Got bodhicitta?

Kalachakra Initiation D.C. 2011

2011-06-19T13:15:00.000-07:00

NEW! His Holiness The Dalai Lama will be live streaming the teachings leading up to the initiation! So, if you can't be there, you can watch or listen to these teachings either in English or Chinese right here, online. Here is the link to that:

http://dalailama.com/webcasts/post/191-live-webcasts-kalachakra-for-world-peace

For anyone attending this Highest Yoga Tantra Empowerment, there are several useful texts and websites for valuable information. I've read and studied because with this initiation, which lasts 3 days and concludes on the 4th day with the dismantling of the sand mandala, there is a lot of visualization of the Kalachakra Mandala.

I think having some idea of what will happen at this glorious event will make it easier to concentrate and be present for what His Holiness as Kalachakra will be instructing us to do and visualize. This initiation is different than all other Highest Yoga Tantra and has its own set of unique workings.

I highly recommend The Berzin Archives where he give his book away online in PDF format. This instructional manual is so understandable and the explanation makes perfect sense. Find it here in his Kalachakra text.

At the end of this text there is an outline of the entire initiation process which is excellent, but in the pages before, Dr. Berzin gives a detailed explanation of everything; from beginning to end, including commentary on all the vows. He further makes it clear that we should not be put off by the vows. These are things we already do in our lives to be a good person. However, when you make it a vow, it becomes more valid and when you acknowledge a vow, be it broken or kept, you have a different energy to immediately do something about it. He also explains the root downfalls, how we lose our vows, and how hard that is based on the teachings. Many things have to take place.

Here I found a short animation of the Kalachakra Mandala and how it is not only magnificent, but it is a fully 3D Mandala and is to be visualized as such. Take a look:

His Holiness will be giving two preliminary teachings. 37 Practices of a Bodhisattva, which you can download in the link below this comment. It is a thorough teaching given by Bhikkshuni Ven. Thubten Chodron. She gives a rather clear, concise commentary on these practices which are especially geared toward western students.

http://www.thubtenchodron.org/Commentaries/37_practices_of_bodhisattvas.html

In addition, His Holiness will be teaching on Middling Stages of Meditation. I found a video teaching by His Holiness Karmapa 17th from the Kagyu lineage. It is profound, especially the audience questions; I watched it in two parts. Here are the links for those teachings:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfkBxvtKCP0&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=SPB409791D2B504DBB

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0Ssi14kceg&feature=relmfu

If you want a very detailed, easy to understand audio commentary on the actual Kalachakra Initiation to hear in addition to the Berzin Archives PDF on the subject, there is a concise version given by Geshe Ngwang Dakpa from Tse Chen Ling, the resident Geshe of an FPMT center in San Francisco:

http://www.archive.org/details/Tse_Chen_Ling_Geshe_Dakpa_Kalachakra_20040422

Last, but not least, a new book has just been released of the teachings by the (late) Holy Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, who was the Master of Kalachakra! Here is a link to his book:
Principles of Buddhist Tantra

It may be too late to obtain and read this now, but I will own it because even after the initiation there will be much to understand and develop as the practice takes more meaning.

Further, if you want to actually hear the teaching by Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche which was given at Land of Medicine Buddha in Soquel, California, please go here and listen online or download it for free:

Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche Tantra Grounds and Path Kalachakra

Click here on the word Kalachakra for the official website. There is a lot of information about the venue, empowerment, what you can or cannot bring and any questions on protocol need to be specific because outside of being mindful, respectful to monastic sangha, dressing appropriately, which means be comfortable, but not overly sloppy or overly exposed.

So, as you can see, there are many resources for this information and you can listen to and read all I've posted prior to taking the initiation. There are many places on the Internet to read or listen to tantra instruction, but a lot of it is restricted to those who have already taking the initiation. Please regard that strongly and wait.
If you are attending, please travel safely and I hope to see everyone I know who is going at the event and look forward to being your Vajra sister. This is for World Peace! This is not just for the self, it is for all sentient beings and is precious and special. May His Holiness be well and arrive safely and in perfect health. May He live a very long life in perfect health.

peace,
Victoria

Extensive Bodhisattva Ksitigarbha Mantra to help victime of all tragedy, everywhere!

