A Little Excitement

You may have heard or read about the massive snowstorm in the Pacific Northwest. We've had snow on the ground since Sunday up here (north of Seattle) so I wasn't really surprised to see it looked pretty much the same this morning.


I went out in the car Monday. At the time the major roads were wet but clear. I haven't been out since. The big trash trucks made it through the neighborhood yesterday. If it weren't for their tracks it would be harder to tell where the front yards end and the street begins!

The real excitement this morning, for me at least, took place in the studio. My canary Mr. Bingley lives in what is technically a cockatiel's cage.

Sometimes when I take out the dirty papers from the bottom of the cage I take out the tray they sit in as well. I've seen Mr. Bingley hop down to the floor of the cage on those occasions and peek out the opening. I've never been able to get a picture of it. I wish you could see it though, it's such a cute sight. Today while my back was turned he didn't just peek out, he squeezed through! I came back with a fresh layer of newspaper in the tray and there was no bird in the cage!

It took me a few moments to find him in the room, perched on a light cord that's stretched between two bookcases. The next thing I did was to close the door to the room so he couldn't escape into the rest of the house. Then I put the tray in the cage, opened the big front door (where a cockatiel owner would reach in to bring the bird out or put him away), and proceeded to refill his seed cup. While I was doing this Mr. Bingley was flitting around the room, checking things out. Reilly was in the room too, and by this time had noticed the bird. That worried me a bit. Just as I was beginning to think I would have to find a way to catch Mr. Bingley to return him to safety he flew across the room to his cage, perching on the wires in the big doorway. It didn't take much to coax him the rest of the way in.

Whew! That was fun. :- ) I've seen videos of other people's canaries allowed out of their cages and have been tempted to give Mr. Bingley the same opportunity. I want to make sure it's safe for him though, with the iron off and Reilly secured. Today I'm glad that his unscheduled adventure turned out well. Not sure how soon I'll be prepared to do it again!