The Birds....not even Hitchcock could write this story.
Oops. Well, that three years went by quickly....
Let's see. What's new.... uh, Jude's a billion years old now. Well, really only 5 but close enough.
I got two parakeets last week. Jude named them Schmatko and Gru (a yellowish-green parakeet & a whitish blue parakeet). Jude truly wanted the names to be in reverse with the colors but me, being the wonderful mother I am, persuaded him otherwise. Trust me, it's better this way.
When purchasing the birds, I could tell that the girl at PetSmart was one of those people who took her job a little too seriously. You're familiar with the type. She knew all the "do's & don'ts" of bird care. "You need to be sure to change out their toys frequently because they like that" and "You MUST have a cuttlebone -- it's essential to the health of their beak" ... she made sure to give me a beginner's broschure to parakeet care along with a large spoonful of condescending judgement. But seriously, how hard could it be? I mean, come on, I recently purchased a beta fish and believe me, he's living the life.
I sucessfuly got the birds home, set up their cage with all kinds of different perches and toys and as far as I could tell, we were off to a grand start at a beautiful life together. I went to work the next day, all was well. My mom even set up a cd player to soothe the birds with classical music in my absence. I returned home, chitchatted a bit with my new budgies and went out to dinner with Zach. When we got home, I ventured into my room to check on my birds. And much to my dismay, there lying on the cage floor was Schmatko -- motionless.
Me: Mom, I think my bird might be dead...
Mom: *screams* Why are you saying that!?!?
Me: Well, because it looks dead.
Sure enough, Schmatko was a goner. I called PetSmart and they assured me I could come in and exchange the bird out for free. Truth is, it wasn't the money I was concerned about as much as I was dreading running into the infamous "bird lady." She would never understand but something had to be done. I had to replace Schmatko quickly before Jude realized that one of his beloved birds was missing.
Zach & I arrived at PetSmart (deceased bird in hand...well, in a brown paper bag in hand) and of course, the first person we come in contact with is our dear friend, the bird lady (girl, I should say). I tell her what has transpired over the last 24 hrs. She is shocked. This NEVER happens. This could only happen if the bird was under tremendous stress..... I can tell in her mind, I am a bird killer.
The manager comes over and trades out the bird for me (well, not really trades out... it's not as if they've replaced the dead bird back into the cage with the others but an exchange of sorts takes place). I take my new Schmatko to the register. The bird lady/girl then says "Well, I'm sorry about your bird." Finally, we've reached an understanding, the pet store owes ME an apology, not the other way around. I quickly respond, "it's okay." She then looks at me and says, "not really." Ok, so clearly, I'm back to bird killer status. Whatever, I'm just glad it's over. I get the bird home and into the cage with a somewhat traumatized Gru (at least, that's what I imagined...after all, his only friend did just die. Then again, perhaps Gru is, in fact, the bird killer. Let's hope not.).
I kept an especially close eye on the birds as the night went on. I couldn't have another bird die, not on my watch. Then Gru began acting weird... he would scale the walls of his cage using his claws and beak, hang upside down from the top of the cage and then let go, dropping on his head. I began to freak out a little inside....I exclaimed to Zach, "he's going to die just like the other bird!!" I had forgotten that Jude was in the room at this point and to his knowledge, no birds had died. He quickly jerked his head towards the bird cage and suspiciously questioned, "Who died." (It was more of a statement than a question, really) "Uhhhhh.... nobody died, clearly. There's two birds, right?" Satisfied with the proof of two unscathed birds, Jude concluded that I was only joking about a bird dying. Phew. Tragedy averted.
You'll be happy to know that it's been a week and both birds are alive and well.