Thoughts on Rotten Bananas and a Cockatiel

(August 1, 2014. I guess I got organized at one point and thought I would write a blog entry and post it later.  I didn't expect I'd post it this much later.)

I love banana bread and occasionally I get around to making it. In the meantime if the bananas get a wee but too brown even for us I hoard them in the freezer waiting for a day when I decide to make banana bread.

Earlier this year I had quite a few bananas saved up. I read somewhere that the best way to freeze bananas is to peel them before you put them in the freezer. I read that after I had frozen a few in the skins. The internet was rife with stories of how hard it was to peel the bananas once they were frozen. As a result, I used up all the peeled bananas first. In fact the ones in the skins sat there for months. One day I decided I either needed to use the bananas or throw them out.

I took them out of the freezer and looked at them. The skins were completely black and they were hard as rocks. I had nothing to lose so I decided to try an experiment. I unwrapped the bananas and stabbed the skins with a paring knife. I had no wish for the bananas to explode in the microwave. I didn't know if they would but I knew if you didn't prick the skins of potatoes they would explode. I set the microwave to defrost, put one banana in and waited. The microwave beeped when it was done and I took out the hot banana. It was really squishy. 'How on earth am I going to peel this?” I wondered. I cut the top off and gave the banana a bit of a squeeze. Some mushy banana came out the cut.

I got a bowl, turned the banana upside down and squeezed it like a tube of toothpaste. The banana slid neatly into the bowl. I nuked the other two bananas and made banana bread wondering why I had put off using the bananas for so long. Something I thought was going to be an icky chore turned out to be really easy and, the banana bread was delicious. There are many times when I have put off doing something because I thought is was going to be too hard or too unpleasant only to find out, when I finally got around to it, that it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected.

There is a flip side to this story, though. In January of 2013 our 17 year old cockatiel tried to fly off my shoulder and had a rather hard landing on the stairs. The next day I could hear a whistling noise when she breathed and when she tried to tuck her beak into her back feathers to take a nap she couldn't settle but took it out again and faced forward. She seemed to be happy enough sitting on my shoulder but I was concerned. This bird had been to the vet so often that the vet joked she should have her own key to the office. I didn't want to take her in it if was nothing but I wanted to make sure she was okay. I called and got an appointment for the afternoon.

When I got to the vet's with her she was running around in her traveling box squeaking in response to the other birds in the office. Watching her, I began to feel foolish for brining her in. Still, the receptionist assured me, it was better to be sure. When we got into the examining room the vet listened to her and palpated her abdomen. It was spongy and the vet recommended x-rays.

They x-rayed her and brought her back. Her abdomen was full of fluid and that fluid was pressing on her air sacks making it hard for her to breathe. We could start her on diuretics but the vet said given her age and her history the cause was probably either a failing heart or a failing liver. In either case the prognosis was not good. Since we had been jabbing her with needles quite regularly for the past two years we thought it better to euthanize her rather than subject her to more invasive treatment that wouldn't likely change the outcome. The vet said I could take her home to say good bye.

I called Richard and we agreed that he would come to see her at the vet's and we would sign the necessary papers to have her euthanized. My last glimpse of her was sitting on Richard's shoulder and snuggling close to his neck. When I took her in that day I didn't think we'd be returning home without her.

Why are these two incidents linked in my mind? Perhaps because both serve to remind me that in simple and in complex things I cannot predict the future and I really don't know as much as I like to think I do. Sometimes, now, when I'm putting off a task or rushing through a day without really paying attention I remind myself to enjoy both the banana bread and the cockatiels that cross my path.

Bailey our first and oldest bird