Freecycle love

Some of you have met the 20+ year old parrots that Homestead Mama has owned since college. Others of you may just have heard me bitch about how loud, dirty and under stimulated they are. They have a sad life since we are too busy to tend to them and give them the attention they deserve. I have been trying to get them a home with better prospects (out of my house) for over 5 years, much to Homestead Mama's dismay. It is true that one of the things I fell in love with was her sense of responsibility, which extends to her pets with a vengance. She has acquiesced, finally, that they need a better situation in life, and has been trying to get her mind right about giving them away since I started pushing hard. This hard pushing coincided with her getting pregnant and I (accurately, it would seem) predicted the end of our free time, extra house space, and extra mental space.

Just yesterday, someone at Homestead Mama's office got her all excited about Freecycle (via a free breast pump offering) and I took the opportunity by the horns to get her to dictate an ad for the parrots last night while she was trapped under a nursing baby. I submitted a post about the damn birds at 7:30 or so, it hit the web after we went to bed at 10:30 pm, and we started getting calls at 7:30 this morning. Huzzah! There is a lot of interest - we already have a short waiting list. The first caller is coming on Thurs night for the African Grey and the Umbrella Cockatoo, the second woman is interested in the Goffin Cockatoo. I'm thinking that even Peaches, our bald feather plucking Goffin could find a new home at this rate, bald and all. but Margie has to think on that a bit more, as that is the one she is still close to.

The lovely alcove next to the dining room that currently houses the huge bird cages is one step closer to being what I designed it to be - a kid's nook, with a reading chair, bookshelf, activity table and all the colorful plastic toy detritus housed there that is now cluttering up our living room. I am positively giddy with optimism. (To illustrate why, for those of you who haven't stayed overnight chez nous and haven't experienced it, the parrots awake at dawn and salute the sun like roosters. Loudly. And further, the African grey is very smart and has learned to mimic EXACTLY our smoke detector alarm, his current favorite salute. I'm hoping we get rid of him before he perfects his cry that mimics the baby screaming. What a catch he'll be then!)

By the way, if you live in the US and don't know about Freecycle, you should check it out.

www.freecycle.org has local chapters in many cities, and is a place to give away and acquire things for free. We've given away computer monitors the size of my car engine, hundreds of planting containers, and several bags of packing peanuts. We've gotten a pressure cooker, baby swing, children's books, a shelf, and now my alcove back!