Hello, it's me

[RhondaR]

Hi Joe, I'm posting!

My life revolves around my husband, my kids (mostly my son now that my daughter has left me to go to college) and my birds.

My husband is the love of my life. He's my best friend, and most importantly he's tolerant of birds that are more destructive than he could have imagined.

My daughter is growing up into an amazing woman. She's making good choices, doing well in school... I'm so proud of her! Of course, she has her moments... but this is MY intro. When she ticks me off, I'll come here to rant!

My son is a 13 year old boy. Teen hormones raging, girls calling the house... He alternates between being the sweet charmer he can be and the devil reincarnate. He also suffers from Crohn's disease, so he requires much of my attention.

The Birds... Well... I'll introduce them more over time, but briefly (yeah, me brief!)

Billy is a GSC2 ~ I rescued him a few years ago. His story is a painful one, he's had a very tough life. He is a one bird home demolition crew. When he came to me he was nearly starved to death and had lived out doors under a moldy tarp for 8 years. His diet had been peanuts and sunflower seeds with the occasional dog kibble. To put it mildly ~ he has issues. We're working through them.

Luke is a CAG ~ I got him a year ago January. He was 7 months old and had already been purchased, exchanged, and then exchanged again. I was told he was mean and wouldn't talk. At least he ate pellets (ok, just pellets... but that's better than peanuts and sunflower seeds.) He'd had his beak pretty aggressively grabbed and shaken... I saw the previous owner do it when I went to look at him. Now he uses his beak to warn people off, but he's also a sweet love and a chatterbox.

Bart is a Tiel ~ He's been part of the flock since September. His owners before me loved him, they just didn't learn much about tiels so his diet was terrible (liver enzymes were off the charts) and didn't handle him. Bart also attacks with his beak... the story I got is that the owner before the last flicked his beak all of the time. Bart uses his beak to step up. You know, first the beak, then the bird? Not to bite, just to hold on. One toe isn't completely attached, his wings aren't formed right, so he can't fly... I imagine if that was my lot, I'd hold on with everything I had before going from one perch to another too! The 2nd to the last owner apparently found him left outside a Petco. He's here now and fitting in just fine.

Bruce and Stanley are both female Lovebirds. Bruce came to me from an animal shelter about 2 years ago. Stanley came soon after too keep Bruce company, when it became quite clear Bruce wanted nothing better than to bite the living daylights out of whatever flesh you were silly enough to offer up. Flying Pit Vipers... Gawd, I love them. I'm currently, with the help of my vet, building a 10 x 20 foot aviary for them to live in during the decent weather. In the winter I'll house them indoors. They'll probably hate it. They fly and land on me and chirp a welcome... today I was bit on my side! I didn't realize my shirt had ridden up and Stanley was on the waistband of my jeans.

To round off the menagerie, I have 2 English Mastiffs, Charlie (9 years old)and Macey (almost 10) and feed the neighborhood stray cats.

Did I forget anything? I'm sure I'll get to it eventually.

Thanks for having me here.

[kp_in_scott]

Welcome Rhonda! We are glad to have you with us. You have quite an interesting flock.

[poi_lover]

Welcome to BirdBoard Rhonda! Do you have any pics of your birds?

My hubby has Crohn's disease as well. Thanks to Remicade treatments he is doing pretty good. He has had Crohn's for 31 years (since he was kid) and has yet to have any surgeries. He is lucky to not have severe Crohn's. Just last year, we found out that two other people in his family also have it.

[Kristi]

Welcome, Rhonda! We wanna see some pics!

I've got Crohn's, too. Not fun, but mine's in remission...hope your son's will be soon.

[Yellow]

Welcome to Birdboard Rhonda!! Hope you enjoy here as much as I do!!!

[Irish]

Hey, Welcome to the board! Nice zoo ya got there :-). I love 'toos! Dogs, too (we have 11!). Kids... well, I've got 3 (two grown, one graduates HS next year), so I must like something about them, too. *grins*

I hope you like it here. You'll find most of us to be a fun lot, and all of us to be blessed with good looks, philanthropic spirits and just plain high intelligence!

And we're humble, too :-).

[Doubleyolk]

Hey lady glad to see you joined. There are a lot of nice,helpful,true bird lovers here you should fit right in.

[RhondaR]

Okay... gads.. this is tough. I have gobs of photos... bazillions... and so many GOOD ONES! How do I pick? How do I choose? One of each to start? That will do. I can't swamp the board with pics my first week.

Billy first!~


Luke~


Bart~


Stanley & Bruce~


My old gal Charlie~


And her sister Macey~


That's good for a start, right?

[Irish]

That's a MOST excellent start! Beautiful creatures!
And I look forward to you swamping the board with pix the first week :-).

[TooLover]

they are all beautiful photos, however, we all know who my fav is? Welcome to the board, and don't be shy - we are a wonderful group of people.