I wish I could show you our lovely pet budgie who we named, yes, "budgie". He was of the standard green and yellow variety but my goodness, could he talk!
Actually, his speaking ability was probably due to the incredible way in which Kristina trained him and looked after him. She is a whizz with all sorts of animals, but as far as pets, we have, until recently, always had a budgie or two, or three. When we have had multiple budgies they went into an aviary constructed over an inside porch window, and when we have had a single bird, it has basically been free-range over the downstairs, with occasional forays upstairs.
The last budgie we had, probably the best talker and the tamest we have ever had, died after only a few years and Kristina feels that it could have been due to the sometimes close proximity to her mouth and its beak, thus transmitting some infection. She was therefore upset and felt very guilty about the death of this bird and so we have been petless for a year or two. I think we will try again at some stage as budgies are incredibly addictive, cheap to maintain, and can be very tame and friendly. I love them, as does Kris.
This morning, Miss Bridie J (library picture modeling her best 'dog collar')
came up to me to tell me how much she loved me, what a wonderful daddy I was, etc.,
How perfectly lovely, I thought.
And then realised that I was enjoying a bacon sandwich.
A food obsessed Labrador!