Dad had a big bird encounter

Mom and Dad went to a friend's house for dinner this past weekend. They have a dog and a big bird. The dog was very friendly, but stayed away until after dinner, which we don't understand. You would think that she would have come and asked for a bite of fish. (Mom and Dad had salmon, but didn't bring us any.)


This is Jason, the bird. Dad was warned that Jason will bite, so he didn't get too close at first. Just close enough to take a picture. But as the night went on, Dad was told about how Jason likes to get loved on before going to bed. Jason is 36 years old, and goes to bed at 9 pm, and will squawk at you if his mom doesn't come and hold him and pet him. Dad happened to walk through the kitchen a little after 9:00 and Jason was still out, so the bird walked across his cage door and the top of the cage toward Dad. Then Jason leaned toward Dad a little and raised his right wing, asking to be pet. So Dad very carefully reached over and gave him some skritches on his back. A little bit later his Mom came in and held him and Jason just snuggled up against her and cooed. Mom and Dad said it was amazing to see. (He sounds cute, but looking at the size of his claws and beak, I'll just steer clear of this one.)


This is their dog Rachel. She was very sweet and well-behaved. She did like to lick a lot, which Mom is not a fan of. Dad was OK with it. He made sure to wash the dog stink off before coming into the house, though.

And since we're talking about stuff that's not us, here's a picture from the roller derby last weekend.


Mom and Dad went to the roller derby in town (our team is really good, and fun to watch) and they ran into Lauren, the coordinator of the Walk MS events. She was in town signing people up for the Walk MS event in Columbia in April. But she recognized Mom and Dad from the 3-Day, 50-Mile walk last year, and they talked about the upcoming walk at the end of this month. It was really nice for them to be able to catch up and helped re-invigorate Mom and Dad about their big big walk. Mom and Dad are still fundraising. You can support Mom here or Dad here.

Mom and Dad do the Walk MS events to support their good friend Nikki, who lives outside Atlanta. Nikki was diagnosed about eight years ago. Fortunately, she has no new plaque developments since 2010, and some on her spine have healed. Mom and Dad also walk for all those they have met along the way whose lives have been touched by MS. They have other friends who have MS, or friends who have family with MS, or some of Dad's patients have MS. So this has become an important cause for Mom and Dad, so I guess we can let them have a weekend to walk and walk and walk.

OK, one last picture ...


Dad took part of a World Record-setting event last Sunday. Columbia set the World Record for most bow ties tied at one time (yes, that's a recorded record). This is Dad with his friend Annie. They both successfully tied their bow tie. Dad even got his done on his first try!

If you want to learn how, this is the video to watch. Lucky is from Britton's right down the street from where Dad works, and he is who taught Dad the first time, in person, and the second time, on video.



If you made it this far, thanks for reading this long wrap-up post. I don't do a lot of long posts because I know I don't like to read really long posts, but this let me cover a bunch of things all at once. We are getting snow and ice and sleet and freezing rain today and tomorrow and maybe Thursday, so think good thoughts for us. It means more time with Mom and Dad. Let's just hope we don't lose power. Stay warm, friends!