Just in case you haven’t been following my blog lately, I recently published my first children’s book, Stella the Starling.  I’ve delved into my old e-mails to find things I wrote about Stella while I raised her.  Here are weeks 5 and 6 of “The Stella Diaries” from the summer of the year 2000.  Enjoy!

The Stella Diaries: Weeks 5 & 6

Monday, June 5, 2000

I took Stella outside today while I was at my parents’ and let her play in the sprinkler.  She LOVES that sprinkler!  I never tire of watching her little antics!  She is one of the most delightful things to watch!  I find her far more entertaining than any TV show.

 

Tuesday, June 6, 2000

I got another little lecture today from Mrs. Wolf today.  It sure doesn’t do anything for my nerves, sense of well-being, or happiness!

I was feeling pretty frayed by the time I left the school;  I stopped at Manito and took a few deep breaths and let Stella play around.  It was a good way to wind down.

I went back into a bushy area and a squirrel came to a branch a few feet above my head and started chattering at us.  It is really interesting to watch not only people’s reactions, but also other animal’s reactions to Stella!  They seem to come closer when I have Stella with me.  I’m going to take her to Turnbull Wildlife Refuge with me and see if I can get some curious wildlife creatures to come really close to investigate.  Anyway, there was another squirrel at Manito, too–watching us silently from a little farther away.

Before I left the school another curious couple walking by on the sidewalk saw me with Stella and stopped to ask the usual questions.  Stella has all kinds of admirers!  It was funny–the man said, “I can tell you’re going to be a veterinarian!”  I said, “Well, actually I’m going to be a teacher…”  Ha, I can’t wait to put birds in my own classroom (or better yet, my own school)!

Right now Solomon, the dove, is out of his cage.  Awhile ago I had Stella out, too.  They pretty much just ignore each other.  Solomon is having a lot of fun flying around.  The poor thing has gotten a little bit neglected since Stella’s arrival.  But he’s still friendly and sits on my head or hand and coos at me!

 

Thursday, June 8, 2000

(morning)

Right now I have to go to school;  I don’t want to be late to show off my cute little bird in that Montessori classroom!   I’m taking her baby pictures with me so the kids can see the growth from BABY to what she is now.  Maybe we can find a picture in a book or on the net of an adult starling for the kids to see!  Oh, this is going to be fun.

 

(evening)

The kids in the Montessori classroom LOVED Stella, of course.

Stella is sleeping on my lap.  She is so cute!

 

Sunday, June 11, 2000

Today I played for an hour or two with Stella.  Doris, (the little neighbor girl) came out and played with me and Stella.  Both Doris and Stella were having a grand time!  Once Stella had that opportunity to be out for awhile she calmed down a lot.  She was following me all over the place.  So cute!

 

Monday, June 12, 2000

Haha!  Thought you might like to hear about this:  it is so cool to be at home all day for once (yay, summer vacation!);  I’m getting to watch my birds.  Bart the cat is snoozing on my bed so I closed my bedroom door and let both Stella and Solomon out.  They are having a grand time flying and hopping around my apartment.  I put both Stella and Solomon on my arm and they were both very content–each enjoying being with me and kind of ignoring each other.  Then Stella “noticed” Solomon and decided to go for a piggy back ride on his back, but when she hopped on him he obviously got a little spooked and flew away.  It was pretty comical!

Then a little bit ago they were both on the floor in my living room, walking around.  Stella, curious thing that she is, decided she wanted to investigate Solomon a little more closely, so she started to walk over in his direction.  He had a different idea and started to walk away from her, and pretty soon they were chasing each other all over the floor until Solomon finally flew up to a chair.  It was pretty funny!  I wish I’d had my camcorder on. I’ll have to catch some of these moments on tape.  Stella generally chooses to follow me around the house wherever I go. (I have to watch where I step!)  If she does her own thing, though, she usually comes right away when I start calling her or talking to her.

Ok, back to my duties.  These birds are just so fun!  I don’t know how anyone could NOT like them–I enjoy them so much that I feel like sharing the enjoyment with everyone else, which tends to bug some people…

 

Tuesday, June 13, 2000

I was out for a few hours today working, but during the time I was home I let Stella out.  She always follows me all over the place and lets me know if she wants up on my shoulder or something.  Most of the time she comes when I call her and usually she jumps onto my hand if I offer it to her.  She’s so cool!  I put another 10-15 minutes of stuff onto her tape today, too.    I took Stella outside for a few minutes.  I took her out front and there were some mighty interested cats out there, so I brought her in and went out the back. Fortunately there were none back there and Stella got to play around for awhile.

 

Thursday, June 15, 2000

Mrs. Wolf’s reaction to Stella is something I’m just going to have to live and learn by–I guess not EVERYONE likes birds.  But I’ll say this for her:  she was pretty nice about it–on the last day she gave me a going-away present bag, and a couple of gifts were wrapped in bird theme wrapping paper (feathers and eggs on it) and there were at least a couple of books about birds!

Back to 2015…

So have you ever tried to raise a bird before?  Have you had any other “wild” or unique pets?  My husband, Keith, had a prairie dog when he was a kid…

If you have a fun animal story, feel free to share it in the comments below, and watch this blog for more Stella stories!