Coming Soon: Another New Baby

So far nothing has changed at work. I am adjusting to my new arrangement, but the fact that leadership does not seem to care that I am isolated from the rest of the groups makes me angry. I have decided that I will stick things out for awhile longer, but I may elect to quit at the end of summer, maybe after Labor Day. I really should quit so I can focus on my dissertation, anyway. I finished my two classes today and now I only have two left before I enter the dissertation phase. In my next class, I will be required to take a comprehensive exam in which I will be required to answer questions about a research article and be able to explain the statistics and research methodologies. I have about three months to prepare, so I should do fine, but it is a bit nerve racking to think about it.

I found out today that Bubo is pulling Rio's feathers out. I noticed that he was missing some feathers on his neck and today I caught Bubo red-beaked. Dan had decided that he didn't want to give Bubo up, but today he said it would be best to rehome him. I am sad that he is so high strung and won't calm down. He can be sweet, but he is really an odd bird. Rio is so sweet and laid back, and I think he would do great with another bird that has a similar personality. The other day Dan told me that he wants me to get another sun conure from the breeder I got Rio from. I messaged her to ask if she had any suns left, and she said she had a new clutch that had not been DNA tested yet. She also said she had a waiting list, but since she likes to choose her birds' homes based on quality rather than place in line, she said she'd bump me to second place for a boy. Well, the DNA came back and there was only one boy out of the four, but the person ahead of me who originally wanted a boy decided he or she liked the hybrid sun/jenday instead, so she let me put a deposit down on the boy! I am very excited. He will be ready around the end of August, which is a horrible time to fly a bird to the South, but I am hopeful that we will have at least a few nicer days at the beginning of September. This is a picture of my new boy (the one being held). His name is going to be Phoenix.

Rio is doing great. He seems to be all settled in and happy. He also eats really well. I made chop last weekend and he eats it like a champ. He really likes the mung beans I sprouted, so today I mixed them in with the chop and after he ate the beans, he went to town eating the veggies. He ate most of what was in his bowl and bunch that was in Bubo's bowl. He is such a clown, too. He loves to roll over on his back and have his belly scratched. He just doesn't do it often because he doesn't feel safe with Bubo around. I try to give him plenty of alone time so he can relax. Fortunately, Bu doesn't mind being alone.

In other news, we finally were notified that our camper keys were in, so we drove a half an hour to pick them up, went to the camper to try them out, and voila! THEY DON'T WORK! I knew exactly why, too. We have a keyless entry lock and the keys the ordered are for a standard RV lock. The key we had before was closer to what we needed than what they ordered. I actually found a supplier on Amazon that cuts RV keys for the lock we have and ordered a couple. I pray this words, because if it doesn't, we will have to buy a new lock.

I am looking forward to the short week. Things should be fairly quiet at work this week because we are between sessions, but the new session starts on Wednesday, so next week will likely be normal again. Our two new specialists started on Wednesday and hopefully they will be trained up with a month. Until then, I will just put my head down and trudge forward.