When Did This Happen

When Did This Happen?

woke up early this A.M. I won't scare you by saying when. It was just earlier than normal when I started the morning routine. First thing is I turn on the TV to catch the weather and news. I think this also helps wake the birds up slowly, or at least not as fast as a light in the living room would. So, I had the TV on and was stumbling around in the dark making my first espresso of the day.
        Way back when I was given my first bird a wonderful little 'tiel who for lack of imagination we named little bird. There were other birds but she was the first. She was my introduction to the bird world. Back in the day there was not nearly as much known about avian nutrition as there is now. Seed and pellets were what she got. She did well on them and lived a long happy life.
       When I decided that I wanted and was ready to get another bird I started on the research. What kind of bird would fit with me and the way I live? Did I want another tiel or something different? Read, go to bird shops, read, research, talk to owners. All of this took a few months, it was not a fast decision.
    During my research I had found that a LOT of things had changed in the world of avian nutrition. Different pellets, different mixes, different "stuff". People were even COOKING for their birds? Cooking for a bird? I just shook my head I could NOT imagine something like that. Soaking different beans? A refrigerator full of ..full of soaking beans and different "stuff". Cupboards packed with different seed mixes, different fruit, different "stuff".
      I'm just a simple guy from a farm in Iowa, I Thought I knew how to care for a bird because I had birds years ago. Oh yea mere mortal how little did I know. Cooking for a bird? You got to be kidding me, I barely cook for myself let alone a bird.
        None of this occurred to me while I was stumbling around in the dark running my coffee grinder this morning. Then I heard a tinny little peep from Scooby as she woke up, she knows when the TV comes on and hears the grinder that I'm up and about and its time to get up cause there is breakfast soon. Well, her little beeps, chirps and clicks brought me back to reality as I was standing there in the middle of the kitchen waiting for my espresso.
        Ok what's for breakfast for them this morning? I scratched my head and wished I had hair but on with the task at hand. I started digging in the cupboards for breakfast. I know that Scooby LOVES her fruit and the little drama queen will die with out it and there were blackberries in the fridge for her so she was covered. But what about MaGoo? Eclectus have special needs and just fruit and seed would not be enough for him. So, digging in my cupboard I found a brand new package of soak and serve mash. Hummmmmmm this has possibilities. I got my expresso and started reading the label on the package. Checking too see what it had and more important what it did not have. Organic this, organic that. No preservatives, no additives, lots of the good stuff and none of the bad that I so often find now days. So, I go on about my morning, soaking the mash while I'm in the shower. Wondering how it will go over if I try and give a small bit to Scooby, who being a Caique will eat almost anything. I thought for a bit and decided if it was good for and Eclectus it would do for a Caique. Only difference is MaGoo would get his fresh greens and Scooby would get her fruit.
         So, here I am with all showered and shaved dressed for work with a lil green ball of feathers on my shoulder as I made my second espresso of the day. Scooby is always up and helps me make breakfast for both birds. I get out the green stuff for MaGoo and start to dice it up just a bit since I know he only tosses out the big parts and the little stuff he simply ignores. Mix the fresh mash and his greens in his breakfast dish, then start to cut the berries in ½ so Scooby and get her little claw around them and mix them in with the mash.
        Change the water, a bit of fresh seed for both of them 1 last shot of expresso for me and as I leave I see them both eating the mash, which is GOOD cause I know MaGoo can be a pain in the butt with new "stuff" but he seemed to like it, so all was well as I headed out the door.
        As I was driving to work it dawned on me. I had become one of THEM. I ran back through my head what had just happened. I chopped greens for MaGoo, berries for Scooby. Does boiling water and mixing the mash count as cooking? I actually read the label of the package, checking for what was in there. I don't even do that for the stuff I eat! I was worried if they would like it or not, I wanted to make sure it was only the "good" stuff for them.
        I scratched my head again as a Joe Walsh tune came on the radio and knew that my birds where happy and well fedI knew they had good food. I knew that they were eating well. I knew that I spent time making it for them.

When did that happen?