The Smart and Chubby Parakeets: Snowbird and Centro

Of all the pets living in this house (except for the fish...they don't count), the parakeets have been here the longest. I don't remember how it was like without them. We got Snowbird and Cento when I was in 5th grade. Dad had wanted them to keep my first quail, Muffin, company. Muffin was from a class experiment, where we incubated eggs and learned about birds. After each batch, the birds would be opem for the students to take home. Since then, Snowbird and Centro have seen and experienced many things, watching the coming and going of pets in this household.

Truthfully, I feel sorry for these birds. Parakeets are very social and require a lot of attention, quality care, and space, which they have not been giving by us. Ever since Muffin passed away, I had not been the best caretaker for these birds. Nor did anyone else, not even their owner, Dad, ever pay much attention to them. And by the time I opened up to them, they are so old and used to their not too great conditions that they won't open up to me.

These parakeets are the only ones who keep this house from becoming quiet and lonely. Although many people live here, we don't talk much. When I come home every day from school, they are the ones who keep me company through the day. Yet what have I given back to them? Nothing. One of the worst mistakes I made was not taking care of these two friendly birds, leaving them in their cage alone day after day.

Lookie What I Found!

One of the many interesting things about the garden is what you can find there. This time, i found an egg shell! It's so tiny... I wonder what kind of bird egg this is? I found it yesterday, and when I was going to take another look at it today, it was already crushed! D: Maybe I can get some pictures of the birds that come here sometimes!

The Garden: Batch #1 Week 1 & 2

Here the experimenting begins! For this first batch of pet food plants, I tried to grow the food the hamster and birds always leave on the bottom of the bowl. They always leave some food in their bowls, and there is always a little bit of every kind of seed left. Why waste them when I can grow them? Below is a picture of the area left for growing pet food. It may be small, but i don't need much for experiments. I can ask for a bigger space once i know it's successful. The left side is for hamster food, while the right is for bird food.

Week 1:  Wow, in about 3 days, they sprouted! It was so fast that even mom was surprised! :D Maybe this will work after all. They came in many different shapes and sizes. Some skinny and grasslike, others with two small leaves at the top. I never knew watching plants grow could be so interesting! One day after another they grew, tripling in size. I wonder how they will look full grown?

Week 2: Many more sprouts have come out, and those that were there last week grew really quickly! Now it's even easier to differenciate them. To think that all the different kinds/colored seeds would all end up a lush green! I've noticed that more sprouts came out on the hamster food side... maybe it's because hamsters take the seeds whole, while the birds shell them and leave the shells in their bowl. because of this, when I scattered the seeds in the soil, there may have been more shells than seeds on the bird seed side. Oh well, can't do anything about it now! I'll put more in the next batch. So in 2 weeks, many of the plants went from 3mm large seeds to 100mm tall plants! That was really fast!

The Garden

In the backyard of my house, there is a large assortment of plants, including veggies, fruits, and flowers. There are so many of these plants that it almost looks like a forest... But anyways, this garden is owned by my Grandma, but she has given my mom and I space to grow our own things. In the Introduction post, I called this space "my garden". And, being responsible for the diet of the pets in the house, i decided to grow pet food seeds. There is a possibility that I will grow other plants there, but I will stick with pet food seeds for now. My mom has been growing an assortment of asian veggies, including bok choy, chives, and choy sum. (They taste really good too! :P)

The Hyper Spazzy Rabbit: Momo

Momo is a siamese white with grey dwarf rabbit and is really hyper and spazzy. When we let her out, she'd spazz across the house and bolt right back in less than 30 seconds! But even though she can be really hyper, sometimes she just feels lazy and sits around for you to pet. Her name means "fluff" in Cantonese, and she really is quite a fluffy lil rabbit. Of all the pets we've had in this house, she is the most loved of them all. I'm not saying this because I love her more than the others (I can't exactly say that is true...), but because even my parents openly show there love to her, which they did not do much with the other pets. Momo can keep Mom and Dad company after I leave to college :D

The Little Chubby Hamster: Munchkin

 ~munchmunch~ ~nomnom~

Yes, that is what he does all the time. Munchkin (nicknamed Kin) is my sister's (Kim's) hamster and is very friendly, despite his disliking to leave his cage. He was born on July 1, 2009, and is now a fat, chubby little fluffball. I'd say he's a happy lil hammy, but I can't say that anymore because of what had just happened a few days before...

He had a brother named Munchlet (nicknamed Let), who, sadly, passed away two days ago, on April 11, 2011. May he R. I. P. Although Kin is very strong physically, I worry for him because he is not so strong mentally. Let and Kin had been together all their lives, and being separated now, at almost 2 years old, is stressful for Kin. The had played, ate, and slept with (and sometimes on) each other. On the first day of being separated, Kin had desperately searched all over for his brother, eventually giving up. Even now I see him wander around his cage as if in search of his brother, though I cannot be sure. It breaks my heart to see how scared he is to be away from lil Let.

Munchlet

July 1, 2009 - April 11, 2011

Introduction: Fluffy Friends and Edible Greens

Hello! This is going to be the first blog I will be managing, so sorry if I make any mistakes. ;D

Now then, this blog will be about exactly what the title is: Pets and Gardening! As the caretaker of two birds, a hamster, and a rabbit, I have lots to do in relation to pet duties. And the most important one is to keep them happy and healthy! So I've also devoted a part of my garden to growing pet food. I may not be able to grow enough alone to feed them all, but I can always add some fresh foods to thier diets. My mom and I have been growing lettuces for the rabbit for a few months now, and I am now planning on planting some millet and other bird/hamster food in the garden. From now on, this blog will follow the life of my fluffy little friends and the lush, green plants outside my window. :D