Stripes the Parakeet

     I'm probably a little crazy, but I gave in to another pet.  I never really wanted to own a bird because they live in a cage, which means cleaning a cage.  And since our backyard rarely gets cleaned of dog poop, I didn't feel too confident that we wouldn't end up with a poopy cage in the house.  However, we did set a precedent when Natalee turned 7 and we got her a pet kitten. (Yes, the one that grew into that wonderful cat that pooped and peed all over our bed a couple of months ago.)  When Haylee turned 7, it was easy enough to bribe her not to get a cat by paying her the amount that it would cost to get a cat from the animal shelter.  Mackenzie, however, was not going to be bought off.  She insisted that she didn't want the money, she wanted a cat.
     This past Tuesday, Rosey, Natalee's cat, got a little wild bird.  She didn't kill it but it was badly injured.  The kids found it in the yard and got Daren to save it.  They put it in a bucket with some dirt and weeds and a little dish of water.  They were really hoping to nurse it back to health and keep it for a pet.  Well, by evening, it was dead.  Mackenzie was devastated and sobbing in her bedroom.  Daren had the idea that we could get her a pet bird instead of a cat.  My friend Rebecca happened to come over that evening and hear about our bird situation.  She told us that they had bought a really nice bird cage at a thrift store for $5 and were planning to just sell it for that price at a yard sale in a couple of weeks.  A couple of days later, we picked up a very nice $5 bird cage and headed to the pet store.
     There was only 1 blue parakeet and all the rest were green.  Mackenzie picked the blue one and named it "Stripes" because of the black and white striped feathers on its back.  He's a pretty friendly little bird and lets Mackenzie hold him and play with him.  She is so happy!  Mackenzie just loves to have something to take care of and she is doing a really good job taking care of Stripes.