Birds of a feather, flock together.

Bruce and I finally got our Christmas dinner, New Years's Day when we traveled to my old stomping grounds, Whiting. Our friends, Sam and Larry Waugh invited us down but when we arrived, we found out we were going just a mile away to their daughter, Heather's and her new husband, Aaron's house on another farm they own.

I had not been in that house for years, it was nice but Heather has really put her stamp on it with a new coat of paint in every room, ripped up carpets and refinished wood floors, they have made it into a beautiful home.

Heather has a couple of cockatiels, Hershel and Gus, while on a tour of the house, we saw their own room, a big closet off Heather's office, complete with toys, perches, newspaper carpet, lights, heater and a  mesh screen door....

.....which Gus clings to in an attempt to convince Heather to bring him out. In the spring, when they start replacing windows in the house, Aaron is going to put a window in their room so they can watch what goes on outside.

After a yummy dinner of prime rib, twice baked potatoes, salad, fresh rolls with homemade strawberry jam and an ice cream and hot fudge dessert, Heather brought Gus downstairs to join us.

Gus is quite the character and definitely a one woman bird, he would leave her to walk around on the couch but didn't stay away long.

Gus is very photogenic and his top feathers very expressive, if he was on alert, they stand straight up. Hershel was Heather's first cockatiel, she was distraught when he flew out the door one day when she let the dog out and was gone for several months over the winter. Heather figured he was gone forever when she got a call from a friend who was at the humane society and said they had a cockatiel that whistled the 'Andy Griffith' song Heather had taught him. He was in deplorable shape, had plucked a lot of his feathers out, something they do when stressed. She brought him back home but he has remained a nervous bird and not very sociable.

If Heather has something to drink, Gus joins her.

Bruce thought he would get acquainted with Gus....

"Polly want a cracker?"

"Touch Polly and you will draw back a bloody stub!"

Gus treated us to a concert, Heather tried to get him to do Andy Griffith also but he was into his own thing.

Since both Sam and Heather also have chickens, I made some Knock Off Flock Blocks to take for treats. I found the recipe on Pinterest, what else?? The ingredients are chicken crumbles, cracked corn, oatmeal, wheat germ, sunflower seeds, eggs, shells and all, fruit, molasses, and water. Mix it all together and bake at 300 degrees for 2 hours, warning, the house will smell heavenly!

I tried it out on my chickens first and they gobbled two small blocks in one day. 

It's a wonder I wasn't down there with them.

Before we left I wanted to see Heather's chickens, I forgot to take their flock block over so they didn't get a taste test. She has a possum who spends the night in one of the nest boxes, YISH!

Back at Sam and Larry's, we took her hens a treat........

.....and the jury is still out.

"HMMMMMM....."

After a great day of good food, good company and great memories, we hit the road for home. The next day I needed to run to Cherokee for groceries  and on the way home I saw two bald eagles in a field. I still had my camera in the car and fired off a few shots as they flew away.

I was just sorry I didn't have my new big, honking lens but I have a lot to learn first and the weather is not conducive to sitting outside and taking pictures.

Doesn't it just make you want to burst out into The Star Spangled Banner?

In the privacy of your own home, that is.

Go ahead, no one will know.