noblemacaw
New member
- Sep 23, 2011
- 1,056
- 3
- Parrots
- Valentino - Red Fronted Macaw - Hatched August 12, 2012
I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying spring.
Valentino seems to be doing well as the only parrot and only animal in my home. I have taken training more seriously with him and I have noticed he has been responding a lot better with it. Valentino happens to be my most intelligent parrot but he is also my most strong willed parrot. Sometimes we do clash with the training and I had to learn to be able to know when I can push him and when I have to stop and walk away. I was concerned with Valentino becoming "over bonded" to me and am taking the necessary steps to prevent and work with this. My Ex really does care for him a lot and has been stepping up with spending some time with him. I do understand if I am present Valentino really does not want anything to do with her. I am happy to say Valentino does respond better to my friends across town when I visit them with Valentino. They have a BTM and they both get along pretty good.
I did go though a period of "thinking" about clipping Valentino to take away some of the power. My logic was that if I can "take" some of the ability of flight away I would be able to work with him better. I thought about this VERY hard. In my heart I know I would never clip Valentino's wings. I believe with the RFM it is necessary that they have the ability to fly. It is my decision to work with Valentino's ability of flight and the attitude that goes with it. It is harder but I am dedicated with making it work.
With me things are moving slowly BUT they seem to be moving in the right direction. Lately I feel very hopeful and optimistic that I will be able to sucessfully be able to get back on my feet and move forward. Today I attended a Woman's Veteran conference and was able to connect with other vets. This was extremely helpful to me not only with connecting with people that can help me but a huge help for me socially also.
I also reconnected with a friend I have known for almost 20 years. We work in the same field and I was able to learn that him relocating south of the cities he was able to find stable work. In the 18 months he has been with the company he has been promoted three times. Later in May I am going to go down to visit him, stay about 4 to 5 days and check out the town and the jobs. If need be I am not adverse to moving down there to take the job. Rochester is a little over a hour drive from the cities.
Of course I would take Valentino with me. I would have to find a new vet for him in Rochester and learn if they have emergency care for avian there. While I visit my friend I will leave Valentino home with my Ex. She does take very good care of him and I think the small separation will do us both some good.
For now I am working the connections I have made of late with employers in my field. I am looking into a very good county job that is downtown Minneapolis. Although I have not worked downtown since 1997 I would be willing to do it. There is a lot more support for commuting into the city than there use to be. I use to not want to work in the city or have to drive across town to take a job but now because I will soon have the freedom to relocate I look at opportunities all over the cities, even 45 min commute out. I know traffic is brutal around the cities but I can suck it up until I can move closer to where ever I end up working. Some of the jobs I am looking into do pay enough for me not only to be able to survive but to be able to LIVE.
I still have some bad days and I think that is normal for my situation. Although the bad days are not as many as they have been. I have been working hard setting up my garage sale that will be later this week and although I admit it was hard for me to go though my things and put in the mindset I will sell it it will be freeing to be able to part with 3/4ths of my belongings. I am really starting over in every avenue in my life at this point. It was bittersweet to set up for the garage sale because of the strong memories which attach to the belongings but I dealt with it well.
Well tried to update a video of Valentino but would not load onto photobucket and tried to get into my youtube account but don't remember the password. Could not recover because can't get though the stupid security questions having me remember when I last was able to long in and last password used and month date and year last used any of googles devices. Really? If I remembered all of that I would be able to log into my account. *sigh* So I guess I will never be able to upload any videos again. Oh well. Wanted to update you all with a video of Valentino but I guess that is not going to happen. Sorry about that.
Valentino seems to be doing well as the only parrot and only animal in my home. I have taken training more seriously with him and I have noticed he has been responding a lot better with it. Valentino happens to be my most intelligent parrot but he is also my most strong willed parrot. Sometimes we do clash with the training and I had to learn to be able to know when I can push him and when I have to stop and walk away. I was concerned with Valentino becoming "over bonded" to me and am taking the necessary steps to prevent and work with this. My Ex really does care for him a lot and has been stepping up with spending some time with him. I do understand if I am present Valentino really does not want anything to do with her. I am happy to say Valentino does respond better to my friends across town when I visit them with Valentino. They have a BTM and they both get along pretty good.
I did go though a period of "thinking" about clipping Valentino to take away some of the power. My logic was that if I can "take" some of the ability of flight away I would be able to work with him better. I thought about this VERY hard. In my heart I know I would never clip Valentino's wings. I believe with the RFM it is necessary that they have the ability to fly. It is my decision to work with Valentino's ability of flight and the attitude that goes with it. It is harder but I am dedicated with making it work.
With me things are moving slowly BUT they seem to be moving in the right direction. Lately I feel very hopeful and optimistic that I will be able to sucessfully be able to get back on my feet and move forward. Today I attended a Woman's Veteran conference and was able to connect with other vets. This was extremely helpful to me not only with connecting with people that can help me but a huge help for me socially also.
I also reconnected with a friend I have known for almost 20 years. We work in the same field and I was able to learn that him relocating south of the cities he was able to find stable work. In the 18 months he has been with the company he has been promoted three times. Later in May I am going to go down to visit him, stay about 4 to 5 days and check out the town and the jobs. If need be I am not adverse to moving down there to take the job. Rochester is a little over a hour drive from the cities.
Of course I would take Valentino with me. I would have to find a new vet for him in Rochester and learn if they have emergency care for avian there. While I visit my friend I will leave Valentino home with my Ex. She does take very good care of him and I think the small separation will do us both some good.
For now I am working the connections I have made of late with employers in my field. I am looking into a very good county job that is downtown Minneapolis. Although I have not worked downtown since 1997 I would be willing to do it. There is a lot more support for commuting into the city than there use to be. I use to not want to work in the city or have to drive across town to take a job but now because I will soon have the freedom to relocate I look at opportunities all over the cities, even 45 min commute out. I know traffic is brutal around the cities but I can suck it up until I can move closer to where ever I end up working. Some of the jobs I am looking into do pay enough for me not only to be able to survive but to be able to LIVE.
I still have some bad days and I think that is normal for my situation. Although the bad days are not as many as they have been. I have been working hard setting up my garage sale that will be later this week and although I admit it was hard for me to go though my things and put in the mindset I will sell it it will be freeing to be able to part with 3/4ths of my belongings. I am really starting over in every avenue in my life at this point. It was bittersweet to set up for the garage sale because of the strong memories which attach to the belongings but I dealt with it well.
Well tried to update a video of Valentino but would not load onto photobucket and tried to get into my youtube account but don't remember the password. Could not recover because can't get though the stupid security questions having me remember when I last was able to long in and last password used and month date and year last used any of googles devices. Really? If I remembered all of that I would be able to log into my account. *sigh* So I guess I will never be able to upload any videos again. Oh well. Wanted to update you all with a video of Valentino but I guess that is not going to happen. Sorry about that.
