Dann Todd's 'Dain Bramage'^**

A Little Bundle Of Joy For Our Happy Home

Like Madonna, Angelina, and other such people, we have decided to adopt from third world. This is a big move for us, but he is such a charming youngster. At only 5 months old he has stolen our hearts. We call him "Tiki" and he comes from north eastern South America.

scroll down for a photo

Tiki the Sun Conure
[Click the photo for a larger view.]

Yup. He's a bird. And while Tiki was born here in the US, Sun Conures are native to north eastern South America.

So what made us lose our collective minds?

We had purchased a Cockatiel for progeny #2 for Christmas. He had been looking for a while. We found a guy south of town that had one that seemed reasonably hand trained. His...erm...we'll get the matter of sexing them presently...name is Spike.

After a couple of months, progeny #2 had decided that he wanted a second Cockatiel so the first one wouldn't be lonely. Our source for the first bird didn't have any more. But he gave us the number of a small time breeder in northern Ohio.

[In the intervening few days, progeny #2 got impatient and bought a bird from a pet store in Lansing. This bird had not been acclimated to being with people at all. It just screeched at everyone, including Spike. It went back to the pet store post haste.]

We called and told the breeder what we were looking for. She found us a Cockatiel that turned out to be the nicest bird; Olivia. Olivia likes to be handled. She'll sit on the dowel in front of the door to her cage and whistle away hoping that someone will come and pick her up. And we do, too!

So progeny #2 purchased Olivia and a larger cage. Curiously, it was less than half of what progeny #2 had paid for the non-acclimated bird and a smaller cage at the pet store in Lansing. If you ever decide to buy a bird, stay away from the pet stores and stick with a breeder.

[This is as good a time to talk about sexing Cockatiels. They are one parrot species that is pretty easy to determine gender. Hens have a striped pattern on the underside of their tail feathers. So we went looking for a female to go with our "male" Spike, and figured out a couple months later that Spike is really Spikette. You just can't buy this sort of entertainment.]

While we were there, we met the breeder's (3) pet birds....along with her breeding stock and a couple of nieces and nephews that were over for the day. She owns a Macaw, an African Parrot, and a Sun Conure. The Conure was just a really pleasant little guy. He hopped out of his cage and hung out with the breeder. He chirped a bit at us and then went right back to his cage to hangout.

Beloved Bride was impressed.

A week later, the breeder called up to check on Olivia. Then she mentioned that she had a shot at a couple of young Sun Conures. She asked if we were interested. It turns out we were.

Imagine my surprise.

Tiki was our anniversary present to one another. He's been a ton of fun thus far. He'll preen you within an inch of your life if you let him. And he's still young, so we are having a good time introducing him to different fresh fruits and veggies.

We've bought a couple books and have read a great deal about parrots on the Internet lately.

We bought Tiki a cage that opens on the top as well as the front. The top doors can be propped open with a dowel so Tiki can sit up high for a while before dropping back into his cage for a snack. And he's got a few toys to play with.

Sometime soon we are going to fabricate a portable, hanging gym for Tiki so that he can hang out with us in other rooms. We spend a bit of time in the basement and it wouldn't be fair to leave him stuck upstairs. It looks like all that macramé I did back in the 6^th grade is going to pay off.

The puppies have their noses a bit out of joint at the moment. They don't like sharing our attention with anyone else. And they certainly don't like sharing our attention with a critter that they would normally turn into a mid-day snack if it were in the back yard.

Fortunately the weather has started to turn warm so I can take them for walks again. That seems to make them happy. And with one exception early last week, there haven't been any inter-species problems. Mostly just a lot of sniffing that Tiki isn't really comfortable with.

The only downside is that Tiki can be loud. And if he is near your ear, it can be painful. But we're working on it. I suppose we'll have to get started on potty training him is as well.

Tiki will come downstairs with me when I come home for lunch. I give him a little fruit to work on while I eat and type. We are slowly getting to the point where he will let me scratch his back and touch his wings. If he isn't in the mood for that sort of treatment, he'll whip around towards the offending digit to let you know. It can get kind of comical.

If you can stand the noise and are willing to invest the time [parrots want and need your attention], a Sun Conure can be a good pet.

by Dann 

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At What Cost Is Defeat?

I wrote the following last winter as a letter to the editor of our local newspaper. At the time I thought it would be my last submission with Ken Wyatt as the Editorial Page Editor. Ken is retiring. Fortunately, Ken was still onboard at the time. I was humbled by his comments regarding the following letter to the editor.

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A question for the dedicated anti-war protesters of our community.

You stand on the eve of victory. You are about to go 2-0 against the American military. At what cost?

The last time you won, we were forced to abandon a winnable war in Vietnam. Expansionist communism swept the region. Millions of innocent civilians were slaughtered. Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos remain mired in communist inspired poverty.

Freed from 'defending' communist North Vietnam and having learned that America lacked the will to win wars, the Soviets then sought to expand their repugnant ideology to other parts of the world; including Afghanistan.

The later Soviet retreat from Afghanistan left a power vacuum that was filled by Muslim extremists; the Taliban. Terrorists supported by the Taliban and the Iranian government made attacks on American embassies, personnel, and eventually US soil.

