Our Precious Kermie
"March 1993 - August 2004"
"Kiss Me Baby", 3x3 inch watercolor of Kermit and his "girlfriend" Tweety. Hover the cursor over the photos for captions |
 
Sadly, on August 6th, 2004 we lost our best little painting buddy and constant companion, our precious parakeet Kermit (Kermie Pickle) finally lost his struggle with the virus that had plagued him the last four years of his life. As many of you know our “children” for the past 14 years have been our pet birds. Two in particular became our “kids”. Spike, a.k.a. “the buzzard”, is our cockatiel, and definitely more Rachelle’s bird. Kermie, or Kermit, was one of five baby parakeets that were born in Rachelle’s studio while we lived in Florida back in 1993. He was hand tame and by age four had free flight of our home – flying between our studios and wherever else his little heart wanted to take him. He bonded more with Wes and loved to sit on Wes’s left hand while he painted. Below are but a few of our fond memories of him that we wanted to share with our collector family since so many of you knew him from your visits to our home and studio. * We called him our little “sweet pickle” since he was chartreuse green in color. * He loved to just fly in and land on anyone’s head in the room…especially during breakfast or studio visits! * In 11 ½ years of life he never once bit either of us or caused any mischief. * He loved to sit looking out the large dining room and studio windows watching the birds and squirrels outside. He was always eager to get in his small carry cage to eat lunch on the screen porch with us and greatly enjoyed the fresh lettuce from our garden.  
* During his last year each night he would fly into the bathroom waiting for us to come get a shower. Afterwards he would fly to the back of the couch waiting for us to come watch a movie. (he especially enjoyed movies when snacks of Chips and salsa or popcorn was served) * Years of Wes suffering from allergies also taught Kermit to “sneeze”. He would produce these fake sneezes dozens of times daily…especially if you told him “bless you”. * Each night he would sit on the shower curtain rod as we got our showers and sing to his heart’s delight. He would fly from his cage to our bed every night when Wes climbed in to wait on Rachelle to get ready and Kerm would sit on his hand and sing and talk until Rachelle picked him up and carried him back to his cage. * He would yip with glee each time Wes would walk into a room and every morning when Wes removed the dust cover from the computer keypad he would yip, beep and chatter at the top of his little lungs with delight. * Kerm was also fond of pasta noodles which he would fling from his beak all over us at the table as we ate. He always had to sample everything we were eating. * Kerm's favorite song on the radio was "Mr. Bo Jangles". Our home is a much quieter place now in his absence and we still are in awe of how one so tiny could fill our world with such joy and love. Our lives were enriched by his constant joy and energy and he certainly taught us to face life with a song in our hearts. 
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