Pets

We have bad news. Well, this happened 3 weeks ago now, so I don't know if it should be called news anymore... Our cute little Jewel is no more. Here he is a few days before it happened, enjoying Maria's corn.
Jewel & Bethany about a month ago.
He tended to follow her around quite a bit.
I blame myself entirely -- I let him out to fly a bit while I was reading to the girls one evening -- forgetting in the excitement of the book that Jessie was at our feet. (Meet Jessie, a super friendly Golden Retriever belonging to Maurice & Christine,
who we dog-sat for two weeks while they were away.)
Jewel, being his usual friendly self, flew onto Jessie's head, & you can guess what happened. Very sad. At least Jessie spat him right out but she hadn't "retrieved" Jewel quite gently enough, & the poor bird died the next morning. It was a lesson for me, to just be more careful in general & think a bit more before I do things. Life is very fragile, really. how often do I not do things in a hurry, or drive in a bit of a rush to get somewhere... accidents happen so easily & I have to be more careful -- "full of care."
We did enjoy having Jessie around, though. The daily walks, the doggie love... :) Daniel used to scream when she tried to befriend him at his cousins' house, but now he loves her, pets her, & brushes her, etc. Jessie is a very good dog, doesn't jump or bark (much) -- but I am glad I don't have to clean up the yard anymore. :)

Here's another animal who's spent a few weeks in our backyard this summer... Licorice, an old friend of Blizzard's. :)And how do you like our new bird? :) That was fast, hey?
Just kidding, this is Barney, who belongs to Eric & Bruce -- we took care of him for a few days. Our next bird will be another budgie,
we hope (this fall sometime).
Barnie loves attention! He's a lovebird, after all. :)