Immediately after Ken, a retired judge, lost his wife of 69 years, his beloved parrot Babe also passed. "Their passing left an enormous emptiness,” said Ken. "I cried so easily that I stayed home rather than face people.”
Three months later he found a dejected-year-old Congo African Grey parrot with brilliant red tail feathers at a pet store. “I surprised myself by buying it,” admitted Ken. “Lucky that I did! That bird saved my sanity and life!”
He named the second bird Babe 2, because his first one was Babe. After 20 years with Babe, I it was the only name he could remember. (For 18 of those years he thought that Babe 1 was a male--until at the age of 19 'he' laid three eggs.)
Parrots normally live for a half-century, so it is imperative that parrot 'parents' train and socialize their birds. This way should your bird outlive you, it will accept and love a 'replacement'.
Ken is 94 years old, so he’s worked hard socializing Babe 2. The parrot loves people and perches on their shoulders giving them kisses. His beautiful flight feathers are clipped, so if he missteps off on a shoulder, he'll glide off rather than fly away.
Imitating Ken’s thick Scottish brogue, Babe says, 'Good morning', 'wee cuppa tea', 'gimme a kiss', 'What's your name? My name's Babe'; and 'Hello' in several languages.
Their Iranian neighbor taught the parrot to say, 'Salam Alaikum' (Peace be with you), and 'Khodahafez' (God be with you); and to their Sikh friend, 'Nava Sal Mubarak' (Happy New Year); and to their Korean neighbor, 'An-yong-ha-se-yo' (Hello).
“I used to ask Babe questions and he’d answer, but now, he leaves me out of the loop, by asking both the questions and giving the answers, by himself,” laughed Ken. “For example, he asks: 'What does the dog say? Bow-wow.' 'What does the pussycat say? Meow.' 'What does a duck say? Quack. Quack.' He also says, 'Good boy'; 'Babe did a poo'; 'Stop that'; 'Love you'; 'Come on, gimme a kiss'; 'Hello there'; 'Gotta go now - see ya later'; and 'Ooh, look at that!'”
Babe 1 loved Ken but not his wife, Muriel. When asked, 'What does Muriel say?', Babe answered, 'I don't like you.' Then Ken would ask him, 'What do you think of that?', and Babe would blow a perfect 'raspberry' - and giggle.”
Ken’s newest Babe 'forces' him to go out every day, so they won't disappoint their fans. They either walk to the park or on rainy days drive to the malls.
“Babe has opened up my life,” said Ken. “I enjoy conversations with people of all ages and from all walks of life; meeting new people expands my life. Hundreds have stopped and talked to us, and Babe has them and me smiling. The children and adults’ smiles give me joy. He also keeps me physically exercised and mentally healthy. In fact, at six years shy of 100, I am learning to use a computer! My first-ever 'sent' e-mail was 'Babe’s story', to Mary Ellen 'Angel Scribe'.
Babe's only 'bad habit', (which is probably my fault), is that he won't touch birdseed, nuts etc. and considers MY plate, ‘OUR’ plate. He only eats 'people' food; be it fish, meat, chicken, pizza, eggs, potatoes, veggies, fruit, etc.. First, I thought it was due to all of the bird seed recalls, but more likely it's that he's such a 'social-LIGHT' and doesn't consider himself to be a bird!".
Today, both multilingual chatterbox Babe 2 and his kindhearted Scotsman's lives are once again worth living!
