MarkRadel.com -- Buddy's Perch

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Buddy's Perch

Born – July 4, 1997
Died – October 14, 2002

This page (and seemingly everything else that I own) belonged to my little Cockatiel pal, Buddy.

Buddy 1.

Buddy was born on the Fourth of July in 1997, but I didn't bring him home until the end of October that same year. Some people think that he was named in honor of the flagship product of my previous employer. Others think that I got the idea for his name from the former President's canine. (For the record, Clinton chose the same name for his dog about two weeks after I had already chosen the name.) But, the real truth is that I knew as soon as I got him that he was going to be my little buddy for a long time to come.

He talked, whistled, waved, and loved to eat!! Buddy's hobbies included destroying every toy that I bought him and climbing on the keyboard while I was trying to work on the computer. He also enjoyed being the center of attention. He loved to perform for guests. And, he was always willing to make time for a good head scratch.

Towards the end of the summer of 2002, Buddy began to exhibit unusual behavior - he was very quiet. Something was not quite right. I took him several times to two different vets, performed lots of tests, gave him medicine three times a day, and ran up hundreds of dollars of medical bills with each new visit. Ultimately, it was his time, and his little body gave out on him. Though we obviously never finished his treatment and testing, it appeared that he died from some form of kidney disease. The vet believed that it was probably a genetic defect that he had since birth that never exhibited any symptoms until the very end.

There is not a day that goes by that I don't still think about him. I miss him very much. I should have had a number of more years with him, but I will always be thankful for those good years that we did have together.

He was the best. There will never be another Buddy. Not now, not ever.