Monday, Monday

I took off Thursday so naturally I had to pay for it today. I walk into my office and there are 9 pieces of work that had been faxed to me (four of which have already been taken care of and are duplicates but no one knows why they were resent to me, and three of them were filled with scrawls no one is able to decipher), a stack of mail, about 30 e-mails, and a subpoena for some documents.

Got the subpoena dealt with, then slogged through the rest of it. Then it was time for The Retreat.

I work for a hospital, shuffling papers for administration. I do not come within five miles of a patient and maybe talk to a physician once every other month or so. My office is three miles off-site. I deal in language; I do not comprehend data collection and core measures and quality indicators and percentages and so on that goes on in any medical organization. So naturally, The Retreat was all about quality indicators and core measures and how we're all a "team." There have been some reorganizations (surprise; they only reorganize once a year), so we got to see the new "organ" charts so we would know who is most important this week. My favorite part was one of the administrators saying how important it is to motivate and appreciate staff. Right.

Mr. Perky (not his real name, of course) was there. I call him Mr. Perky because he's always upbeat and happy and full of positive thinking. He's one of the lower level administrators and since he makes over $100,000 a year I guess he's got a right to be perky. I bet he feels appreciated and motivated.

They encouraged us to voice our concerns and ask questions, so several people mentioned that we need more staff and more cooperation from the clinical folks. Don't worry, said the administrators, we're going to take care of it. Interpretation: We will continue to need more staff and cooperation from the clinical folks (who also need more help).

The Retreat was supposed to be over at 5, but of course the administrators kept talking until 5:20, at which point I just got up and left with a couple of other folks. There was absolutely no reason for me to be there. None. But I can't say so lest people think I have a "bad" attitude. $100,000 a year would help my attitude a whole lot.

I had to stop at Wal-Mart where they didn't have the frame I was looking for, so I got dinner to go from Subway. My parrots like the bread and lettuce and cheese (in teeny tiny amounts) from Subway. It's Monday, which means House is on so all is not lost!

Hmmm . . . wonder what House would have done in today's retreat . . . .

Sunday Afternoon

I've had a wonderful anti-social day. I've spent it reading Carved in Stone and reading more medical blogs. I fiddled around with my blog, changing the colors and layout.

I had all the birds out at different times, then I gave them all dishes of water for baths. Charli and Sugar really got into theirs; the Bobbsey Twins just stood on the edge of the bowl and looked at the water.

The next door neighbor had a visitor who left their car running and their car radio blasting out that bass THUMP THUMP THUMP at 700 decibels. I finally had to go over there and ask them to turn the damn thing down. Who leaves their car running for over 30 minutes these days anyway?

While I was out I found an unlit firecracker in the front yard. Then I went around the house to be sure none of last night's fireworks hit my house.

I've been leaving the television off on weekends until about 9pm, and it's amazing how much more I get done and how much less frazzled I feel. I do keep the radio on at a low volume, tuned to NPR though.

Tomorrow at work we're having a "retreat," and I've been dreading it for a week. Three hours of "positive" talk and reminders to work harder and do more with less and how we're all great people -- never mind that they pay us the bare minimum. Just be positive about it, okay? grrrr

Big Scary Purple Vet Tape

Yesterday I bought some vet wrap to put on Sugar's sandy perch. She watched me remove the perch, wrap the tape all around the perch, then put the perch back. Would she go into her cage? No -- something scary in there! So I stroked the perch and talked to Sugar and petted the perch to show it wasn't going to eat me -- but she wasn't convinced. This morning I saw that she was walking under the perch and running around on the perch side of the cage, so I figured she wasn't too scared.

Around noon I had lunch with a friend, and when I got home there was Sugar, sitting on the purple vet-wrapped perch! Just as pretty as you please, preening her beautiful self.

So I went into the kitchen and made a big batch of Harrison's birdie bread, which my birds love more than Nutriberries, which I didn't think was possible.

It's so hot and humid today I don't think I'll go back out. I've been invited to a big cookout party in an adjoining town but I don't want to get caught in the rain, and the humidity and heat just make me miserable.

I bought the book Carved in Sand, so I think I'll stay home, curl up, and read that.

But the damn idiots with fireworks around here aren't going to let that happen. After hearing two blasts that shook my patio doors I called the police. Who showed up about an hour later. Very nice but the fireworks were over by then. No broken glass though, which is good.

Fourth of July

I've had a quiet day -- on purpose. I went to Target for some vet tape to tape Sugar's sandy perch -- she has a callous on her right foot and the vet said to wrap it, While I was there I picked up a bunch of junk food. After I wrapped the perch I put Sugar back in her cage with results you probably guessed -- she wouldn't go near it. In fact, later in the afternoon she took a nap on the floor of the cage beneath the perch in order to avoid it. There's another cloth perch in her cage so she's got plenty of things to climb on. I hope she gets used to the tape.

I'm still dumbfounded that my ex-friend might give a bird to that woman who doesn't know how to treat birds. But I keep reminding myself that there's nothing I can but hope it all works out for the best of the birds.

I called my friend's father, even though I'd only met him once. He sounded broken. I told him I had been friends with his daughter, that she was a remarkable person, and that I'll miss her very much. Then I told him to take very good of himself and we hung up. Now all afternoon I've been wondering if he's all alone in that big house. I hope not.

It's after five and I've got all three cockatiels out; Sugar's on my shoulder, Flash is sitting on Sugar's cage door, and little Nicholas is sitting by my side, watching me type. Charli is in her cage since she believes cockatiels should be personally removed from the universe.

I didn't go to the big downtown festivities this year; it's been too damp and dreary -- plus huge crowds wear me out. Besides, I've discovered and become addicted to hospital and emergency nursing blogs and could spend hours reading them.

Soon there will be the usual fireworks in the neighborhood and I'll have to deal with four little birds who get scared of the big booming noises. Ah well, it'll be over soon enough.

Friendship and Death

A friend of mine and her mother were killed Monday in a terrible auto accident. She left behind three parrots that were her pride and joy. Her father isn't that crazy about birds, so an ex-friend of mine said she'd take them until homes could be found -- which was a blessing. But it's not easy to find good homes for a parrot -- with people who know how to care for parrots and how to deal effectively with their behavior.

I saw on a listserv that an old friend of the deceased wanted one of the birds, only this person is known for mistreating her birds. My ex-friend knows this yet was encouraging on the listserv. I'm just broken hearted, first to lose my friend and then to think that one of her beloved parrots might be going to this inappropriate person.

We so desperately need a parrot rescue and adoption facility here; the nearest ones I'd trust a bird to are in North Carolina and Cleveland. I've talked to a couple of friends about opening a branch of a nationally known bird adoption center here, but none of us have the time or the money or can find enough people to make it work.

Today was time for Sugar Franklin's annual well-bird exam; she looks good, but we'll do blood work on Thursday (holiday messes up delivery times so we couldn't do it today). She's been sleepy and quiet since we got home. She's all tucked in and sound asleep now, like the other three.

Tonight some fool has been firing off fireworks here in the subdivision. Just noise and smoke. I imagine him (of course it's a man) standing in the street lighting these things and hoping everyone sees him, as if the noise and smoke and light are a direct indicator of his maleness. But it's just annoying and dangerous and stupid.

I keep wondering what those three parrots have been thinking -- their "mom" vanishing and then being moved from their home into a new place. We know parrots grieve, but we also know they're adaptable. I hope they'll be okay.