Douglas Whaley

I grew up with dogs and loved them all, but most of my life I’ve had parakeets.   Not sit-in-the-cage birds, but parakeets with real personalities—smart birds that loved me and became my best friends.   See "Parakeets and Me," February 5, 2010;  http://douglaswhaley.blogspot.com/2010/02/parakeets-and-me.html .   In late 2009 I had a heart transplant and that was the end of the parakeets.   The last I saw of Petey and Alice (my then two birds) was the day the doctors took out my old heart and put in a new one.   Birds, I was told, convey far too many diseases to human beings.   That broke my heart.   Petey and Alice were given away (I never saw them again after the transplant) and the recipient told me they immediately hatched an egg and started a family! I lived alone in the days after the transplant in a condominium that frankly is too large for one person.   Every afternoon I’d pull into my garage and come through the garage door sayi