FAREWELL MY FEATHERED FRIEND

RIP Misfit

On the night of Friday, August 11th, I put the budgies to bed as per normal. I didn't know that it was going to be my last night doing that ritual with Misfit. When we went to get them up in the morning, Misfit was at the bottom of her cage, she had passed sometime during the night.

I can't say we were shocked, but saddened and surprised. Misfit had been looking a little rougher the last year, but she still played, ate, tweeted and molted twice a year. We think her passing was age related. She was probably 3 or 4 years of age when Rob rescued her and next month would of marked 10 years of her living in the house, so she was probably around 14 years old.

Surviving in our yard before Rob caught her.

 We spent the day feeling gutted and sad. Seriously, I felt like someone had punched me in the stomach. But we also had a lot of laughs too, reminiscing about our life with Misfit. We had some adventures with that bird. Rob did a fantastic blog about Misfit's rescue and life with us, you can read about that by clicking here. 

The last two weeks have been an adjustment, the house has felt a little emptier. She was a little bird with a big personality. I miss singing with her in the kitchen and putting her to bed at night. I always said the same thing to her every night after I covered her cage. "There you go Misfit, snug as a bug."  She loved Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, and her favorite Christmas song was "Step into Christmas" by Elton John. She loved being outside in her cage to enjoy a nice summer day, tweeting along with the backyard birds. In the winter she loved the warmth of the kitchen with the oven on while I baked and cooked. We'd sing along to the oldies together. I will miss those moments.

As sad as I was, I was also very worried about our other budgie, Moonie. Moonie, like me, had never lived in the house without Misfit. We caught him five years after having Misfit, again in our backyard. He was just young when we caught him, probably not even a year old. They weren't a "pair", and didn't share a cage, but we still worried Moonie would become depressed. Their cages were side by side, and we did let them visit and play together often, they were "friends". It's now been two weeks, and I am happy to say Moonie seems to be doing fine.

I called them my "Little Easter Eggs". Misfit with her friend, Moonie.

We buried Misfit in the backyard last Friday. I wrapped her in a piece of cloth I cut from her night time cover, and placed her in a small blue cardboard box, the same color as Moonie. Her final resting spot faces the big tree she slept in every night that summer in 2007 before Rob caught her and brought her inside. She was a character, a part of our pet family and a huge part of our home. She will be missed.

Misfit's final resting spot.