Flowers, Birds, Insects, and Fish#
Last Sunday, I went to the Flowers, Birds, Insects, and Fish market.
There were also flowers, birds, insects, and fish at the market last week.
At the market, I encountered a vendor selling Xinjiang naan, an ethnic minority from Kashgar, who could sell over 100 pieces a day, with each naan priced at 5 yuan. The weight is over 200g. Two pieces weigh around 480g.
Speaking of this, I recall the data on snacks I purchased before,
such as baked pancakes, fried cakes, sauce pancakes, steamed cakes, and glutinous rice, with the approximate price for rice, flour, and sugar being 10 yuan for 500g. This is the current price. I eat steamed buns less often and haven't weighed them, and I forgot the price of frozen steamed buns.
When the child sees small animals, they can't move their legs.
Let's not talk about cats and dogs for now; this must be in a stable living condition, not busy,
with a so-called independent eight hours outside of work and sleep.
Off-topic#
I don't know when this work came about; there might not be much work at all.
Earlier in the morning, I felt unwell lying down, and a client had a USB issue with their computer that prompted a USB problem on startup, preventing them from entering the system. I didn't want to run over to fix it, and they thought the on-site service was expensive. I initially thought the problem was simple, so I said it would cost ten yuan to fix, and if it couldn't be fixed, there would be no charge. They agreed, and after nearly an hour of guidance, I ended up disassembling the machine and disconnecting the USB motherboard cable, which resolved the issue.
Now I understand why many services are only discussed after arriving; they want to earn the service fee first.
The on-site service fee for air conditioning repair is 60-100 yuan, and for water heaters, it's also around 100.
If they come to check what’s broken, whether they repair it or not, the on-site fee cannot be waived.
However, it always feels like a scam. I still don't plan to do it this way.
With this fee, it’s better to look up information myself and try to fix it.
Previously, I had a refrigerator that wouldn't start, and they said it was a capacitor issue. I bought a capacitor, but it didn't work, and replacing the PTC, if that's the name, also didn't work. I spent over 10 yuan. In the end, I confirmed it was a compressor issue, so there was no need to repair it. Replacing a compressor isn't cheap either.
Back to Raising Guinea Pigs#
We previously raised two guinea pigs,
keeping them for over half a year, one male and one female.
Later, we found out the female was pregnant.
After taking good care of her, one morning we discovered four baby guinea pigs.
The cage felt small, and we planned to keep them for a while and then give the babies away. At that time, it was either 58 or Keqiji; I sent a message to see who wanted them, and I gave away two, but the other two remained for a long time without anyone wanting them. I felt overwhelmed and couldn't keep up. I had to clean the guinea pig tray every day, and some substances couldn't be removed unless soaked in white vinegar first.
At that time, I also researched a lot about raising guinea pigs; some people wrote blogs about how to care for them and what problems they encountered, and it was clear they had been writing for many years. I really admired that. I even thought about raising chinchillas, but after researching, I found it to be a bit more troublesome than guinea pigs, with various costs increasing, and the fun was only slightly more, so I gave up.
In the end, I sold the guinea pigs by buying a cage and giving the guinea pigs away. They were bought by an elderly man who worked at a golf course near the airport. He rode a tricycle and traveled over 20 kilometers specifically to come over, taking almost 2 hours to arrive. The elderly man's idea was to breed them and sell them to nearby golf caddies or at the market.
Raising Parrots#
The parrot has been home for almost two weeks now.
After visiting the Flowers, Birds, Insects, and Fish market a few times, the child became interested in birds that could be touched directly.
After petting a few hand-raised parrots, the child found it even more interesting.
The offline market is relatively expensive, with a budgerigar priced at 50 yuan each.
Online blind boxes are around 19.9 yuan, with a chance of poor quality. I bought a green budgerigar for about 20 yuan.
The flowers are priced the same as online, the potted ones, with online prices at 15 yuan with free shipping, and offline also at 15 yuan.
I try to choose nearby sellers online for faster delivery and fewer surprises; I paid yesterday afternoon, and it arrived by noon today.
Later, a friend told me he had an empty birdcage. Previously, his friend gave him a lark or a myna; I forgot which one, and he asked me to go to his house to pick up the cage, so I went. The friend had cleaned it, and it was quite tidy. When I got back, I put the green budgerigar inside.
Later, I watched a content creator who planned to buy 100 parrots online and unbox them. He checks and introduces the condition of the received parrots, such as how their claws are, what’s on their bottoms, whether there are any missing parts on their beaks, how to determine their gender by the color of their nostrils, and their mental state. He also checks if he wears gloves when handling them.
He also discusses how to train parrots and methods for hand-raising them.
It looks quite professional, and then I watched his other videos and found out he wants to engage in the parrot breeding business.
He also bought an incubator and purchased many cockatiel eggs for about 100 yuan for 10 pieces to incubate. The first few dozen eggs failed due to incubator issues, but later he replaced it with a new incubator costing around 750 yuan. Then it was successful. I saw the newly hatched parrots, which looked like aliens, with their crop visible after the creator fed them; it was swollen and transparent, showing the liquid inside, which was quite amazing.
When they first hatch, they are featherless, then they develop some small feathers, which are half-feathers, and then full feathers.
I also learned about some new sellable breeds, such as sun conures and monk parakeets, along with their pros and cons.
I even saw videos of large-scale parrot breeding factories, starting with an investment of 400,000 yuan, and after several years of effort, achieving an annual output value of about 10 million yuan.
Feeling lonely, I later bought a blue budgerigar to practice with; I might gradually lose interest and give up.
Now, I’ve assigned the task of cleaning the tray to the child, letting them know that with happiness comes pain.