Maestro

Chris loves to wave a 'baton' around like he's conducting an orchestra.  He also loves when Barbara sings to him.  So, Barbara grabbed the baton and attempted to conduct Chris in some singing and dancing to one of his favorite Disney songs.  Often when she hits the word 'duck' Chris will quack.  But, on this particular night Chris wasn't all that focused.  He did a lot of dancing initially, but by the time I got the camera he was a bit scattered.  Still, you can see the Star Search potential.

Who's the Leader of the Band...

We tried to get Chris to focus on his dancing for a second video, but after a few seconds he got interested in something else.  Unfortunately, that "something else" was eating the baton.

M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E, Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck...

So we took a final shot at a video:



Zero Attention Span

Meanwhile, on the street, he dances up a storm, but that's when he's got a captive audience.  I think my friend got a video of it on her cel phone so I'll have to try to get that from her.

Pizza Toppings

This is probably self-explanatory but there's a pionus in my pizza!  Some friends took me to dinner and I ordered a soy cheese vegetable pizza.  I took the leftovers home to share with Chris and Holly and while I was putting it in their bowls Holly disappeared.  I found him standing on the pizza eating away.  I know Holly loves to eat and I know he isn't shy about helping himself, but I was stunned to find him literally in the pizza!  Needless to say, the section he's standing on now belongs exclusively to him.  I draw the line at bird feet in my food!



Nuts for Coconuts

Since Chris and Holly love coconut sorbet I decided it would be a good idea to give them some fresh coconut so I bought one at the local health food store.  Little did I know how difficult it would be to crack it open.

Intact coconut

Barbara (Chris' grandma) said that Poppy (Chris' late grandpa) used to use a nail and a hammer to open them, so I improvised and got a hammer and a screwdriver out.  I hammered a hole in the coconut but nothing happened.  I could hear a lot of water/juice splashing around so I stuck a straw in the hole and drank it.  It was actually very good.  But I still had to crack the coconut so I hammered the screwdriver into a few more spots until it cracked and after that I was able to break it in half.

Making significant progress........

I then managed to break off some smaller pieces, but Chris and Holly didn't seem to know what to do with them, so I took a grapefruit spoon and scraped off coconut shavings for them.  Chris loved it, but Holly rejected it (odd since he'll eat almost anything) and said "apple" which meant he wanted some apple. (He's so smart!) Apparently Barbara had been feeding him apple earlier.  So, while Chris enjoyed fresh coconut Holly munched on an apple slice. 

A coconut mustache on Chris' lower beak

Holly at the porch food station finishing his apple slice

When I put the boys back into their cages in the evening so they could eat dinner, I sprinkled some shaved coconut on their fresh food.

Chris' fruit and veggie bowl topped off with coconut shavings

There is still half a coconut left, so more for Chris to enjoy tomorrow and maybe Holly will warm up to it.



Red, White & Cockatoo!

Chris is having a very patriotic 4th of July today.  He and Holly are in the country, enjoying fresh air and lots of time on the porch and today we went to a nearby country fair.  Chris wore a red harness with a blue leash, and, with his white feathers, he was quite the patriot.  As usual a crowd gathered around him and he put on a show, holding his leash and dancing.  Before we went home he enjoyed a coconut ice pop. 

When we got home he helped take the dog for a walk, had a snack, a shower and is now taking a nap.  Later he's going to get some corn on the cob.  All in all a very good day.

Red, white and blue cockatoo