Arika's world, from the beginning

[WakaWaka]

No kids here either - so I totally understand spoiling the birdies . My husband just shakes his head at all the stuff that comes in for the birds and other pets.... but seriously, they are family and it’s so much fun to see what they think of different things!

Exactly !! They are family and its so much fun seeing them enjoying new things and being happy. I think Kelly and I are equally bad when it comes to spoiling her.

 

[Anansi]

Two?!? Wow! Time flies! Arika is so beautiful! And that is a great tree! Here is a pic that shows what I did about the slippery java issue. I used rope for some of the branches and wrap for others. They seem to enjoy the different textures.

 

[WakaWaka]

Stephen,

Thanks, she's growing up fast


Excellent idea !! Nice work on your Java Tree !

We still have some smaller sisal rope left and we can make good use of that.
Thank you kind sir !!!

 

[Anansi]

Anytime, my friend! Looking forward to seeing how you work that sisal on those branches.

 

[WakaWaka]

Yes, Its been a while since we posted any pics or videos.
What can I say, we've just been enjoying our time with our little girl and doing the best we can to raise her to be a well behaved Blue and Gold..... LOL... did I say well behaved... LOL again .

So, in this video.... we just left our audio track alone. Conversation between Kelly and I adds to the fun
Anyway, Arika, AKA Princess Poops-a-Lot, Dirty Girl, etc. hasn't been very cooperative in taking a bath or shower lately. She tired of the plastic tub filled with water and even her favorite of playing with wet kale leaves grew old quickly.

We decided to reintroduce her to the shower at a very slow pace. Just going into the bathroom, walking into the shower with her while the water is off, eventually she expressed interest in watching Kelly take a shower. She still had no intention of getting in and would cry when splashed ever so lightly. Such a baby!!

After about a month, she finally got up enough courage to get on Kelly's arm and get under the soft spray of water. She didn't get really wet, but this was a step in the right direction.

Last weekend she got in with Kelly after a little coaxing with a cashew and spent a good amount of time under the shower head. She really enjoyed it. This video is a brief snippet of her playing in the shower and finally getting really clean.

After her shower, she enjoyed a blow dry and lots of treats and praise for being so good. We hope this trend continues. We'll let you know.
Hope you enjoy the video !

 

[Jen5200]

That is awesome! It appears to be quite the maneuver to get that tail and those wings into the shower while they are flapping and shaking ....makes me glad that I have conures

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

That is awesome! It appears to be quite the maneuver to get that tail and those wings into the shower while they are flapping and shaking ....makes me glad that I have conures

Wonderful vid of Arika finally accepting her shower Karl! Jen...I LOL'd when reading your comment! Amy is no where close to Arika's size and when he gets into flapping and tossing his head back and forth when he showers with me,it can be quite amusing



Jim

 

[WakaWaka]

That is awesome! It appears to be quite the maneuver to get that tail and those wings into the shower while they are flapping and shaking ....makes me glad that I have conures

Thanks Jen, Yes between her tail and wingspan its amazing how much room she can consume Makes us wish we had a giant shower like others have shown with their fids. I bet a few conures would be much easier to handle !

 

[WakaWaka]

That is awesome! It appears to be quite the maneuver to get that tail and those wings into the shower while they are flapping and shaking ....makes me glad that I have conures

Wonderful vid of Arika finally accepting her shower Karl! Jen...I LOL'd when reading your comment! Amy is no where close to Arika's size and when he gets into flapping and tossing his head back and forth when he showers with me,it can be quite amusing



Jim

I can just imagine a lot of water flying everywhere when Amy decides to enjoy himself flapping away in the shower. We really hope Arika continues to enjoy taking a shower because is been difficult getting her to take a bath and we don't want to force the issue and make it unpleasant.

 

[WakaWaka]

Looking at the video, I didn't realize it was that fuzzy and pixelated.
This is the first time posting from a new iPhone and would have expected it to look better that that. The original video on the phone looks crystal clear.
Looks like I have some research to do.

Here we go..... Take II

 

[wrench13]

Love reading about Arrika, she is my fav type of macaw, and she looks soo happy! read yur whole thread yesterday, what a nice story.

 

[WakaWaka]

Thanks Al, we were all very happy to see her finally get soaked in the shower.
She was really into the blow dry after her shower, but we didn't get any video of that this time.

We also love watching you and Salty. What a pair !! LOL

We hope Geri is doing well. Our thoughts and prayers go out to you and your family.

 

[WakaWaka]

Big Yawnnnnnn, Wow...... Looking around after awakening from hibernation.
All I can say is it looks like Mother Nature is really pi***ed off at us and she's letting us know.
I'll leave it at that

Yes, I've been lurking and not posting. Its one of those things where sometimes you just don't feel like talking What can I say.