What will your victory in Iraq cost America? Iranian influence will grow. American influence will wane. Moderate countries and moderate Muslims will have fewer reasons to resist the terrorists and theocrats that distort Islam to their own nefarious ends.

Tolerance, liberty and democracy will be subjected to greater threats. Mass killings of those that fail to accept the extremist version of Islam will increase.

Students of history know that there is a centuries old conflict between those that prefer knowledge and individual liberty over ignorance and slavery. That battle has come to the Middle East. Again.

Will your victory strengthen liberty or will it aid the forces of oppression? Will your victory loosen the shackles of slavery to extremist whims or will it tighten the noose about the necks of their victims.

The people of Iraq have demonstrated in several elections that they prefer democracy to theocracy. Will your victory aid them in their struggle?

Will your victory aid freedom? History suggests otherwise.

by Dann 

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On Pre-Mature Withdrawal

I wrote the following last fall as a letter to the editor of the local paper. At the time, Sen. Carl Levin was proposing timetables for withdrawal from Iraq. Since that time, he has moderated his position so that he no longer supports rigid timetables.

For your reading pleasure:

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Over 30 years ago, the North Vietnamese government policy of patiently waiting while American war protesters wore down support for our troops was rewarded by our withdrawal from that part of the world. After we left, the North Vietnamese communists slaughtered over half a million innocent South Vietnamese civilians. The wrong side won in that civil war. Communists in neighboring Cambodia and Laos began to butcher millions of their civilians who were insufficiently cooperative with their new way of doing things.

Today, in the wake our recent elections, Michigan's leading socialist, US Sen. "Cut and Run" Carl Levin, has announced that we should begin withdrawing our troops from Iraq within 4 to 6 months. The bloodshed resulting from his ill-conceived policy will make the events of recent months appear miniscule by comparison. One wonders if Mr. Levin is prepared to accept responsibility for the hundreds of thousands [potentially millions] of deaths that will follow in the wake of our retreat from the region.

By handing the terrorists a victory that they could not otherwise achieve, Mr. Levin is condemning millions of Iraqis to further brutal oppression and civil war. Freed from fighting our forces in Iraq, the terrorists will undoubtedly turn their resources towards Afghanistan, Lebanon, and various cities throughout Europe and North America.

The point of deploying our military to the Middle East was to fight the terrorists in their backyards instead of ours. There are far too many valid complaints about the Bush administration's failed execution of the Iraqi campaign of the larger war against terrorism. Electing to take the fight to the Middle East instead of waiting for it/them to come here is not one of them.

Perhaps Mr. Levin might know better if he had spent more time reading history books.

by Dann 

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Welcome To My Blog Roll

Welcome to my blog roll - Mr. Sherwood Harrington.

As is my habit, I only add people to my blog roll if they are interesting. Sherwood is a professor in California. He teaches astronomy. His college just got a new planetarium projector. High tech. Interesting stuff.

He also visited Ireland recently and took some fantastic pictures. His descriptions are pretty fantastic as well.

He's new to blogging but not new to writing.

Sherwood is an acquaintance I made in the rec.arts.comics.strips newsgroup. We've had our differences. We've had our agreements.

What makes knowing....erm...not that we've actually met in real life....Sherwood kind of weird is that we have a guy in the local area named Sherm Wood that writes letters to the editor of the local paper. Sherm Wood and Sherwood couldn't agree the color of a cloudless sky at noon. Which makes that little corner of my life a bit more surreal.

In any case, I think you will enjoy reading what Sherwood has to say from time to time. He's an interesting person.

Welcome aboard, Sherwood.

by Dann 

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Cleaning House

Regular readers will note a couple of differences in my blog. Such as the new location. Please bookmark it.

Also, I have removed the other areas of my old site. For you newcomers, I had collections of essays, letters to the editor, and other bilge water presented in a different portion of my old site. I also had an index of site changes and some links to places that I find to be useful.

Since most people are going in the direction of blogs as opposed to coding lots of unique pages, I decided that those other pages are going to disappear for a while. They'll be back. If you are curious, you can poke around here while those files are still online. All that will be left here is the blog.

For now.

You'll also note that some of the links at the left have changed.

The link to Faramin is gone. He isn't interested in much that I can recommend to anyone. I added him because at one time it was possible to have a decent conversation with him. He has no respect no longer has respect for those with whom he disagrees so I see no need to link to his site.

The link to Tacitus is also gone. Tacitus was at one time a conservative version of the Daily Kos. Not so much anymore. I haven't been there in forever so I don't see much point in maintaining a link here.

I'm still tweaking things just a bit, but I hope to have something more substantial for you presently.

by Dann 

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Dainbramage Is Back Online

I realize that my absence has caused no small amount of chaos and tumult in your lives; all 3.2 of my regular readers. Fear no more for I have returned. In no time your Internet experience will be once again the sort of rapturous experience about which normal people can only dream.

You lucky sickos.

All 3.2 of you.

Special Note - I will be making some minor modifications in the next few days. And I also have to get all the old files translated over to the new site. Lots of bloggy goodness is soon to follow.

by Dann 

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