Rosie

Loads has happened since I last wrote anything. the most important event tho is Rosie has died. Rosie was a yellow cockatiel. Quite small and very friendly to both humans and other cockatiels but she was not good at flying at all. I think she spent too long locked in a tiny cage before we got her and never quite got the hang of flying. She was approximately 19 years old and even on her death bed she broke the rules. We used to have 4 cockatiels. Jim died on 12 December 2007 very suddenly and without warning. He was only 12. It was a great shock to us. We got Rosie in 1996 when I told a friend it was cruel keeping her in a cage all the time and my old dog Samuel Pepys had just died. Sam was aged about 17 so he had a long life. Anyway, friend just said well you have her then! She was given to friend for young daughter by scottish grandmother and was somewhere between 2 and 8 years old. No one ever seemed to agree on that. Friend had the idea she would help to stop me missing Sam and she did. It was a very icy cold January day when we carried her home with a crochet blanket round her cage. We got Jim to keep her company a few days later and after a few months added Bill and Ben who are still healthy ( touch wood etc). So one of the childrens programs is now gone! ( Rosie and Jim. Bill and Ben). When we got Jim, Rosie sat on M`s shoulder and hid behind his head from Jim. I dont think she had seen another cockatiel since leaving the nest. Rosie was hand tamed. The other 3 are/were not at all tame really but great fliers. Anyway on Sunday night when everywhere was shut we realised Rosie had a cold. Coughs and colds are quite common with cockatiels in winter but not usually life threatening. Mind you 19 is about as old as they get when living in houses. I think its about 12-14 in an aviary. On Monday M went to Coventry to every pet shop he could to find cough mixture and most had sold out. Must be lots of cockatiels with colds! Eventually he got some and gave it to her. She wasnt too bad last night. She kept wanting fuss and I kept stroking her head which she liked. She kept kissing me and Bill ( Bill and Ben and Rosie are/were all female by the way). Dying birds usually go very quiet, stop eating and just stop moving. She ate loads, climbed all over her cage and kept harrassing me for affection. When M came in she harrassed him also. She had lost her voice but wouldnt shut up. I ended up sitting next to her all night and turning the TV off since having it on made her try to chirp louder and I was worried about her having a sore throat. Except for her old age she didnt seem at threat from death. But then I suppose in the end something has to get us all. I went to bed at 12pm. At 5am I heard her. I didnt know she had died but that must have been it. I got up at 7am and she was on the floor of the cage. We buried her at 8am with a golden privet to mark the spot. Next to Jim. Then I went to work.