April 1, 2013: My Contract Arrived

My contract came in last night
My contract came in last night
Heigh-ho, the derry-o . . .
My contract came in last night

Oh my gosh it is a beautiful sight. But it could be written on a napkin and my opinion would not change.

The video is meh but here you go.

Don’t mind my birdies They are normally out with me but they kept on wanting to be part of the video so I had to hold them back for a small bit.

A Jasper Moment

This is Jasper. He is staring at the oven. The very appliance I had just placed a casserole in to cook for dinner. When I took this picture he had been waiting for 15 minutes already with 30 more to go.

This is a common occurrence in my house when anyone cooks. The bird will climb up to as high as he can and just wait for whatever is being prepared for the family ah well in his mind him. Once I leave the kitchen he will yell at me loudly as if to say,”Wait where are you going? You need to be back in the kitchen cooking so I can eat. You know it is all about me me me.” That is what it sounds like as he yells and tries to motivate me to go back to the stove.

If that is not bad enough when I set the table he will slide down his cage, cross his bird stand and climb onto the nearest chair and pace back and forth as he waits. Really bird? I mean really? It just makes me think of the people who have told me in my life that my bird is stupid. He is anything but.

He knows the word no and when to use it. His latest accomplishment has been to learn the phrase, “I know.” So now when I talk to him he will sit on his rail and go, “ I know.” as if he is a dear friend listening to me complain as he sympathizes with me.

He is really an amazing bird and has taught all of us here so much about animal behavior and their personalities. These fascinating creatures are more than just a pet. They infuse themselves into our lives especially one that can talk back to you. Though my favorite line he has every learned has been,” Mom where where where?” which is his way of asking where am I in the house if he does not see me. Does he mimic us…absolutely. But with that mimicking he is learning to interact with us on a different level as he learns when to use certain phrases at the right time.

I know a lot of people don’t get it as over the years I have heard people make fun of me being owned by a flock of birds. My response has always been, “Well you have probably never been owned by one of these splendid animals or taken the time to know them.” They love me as much as any dog or cat I have ever owned in my life. I have tried to imagine how it was before I was adopted by my first birds, Maxie and Twopiece, in 1998 but that is a blur to me. Twopiece is still with me and is my little buddy who sits by my desk on many a day.

I am owned by eight birds and know it. This is not something I would change for the world.

Author’s Website:Take a Bite Part 2

How many posts per page? After checking out several websites and asking around the consensus is three posts is considered enough at first viewing of a page. If people are interested they will look further. The word count per post should be around 500 words give or take a few. Anything excessive will make people stop reading unless the post is drop dead amazing then well ignore this advice.

What I like is how we can personalize it with our own pictures. My heading is my main character to my first book, ” Jasper, Amazon Parrot”.  It is often one will see  authors promoting their books or characters by the pictures located on the first page.

Do leave a place where people can contact you. This was a big snafu I had done. I had shown them where to find me but not how to contact me directly. Lesson learned, one of many we will all discover as we branch out into doing our webpages.

What format you use will determine how many widgets you can place whether on one side of the page or on both. You can even have the drop down menus that you can see on my page at the top. That is a golden opportunity for people to take a quick peak and see what you got going on. Just make sure you keep it updated. Something I need to do in fact.

You can have so much fun with creating your website. It can be how ever you want it while working for you at the same time. Now when I hear of my writer friends tell me they don’t have a page I tell them what is stopping you? How can I help? A far cry from when I waited two months while my site was set to private. It brings out the confidence in a person as their words are being read by other people. To get a person to click like to a post or even comment still makes me giddy. I love it. And you will do once you get started. So after all this what is stopping you?

I don’t proclaim to know all that is good and bad with setting up a page but as always if you have any questions just holler.