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Post by easttex on Aug 8, 2016 13:15:37 GMT -5
Apartment living again is my nightmare. I'm way too much of a misanthrope. Look out if I ever have to wind up in assisted living, because I'm going to be one cranky old lady.  |
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Post by siobhan on Aug 8, 2016 17:38:47 GMT -5
As long as Rocky 'Too is around, an apartment would be completely out of the question. Our neighbors can hear him now, and we live on a dead end road where the houses are actually some distance apart.
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Post by cnyguy on Aug 8, 2016 20:13:06 GMT -5
I'd much rather be living in a house, but right now, that's not an option. I have to keep reminding myself of the (few) advantages of living in an apartment: I don't have to shovel snow in the winter, and if anything breaks, I only have to call maintenance, and eventually, they'll repair or replace it.  A few years ago, there was a DYHA living on the bottom floor of my building. He was a noisy fellow, and the manager of the complex got a complaint about him from someone living two blocks away.  Fortunately, there's never been a complaint about any of my parrots, not even George, who was far louder than either Ralph or Scooter (except when she does her smoke detector imitation, learned in her previous home-- mine's never gone off since she's been here). Scooter still jumps sometimes when Ralph squawks, and his squawks aren't that intense. She pays no attention to his infrequent alarm calls (mostly done when he sees a local car dealer's commercials on TV). |
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Post by siobhan on Aug 9, 2016 14:49:33 GMT -5
True, you don't have lots of work to do that we have. Mowing grass, for example, and we've had an exceptionally hot summer, with no a/c, and no riding mower. It's one you have to push. We also have a leak in the roof that we simply cannot pinpoint. It's over Ringo's room, and no matter how often Hubby, who's a CARPENTER, goes up there to look for and patch it, it keeps leaking. He's looked from the attic, he's been all over the roof, still can't pinpoint it.
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Post by cnyguy on Aug 9, 2016 19:45:37 GMT -5
There are always maintenance headaches when one owns a house that are mostly avoided in an apartment. The roof leaked into my apartment a few years ago (the drips conveniently started directly over the kitchen sink) and I wasn't responsible for fixing it. However, I did live with a two foot square hole in the ceiling for three months, before maintenance finally got around to fixing it. And my rent went up after the new roof was put on the building. I do miss having my own yard. I do the gardening at my apartment complex, but it's not the same as tending my own gardens (and is a lot more work with ten acres to look after). I don't have to mow the lawn (that's contracted to a landscape service), but that hasn't had to be done so much this summer, since it's been so dry here (hardly any rain for the last two months). I do spend an hour or more every day watering flowers since there's been so little rain.
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Post by aaron on Aug 11, 2016 10:01:32 GMT -5
Yeah, being in an apartment definitely has its perks. Over the 8 years here we've had our oven replaced, our dishwasher replaced, our washer/dryer replaced, the ceiling cut open to resolve a leak and ensuing mold, showers recaulked, and many other little things done... all at no cost to us, and quite promptly. And of course as you mentioned, no shoveling of snow... We also have covered parking, and essentially unlimited hot water, generator power when the power goes out (if they feel like burning the fuel, which varies...), all of which I really appreciate. We often talk of moving to a house, but I would definitely miss these things! I'm sure it will happen eventually anyhow, but nice while it lasts  |
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Post by siobhan on Aug 11, 2016 14:06:10 GMT -5
You both have better landlords than I ever did. LOL We lived in an apartment briefly and the landlord could never be found except when rent was due, and even then we had to pay an agent. We rented houses for several years when we were first married and we had to do all the stuff like mowing and fixing things that broke because the landlords couldn't be bothered, and when something needed fixed, they'd say you fix it and we'll knock it off the rent, until they saw the bill, and then they wouldn't knock off ALL of it off the bill, even with receipts to prove how much it all cost. One landlord used to come in and snoop when we were at work. Stuff would be in different places than we'd left it, and she deliberately let our ferret out because she didn't like ferrets -- and ADMITTED IT! When we said she wasn't supposed to be poking through our stuff, she said it was HER house and she'd come in any time she liked. It was a huge relief to finally buy a house and not have anybody else to answer to about what we did and when, or what kind of critters we have, and having all the responsibility of maintenance is nothing new, since we had that even while renting.
