Thursday, February 25, 2010

prophecy of darkness



I've been trying to find a good home for our aviary of doves, some of whom are almost fifteen years old. I'm especially fond of that light tan dove in the picture, and it's not an easy task for me. But we'll be in Colorado from May to December and not planning on having someone live in the house this time.

I thought I'd found a perfect person on a pigeon forum I stumbled upon. Imagine, a pigeon forum. I was a little worried that her email address was prophecy_of_darkness@ but kept up the correspondence. (hope she's not going to eat their little heads off.) I learned you have to watch out for hunting dog trollers if you post on Craigslist because they will indeed do bad things to your birds.



So I sent her pictures of the birds. We'd already discussed shipping the birds. She wrote back:
Sally,
OMG.They're beautiful !!!! I want you to know we will be building an 8ftx8ftx4ft indoor aviary for them,in my bird room(pa winters are far too harsh for them,so they will be indoors,in an aviary-with a very natural appearance).We already have the guy,paid to do it and the plans made,plus some of the stuff bought for it.I will send you pictures of the aviary when it is completed.I hope alls well there,with you.
Have a great day.

Then today I get this grim email:

Sally,
We are having some family issues right now.My father is not doing well(his cancer is advancing-he told me last night),my partner just got diagnosed with RA,(had pain/swelling in her wrists-we assumed was tendonitis,and went to the drs yesterday-he diagnosed her with rhumatoid arthritis)and my partners daughter is having some turmoil with her BF and is moving out and into a rental,and we are trying to help her out.She has a 3yr old son,that is involved,and we are taking her 3 cats in,on top of it all because the only place she could find wont allow her cats-and she did not want to lose them completely.She is not safe to stay with her BF as he is hurting her.I am very very sorry to have to decline to take the birds,right now.I really wanted to give them a good home.It just would not be the best timing to give them all what they need to feel safe and secure here.My life has just been turned upside down.I hate to go back on my promise to you,I am not like that,and have been struggling with the concept of weather to still take them in or not.When it comes down to it,its whats best for the birds.I would not be being fair to them,if I took them at this point and time.
I hope you understand,and are not too upset about it.I feel bad for doing this to you.I'm very sorry about this,and I hope you find suitable homes for them.

  • Sounds so awful but maybe one awful thing too many? Or maybe her email address really was prophetic.

4 comments:

Mars Tokyo said...

She sounds like a good person. At least she was being honest.

Sally said...

I think you're probably right. When I want to get out of things my tendency is to tell every possible reason why I can't do it, but then that ends up sounding like a lie. Better to condense it all.

Namowal (Jennifer Bourne) said...

I've found my self on both ends of the 'horror-story-is-the-explanation' conversation.
As the "explainer," the terrible truth seems honest and justifiable... ...though later I cringe and think Why'dja have to dump all that baggage on them!? Geez!

Jane said...

What about some place at UC Davis, the animal loving UC?