2011-03-14T19:09:00.000-07:00

Kyabje Zopa Rinpoche, my Holy Guru has asked all of us to recite this mantra as many times as possible, but at least three times to help the victims of the tsunami in Japan, or just about any horrible suffering, anywhere for any reason. But in particular for the fast help to the Japanese tragedy. Double click on the video to see it full screen and see the mantra. It is in HD and won't fit unless expanded.

Peace to you all...with big love, Victoria

Update on Highest Yoga Tantra in California in May!

2011-01-29T11:38:00.000-08:00

JUST ADDED! Well, I did make it to Long Beach, but His Holiness got sick in Japan and did not make it to the initiation! Karma at work. But we were all so happy His Holiness was only sick in a minor way and he arrived the day after the scheduled arrival time. So now I have the great fortune to be attending the Kalachakra Empowerment in Washington D.C. in July 2011. Thank you again to all who helped me attend Long Beach. His Holiness has announced he will return to the States in 2012 to give the Solitary Yamantaka Initiation; date to be announced.

This is what Yamantaka looks like. He is the wrathful manifestation of Manjushri.

I want to thank everyone who indulged me and made offerings for my tsa tsas! I have my plane ticket, hotel and car rental and I will be attending His Holiness the Dalai Lama's Solitary Yamantaka Highest Yoga Tantra Empowerment on May 1, 2011.

I have not had the karma to make it to an HYT empowerment in the near 7 years since I've taken my lay and refuge vows. I did take bodhisattva vows last year with Geshe Soepa here in Austin, when he was with us teaching. I am forever thankful that now my karma has changed a little.

My tsa tsas are still available directly through me or there is a small selection of them being offered in the FPMT Online Foundation Store if you just scroll down on their page. Green Tara,Vajrayogini and Medicine Buddha. I also offer them wholesale to other non-profit centers and ashrams to further raise money to support my Buddhist practice.

Peace to you all and with love,
Victoria

Manjushri Tsa Tsa and others...

2010-12-11T13:33:00.000-08:00

In this short video I am asking that people bring this and the other tsa tsas home for a very reasonable offering for my time and materials. I will use the offering to attend a Highest Yoga Tantra empowerment by His Holiness the Dalai Lama on May 1, 2011 in L.A. California.

I am asking for a 30 dollar donation, including shipping for the Manjushri Tsa Tsa. It is very large and beautiful. I hand make them as part of my Buddhist practice of purification. Below find more photos of other tsa tsas I make in my practice with the suggested offering for those. Shipping charges will be $5.00 for up to four smaller tsa tsas, and more than five, up to 10 items will $10.00 USPS Priority.

Here are other tsa tsas I make and each of these are 10 dollars plus 5 dollars shipping for up to 4, up to 10 smaller tsa tsas will be 10 dollars for shipping. All are sent USPS Priority Mail.

Lama Tsongkhapa Tsa Tsa w/24k gold leaf hat.

Vajrasattva Tsa Tsa

Green Tara Tile Tsa Tsa

All the proceeds will go towards my trip to Los Angeles on May 1, 2010 to receive a Highest Yoga Tantra Empowerment by His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Anything left over will go to Liberation Prison Project

I would never so this unless it was extremely important to me. I hope I am not being intrusive with my request.

Please send me an email at: animaux99@yahoo.com and in the subject use the term TSA TSA OFFERING.

Peace and prosperity to you all...

