The One with Cara Barer

Artist a Day did it again. I am so glad I look at this website daily. Yesterday they featured Cara Barer.

Cara Barer studied Art and Photography at the Glassell School of Art at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, and at the Art Institute of Houston. Her photography, centered around damp/water-damaged books, has appeared in shows from New York to California, and throughout the state of Texas.

They're all my favorite. I absolutely cannot and will not narrow them down.

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The One with the Bird Brain

Where do I begin?

I'll start with some background info.

When and why did you get a bird? I worked for a few fleeting months at PetCo over the summer of 2005 to earn some extra cash before Chris got home from his mission. While there, a shipment of birds arrived and one particularly caught my attention. Because it was nice to me. I like nice things. Especially nice animals. All of the other birds were shy and un-affectionate while this little guy would eagerly get on my finger and embrace my snuggles.

What kind of bird is it: Don't really know for sure. It's probably a green-cheeked conure or a maroon bellied conure, (conure is underlined as a misspelled word in blogger...funny, it's not even a recognizable type of bird), but I asked the vet once when we had to take him there to get his beak filled in with acrylic because our chinchilla bit a big chunk of it off (but that's another story) and he says that the breeds are so crossed and mixed that he's not even sure. I just say he's a green cheeked conure. Actually, most of the time I just say he's a small parrot cuz no one has heard of a conure.

Is it a boy or a girl bird? I dunno. And we won't ever know unless we get it DNA tested. We call it a him, even though he's named after a girl character. Poor birdie. The funny thing is, most of the time in nature the boy birds are a lot more attractive so they can get mates while the girl birds blend into the environment so they can sit on eggs. Poor female birdies. They get the shaft.

What's its name? Jadis. I was reading the Chronicle of Narnia books at the time I got him and I liked the name Jadis - she's the evil White Witch.

How long do they live? Up to 30 years. 4 down. 26 to go... We'll have grown kids by the time this thing passes on to the next life!

Next I'll share some stories and photos.

Jadis is always eating. Anything we eat, he wants to eat. Probably not the best thing for his little tummy wummy, but, if we don't give him what he wants, he bites us. Here he is snackin on some Halloween candy.

Here we are walking around in Colorado enjoying some atomic fireballs. Like mother, like bird. Or something.

Mmmmm. Cheeto.

This is how he takes baths. I'll be brushing my teeth or washing my face and he'll jump in the sink and swim and flutter around. It's quite entertaining to watch. I'll have to take a video next time he does it.

Jadis is the bane of Chris' existence. Chris tolerates him. Barely. At least once a day he tells me, "It's the bird, or me!" Whatever honey, I see you smiling in this picture!

I used to bring Jadis to work with me every day at Scrapbook Trends. He was sort of the office mascott. Then people started bringing their dogs and so the boss banned animals. Phooey.
Instead of "Where's Waldo?" how 'bout "Where's Jadis?" Can you find him amongst the bins of layouts?

One time I took a picture of him, printed it out and set it on his playground. He didn't like it so much. He was giving it the stink eye and trying to attack it.

One of the first questions people ask me when I tell them I have a small parrot is, "Can he talk?" And the answer is, sort of. He can say a few words, but mostly he mimics sounds. I'm sure I'm forgetting some which I'll have to add later.

Words:
Jadis
Step up
Go to sleep
Goodbye (still working on "hello")

Noises:
Our whistle (twee twoo)
The clicks of texting on a phone (click, click, click)
A fart noise (attractive, I know)
Kisses
A light saber noise he makes only when we sing (cheew, cheew, cheew)
He laughs when we laugh. Little does he know we're laughing AT him, not with him. Mwahaha.
And he ALWAYS makes a high pitched screetch when we flush the toilet

His wings used to be clipped so he couldn't fly more than a couple feet. I could take him outside without the fear of him flying away. But eventually the clipped feathers fell out and were replaced with full-fledged flying feathers. Now he can fly as far and wide as his little heart desires.
Which brings me to the reason of this post. I almost lost my bird. On Saturday morning while Chris was taking a test, I was sitting at my laptop doing some work. Jadis was doing his thing around the house: chewing shoes and pooping. After a couple hours I realized I hadn't heard him in awhile. Usually he'll chirp or make noises as he's doing his business. I had the screen door to the deck open because it was nice outside and Rachel the cat likes to chill out there. The screen on the door is broken so Rachel can come in and go out as she pleases. If she can go through it, Jadis can most definitely go through it. I ran around the apartment searching in all the usual places for Jadis. Not behind the bathroom door. Not on the shower rod. Not on my shoe rack. Not on our bed. Not in a sock drawer. Not hopping around the kitchen floor. I started to panic. I went onto the deck and started calling his name and making our whistle. No bird. I came back inside and did another round of searching. Nada. I ran back outside, onto the street and started calling for him and whistling like a mad woman. I got some crazy stares. My heart was broken. I would feel so bad forever if I lost my bird. I said a little prayer and came back inside to do one more search. As I was rummaging through our clothes closet, there he was, asleep in the back on the floor. He's never hidden there before so that's why I didn't think to look there in one of my first tirades. I almost cried with joy. I will never think another hateful thought about Jadis again. I thought I had lost him. But I didn't and I'm a happy girl once again.

I'll end with my favorite picture of Jadis that I took at Christmas 2005.

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