Maybe a blessing in disguise?

[Chief's Mom]

Well, I know it's been a while since I've been active on here (not that I was a huge poster before, but I did check daily), but we've had a few major changes happen recently.

At the end of October, I lost my job unexpectedly. It wasn't totally unexpected because I was unhappy and keeping my eyes open for other things and I had this feeling, but my husband had not yet returned to work after his broken leg ordeal and the timing wasn't right for me to quit. Immediately after it happened though, I came to the realization that it was probably the best thing for me at that point. I was just annoyed that they beat me to it, I guess... The next week, my husband returned to work. He's an offshore driller and he works overseas. Actually he's in Africa right now. He was off the coast of Italy a few weeks ago.

Once of my biggest concerns about Travis returning to work was how the birds would deal with the change of someone being home all the time to no one being home all day. (Travis had been home for more than a year and a half with a shattered ankle, had 7 surgeries, ankle fusion, etc. We got most of the birds while he was home all the time.) Well, thankfully, they did not have to experience that change. The birds are all doing so well with me staying home. Chief is learning new words and tricks in lightning speed. They are getting fresh cooked meals. In the spring, they will have veggies from a fresh backyard garden (which would have never happened when I was working 60 hour weeks!)

And the best part of the blessing is that I was finally able to get another sun conure My Habanero died last year and it almost killed me. I've wanted another for so long and when I saw this little guy, I just fell in love. I saw him at our local PetCo, which is not where I normally shop for birds, but he screamed at me while I shopping for toys on clearance, so I went in to see him. He was outrageously priced and his tail feathers were horrible, but he was the sweetest thing ever. I visited him 6 times in less than 2 weeks, brought my husband, the whole nine yards. The last night I visited him, all his tail feathers were gone The manager told me they had an electrical fire in one of the fish tanks the night before and when she checked on him, he had broken all his feathers. That was the last straw. As much as I don't want to promote the selling of the birds at places like that, I wasn't going to let him suffer anymore. So we bought him, outrageously priced (with our 10% off PetCo pals coupon), and all. You can tell that the girls in the store socialized well with him, but his feather condition leaves much to be desired.

He's already fallen asleep in my neck more than once, and we're working on getting better food in him. He had what might be his first shower when we got home. He already thinks he owns the place, which ought to prove interesting since Chief and Sarge own the place too. I don't think they'll be seeing much time out together at all. Hopefully I can get a vet appointment for next week for a check up. I also want to have him sexed. I haven't picked a name yet because I want to know. Right now we're calling him Tootie, because some of the guys I used to work with think I should have named Chief "H2," after Habanero died. They called him "Sunshine" at the store. I would like to keep the pepper tradition going on, so maybe "Belle" if it's a girl (for Bell Pepper), or Pappi (for Pablano Pepper). We'll see, I guess.

I haven't taken pictures yet. I'll have to find my camera to post some. I might even try to post some videos too. I'm just happy that everything seems to be falling into place now. Ya know that feeling that you have some control over your life? It's nice to have that back

[NoLimitssjca]

Congratulations on your newest pepper! Sometimes things that we expect to be one thing are another. When one door closes, another opens.

[kellywess]

Things certainly happen for a reason... no doubt about that. Cant wait to see the newest tamale of the flock.
Congrats on the new baby!

[Parrotpeople]

I am definately one that believes things happen for a reason. Glad to hear everything is working out for you. Congratulations, can't wait to see pictures.