Big Love,
Victoria (Thubten Wangmo)

Benefitting Animals

2010-12-02T20:07:00.000-08:00

Recently, I had the great opportunity to spend time with Geshe Soepa, who is a great Lama with deep compassion for animal welfare. Especially where meat eating is concerned. This is my opinion, what follows in an article Geshe Soepa has written to the directors of , he gives very specific sutra references regarding what the historical Buddha had to say about eating meat. His only cause for writing this is solely for the benefit of animals and for anyone else who benefits from reading it.

There is also a nice little video of Geshela with me asking him a few questions on the topic. The article follows the video.

Om Ah Hung,
Victoria

My Garden to Remind me Spring is Coming

2010-02-05T09:04:00.000-08:00

To see this video I made in larger format click on the icon at the bottom of the video screen with the four arrows pointing outward. The video is already in HD.

Yesterday I went through all the seeds I collected last fall. The problem is, sometimes I find seed pods ripe on plants in parking lots and elsewhere, I take a few and when I get around to packaging them up I forget what plant it came from. So, there are many times I have no idea what a plant is until it flowers. Maybe it's fun!

I expect a very nice wildflower spring here in Austin, Texas. We've had quite a bit of winter rain and I don't recall when the ground has been completely dry. Let's hope it continues through the spring and then without incident of tornado's we have nice slow rain all through the spring and summer. Doubtful, but I can always hope.

I've included my wildlife certificates, they are not that easy to get and I encourage people to try and leave a bit of room in their gardens so wild animals can have some room. We move in, dig their habitat out, then kill them. Not good. Please be kind to all living beings and don't kill anything.

The Wolf Moon of 2010

2010-01-30T08:50:00.000-08:00

This is a series of photos I took last night of the moon, nestled in the leaves and limbs of my trees. Intentionally, I tried to put the moon in positions where it would look like an illuminated egg or orb within the trees.

It is said that the Wolf Moon comes once a year in January in the Northern Hemisphere, and we are in the United States. Tides were at their highest as a result of this moon being closer to the earth than any other time during the year.

I then took the photos and worked with them to turn them into my impression or expression. Where fuzzy, it was intentionally. Where pixelated, also intentional.

I hope you enjoy my little short. I used the haunting title song from the Thomas Newman score for the film White Oleander. He is a great composer and I hope to play his music on my piano someday.

Peace-

Getting Healthy

2010-01-28T13:38:00.000-08:00

I look at this photo of me as a child and I am not fat, not bone thin. So what I get from this basic information is that I do have it in me to be like this. Yes time passes and I am now 54 years old, but I can't or won't believe it is too late to get healthy and even reverse some of my years by eating well and moving my body.

Sometimes I wonder if it starts in the mind or the body. Where does health begin? Is there really any true health if the two are not on the same level of existence? What I believe is that this can teeter back and forth forever without ever really finding a balance spot. I mean, it's okay to lean one way or the other but the oscillating is not a good place. How can anyone do much when they are dizzy with this imbalance?

Embarking on a growth process, changing how the mind thinks and feels along with how the body is nourished is huge for anyone let alone someone who at times feels crippled with the fear of never having achieved improvement.

Do I have to go back to the way I had to think when I stopped drinking and using drugs and use slogans found on A.A. tables, and the 12 Steps and Traditions? It worked for my alcohol and drug abuse. I'm clean and sober for 26 years as of Feb.5. That was also the day I lost everything I owned in a house fire. I had nothing; not a piece of paper with my name on it. Every gift anyone ever gave to me, every photo, poem or journal I had kept since I was a teenager. Sometimes disaster has to strike, but I would like to avoid the health scare disaster I am facing if I don't get with it and get this weight under control. I've been battling this for 17 years now. When I quit smoking 13 years ago I did gain about 75 pounds. I still have it. It's going to kill me. Time to get going.

peace,
victoria

Embarking on a new beginning AGAIN!

2010-01-24T07:50:00.000-08:00

This year I truly and desperately want to get a hold of what is going on in my body. I want to rid myself of all junk, corn, gluten, animal anything (I'm already a vegetarian for 6 years) and eat more raw and natural foods. I am tired of being tired and sluggish and inflamed and lazy and fat! So tired. My health suffers for it. I am using a book called: The Quantum Wellness Cleanse by Kathy Freston.