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Post by biteybird on Aug 12, 2016 17:03:16 GMT -5
OMG, Siobhan, that sounds awful. I feel lucky as I own my house (have had it 22 years now) but renters are definitely correct about all the things that need fixing...our place is quite small with medium-sized backyard, but it's 50+ years old. And it has asbestos in the walls. So we put off fixing bits and pieces and do the things one at a time when we can afford it. There's no way I could afford to rent here in Melbourne - $400-500 per week. :0
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Post by siobhan on Aug 16, 2016 11:32:14 GMT -5
Yeah, rents here are much higher than our house payment was (we live in my childhood home now that my parents are gone, and it's been paid off for years) and while I understand why younger folks would be hesitant to buy, or have trouble coming up with a down payment or financing, they really should work toward that goal. My co-workers who rent pay twice what we did for a house payment, and most of them live in one-bedroom apartments, while we had a two-bedroom house with a sizeable yard for that.
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suel
Hatchling
Posts: 3 
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Post by suel on Sept 6, 2016 19:12:06 GMT -5
Poppy the Tag bathes in his water dish and sometimes I spray him! He bathes a couple times a week!
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suel
Hatchling
Posts: 3
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Post by suel on Sept 6, 2016 19:14:59 GMT -5
Grays are way messier than Quakers! I always clean Dorys cage first cause Poppys is like chipping off cement!
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Post by cnyguy on Sept 6, 2016 20:38:15 GMT -5
Grays are way messier than Quakers! I always clean Dorys cage first cause Poppys is like chipping off cement! I've said before that Scooter the CAG is far and away the messiest of the three parrots I've lived with. Of course, her poops are bigger, and that means an extra layer of newspaper in the bottom of her cage (and I'm imagining what that will do to my parrot shirts when the day comes that she wants to perch on me ). She spreads her feather debris and dust all over the apartment, despite never going beyond her cage, and gets uneaten pellets and unwanted food everywhere. As much as I like to complain about the mess, I accept it as being one of the joys of living with parrots. |
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Post by easttex on Sept 7, 2016 16:44:23 GMT -5
I don't know if this is common for greys, but Allie has never pooped on me. Not even once, for which I am extremely grateful. In addition to being able to hold it for long periods, she's particular about where she goes. She never goes in her night cage. Even when she wants to stay back there a while, she holds it in. The only exception is when she decides to bathe in her water bowl. (She doesn't poop in the bowl.) She has just started letting me bring her into the shower, and since that happens before I move her out for the day, I was watching for signs she would poop in there, but nope, she hasn't gone in there either. So she makes quite a mess with her food, and her dust gets everywhere, but she's rather hygienic about her toilet. |
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Post by cnyguy on Sept 7, 2016 20:00:40 GMT -5
Scooter isn't quite so fastidious as Allie. When she comes out to sit on the outside of her cage, she usually poops in her treat cup (which cannot under any circumstances be moved-- she made that quite clear) or sometimes on the floor. Once or twice, she's used her food and water dishes for a toilet too. So I'm not so sure that she would hesitate to leave a "little blessing" somewhere on me, if she ever does decide to perch on me.
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Post by easttex on Sept 8, 2016 5:22:10 GMT -5
I don't want to paint too rosy of a picture. In her day cage Allie has landed a few in her water bowl.
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Fortunately, there's never been a complaint about any of my parrots, not even George, who was far louder than either Ralph or Scooter (except when she does her smoke detector imitation, learned in her previous home-- mine's never gone off since she's been here). Scooter still jumps sometimes when Ralph squawks, and his squawks aren't that intense. She pays no attention to his infrequent alarm calls (mostly done when he sees a local car dealer's commercials on TV). 
