consequences of damming or polluting watercourses. ANYWAY, its basically a big play bathtub by kids under 4. Freddy started out with his shirt on, nice and dry, playing with the boats...

Then the shirt got soaked, and it had to come off...

Then the pants got soaked too, and Freddy took those off himself! So Freddy had a great time at the Watershed Model in only his diaper and sneaks. All the other Moms around thought it was great, while Steve frantically dried all Freddy's clothes under the hand dryer so he could face the 2-degree parking lot on our way out.

Aiden had fun at the Watershed Model too, and climbing into a tunnel to look at some fish.

Calvin liked the archaeological dig, and made a valiant effort to scrape out the prehistoric whale another half inch.

Aiden watching the Sturgeon and Muskies

Back at Turkey Lane, the boys had a wild time with the cardboard blocks that Micah and I used to play with. There's even one block with "Micah Sucks" written on it, but then Micah is crossed out and "Carrie" is scrawled over it. Ah, childhood memories...

There was some building going on, but a lot more "wrecking!" Cool!

Freddy and Auntie Becky made steps out of the blocks to jump off of. Freddy and Cal love jumping, a skill Aiden has not mastered yet. He loves to watch "big boys" in action though.

Actually, Aiden was less into the blocks than he was Timber's dog bed. I think it was the biggest pillow he'd ever seen, and he does love to snuggle.

Poor Steve! Get him some coffee! Everyone was exhausted by the end of the day.

The next day, Aiden showed Uncle Micah the correct method for snuggling, after we watched the Pats and the Giants make it to the Superbowl and ate a huge Gloucester seafood meal. Thanks for coming up guys, we had a great weekend!

Nine to Five

Here's our little business man on his way to daycare last week. He promised us he would tuck in his shirt and unroll his sleeves for his 10:15 presentation on the instability of milk futures. Cassidy was impressed.

We're melllllllttttting....

Hey, not much to report here... we're having a "January thaw" so our 2+ feet of snow are all but gone now. We have been out a lot lately to enjoy the above-freezing temps... not too many new birds, but we're getting a workout chasing Aiden around every time we let him out of the backpack.

And some of us have been watching a lot of football...

And trying out life in someone else's shoes for awhile...

Aiden could not understand why he could barely walk in Da-doo's shoes this afternoon. He fell over numerous times, but he kept on trying ....

Who's counting?

.....
Snow geese........... ...Evening Grosbeaks

In case anyone is interested (and I can't really think of anyone who reads this blog who would be), Andy and I each saw 249 birds in 2007. 33 of those were life-birds for me, and 28 for Andy. It's not the best year we've ever had, but it is the second best since we've officially been keeping track (2004). In 2006, thanks to the 60 lifers we saw on our Rio Grand Valley, TX trip, we had our best year ever (Andy 269, Carrie 263). That year will be hard to beat, but if we hadn't spent roughly 4 months indoors while I was on pregnancy bedrest, I'm sure 2006 would be impossible to beat, so at least we have something realistic to shoot for! In 2008 we're looking forward to a March trip to southeastern Arizona where we'll try to squeeze in as many new birds as possible in between the general sightseeing, visiting friends, and kiddie-friendly activities. Wish us luck!

Enjoy these photos Andy took in 2007!!

American Goldfinch ...............Northern Cardinal

Like Father, Like Son...

Check out this photo of Andy at 18 mos... and then the one below of Aiden. I'ts kind of uncanny how similar they look!

A Sad Start to 2008

On New Years Day we lost our oldest feathered friend, Tiki. It was very sad and sudden (like most bird deaths) but I don't think that she suffered very long. After talking with our vet, we think that she had a heart-attack, which is common in older cockatiels that eat fatty seed diets. Tiki did like fresh veggies once in awhile, but she was already an adult bird hopelessly addicted to seeds by the time she came into our lives in 2000.


Tiki and Andy had a very strong bond (which is probably why Tiki didn't like me very much) - we have no idea what her past owners were like but she decided on Andy as soon as she saw him and would allow only Andy to scratch under her chin and pet her back. She could sit motionless for hours on Andy's knee or shoulder, barely opening an eye when he shouted in disbelief at bad calls against the Giants or Red Sox. She'd just whistle a little and go back to grinding her beak contentedly. After we had had Tiki about 5 years, she started laying eggs- I guess this was Andy's first foray into dealing with expectant mothers, because he worried for days that Tiki would become egg-bound or lose too much calcium. Her eggs never hatched, of course, but she was a doting egg-mother and loved to make cozy nests in her bedding to incubate her "babies." One time when we had to go on a road trip with the birds, we even hard-boiled her eggs and put them back so they wouldn't break during the trip.

An interesting thing I'll always remember about Tiki is that she was suddenly (and shockingly- she would not let me come anywhere near her for years before this) very nice to me when I became pregnant. I don't know what to attribute this to except that she must have somehow sensed that I was pregnant-maybe I was giving off some crazy phermones, I don't know. During my whole pregnancy she allowed me to scratch her head while she sat on my belly, but as soon as Aiden was born, I was back to persona-non-grata. Since I didn't have a moment to sit still any more anyway, I didn't hold it against her :)

We'll miss Tiki a lot in the coming years- the birds' room already seems so much emptier without her. We'll miss her cheerful greeting whistle every time we come home - she always had the best hearing of the flock and was the first to recognize the sound of the key in the door. Although it's an unhappy start to 2008 for us, we are happy that we were able to give Tiki a good, loving home for the latter half of her life, and we are pretty sure she enjoyed herself with us. Or, at least, with Andy :)