Becoming vegan is something I've been wanting to do for a while now and this is as good a time as any. There is absolutely no reason to eat anything which comes from the suffering of an animal. Yes, milk makes animals suffer, so does cheese. Can you imagine being hooked up to mechanical milking machines every day of your life for hours and hours while you stand in your own void? I can't.

I continue to develop my Buddhist practice, fall short most of the time, dust off and stand up and do it again. Practice, practice, practice. Learning how gigantic my ego and arrogance had become has been very cathartic. It is never about anyone out there, it's always about my projection on them. If I can see my husband as an angel, I can see anyone as an angel if I project that. My ego doesn't allow me to do that. It tells me that person is this or that. It's all such a ridiculous lie.

So, I will try to make regular entries on my progress, and get back into doing yoga regularly, deepening that aspect of my life can only improve every other part of my life. When I was doing yoga I walked taller and stood straighter. I'm slouching again and this is not acceptable.

I also plan to start gardening again this year, so look forward to photos and stories about this aspect of my development. It's been three years since I've seriously gardened and my yard looks like it. I can gauge my garden on how cluttered my mind is. Right now it's a weedy mess. Time to get to work. I'm a Buddhist practitioner, not a lazy slug. I want to be the Vajra Warrior I know I can be. With the help of my Holy Guru Rinpoche, and all the other incredible holy beings in my life, this shouldn't have to be difficult.

One last thing; recently I have located a lost cousin. Her name is Crystal Rainone and she is the daughter of my father's younger brother. She is in the film industry and is a motion capture artist. Her most recent accomplishment is her work on Avatar! If you haven't seen it yet, treat yourself to a good theater with RealD 3D or Digital 3D or even IMAX 3D and see it. Here is the trailer if you haven't already seen it ten million times!

Stay tuned to my life changing progress if you wish...

peace,
Victoria

Now the trailer of the motion capture aspect of the film, which is in HD so please click on the icon to expand it to full screen without losing any quality:

It's been a very long time!

2010-01-16T17:06:00.000-08:00

The new logo I designed and then Rinpoche commissioned someone to do the finished artwork. The logo for the FPMT Center, Land of Compassion and Widsom. May it flourish in the years to come, grow and grow.

Brugmansia collection

2009-07-13T16:28:00.001-07:00

Furniture and Mikalou

2009-05-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

Spring 2009

2009-04-12T11:42:00.000-07:00

Greenhouse with only the Brugmansia and roses left inside.

Another view of greenhouse.

Another

Flats of seedlings grown in greenhouse

There is so much stuff to be planted. Now I need energy, weather which isn't 30mph winds, and some dry days with high pressure to work on planting it all.

Chulo is the best Budgie I've seen!

2009-02-20T16:41:00.001-08:00

This little guy is an amazing talker...have fun watching and search for him on YouTube.

This is Wee Woo and amazing talking common starling.

Peace,
Victoria

Prajna Paramita The Heart Sutra in Sanskrit

2008-11-26T14:06:00.000-08:00

Learn to recite the Heart Sutra
in Sanskrit.
The video is really audio with a photo of His Holiness.
I hope to one day recite this without reading it.

See the words below the video link.

