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Bad News Etiquette

10/30/2018

Daddy, mommy, Zack and I would like to offer our heartfelt condolences to Bluto Bird’s dad. As I’m sure you know, Bluto passed away Friday (October 26). We’re saddened by the loss of our friend, and offer our love, prayers, and condolences to Bluto’s dad. Losing an avian companion is tough, especially since most people don’t understand the strength of the human/avian bond. They just don’t get that birds aren’t pets. Mommy said she spent as much time wanting to put her foot up insensitive peoples’ rear ends as she did crying when Chloe and Ollie passed away. A word of advice to humans who have never had birds: if a friend has lost their parrot, just say “I’m sorry” and zip it. Mommy says that’s pretty good advice in dealing with death altogether.

Actually, saying dumb things when confronted with bad or shocking news is common. One of mommy’s coworkers found out that a family member was murdered Friday and mommy’s reaction was “holy crap!” At least it wasn’t Morty’s favorite word, as it well could have been in her state of shock at the news (especially after learning about Bluto’s passing 4 hours earlier). Fortunately, people know that mommy’s reactions won’t be typically girly, so they didn’t think anything of it. But she still felt like a moron and wished she had canned it.

I’m sure there’s etiquette for dealing with unexpected blows, but unfortunately the brain isn’t much in etiquette mode when confronted with the unexpected. So I suppose the best advice is to train yourself to I’m sorry, love and prayers, and etc. platitudes, and suppress the “son of a –“ reaction until you’re locked in your car or other isolated place.

Just don’t let it out in front of a talking parrot.

That’s all today. Take care. Have a safe, fun, and Happy Halloween tomorrow, and a wonderful week.

Luv,

Bubbles

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Fall Vacation

10/21/2018

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Hi all, we're back from our fall vacation. The parronts took a Disney Cruise to the Bahamas last week, and we stayed with Mommy's parents. So it turned out to be a vacation for all of us last week. It was interesting, because grandmommy and granddaddy are retired. That means we didn't have to get up before sunrise for them to go to work, or sit all day waiting for them to come home. It was all day fun, every day! We got to watch TV, sit on their screened in back porch, and see their friends who came by to visit us. It was quite different from what we experience every day at home! But I have to say, they watch different stuff and listen to different music than mommy and daddy do. No drama or aliens here. It was much milder entertainment than we're used to, but we managed well.

The grandparronts took good care of us, but it's still good to be home. And we've let mommy and daddy know that we missed them, too. We've screamed, thrown seed, and given them strategic bites to remind them of where it's at! We've also snuggled and kissed them a lot to let them know we're glad they're back. They need to know the error of their ways with leaving us, but they also need to know we love them!

Fortunately, they only take these big vacations every few years, so we should be good for a while.

So that's what's been up with us this past week. You can check out daddy and mommy's pictures from the trip on Flickr if you're interested. But now, it's relaxing today before heading back to the routine tomorrow. And I'm sure they'll pay for being out last week there, too!

That's all today. Take care, and have a great week.

Luv,

Zack

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One More Time

10/10/2018

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I remember when we didn’t have Category 4 Hurricanes when the State Fair opened in mid-October. Fall was actually here, and it wasn’t still in the 80’s – 90’s. Mommy says that anybody who doesn’t believe in global warming should have lived in the southeast for the past 40 years. There’s definitely been a shift in the weather here. Summer is warmer, and last longer than it used to. And we’re having a hurricane again, one more time, less than a month after the last one.
Even I notice it, and I’m only 18. The AC stays on longer. The parronts are wearing short sleeves until nearly the end of October. Mommy even had to go shopping for some Halloween T-shirts a couple of weeks ago, because it was too hot to wear the long sleeved Halloween shirt she has. She could only wear it twice last year, and both times were in the week before Halloween.

It’s supposed to cool off and actually be fall after this storm passes, but we’ll see. Summer keeps coming back. I suppose it will have to go and stay gone for a little while at least eventually. We actually have a joke around here that South Carolina does have 4 seasons: December (fall), January (winter), February (spring, as pollen really does start here around Valentine’s Day), and summer. But for now, we take in the outdoor furniture and batten down the hatches one more time. Here's hoping the tropics will settle as the season winds down. Heck, they'll probably have to lengthen hurricane season a month or so, just like they did Daylight's Saving Time (why do we bother with that for 4 months? Oh well, I suppose that's another blog entry.)

It’s whacky weather for sure, but we’ll batten down the hatches one more time and keep our friend at NOAA Weather Radio tuned in. We pray for all in the path of Hurricane Michael, and that we will weather this second storm of the season. We’ll keep you posted on Twitter.

That’s all today. Take care, and have a great rest of the week.

Luv,

Zack

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Keeping Busy

10/4/2018

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We’ve been keeping busy with fall fun lately. Mommy and daddy have been shopping and planning for upcoming Halloween events, and mommy has kept busy with October book promotion and preparing to release another book in November. The title is Trigger, and it’s another scifi novel set in the same ‘universe’ as The Earthside Trilogy (which will be offered for free on Oct. 10-11, so bookmark that link and set a reminder to pick it up if you don't have it already!). That book release has actually moved up, thanks to those impromptu days off from Hurricane Florence which put her ahead of schedule. It’s amazing how things work out for the best. Now, she’ll have a new release to coordinate with prime book selling season in November – January. Plus, she got an email yesterday about a flash fiction contest opening tomorrow, so Zack and I need to help her go through her writing journal to find an appropriate entry.

This is fun! A lot of people think that writing is a simple thing, but there are actually a lot of pieces and parts moving to get a book published. It’s fascinating to see her work with the cover artist to finally get a visual depiction in place. It’s interesting to see the story finalize as the final edits and proofreads mold it into final form, and then formatted for ereaders and ereader apps. It’s amazing to see the manuscript formatted into a final form for ereaders and ereader apps. And it’s exciting to get it downloaded and set for release so a story in the works for 2 years is finally released to readers. Plus this will be a special release, because the dedication for Trigger is in memory of Chloe. She’ll be so happy over the rainbow bridge, and I hope it brings mommy a further measure of closure over her loss.

Plus, we’ve chattered plenty over all of the work and plans during our back porch time. Yes, it finally cooled off enough for us to do that again! Zack and I love watching the wild birds from the back deck. It’s a good thing we have outdoor cages too, because a thrasher flew right up to us the other night. I think I scared it when I tried to mimic it.

So we’re keeping busy with good, fun stuff these days, and it’s all good. I hope you’re all doing well. Take care. I hope you have a happy Friday tomorrow and a wonderful weekend.

Luv,

Bubbles

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Bad News Etiquette

Fall Vacation

One More Time

Keeping Busy

Niblets

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