Fiona & Przemek

One of the things that has increasingly interfered with my blogging is the little voice that worries that I'm repeating myself and looking senile.  Then I think I should probably search the blog to see if I've said this before, and that can be rather time consuming, and then I get frustrated--do I simply say it and risk repeating myself or spend time tracking everything down to check it out. Then it all seems to be too much effort, and I give up. I've reached an age where I do think I repeat myself sometimes. It makes me self-conscious, though I know it's typical. I talk to a lot of people, and it's hard to keep track of what I've said to whom.  My pride is often problematic for me, and I'm trying to commit myself to just blogging what I'm thinking at the time, repetition be dammed.  I have more thoughts and conversations than I am able to keep track of, and I'm a middle aged woman with too much on my mind most  of the time and far too little sleep. Repeating myself is inevitable. If you know me and catch me doing it in person, please stop me.  If I do it on the blog, just scroll. :)  I'm trying to let this go.

That said, I'm sure at least some of this is repetition. One of the most interesting things about living our very alternative lifestyle, with so many members of different species interacting as a big family, is the relationships that develop. I like to watch the relationships and track the ups, downs, and changes through the years. It is absolutely intriguing. In many cases I observe changes in relationships and am never able to figure out why the change occurred, in some cases, I can.  In all cases, they are mysteries for me to solve and ponder (when I'm not sleeping but trying), and keep life in our household very interesting.  I will forever wonder why certain cats go from being best friends for years to hostile enemies. I've clearly missed something monumental that happened between them, but WHAT?!

When we got Przemek, the little button quail, I assumed he would join the doves, as they are the closest to his species. One thing seems to hold true universally, regardless of species, gender, age, etc., we all like to be around those who are most similar to us.  There are those who exclusively prefer others of their own kind and those who are more adventurous, seeking out those who are very different and forming relationships (I call those the diplomats, more on that another time--very interesting phenomena I've observed!), but they still ultimately prefer those most similar. I found it surprising that Przemek, instead of the birds, formed his bonds with the rabbits and guinea pigs, almost completely ignoring the birds.

We have two rabbits (Fiona, female and Fergus, male) and two guinea pigs (Luna, female and Oreo, male). Przemek identifies as a member of that group, preferring to stay close to them and eat with them.  Przemek has extremely limited flight ability (similar to a chicken), unlike the other birds in the room, and I'm thinking that this is why he identifies as a furry, rather than a feathered creature. Though he spends time with his whole crew, he seems to be most strongly attached to Fiona, and then Oreo. He likes to be close to them, spending a great deal of time snuggled up with Fiona or Oreo (though Fiona seems to be his top choice, as he spend significantly more time with her).

I finally did get a picture of them together, but have high hopes for getting more.  He usually snuggles up in her neck, sometimes to her side, and sometime between her front paws, and that is absolutely adorable. She is aware that he's there and seems perfectly happy to have him around. I haven't observed her grooming him, though a) there are about 22 hours a day that I am not in there and may not catch it and b) she is a bit selfish about grooming--Fergus will groom her thoroughly for ages, while she relaxes with her eyes closed; she returns the favor with about two cursory licks back--poor Fergs!