Prajna Paramita Hrdaya Sutram

Aryalokiteshvara Bodhisattva gambhiram Prajna Paramita caryam caramano,
vyavalokiti sma panca-skanda asatta sca svabhava sunyam pasyati sma.
Iha Sariputra, rupam sunyam, sunyata lva rupam,
rupa na vrtta sunyata. Sunyataya na vrtta sa-rupam,
yad rupam sa-sunyata, yad sunyata sa-rupam.
Evam eva vedana, samjna, sam-skara vijnanam.
Iha sariputra, sarva dharma sunyata laksana.
Anutpanna, aniruddha, amala, a-vimala, anuna a-paripurna.
Tasmat Sariputra, sunyatayam na rupam.
na vedana, na samjna, na sam-skara, na vijnanam.
na caksu, srotra, ghrana, jihva kaya ,manasa.
na rupam, sabda, ghandha, rasa, sparstavya, dharma.
Na caksur-dhatu, yavat na manovijnanam-dhatu
Na avidya, na avidya ksayo,
yavat na jara-maranam, na jara-marana ksayo.
Na dukha, samudaya, nirodha, marga.
na jnana, na prapti, na abhi-samaya.
Tasmat na prapti tva Bodhisattvanam,
prajna-paramitam a-sritya vi-haratya citta avarana,
citta avarana na sthitva, na trasto.
vi-paryasa ati-kranta nistha nirvanam.
Try-adhva vyavasthita sarva Buddha Prajna-Paramitam
A-sritya Annutara-Samyak-Sambodhim, Abhi-sambuddha.
Tasmat, jnatavyam Prajna-paramita Maha-Mantra,
Maha-vidya Mantra, Anuttara Mantra, asama-samati Mantra.
sarva duhkha pra-samana satyam amithyatva.
Prajna Paramita mukha Mantra
Tadyatha, Gate Gate Para-gate Para-samgate Bodhi Svaha

This fence lizard made it up to the prayer flags

in the garden. Lucky critter!

Have a Heart: Don't Kill Wildlife

2008-08-15T14:28:00.000-07:00

Our garden is protected by the two certifications we
achieved through the Texas Dept. of Parks and
Wildlife and the National Wildlife Federation.

These are our certificates last name omitted:

This is a baby fence lizard. We have many thousands
of these lizards all over the property.

Here it is full grown, disguised by the Mesquite bark.

Rufous hummingbird at our kitchen window feeder.

Rufous at a Dulichos lablab aka hyacinth bean vine.

Gardening with an Un-Gardener!

2008-06-28T07:20:00.000-07:00

I started gardening when I was about 19 years old. I remember digging out a circle about 8 feet in diameter and starting in the center, working my way out using concentric circles put seeds in the soil. It was my pride and joy! Those were the days when gardening was simple. Mostly the portulaca was the one plant to survive my little circle.

Here on the left is a path in the back part of our property with all the plants which lived here before we came, mixed in with some species I planted, either native or adapted.

I try to use plants which provide food, or shelter to the small wildlife which are displaced when they build the Walgreens and CVS stores on every corner. What's up with that, anyway? Why DO we need one of those on every corner? The other monster of displacement is Walmart. It's "their" goal to have a Walmart every two miles. Well, around here, mission almost accomplished. Then there's the Lowes/Home Depot "mine is bigger than yours" ideas.

As a result of this we have allowed our gardens to become a certified World Wildlife Foundation Backyard Habitat as well as the harder to get Texas Parks and Wildlife Backyard Habitat. Native plants must make up at least half of the plant list, but I have over half.

This year the garden is transitioning into a garden where I do not water on a regular basis. I will still water my trees because they are more valuable than the house!

This is our lap pool. It's only 50 feet long, but perfectly sized for me to swim laps and have a nice hot tub. Everything is surrounded by plants. Sometimes we go in the pool and use it as a hideout and watch the birds, and other little things living in the garden.

When we moved into this house I brought my entire garden with me from our previous house! That took up the largest covered trailer from U-Haul. Literally hundreds of plants. The previous garden was in Dallas, now in Central Texas. I'm fortunate to have very deep soil as we're half way down on a hill. The top of the hill has rocky outcrops and very thin soil, so I am very fortunate.

This pile is required for animals to have shelter. Currently, that I know of, four very young opossums live in this pile. We've had many animals living in this mess! Animals love natural piles like this. In addition to the opossums, there are mice, rats, Carolina wrens, and there has been an armadillo, but he must have moved somewhere in the front of the property. I see his little nuzzle paths in the mulch in the front garden. No harm comes to the garden other than the movement of mulch. So I move it back in place. I allow for this and it brings me great joy that wild animals like living here.

