Bruce went to England for work and all he brought back were two very nice whiskies — so I'm not complaining. Not really. But still.

He also brought back a gift for Peanut from a friend he visits with when he goes to the UK: Piu Piu. She picked it up from the Pylones Boutique in Paris. It's magnetic, so you can position paper clips to look like wings and a tail. (Being mostly a paperless — and paper clip-less — household we haven't tried this yet, but I'll bet it'll be fun!) It also sings when it moves.

Although the same size as Peanut, and noticeably heavier, Piu Piu is no match for The Master Of The Universe. Peanut has the Heart Of An Eagle, after all! And if we could find our fire wire cable, or even our USB cable, you could watch a three-minute movie of Peanut telling Piu Piu a thing or two! When he tries really hard, he can almost move it enough to make it sing!

But, um, we can't find either cable. So you'll have to take my word for it, for now. By the time we find (or replace) (at least) one of those cables, it'll probably be a thirty-minute movie!

Thanks, Feeney!

You may have noticed that this web site was down for a few days. That's because my web host suddenly went out of business, as they so often do, and it took a couple of days for me to figure out what was going on, and then another day or two for the DNS tables to propagate once I switched hosts.

You may also have noticed I haven't been writing much lately, but that's just pure laziness.

Never fear, though, Peanut and the Finsters are alive and well. The Finsters are chirpy and busy as ever. And just the other day, Peanut was King of the Salad Beans! It was quite an exciting moment, let me tell you! Peanut was not, I'm afraid, Eater of the Salad Beans, but he did flick a few around.

As I've mentioned before, I feed Peanut seed balls by hand for breakfast and dinner. It's a great bonding experience, and by doing it every day he reinforces my good behavior. Tonight, though, his first dinner wasn't enough. About an hour later he wanted more.

Now, this was not the first time he's asked for seconds, but it's the first time I've indulged him. I mean, really! Dinner twice in a night? What is he, part Hobbit?

But I indulged him tonight, because he wasn't feeling well this weekend. He was never clearly ill, but he was clearly not right: sleeping all day, not eating much, not hankering for Warm Toasties. Shocking! Bruce fed him granola from a spoon several times, and I took him to the vet on Monday. I've taken finches to the vet that were much sicker than Peanut, but hey! He is Master of the Universe, after all. Although he'd lost a gram since his checkup a couple of weeks ago, his weight was still normal for him, and the doctor couldn't find anything specific wrong. Saturday was the worst day, and he really seems fine, now. Active again, vocal, eating two servings of dinner. Phew.

Still, it's a bad habit to get into. I'll never be able to get a real job if I have to feed Peanut by hand five to twelve meals a day, after all. So you'll be pleased to know that he only got one dessert!

With all the other terrible things going on in the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the stories of pets just add to the terrible sadness. People who left their pets behind, now desperate for information about them, people who refuse to leave their homes without their pets — all of it is sad. Most of these people have lost everything, and making them leave pets behind (and worse, to be KILLED) is an unimaginable burden.

It's good to know that local animal welfare organizations are doing their best to help out. CNN has been following the story, here's the latest: "Pet rescuers race against time," Peggy Mihelich, 9/9/05.

The Humane Society of the United States published an article on September 4th about people who managed to bring their pets with them: "Refusing to Leave Them Behind, Evacuees Smuggled Their Pets Out With Them," Carrie Allan. Scroll down to read Lola's story. She's a love bird who spent the bus ride from Louisiana to Texas hiding in her owner's cleavage.

I don't have a firm disaster plan ready, although I've certainly thought about it. Given enough time, I'd catch all the Finsters and put them into the hospital cage, and take that, Peanut's house, and all the tasty seeds I could find with me in my car; the destination would depend on the disaster. In a pinch, I don't know what I would do about the Finsters. They're hard to catch even in the darkness, I don't know if I could do it under stress, in only a short amount of time.

Despite his Mighty Beak Of Biting, Peanut would be much easier to grab and carry. Those lightly clipped wings of his, combined with a napkin for 'toweling,' make his capture relatively easy even in a hurry. But we're going to have to work on the whole cleavage idea. Oh, he likes to snuggle during Warm Toasty time, so once he gets used to the new spot he should settle in well enough. But I don't have a whole lot of cleavage. Good thing Peanut is so small.

I finally buried Nutmeg and Peppercorn (Mélènge) today. Partly I put it off because when I thought to do it my temporary neighbor was home, and I'm sure he wouldn't have approved. And partly it was kinda nice to still have them around, even if they were only frozen in the freezer.

But that's pretty weird, after all.

I buried them together, both with tasty seeds, Nutmeg with feathers since she was so naked, and Peppercorn (Mélènge) with some corn.

Sweet, tiny, frozen things.