Snowball

This is my friend Ollie, who is also Anita's Dad.

He's an all around awesome guy who plays and teaches cribbage with excellence.

Here we are playing a round on a sunny winter afternoon.  

Sometimes he even lets me win. 

Ollie  gets to feeling lonely as none of his three kids live in town so we figured that perhaps a little bird would provide a bit of a diversion and some entertainment.

It worked for a while until the endless chatter WHILE the TV was on became a bit much, so the little white Budgie moved out of Ollie's place and into ours.

At first "Snowball" was very skittish and would flap all over the cage when Patrice put her hand in, but with much perseverance she won the little "gal" over.

(We don't know if "she" is really a female, but in my world she is.)

Patrice would sit with her hand in the cage for uncomfortably LONG periods of time holding millet out to entice Snowball to get a little closer.  

Bit by bit the trust between these two grew until THIS HAPPENED!!  

I am truly amazed at the patience and dedication of this daughter of mine! 

Below you can see that I have a slightly different approach to bird care.

I'm more of an immediate, "hand's on" type of trainer. 

Since Blue Birdie loves playing in the sink so much I

figured it was time to introduce Snowball to the joy of running water so I stuck her

 little head under the tap promptly filling her tiny nose holes with water.

I got some scolding from Patrice and thankfully Snowball sneezed the water straight out and didn't drown so all is well in the Orchard Bird Sanctuary. 

After working out a few issues regarding who gets to sit near the food dish first and some screeching matches we have peace in the valley. 

The two birdies are very happy together and they are now engaged to be married.

There is lots of kissing and bobbing of heads and sweet birdsongs fill the air.

Can you hardly stand the cuteness?