Hello, this is Parddu the green budgie again. I'm here to tell you something about the budgies who used to live with us but now have flown over the Rainbow Bridge. I can remember Pwt and Gwion and Ceri remembers Parddu but of the others we've had to rely on Rosemary's memories and reminiscences of the days when they were here in the flesh (and feathers!). Don't be sad, as we know we'll be seeing them when it's our turn to go over the Rainbow Bridge and we can fill them in with all the gossip of what's been happening here.
CERI
2000-2008
Ceri just faded away a week after Rosemary came back from a weekend away in Berlin. He'd had a wonky wing since he was a baby caused by him crashing around the furniture when he was out of the cage. The vet tried to set it but he wouldn't go to sleep under the anaesthetic so he just had to live with it. He couldn't fly but was a very good climber. Electric leads, curtains, furniture - he climbed up them all. Ceri was fun to be around.
CAIO
2003-2005
Caio left us very suddenly. One minute he was fine and the next he was fatally ill
- and Rosemary was on holiday in Germany!! Our friend who looks after us when Rosemary's away was very upset, but we know that
she did her best for Caio. He and I shared a cage and we got on really well most of the time. Life was always a great mystery to Caio!
GWION
1995-2003
Gwion was a true gentleman, never nasty - he didn't know how. When visitors came to see us (and Rosemary) they would always remark on how pretty Gwion was but he never got swelled-headed from the praise. He was always loving to his cage mates. When Peris was with him and really poorly, it was Gwion who cleaned him up. He just faded away as quietly as he'd lived just after Christmas. We could all see that he wasn't going to be with us for much longer and we didn't want him to suffer, which he didn't. We could all learn a lesson from his gentleness.
PWT
1997-2003
Pwt was a lot more assertive than Parddu, his twin. His assertiveness could sometimes turn to aggression, but never towards Parddu. He missed Parddu dreadfully when he died and was happy to see me coming to share the cage. We got on quite well despite our age difference. He was poorly for quite a time before he died and just wasn't the perky Pwt we all loved.
PARDDU
1997-2001
Parddu was an endearing character who always looked out for Pwt, his twin. They would spend a lot of time sitting on the floor and when one moved, the other would go and look for him. Parddu gave his name to Parddu's Pages and it's a privilege for me to keep his name alive. He faced the world bravely and I hope I can do the same.
PERIS
1997-2000
This is not a good photo of Peris but Rosemary seems to have lost the others! Peris was the only one of us to be tested positive for the mega bacteria so his immune system was always vulnerable.
That didn't stop him from leading poor Gwion a merry dance though! One of life's characters was our Peris.
BECKY
1990-1997
Here is Becky when she was a baby. Gwion remembers her as being stiff, elderly and bad-tempered. Rosemary remembers her as always being very self-sufficient and not batting an eyelid when she was left on her own in the cage when Bonny died. She always went her own way but would be nice with people, except the vet who got pecked viciously!!! Naughty girl!!
GWIL
1993-1997
Gwil's loss was a tragedy because it was so sudden - one minute he was all right, the next he was paralysed and had to be taken to the vet to be put to sleep. Gwion was very upset because they shared a cage and got on very well and Rosemary was even more upset because there was lots of history attached to Gwil connected to her Huw who died. He always called Gwil "Gwil y Swil" because Gwil was only a baby and shy when he came first. Gwil had gentle ways like our Gwion - no wonder they got on well.
BONNY
1990-1996
Bonny was a sweetheart. A round ball of green feathers, placid as the day is long and too nice to do anything nasty to anyone. She's the one on the right in the photograph. She survived just about every ailment known to man and budgie - she and the vet were on first name terms by the end. Once she had to go on a diet because she was so fat. It included lots of carrot which she ate enthusiastically for a fortnight but then got bored - typical dieter!
BUNTY
1990
Bunty was only with us for 5 months. She's the one on the left in the picture with Bonny. She had all sorts of problems - missing toenails, a deformed foot, and worst of all a deformed nose and the deformities apparently extended inwards as well. We think she was happy with us - Rosemary did her best to make her short life the best possible anyway.
BABY
1989-1990
Baby is chiefly remembered for passing on her bugs to Boots and causing her premature death. No one ever really worked out what Baby's problem was - she had a permanent cough but remained quite fit and healthy on the surface for about 9 months, when the strain finally caught up with her. By then poor Boots was dead.
BOOTS
1988-1990
Boots was another sweetie - a Lutino with buttercup yellow feathers and bright red eyes. She taught Bossy how to play and was into everything. She loved sharing the playpen with Billy and here they both are in a typical pose. She came after the original Boots, Bossy's cage mate, died after they'd been with us for only a month. Rosemary had the bright idea of trying to con Bossy that little Boots was a reincarnation of the original Boots - little Boots was about a third of the size of her predecessor. The only similarity was their yellow feathers!!
BOSSY
1985-1989
Bossy lived up to her name. She was big and strong and threw her weight around. She and the original Boots were given to Rosemary by someone whose owner was looking for a new home for them. They were 18 months old, had no names, no toys and were quite wild. By the end Bossy was becoming, for her, quite tame. She used to watch little Boots playing with the toys in the cage and soon cottoned on to the fact that if she banged the traffic light toy against the bars of the cage it made a VERY satisfactory noise. She developed a fast growing tumour on her leg and although the vet managed to remove it successfully her heart gave out when recovering from the operation. Another of life's characters was our Bossy!
BILLY
1982-1993
Now here's the biggest character of them all - Billy! None of us, however hard we try, will be able to match up to him. Rosemary has thousands of stories to tell about his antics. He got bored with flying when he was 18 months old and walked everywhere after that. He was a wonderful chaperone - nothing better, says Rosemary, than a jealous 10 year old budgie for making sure that people behave themselves!! He had a foot fetish - loved chewing shoelaces and nibbling the tongues of shoes. If all of us could leave behind as many happy memories as Billy has, then we'd feel that life has been worth it.
Well, that's all our predecessors and friends. I expect we'll get added to this page in our turn but I hope it won't be for some time yet. I hope you enjoyed my little introduction to those who have gone before us and all I can say to them is "Cysgwch yn dawel" (Sleep peacefully).
