Breakfast is Harley's most important meal of the day, since that's when he's hungriest. Dinner is Harley's most important meal of the day, since that's when he's likeliest to get cheese, or some other naughty bit of food. And lunch is Harley's most important meal of the day, since that's when he's most likely to play with his food. In some ways, lunch should be his least important meal of the day, since many bird people don't think these creatures really need three full meals a day. But Bruce and I are working from home, and if we're eating, Harley has to eat too. However, our lunch schedule is rarely as regular as breakfast and dinner, so rather than give Harley a plate of peas, lunch has grown into Fun With A Skewer.

I give him a combination of lightly sprouted grains and seeds, cooked beans, and minced vegetables, usually placed in a coffee filter, with various chunks of vegetables stung onto a skewer. The game is definitely "I MUST REMOVE ALL THE LITTLE BITS FROM INSIDE THE BROWN PAPER," and occasionally "LET ME DRINK THESE VEGETABLE CHUNKS WHILE I'M HERE." But he's really grown to love this game. He might not actually be eating much more of the healthy stuff during lunch than breakfast or dinner, but he spends more time with the good food. So that's a plus.

Sometimes, it's the usual mash in a special dish — although if memory serves me correctly, there was probably something covering this paper dish. A rice cake? A lettuce leaf?


Vegetables that Harley usually ignores get chomped on the skewer.


This half of a sweet pepper got pretty well torn up, seeds and all.


Look, even hot peppers can be fun!


Lately I've been putting the mash mix into two coffee filters, to give Harley more work, and then adding a chunk or two of vegetable. Here's another shot of Harley the day we got the new air conditioner, with the two coffee filters.


But sometimes I'll roll a spoon of the mash up in a big lettuce leaf, or — in this case — a leaf of chard.


Come to think of it, now that Fun With A Skewer has become a daily event, I should probably weigh Harley. (Something I should do a bit more regularly than I already do.) Hopefully, he hasn't gained much weight.

Oh, and really — Snacks is Harley's most important meal of the day. Really, what was I thinking?