Goodbyes

The kind lady just came and took the bird away, and I am pretty much finished balling for about the 10th time in the past week, and for someone who doesn't cry easily, this is quite a tear-duct workout. 

Do you think it burns calories???

Here are pictures of pets we'll leave behind:

El Jefe, a.k.a. Birdbrain, Birdman, Peanut Head.

He's been with us over 15 years, and I will never forget the miracle of feeding him when he was just a little, featherless bundle of beak and big eyes and little chickadee fuzz.  It was huge, learning that we...along with some invaluable coaching, Gerber baby food, and Purina monkey chow, and a ketchup-type squirt bottle...could keep something so fragile and innocent alive. He is a sweet bird (well, to me and John he is...but we handfed him monkey chow and baby food, so he thinks we're his parents), but he doesn't talk.  He's a blue-head Pionus, an incredibly easy and low-maintenance type of parrot.

S

Sammy, brought to me on Valentine's Day from the La Grange Animal Shelter.
She has a crooked back leg, apparently broken and not professionally re-set when she was a kitten. She had another owner before us, who also rescued her from that shelter, but that owner died of cancer, and the family had to take the cat back to the same shelter again.  So she was rescued from the same shelter twice.  She is quiet and shy and very lady-like.

 

 Seamus, an elderly male, came from the Vernon animal shelter.  

When I was 6 months pregnant with Hannah, I informed John that since I couldn't have a vat, he was going to have to take me on a spring break trip of my choice.  I chose to load all of us in the car and drive 5.5 hours to Wichita Falls, spend the night, and then drive another 30 minutes north to the Vernon Animal Shelter.  The cat's name was originally "Tyler Lee," but can you really say Tyler Lee without a total hick accent?  I can't.  So the more dignified and Celtic name Seamus was bestowed upon him.  Driving home, just south of Ft. Worth, Seamus started yowling and kept yowling the 2.5 hours it took us to get home from that point.  Jack calls him "The Unsettable Alarm Clock," because he is a "talker" and would (especially at night) yowl and yodle.  He also fancied himself a herding cat, as he would run along side me as I walked, trying to herd me towards the food bowl when he wanted it filled.  When I didn't go the direction he wanted, he would sit and look disgusted at my stupidity and insolence.

Admiral Lord Nelson, a.k.a. Peety, Na-na, and (more recently) Angel Buckets.

The first puppy we have owned (as an adult), he was/is John's dream dog.  He is also rather gassy and droolly and likes to hump things (he's fixed).  But his jowls are the softest thing you ever touched, and his snoring is like magic for putting humans to sleep at night.

This leaves us with one remaining pet.  Pat and Bob (John's parents) have once again gone beyond the call of duty and have said they will baby sit her.

***

You might wonder why I make trips to places like La Grange and Vernon for cats.  It is because (1) I wanted Siamese-looking cats that were adult and de-clawed, (2) to adopt cats given up at shelters, and (3) of the existence of Petfinder.com.  Petfinder is like an online conglomeration of many, many shelter animals all over the US, so you can "shop" for the pet you want but still rescue one from shelter life/death.  Petfinder is a glorious temptation.  I don't go look there unless I can adopt... :)