THE HULLINGERS

So John has been requesting that I add pictures of the new member of our family. Well, life has been really busy lately and so this is the first opportunity I have had for quite a while. We had been looking for an animal for the kids to help them learn responsibility and the ability to be nice and tender to someone. John was looking on Craigslist one day and came upon a family that was trying to find a new home for their bird. Their daughter had left for college and didn't seem to have much of a bond with her bird anymore. So while she was out of the house they quickly found a new home...ours. The daughter had named the bird Buddy, but the parents didn't like that so they just called him Birdy. They told us we could rename the bird since they didn't think it was too stuck on anything. We decided to let Brooklyn pick a name. Flashlight and Mr. Crabs are some of the more memorable ones that she picked out. I have not been very good at picking names for creatures other than humans, so Birdy has stuck with me.

Birdy is a beautiful Cockatiel that is just over a year old now. He is very friendly with adults, but still learning about kids. He loves to put his head down and beg for someone to rub him. According to Brooklyn, he loves to get hair cuts and get baths. Long story, but I was up stairs folding clothes and started to hear the bird squawking. I ran down, as that usually means one of the kids is trying to do something, and found Brooklyn hiding behind the couch with a pair of scissors. I asked her what she was doing and just said that she was trying to cut something. I looked around and couldn't find the bird and asked where it was. She pointed to the other side of the room. At first I didn't notice anything, but as I looked around the room I noticed feathers everywhere. I turned to her and said "Did you cut the bird feathers?" She said that he was flying too much and needed his feathers trimmed. She ended up getting grounded from the bird for about 2 weeks - no touching the bird or even getting near the cage. We had to explain that there are special people that cut birds feathers and if you do it wrong they can die. Well he survived and is doing really good now. He is extremely scared of Brooklyn now, but I think one day she will regain his trust.