Miss Buddy (Continued)

When Jeanne and I met again, after 26 1/2 years, one of the first things that Jeanne showed me was her bird.  Jeanne had grown up with Parakeets. I had a Parakeet when I was about 7 years of age and living in Houston, but I had no bird since that time.

Jeanne had told me the story about Buddy and the cat. Jeanne had always allowed "Buddy" to roam on the top and sides of her open cage, just as Jeanne's mother had allowed her own parakeets to do when Jeanne was
younger and lived at home.

One day, quite by accident, Jeanne left the front door to her apartment partly open, when she went outside, and was talking with a neighbor.

Another neighbor's cat sneaked into the apartment & tried to eat Jeanne's bird. When Jeanne realized that she had left the front door open, she rushed inside to find her Buddy in the cat's mouth!  But Buddy had stuck her wing into the cat's mouth so that the cat could not swallow nor sink her teeth into the bird's body  Jeanne was able to rescue Buddy from the cat, but not from a possible seizure!

Parakeets can die of fright and have a
heart attack.  Fortunately, Jeanne is a nurse and was able to keep Buddy from seizing. Jeanne said that Buddy didn't come out of her care for weeks.  When the bird finally did come out of her cage, she very carefully looked for any sign of the cat!

I took one look at Jeanne's bird and told Jeanne that this bird was definitely not a male, not by the way it was cozing up to me!  When Jeanne and I married on March 1, 1994, we took Buddy to Jeanne's parents' home, where Jeanne's mother also had a Parakeet which she also named Buddy, and which was, indeed, a male.

When we returned from our seven day honey moon, we found out our Buddy had laid 2 eggs, and that solved the mystery forever! 

(Continued on top of the right column.)

(Cont'd. from the bottom left column.)

We bought Buddy a mate on 6/13/96 from Louis and Judy who lived just outside of New Braunfels, Texas.

Neither Jeanne nor I had ever seen an
English Budgerigar, also known as an English Budgie, much less, a "Clear Wing".  We named him Jinxie !.

Miss Buddy lived a full and useful life.  She laid 8 eggs at the age of 10 years, which is remarkable, since the average life expectancy of most Parakeets is only about 4 to 5 years.

Four of her eight eggs hatched and she became the progenitor of a long line of quality birds, both Parkeets and the American Budgerigar, which is a cross between a Parakeet and an English Budgie.

At the age of 10 years, Buddy began to get old and tired after raising her brood. She spent the majority of the time at the bottom of the cage, after Jinxie I died on 3/6/1997.  One of our other male birds, Murray, fed her, took care of her and protected her from her being attacked by the other birds until the day that she died, on 7/31/1999.

Buddy left behind a legacy and a long genealogy.  She was the mother of four birds, the grandmother of at least six, the great-grandmother of a good dozen, & the great-great grandmother of four, one of which are still alive. The first great grandbay is named "Big Bird," whose story you will shortly read.

The first great-great grandbaby is a handsome Violet American Budgie Male, who was named "Jeanne Marie," in honor of my wife, Jeanne, who at first thought that "Jeanne Marie" was a female. The second great-great grandbaby is a beauiful Albino White Female American Budgie, whose lenghtly biography you can read as well.

TO READ ANOTHER STORY OF "MISS BUDDY," CLICK HERE!

TO RETURN TO THE "INDEX," OF CHAPTER 1 & TO READ "MR. JINXIE I's"
STORY, CLICK HERE!