The Periphery of the Mind

The other day the IRS sent us a nastygram saying we owed them $900 or $4000 for unpaid back taxes from 2007. It wasn't very clear. While I spent 20 truly awful minutes waiting for someone to pick up the phone, Maryanne was able to tear the entire house apart and find our 2007 tax returns (she has a skill at saving and finding important things, whereas I'd probably just throw them away). After talking with the woman and looking at the return it became clear: her previous employer had sent the IRS paperwork for the month or so she worked and then sent in a second W-2 for all the money she made in 2006. So now she's trying to get that sorted out. According to the IRS we need him to give us a signed document on company letterhead and a corrected W-2. Hopefully he's not trying to use us as some sort of temporary tax shelter, but who knows.

Better news on the canary front. Juliet is sitting on a total of six eggs now! Seems the first three she laid were followed by another three later, including two in one day. And she's very intent on her nesting. Esmerelda seems to be doing fine, and we're hoping to move her and Casanova soon and let them start breeding.

Labels: birds, Financial

So....

Tuesday afternoon I came home and checked on the canaries. They all looked fine, except Esmerelda. She was puffed up, breathing heavy, and looking stressed. And one of her eyes were swollen shut and she had some reddish gunk on her beak. It was really rather scary. Looking back though it's rather amusing that it took two adults to force medicine down a little bird's beak, but it did. She's doing better now, and her eye seems to be almost back to normal; I'm certain she can see out of it at least. Every time we pulled her from her cage, Casanova (who's in the cage next to her) got very upset and vocal about it. And every time we returned her, he would sing and sing. If nothing else, she seems to be warming up to him, and he seems to have stopped fixating on Juliet.

Speaking of which, Juliet laid another egg. Possibly a late fourth for her last clutch. The Professor's trying to return the first three eggs back to the nest, and Juliet seems to be accepting the one added today. Assuming they hatch, and we can get some other clutches this year, we could be making a nice profit by spring of '10 and pure profit from then on. So hopefully that will pan out.

A big stumbling block to all this though is that the Professor and I are hoping to list our house for sale by the first of June, or maybe even sooner. And we hope it'll move quick. Which could be good for us, but bad for breeding little birds. If nothing else, paint fumes and the like will be a major consideration. Tonight we're meeting with the realtors for dinner and then they're going to tell us all the things we need to fix, and all the things we can let slide. You actually want to leave some things alone, so that the potential buyers can dicker with you and feel like they've gotten a deal when they ask for repairs (or more accurately repair money). Major stuff will be fixed of course, but there's not too much of that on the house left. We've already replaced the furnace and the water line, and the gutter will be replaced by this weekend.

On a related note, I'm selling my old crap. I'm not making a profit (the stuff I could sell at a profit I'm keeping), but I'm still doing better than if I tried to sell it in a yard sale. To a large extent I look at it as reducing clutter and stuff to move as being worth something too, so I don't mind so much.

Labels: birds, moving

So this weekend the Professor and I made a road trip to London, Arkansas, to the Singing Wings Aviary. Well, actually, we left our house on Saturday morning and after seeing half-a-dozen vehicles off the road due to slush and ice, we decided to turn back home and watch some Terminator and Dollhouse. Then we made the trip.

The aviary was just outside of Russelville, and we made it a bit harder to find than it should be. It's one of those places operated outside of somebody's house, and it really makes you appreciate just how many neat little things you can find hidden away. We were both impressed with the number and variety of birds; I think the owner said she had over 1200 birds (some of which were kept inside and out of general public viewing). Prices were fairly reasonable; we paid $80, which is about half what a pet store charges, but $20 more than other breeders. I think the premium was worth the selection however, as we found a nice mate for Casanova. A little red-brown female we're calling Esmerelda.

Introducing Esmerelda to Casanova was chaotic. First Casanova begins singing as strongly and loudly as he could the moment he sees her. Then Juliet thinks Casanova is singing for her, and starts going nuts. Making Romeo jealous. So in between attempts to sing and fight with Romeo, Casanova was chasing a rather stressed out Esmerelda around. After re-arranging the cages some, Casanova and Esmerelda were placed in their own cage well away from Romeo and Juliet and everybody seems happier.

That said, this canary breeding year may be a bust. Between the house work and moving of the birds (and hopeful moving of us), the canaries may be too spooked to properly breed or raise any chicks for a while.

Labels: birds

The Professor was looking for a new canary for her grandmother Monday, and stumbled across a very red little guy with an excellent disposition, that we're calling Casanova. Now we just need to find him a mate, and we'll start breeding him too.

Romeo and Juliet are... possibly mating. We're not too sure. Juliet's already laid unfertilized eggs while by herself, so hopefully she'll start laying for real soon. She's been busy nest building lately, so that's a good sign. But on the other hand she shows no interest in Romeo, and he's seemed rather... cautious around her. Henpecked is possibly a good definition. She gets rather vocal in her scolding of him, and she seems to scold him a lot.

In a true case of "counting your eggs before they're hatched", we could see almost 20 chicks born in time for the fall bird fair with two mating pairs. And at $50 or more a chick, we're hoping to not only pay off all the birds in one fair visit but also make a nice profit (pet stores always charge more than independant breeders). And then next year the profit would increase even more. So maybe the Professor's hobby will pay for itself.

Labels: birds

Here's a long shot of Romeo singing his head off as Juliet hops around in the background. For laughs I started playing these videos of him singing in the same room as him. And yes, he tries to sing with (or against?) the "other canary" he hears when I play these clips.

Labels: birds

So the Professor is out having dinner with her mom, leaving me with her iMac and all the goodies it holds!

Here we have a red panda that was staying at the Kansas City Zoo. He was really something to see.



Next up is a video of her canary, Romeo, singing his little head off. If you notice, in the background we have Juliet hopping about in her change as he sings.



And finally...



It's not what it looks like it. Probably.

Labels: birds, home videos, pets, Pictures, vacation