Knowing that it would be easier to catch four Finsters we know than an extra nine Finsters we don't, we decided to do the 2004 Finsterium Cleaning before we moved the new kids in — two months early, this time.

The first task was to figure out where to put the "original" Finsters while we cleaned out their house. I realized a little too late that the only way to get the extra hardware cloth cage out of the closet would be to take everything else out first. So instead, Frank, Earl Grey, Darjeeling and Goober spent part of the day in the Popcorn Box From Hell (actually, it was a Detroit Popcorn box that had arrived a week earlier full of tasty seeds). Bruce Of The Long Arms caught them before full daylight, and I trimmed toenails and popped them into the box, all by 7:30 am. Surprisingly, despite the small size, the duct tape, and sitting out in the middle of everything on the coffee table, the birds were remarkably calm. Maybe because they could see what we were doing, and have lived through the Finsterium Cleaning several times before.

The Cleaning was very easy this time, I suppose because it had only been ten months, and (sadly) there weren't very many Finsters to poop it all up. We've been cooking as much this year as we had the year before, but (happily) we didn't run into the same sticky problem we did last year. The actual Hard Work Cleaning Part was finished by 11:00, and the Finsters were back home by 1:00, where they settled into the beautiful clean space pretty quickly.

I can't remember how long it took the "original" Finsters to be comfortable with their cage door wide open, but it was at least a couple of years. So I spent a bit of time with them, for old time's sake. It'll be awhile before the new finches let me do this.



A little before 3:00, we moved the hospital cage full of "new" Finsters into the living room so that all the birds could hear each other, and get used to the idea of new birds. Although they couldn't see each other, I was still surprised at the lack of response from the "original" birds, who barely seemed to notice anything was going on. Also, the "new" birds mostly seemed upset at being in a new room. There was very little calling back and forth between the two sets of Finsters.

Peanut, on the other hand, was very upset that the hospital cage was so close to his house. He squawked from my shoulder, he squawked from the top of his house, he squawked from the Finsterium, he squawked everywhere. Everywhere Peanut Was Squawking And Yelling At The Naughty Finsters In His Space HOW DARE THEY ENCROACH ON THE MIGHTY PEANUT!?!?! In retrospect, a spot further from Peanut's house would have been a better choice, but when you have a 600-square-foot apartment, choices are limited. The intrusion lasted less than a day, and a copious and fairly continuous scattering of snacks distracted him pretty well in the end. Plus, he got to play Peanutzilla.

Tomorrow will be the Big Day, when we move the "new" Finsters into the (Clean N Shiny) Finsterium.