Here's what the yard looked like when we bought the house. There was on mesquite tree in the back where the brush pile is. You can't see it in this photo but it is directly left of the pool and about 30 feet away. I designed the pool so we had planter boxes to either side and a space near the steps of the pool where we could put in a small pond. At first the pond only attracted toads, but now we have bullfrogs too. I have no idea how they got here. We do live near an active creek, but it's about 2,000 feet away.

This photo shows the end of the pool with the hot tub and to the right of the square hot tub is a built in area for the pond. This photo was taken about two months after we bought the house. As you can see, there are homes in the background. I'm happy to report I can no longer see them. I've planted desert willows, vitex, palo verde, Texas mimosa, redbuds and the tree which shades the brush pile is a paulownia. In four years it is almost 30 feet tall. I'll post more photo's in the days to come.

See any neighboring houses to the left? I surrounded the pool with a natural screen. To the left of the pool seen here is where I let it go wild and where the critters have free reign.

Here you see a better photo of the
finished pond enclosure. It's hard to believe how sparse the property was eight years ago.

Here's another view of the back with the patio in view. The
shade cloth is replaced with a one piece greenhouse which fits
over the same frame I put the shade cloth onto.

I'll post more as time goes by and the garden grows. I will put just a few more photos at the bottom of the page which are plants of my passion.

Brugmansia suavolens 'Peaches and Cream'

This Brugmansia is actually a clear yellow and looks to be a 'Charles Grimaldi.' It was given to me so I am not sure of the exact identification.

Thanks for the visit! See you in the garden.

Victoria

P.S. I know this page is messed up and I'll figure it out eventually!

This New Yorker I'll Miss Always

2008-06-24T17:58:00.000-07:00

What more is there to say of this genius of himself. He is and always be the king of the comedic, long stream of consciousness. His rants using current expressions and making them look oh so silly will never be outdone by any other.

George was one of my most beloved comics. I had the honor of seeing him in Austin, Texas at the Paramount Theater some years back.

He was not from the school of "holding back," or "sugar coating it!" Topics ranged from how our country of the United States was a big sham, to the depths of people's beliefs in a man in the sky, "...and he needs MONEY!" One of the more hard to hear rants was how he felt about suicide. I remember sitting in the audience cringing for anyone who possibly had a child, spouse, parent or friend who just committed suicide and how that would not be very entertaining to them. It was not meant to be funny at all. He was rather serious about it. He took risks, big risks.

All the reports and all the hacks coming out of the woodwork on all the blather shows are saying how wonderful he was, and they're right. Bill Maher said on Larry King, "I know he died a happy man." How does he know that?

After all is said and done George Carlin was a man who grew up in my city of New York. He attended the same schools in Spanish Harlem my mother attended. They lived a few blocks from one another. There's something about home grown New Yorkers. There is an intelligence about them; maybe their ability to understand and have a wide swath of comedic prowess. One thing is for sure, we know how to laugh at ourselves and George Carlin was always there to count on that.

HBO will run all of George's HBO Specials. For a schedule see:

http://www.hbo.com/events/george-carlin/tribute.html?ntrack_para1=feat_main_image

I will miss him...

Find a good human rebirth George!

In memory of a beautiful sentient being...

2008-06-13T18:45:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, many times, I find it hard to breath knowing there is so much unnecessary suffering in the world.

This is a beautiful being, tall, strong, with eyes which jet into my deepest potential of a human being. His eyes penetrate and I find it hard to understand that, although this animal was treated as if he were the king of the greatest country in the land...it still didn't last.

Barbero. Beautiful, shiny, love. I never met him, but I am plagued with this connection and truthfully unhealthy attachment to animals and their suffering.

