Saturday, March 24, 2018

The Old Toilet Paper Roll Game

Come on, admit it.  You've tossed the old toilet paper roll around before wondering what you might do with it.  It makes a great viewer for an eclipse if you tape a piece of film over the end.  It makes a great dog toy for the puppies to roll around and it makes a GREAT toy to keep Jonathan occupied for about 30 minutes.

Parrots are very protective of their space.   If you introduce anything new to their cage, they will sit in the corner and sulk.  All those ropes that hang from the top are quickly covered in dust because Jonathan won't have anything to do with them.

Birds really need to chew on something to keep their beaks in shape.  Otherwise, they can grow so long the bird can't eat.  Pieces of wood are the preferred play toy for parrots, and Jon gets lots of closet rods cut up into six inch pieces.  That, by the way, is why he lives INSIDE a cage instead of outside with access to furniture.  Yes, they will chew the legs off your chairs and shred your drapes.

As you can see here, Jon's beak is in pretty good shape.  Good enough to cut your finger off if he really wanted to.
What they prefer MOST is paper.  Jon will spend hours sitting on the floor trying to snake a piece of paper off the bottom of the cage so he can chew it up into a million pieces, the better to frustrate me with paper all over the floor.  Truth be told, it's "her" nesting instinct.

Toilet paper rolls are even BETTER!!!  In about three minutes it was unrecognizable ... that is after he screamed at it, poked at it and made sure it wouldn't bite back!!  He put on quite the show!!
Alas, the paper roll was gone and Jon was again asleep on his perch, so I threw the ball for Cooper a few times.  From the TV room, I launch it through the kitchen into the living room, making for a longer run and less throwing.  

Cooper came back running around like crazy, meaning he couldn't find the ball.  We both looked under and over everything.  I tried to get him interested in another ball, but that wasn't happening!

I couldn't do this again if my life depended on it.  This is where I finally found it, stuck in the back of a chair.
The rest of the day was spent working on the latest quilt and packing.  Yes, it's getting close to that time again.  Thankfully this time the only packing required is the refrigerator and some clothes.  
And Jonathan ... and the kids ... and all their toys because I'd be knee deep in you know what if I leave one of Cooper's toys here!!

The weather couldn't be nicer, 75-85 during the day with cool 40 degree nights.  Perfect weather for Easter egg hunting.  Have you got your eggs dyed????




10 comments:

  1. What a fun post! Thank you for sharing the story of Jonathon's t.p.roll run. I laughed at that and Cooper with the ball. Didn't know you were such a good aim, eh? :) God forbid you should forget one of Coop's balls!

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    1. Trust me, Cooper would definitely let me know if he didn't have a ball to play with. And Jonathan ... well he's just Jonathan, a silly bird.

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  2. Interesting about Jonathan and toilet paper roll. Oh yeah do not forget a toy you be in big trouble for sure.

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  3. Hi, cute post about Jonathon and the toilet paper roll.
    What an aim with the ball...:)
    Reading yesterday's post I really like what you did with the rocks, quite pretty.
    Happy packing!

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    1. Oh Deb ... there's nothing happy about packing in my house ... but I try to make it part of the experience. It's kind of like threading 300 strings through a loom.

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  4. GREAT idea. I'm going to do that, but I'll have to find smaller rocks. The ones I have are about 4" across!!
    Do Beach rocks on a rain day do something like tic-tac-toe or 3/18
    Or a star ⭐️ or HI or your it
    Down here some kids leave them all over the place but it's fun you could move them to another place let somebody else find them
    There's no rhyme or reason where they leave them but it's always fun to find one and move it someplace else

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    1. You can put anything you want on them, then discreetly park them someplace. Some even write on the back about keeping it or passing it on. Remember where you hid them so you can check.

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  5. Before you go Ask Mr C if he can get you some Ironwood branches for Jonathan. They only need to be 8 inches long half inch in diameter
    They're all over your back 40
    Or if you got a pair of lopping shears
    another suggestion would be 8 inch long sugarcane strips you will need,, good Lord can I say this,, a hatchet 🙊🙈😡

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    1. Sugarcane strips would be great ... Jon would probably love those!! The wood has to be soft enough for him to break pieces off or he won't touch it. I'll check on ironwood and see if that's a possibility.

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