Trick, Treat, or Cheese Sandwich

Halloween is an exciting time around the Feather Dorm. As usual, the Florida/Georgia game is played that weekend which means that I do everything I can to stay home and watch it. Last year this meant some quality time with the birds, building my costume for a party that evening. Cher still has not made her peace with that costume.

I do not normally wear a costume for Halloween, but I found out last year that the party we had been invited to was  costume party. Ms. Flock Advisor lives to wear her costume that one day a year and puts much thought into amassing the various pieces to make it up in the weeks preceding. By contrast, I had decided to run quickly down to Office Depot before kick-off and grab a cartload of supplies for my A.W.E.S.O.M. - O costume so that I could build it whilst depleting the Sam Adam's reserve and watching a Florida practice scoring touchdowns.

 Kenobi and Cher were out roaming the premises while I worked to construct the thing, which was basically a decorated cardboard box. The costume is one worn by Cartman in a single South Park episode wherein he tries to dupe Butters. When the box was sufficiently decorated I began taping it together in its three dimensional form, and Cher was not okay with this. As soon as she saw the brown beast rise over my head as a donned it, she flew sans-direction until she smacked into the screen on the porch. I couldn't believe her reaction, and had to hide the costume until we left the house with it later that night.

This year I pulled it out of the closet to re-use at a costume party to which Ms. Flock Advisor had secured an invite for us both. This time I made sure Cher was in her cage when I un-collapsed it, and so her reaction was merely alarmed screaming and aggressive displacement on her toys. I am sure that A.W.E.S.O.M. - O was very intimidated as she crushed wooden blocks with her beak and yanked on her bells with a claw.

On the other coast, Sprite had his first Halloween experience with us. He and Lennon showed little aversion to my costume; but they were very interested in the treats associated with the holiday. Ms. Flock Advisor and I spent Halloween day with them enjoying a feast of our fall favorites. We made a delicious cocktail of pumpkin ale in a sugar/cinnamon rimmed glass, I had a traditional German Oktoberfest beer, and we loaded up on foods. Bread, cheese, candied apples, bratwurst, and of course candy. We finished the night off munching roasted pumpkin seeds scooped out of the Jack-O-Lanterns we carved that evening.

Sprite and Lennon both got to partake in our snacking, as they usually do. Bread is always a hit with them, but Ms. Flock Advisor created a special Halloween treat for Sprite: a cheese sandwich. She wrapped a cube of cheese in hunk of French bread just the right size for him to hold with a foot. He held it for a moment before deciding to go straight for the filling. He managed to work out the block of cheese with his beak while maintaining his grip on the bread, which he nibbled at second.






Cheese and bread are not part of a balanced diet for parrots, but they are a heavy favorite in the "now and then" food group.