I'm still the only person on my block who lets the rats live, the opossums nose around at night with the armadillo who roots out my prize plants. I don't care. It's theirs to have. Why is it so easy to make such offerings to animals, yet near impossible to make offerings to human beings; also suffering. I work on it and I do my best, but I still get in my own way.

I suppose this entry is coming from the contents of my mind as I watch a world in crazy ruin. I watch my own country of America becoming something I didn't sign up for. There are people starving in my country. The United States is owned by other countries, but we still have the ability to cover it up. How does that happen. Aren't we educated in this country of ours? How will the elderly people who live up in Wisconsin pay for heating oil this winter? Even more horrible, what will happen to the people who are already working three jobs get to work when they can't afford the gas to get there? Are there answers? Is this all just collective karma? Why am I seeing this before my eyes? Are you my mother?

I guess I sound depressed, but I'm not. I'm actually quite awake. When Thelma says to Louise, "L'weeze, you awake, cus I feel awake." It's that turning point, the cusp. How long do we have to marinate in our juices before we wake up? Why are there so many questions? I feel like Lucy in "I Am Sam."

We're landing on Mars, fixing toilets on space stations, rigging voting machines, hanging chad(s), creating new versions of Grand Theft Auto instead of Grand Hydrogen Auto.

So much wasted time and energy, including my own blog, of course. I think three people may read this, and two of them are my mother and husband, so feh!

Oh, and I have to get a new windshield wiper arm because a few weeks ago when I fell on concrete (!) I tried to use it as a handle and it came off. Everyone should have such problems. I pray everyone has one huge problem; that they need a new wiper blade.

lovelove

Animals Need Care

2008-05-07T07:51:00.000-07:00

This morning I was thinking of all the things I have to do in order for my parrot to be healthy and happy. I'm always looking for ways to entertain her or for new foods to provide nutrition she may not be getting in captivity.

Mika Bird Johnson is named in part after Mika Hakkinen (a retired Formula One driver) and in part after Lady Bird Johnson. Goofy? Uh, ya. I only call her that when I'm annoyed with her, otherwise I just call her MiMi, her nic name.

Mika is a Hahn's Macaw, she weighs a mere 165 grams and eats and poops continuously. I have no idea who invented the term "eat like a bird" meaning very little. Birds eat and forage about half their waking hours. They preen for a good portion of daily life and they need 12 hours of uninterrupted sleep. So, you can see just these small demands are far more than anyone would provide.

Then there's the food. Mika needs an array of fresh and cooked vegetables and fruits, as well as grains like oats, groats, spelt, wheatberries, sprouts, pellets and small amounts of seeds. Birds in captivity shouldn't get too many seeds or they risk becoming overweight, potentially causing liver problems. So this took me just ten minutes to think of. Imagine actually caring for a pet bird.

I'm writing this about her today because many people buy pet birds and don't realize how much care they require. In addition to the above needs, they are very intelligent and require challenge, puzzles, toys, being played with, making sure they know how to play on their own for mental health and parrots have the intelligence of a human child the age of three. For an animal, that is pretty smart.

Do all parrots talk? Well, no, not all. If this is why you want a parrot, forget it. Some parrots, like African Grey's mimic every sound possible. They are so good at it, many people think the phone is ringing to find out it's the bird. These are very noisy parrots, but they do talk. Another parrot is a Cockatoo. There are many varieties of this bird and before buying one people should know these birds require a minimum of four hours per day of physical interaction with their "person." With this breed, you risk having a pet bird who only bonds to one person in the house and will do self mutilation if their person doesn't pay enough attention to them. Not a bird for everyone so please don't buy one because they are cute. It is torture to a bird.

So, now that I gave my standard lecture, my pet parrot gets all of this and more. She travels with us when we go places and loves to be with me in her outside cage. Some people clip birds wings to prevent them from flying away, but my bird does fly in the house and I let her so she gets some exercise.

If you truly love animals, please do a LOT of reading about the animal you want to have. They are not as easy as water and feed.

Have a good day!