Bottom line, Kelly, Arika, and myself are doing well.
Arika just turned 4 in May and is becoming a really big Mush Mac as Scott predicted a while ago

She's getting better at going in the shower to take a bath.

Likes to crawl down Kelly's leg, on to the floor, walks over to me where I hid a treat in a wooden ball with a hole in it, eats the treat, picks the wooden ball back up and takes it back to Kelly. She pretty much started doing that on her own.

We now have a regular routine where she flies over to me, we look out the front door to see if people are walking by and we yell hello, hi, or wee wee wee wee (I don't know where she got that from).

Kelly's been working on doing the Adams Family song routine with her and she's almost got it perfected. Not the words, but the bupp bupp bupp bupp, boop boop part of it. She gets really excited doing it.

Despite all our efforts to be as careful as possible, Covid bit us twice.
It was really tough, I almost wound up in the hospital, but we got through it with some help from the antibody treatment.

Sadly, we've lost quite a few friends recently.
One of them is Rob (Disco Duck) passed away in November of last year (not from covid).
I know he got into a lot of trouble here on the forum and was banned.
We met up with him and Rudy a few times at Brandywine Park in Delaware. Meeting him face to face, he was a completely different person.
He ran into some hard times and moved south to the Carolina's.
He was forced to give Rudy up and Rudy was placed at M&D Birdfarm.
With Robs blessing Rudy found a new home with some people in NY. That's all I know.
Sadly Rob passed away about 2 weeks later.

We'll be back with some better news, pics and videos.
Hope everyone is staying safe, healthy, and loving their feathered friends

Kelly, Karl, and Arika.

 

[WakaWaka]

A quick test of new file upload feature.
Starring the adorable Princess Arika modeling in her very early years

 

[LaManuka]

You got that right - she's adorable!

 

[wrench13]

Good to hear from your crew!

 

[Terry57]

I love that photo of baby Arika so much!

 

[WakaWaka]

Good to hear from your crew!

You too Al,
Hope everyone is safe and healthy.
We are looking forward to brighter light on the horizon.
"Red sky at night, sailors delight"

 

[WakaWaka]

You got that right - she's adorable!

Thanks !!
She can turn on the charm like a pro when she wants something
I'll work on fixing the broken photo / video links on the earlier posts this week.

 

[WakaWaka]

Thanks !!
She can turn on the charm like a pro when she wants something
I'll work on fixing the broken photo / video links on the earlier posts this week.

Oh my gosh its been a long time since we've posted !!!

Just to give everyone an update:
First of all, Kelly, Arika, and myself are doing fine.

Its been a little rough the past few years.
Much has happened with Covid, loosing several family members, Kelly's hernia surgery, yada yada yada.
Bottom line, all of us stuck together. With help from family and God above, we got through it.
Both of us have fully recovered from Covid infections as well as Kelly recovering from hernia surgery.
Enough about us, let's talk about the feathered child

Arika continues to work on her vocabulary and other antics..
She picked up "OK, how are you Mom?" from listening to Kelly talking to her Mother.

She's funny. She takes words / phrases that she knows and can say well and starts to shorten them up......
Football becomes Foot, becomes pffft.
I Love You becomes I Love.
Arika knows it makes us laugh and I think that's part of the feedback that she enjoys
She also knows some of the Adam's Family tune sung out as "bup bup bup bup" noises. We'll have to get that on video.

Also playing fetch. She will crawl down Kelly's leg on a towel, walk about 4 feet on the carpet to get to a wooden ball that has a treat inside of it. Move the ball aside, take the treat under her tongue, grab the wooden ball, crawl up Kelly's leg, drop the ball on Kelly's lap, eat the treat, and throw the ball back on the floor hoping for another go around. She just started doing this on her own.

Macaws, born comedians

A few thing happened during Covid.
- Arika would not leave her leg band alone and it started irritating her leg. We had to take her to the vet to have her band removed and get her chipped. I was not allowed in and when she was returned to my truck I knew she did not have a fun visit. She growled all the way home. I could tell she was pissed and it took her a few days to settle down after that vet visit. I normally go in with her but no pet owners were allowed in during the pandemic.
- The other incident was her choking on a baked bird treat. Honestly that scared the hell out of us. She was doing a turn around on her java tree and received a bird treat for a good job. Next thing we noticed was her gasping for air. Fortunately we did a little reading on what to do in case of emergencies and this was covered in the text. The suggestion was to leave them alone as most of the time the bird will clear the obstruction an all is well. She was not able to clear it so I grabbed her, cupped her chest in one hand and placed my other hand on her back. Keeping her horizontal, I let her drop downward, holding her lightly as not to squeeze her, then suddenly stopped and that applied her own weight as light pressure to her chest. Doing this twice cleared the obstruction and she was breathing freely again. Basically a birdie Heimlich maneuver.

That's about it for now. We hope you enjoyed the update.
Please be safe and hold your family and feathered ones close to your hearts.