I remember the day you came like it was yesterday.:-) A friend in California had gone to the quaranteen station to pick out two blue Front Amazon babies for Cindy and I. Cindy really wanted a very colorful Blue Front. I just wanted a nice healthy baby; colorful would be nice but that wasn't a priority. Turns out you and Houdini were the only two left.

Being I would get to see you first I made a pact with Cindy that the first bird out of the box was mine. When You arrived on March 3. 1988 I was so excited to meet you.:-) Well when I opened the box and you climbed out immediatly I was amazed that you had survived 30 days in quaranteen. You were the scrawniest, ratty looking Blue Front I had ever seen. "hehehe" In all the years and hundreds of Blue Fronts I've seen, only one came close to your size. The length of your flight and tail feathers and the fact that the feather tracts had just about closed up showed you to be about eight weeks old. I gave you a birthday of January 1st. You were so tiny I had no trouble slipping your quaranteen band off. When I looked into the box to see Cindy's bird he was all that she wanted. Not much older than you but in much better feather; very colorful and big.:-)

You said your first word that week. "Hello!" You never stopped talking or learning from then on. You eventually spoke over four hundred words and sang seven songs including your favorite "From a Jack to a King" sung by Ricky Van Shelton. You only learned from me. You never sang that song until I started singing it with the radio. It was funny also how when all the other birds immitated the dogs barking you would go "woof woof woof" like you were the interpretater.:-) That's how I barked and you certainly understood the two were related; therefore saying "woof woof" as this is what people say.

You weaned at twelve weeks old and grew beautiful feathers. You were quite petite though and your top weight was 291 grams. Once I got you to 300 grams for about a month. The only thing that kept weight on you after age six was monkey chow. I always knew you would have trouble passing an egg. I'm so sad it happened so early in your life. Twelve years of pure joy to me and many memories to warm my heart. I have fifteen tapes of us bantering back and forth. I just wish we had more time together. You were like a child to me. The life was crushed out of me and my insides felt like they were torn out. I am learning to accept your loss and eventually I know I will remember you without so much pain.

You were a sweet natured Amazon. Rarely irritable and very cuddly. As you matured I did have to watch your body language and you mostly gave me a warning before you would bite. In fact the last few years you started saying "Hutta!" Really funny. You'd strut around fanning your tail and pinning your eyes saying "Hutta!" "Hutta!" I knew with out a doubt you were in an excitable mood when you said Hutta!:-) I gave you your space. Thanks for the warnings.:-)

In fact you rarely gave bad bites. Once when I showed you the snow outside the window; you got so excited you grabbed my nose. "Ouch!" "That really smarted." We were singing one day and you were so excited even though I wasn't that close you reached out and grabbed my cheek. "Another ouch!" "hehehe" I was feeling sad about the loss of our Standard Poodle Ebony and hugging you. You weren't very sympathetic at all. Maybe you were upset too. "You really did a job on my lip that day." These last weeks you were in hormonal rage and I got bit so many times I had to carry a big stick to keep you wary and in line.:-( The last two weeks you wanted to cuddle so bad. You would just look at me and go into spasms and trill for me to cuddle you. Georgette I have no regrets in any of my choices in your life. If I did have one it was not cuddling you all I could those last two weeks. As it was I scratched your head and neck but as soon as you started trilling I put you down. I was trying to get you out of the breeding mode; even leaving the lights off till I returned from work so you would have more darkness. If I had known it was already too late I would not have put you down. As I said; I always had this feeling you were too small to survive egg laying. Forgive me for trying so hard that I missed those last opportunities to have you close.:-(

Every night when I came home you would ask "Did you have a good day?" If I took too long to get you you would scream "What's the matter?" "Where are you?" "What are you doing?" "Are you okay?" "Come out!!!" "arrrrggggggghhhhh!!!" When you thought I was not paying you enough attention you would make believe you fell on the floor and say "I fall down." "hehehe" Or you would say "I'm affraid!" "What happened?" "Where are you?" "I'm affeared!!!" "lols!!!" You said "good night" so sweetly every night as I covered you.:-) If it got past your bed time you would go to your sleeping perch and say "good night" so I would know you wanted to sleep. When I left for work you would say "Have a good day" or "Have a good later." The only part of this little piggy you picked up was "wee wee wee" and you would do this while strutting around the cage when you were excited. "Really funny!" And you whistled the wandering song so loud I needed ear plugs. "hehehe" You used to call Ebony to get brushed for me. You also had the sweetest way of calling Yoda.:-) Funny how you never called Chillie. Was it because she is so special to me? She really is a love.

You loved your showers and playing with the hand toys only Susan seemed able to get for us. Oh I gave your toys to the other birds. They are enjoying them and I know you would like that.:-) Indigo and Saphire are in your day cage and I gave your night cage to Hoppy.

The Vets would get a kick out of me telling you to play dead on the scale so we could weigh you. The scales were different than yours and you wouldn't stand on them. But you always complied to the play dead request. "lol" When you were younger and about two weeks before a Vet visit you started saying "Cut the nails." When the day came the Vet tried to get blood from both your leg veins without success. She put a bandage on both and cut your nail to get the blood sample. When she finished she saw you were bleeding from one and put another bandage over it tighter. It took us two hours to get home that day and you went right to the bottom of the cage and felt ice cold even though it was 95 degrees out. I saw you were still bleeding through the double bandage. I removed it and put a fresh tighter one on. I covered your cage on three sides and put a 75 watt bulb on the front to keep you warm. This was Wednesday. You did not speak until Friday morning. I'll never forget it. It was so eerie. You said "You should listen." "I said cut the nails." "But it's okay now."

Emily misses you and hasn't immitated you as she usually does. I heard her try but it seemed to make her sad. Greys are so sensitive. You two were the best of friends. I'm sharing quality time with Charlie and her now. I hope she does again in time as she really puts a new twist on your words. "hehehe" I play your tapes when I want to hear you. It helps Emily too I think. I'm glad we made them. They were good times and it all comes back clearly. A little weird. Something a person who never experienced the love of a bird would think ludicrous and even say "I think you are heading for the funny farm." But those who understand would enjoy them. At least I have these treasures and your memory will warm my heart till we meet again.:-)