I finally took Peanut to get some of his flight feathers trimmed about a week ago. The minute I let him out of his travel cage after the trim he flew here, and there, and back again, just to show me he could still fly AND NO WING CLIP WILL CHANGE THAT. EVER. In this photo, you can see him near the top of the Finsterium, looking to see if I'm watching so he can sneak inside.

The thing is, since the clip, Peanut has seemed less active than usual. Now, there are a couple of external factors in play. First is the clip itself: I'd been lazy and didn't keep up with the trim, so he had a lot of time to get used to zipping around, flying loops around the living room, flying on top of the Finsterium, and other potentially dangerous things. So the clip could still be a bit of a shock. Second, we had a house guest for a few days, and while she was nice (and brought presents!) she did change everybody's routine a bit. I also cleaned Peanut's house, and may not have gotten all the perches and things back in the exact same spots as before. These are enough new things to suggest a behavioral change, and not a physical one.

Still, he is Master of the Universe, and all, so I took him to the vet's office for a checkup this morning.

After some very rude poking and prodding, and a weigh-in — he was up 1 1/2 grams to 24: still less than an ounce, but we may need to cut back on the sunflower seeds (AS IF) — the vet declared him fit and healthy. He's eating well (obviously) and his poops look good, so we decided I'd keep an eye on him for a few days, and see if his behavior gets back to normal, or if I find more physical cues. Despite his weight gain, he's still too small for a full blood work up, and possibly too small for any tests at all — so apart from giving him antibiotics "just" "in" "case," waiting is about the best choice.

Of course, the minute I let him out of his travel cage after the checkup he flew here, and there, and back again, just to prove that was feeling much better, now, and clearly wasn't dead yet, or anything like that. But then he took another nap, so it's a little hard to say. Still, when he is active, he does his normal things, including flying (only once so far) on top of the Finsterium. So I'll try not to worry.

And that wing feather trim? He's already molted one of the clipped feathers.

We store some things in the freezer in a big plastic bag. Things like sunflower seeds and pine nuts, that you don't use very often and don't want to go bad.

By the light of the Finsters' night light — the standard 4 watt light bulb — Bruce thinks the things on the left (Peanut's giant sunflower seeds) look exactly like the things on the right (chocolate chips). Needless to say, they taste very different on top of ice cream. Especially when the sunflower seeds still have shells on.

There are a few things about nest boxes that continue to elude me, even after all these years. Like, Why are plastic nest boxes so darned Evil? Or, Why are clean nest boxes Evil, but nasty, poop-covered nest boxes are happy, joyous places to be? Just when I thought that there was nothing new to learn about nest boxes, I went and learned something new.

It turns out that nest boxes are Pure Magic — the old, familiar, poop-covered boxes, that is. You see, despite all the busy nest building that has been going on for the past few months, when I switched the old ones out yesterday for clean, new ones, ALL BUT ONE WAS EMPTY. Well, empty except for crusty dried poop, but we won't go there.

Cinnamon and Ginger's nest box (and sometimes Wasabi [Peas]) was filled very prettily with grass and raffia and a bit of poop. But Szechwan (Pepper) and Cassia's box, which I expected to be filled to the brim with nest squeezin's, was empty (except for poop), as was Earl Grey and Oolong's (and sometimes Wasabi [Peas]). It seems that all the work that Szechwan (Pepper) and Earl Grey put into building their nests got stolen by Cinnamon (and sometimes Wasabi [Peas]). Mind you, Earl Grey and Szechwan (Pepper) (and sometimes Wasabi [Peas]) stole a lot of it back, but clearly it all ENDED UP in that one nest box.

The thing is, Cinnamon and Ginger's nest box (and sometimes Wasabi [Peas]) was only half full. Where did all the bits of old sock, and all the raffia, and all the timothy hay that the birds carried into those boxes go? And what about all the dill?!? There was no dill in any box!

I say that the Finsters are studying alchemy, and one day I'll find a tiny gold nugget hidden amongst all the crusty dried poop. Bruce says the nest boxes are portals into another dimension. Only time will tell.

Here are a few more pictures of Finsters in the old, poop-covered (and filled) nest boxes, taken a few days ago. First, we have Earl Grey sitting in Cinnamon and Ginger's nest box (and sometimes Wasabi [Peas]). I suppose you'll have to take my word for the ownership on this one. But trust me, Earl Grey is not in his own box, nor is he stealing anything from anyone else's box. Instead, he's sitting calmly inside, probably thinking something like "Hey, this is nice with all this grass and stuff inside. Why doesn't my nest box look like this?" Here's a big picture of Earl Grey in somebody else's nest box, looking very stern (pops).

Next is a lucky snapshot of Szechwan (Pepper) darting out of his nest box — empty, as it turns out, of anything but dried poop. You can also see Oolong (Of The Ears) sitting on top of the box, looking surprisingly like a head-on-a-stick.

Although I regularly try, I still haven't been able to get calm, pretty photographs of the Finsters. They all still get flutterpated and nervous when I open the door of the Finsterium with the camera in my hands. Silly Finsters.

Oolong is relatively calm, but even she won't pose long enough for me to get a proper close up of her ears, which are unhampered by feathers. (Here is a closer view of this picture, not very clear.) Birds' ears are very interesting, small holes in the sides of their heads, and you can see both of Oolong's. We love her ears.

Her feather damage is unique: the top of her neck and the bottom of her head are bare (which is why you can see her ears). She doesn't have the "head-on-a-stick" phenomenon. Instead, one visually assumes she has a pretty, fluffy feathered body, no neck, and a particularly small, naked head sitting right on top of it.

Szechwan (Pepper) is peeking out in the photo of Oolong, here he is by himself: He is the perfect example of a "head-on-a-stick." Not that that's a good thing. Feather damage all along his neck, a bit down his back, and moving up his head. Remember when he first arrived, and I wondered if he'd grow back any feathers? Well, that hasn't happened. I can't say for sure about the feathers on his neck, but I do know that his head keeps getting balder. You can't tell in this photo, but the top of is head is practically bare. His ears are still covered, though.

This is a molted, clipped wing feather. There is only one currently left on His Majesty, The Great Green Wonder, aka Peanut, The Master Of The Universe.

Aka The One Wot Flies To The Top Of The Finsterium.

He's such a naughty boy. For a while I was herding him down with a big spoon, saying "Go home!" loudly, and telling him what a good boy he is when he gets there. It's all about encouraging the good behavior, right? But in this case, it isn't working very well. Because he's just lost that next-to-last clipped wing feather, and he likes it on top of the Finsterium, and I'm afraid that even when I get his feathers clipped, he'll still be able to get up there. After all, if he can fly from his house to the top of my head while I'm sitting on the couch with his wings clipped, he can probably fly from his house to the top of the Finsterium with his wings clipped. Sure, there's more lift required, but less distance. I'm afraid that the cat is already out of the bag, as they say.

(Have you noticed how many sayings involve cats? What's with that?)

Since herding Peanut off the top of the Finsterium isn't stopping him from doing it, I've tried another plan, which is to distract him. Instead of making a big fuss when I get him down, I do it quickly and quietly, and then do something else with him. You know, play a game with him, distract him with a drink of water from a new container, walk briefly into the bedroom while he's on my head.

Here's an impromptu play gym that kept him occupied for about three minutes: