Muse

UPDATE: I got the call Friday. It seems a haz-mat team was dispatched and they spent FOUR DAYS catching the budgies. There were twenty-seven altogether, however three had to be euthanized. One was egg bound and two had "large abdominal tumors." The remaining twenty-four were taken to the Animal Welfare League in Alexandria, VA, (one of the NICEST shelters I have ever seen in my life). I got the call Friday morning and left the house at 11:30am, headed north. The traffic was horrible but I made it in time. The veterinarian who has been helping these birds since the beginning was already there. She was loading them up in cages, wrapping perches in vet wrap andsecuring doors with zip ties. We got stuck in traffic so I got off I-95 and called a friend who lives near there. He invited me over and begged me to stay rather than drive in the madness of Friday night traffic. He graciously hosted the budgies in his den and me in his guest room and I was able to get a good nights sleep and hit the road in the morning. It was a very long drive home but we arrived Saturday late afternoon. All of the budgies appear to be doing well. One has a very deformed beak but is able to eat and drink just fine. I saw her tonight chasing the others out of the food bowl. That small beak doesn't mean she isn't fierce! We have been trying to raise funds but it's slow going and hard to even get folks just to share the link on their pages, so tonight I set up the Cafe Press shop and I am going to start calling around trying to get items donated for a raffle. What I'd like to do is to get them a huge walk-in cage where I could let them all live together, as they did previously (minus the digging out holes in drywall to nest in and pooping all over the floor). First we have to get them vet checked. This vet is doing all the work for free (including driving down here from the DC area) but we do have to pay the lab fees for the infectious disease testing as well as for supplies. I have faith that this will happen. Right now they are all in strict quarantine in the guest room. If you are on Facebook, you can see lots of pictures on our page. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Mardens-Ark/1379909775617543 If you are not on FB let me know if you want to see pictures and I can either post them on our website or here. I am amazed how much these tiny birds poop! WOW. But I don't regret taking them in for one second!

Sadly, we discovered this past week that one of our birds apparently was either hit with something or flung. He is very nippy, so I suspect that it may have been a bite reaction that caused someone to try to fling him off, but it must have been a violent one. We knew he was blind in one eye, however the vet exam showed that his eyeball was actually ruptured. He also has on the same side as the eye a shattered leg. It healed into kind of a U shape so he walks with a pronounced limp. She said she could feel several breaks and of course it was not set properly so he probably got no vet care after the injury at all. It is very sad. Even worse is the news that his good eye is developing a cataract and he will soon be completely blind.

Yes, he sent me an email letting me know that he had an overwhelming response! It is good to know and I hope he screened them very carefully.

I am so glad you caught this in time! I have heard this from others who had the respiratory form, that the change in voice was the first clue that something was wrong. I pray that she makes a full recovery.

One to keep, others to give away to friends.

So, today I went through some other pictures, and used our logo and banner, and set up a Cafe Press shop! http://www.cafepress.com/mardensarkgiftshop All profits go directly to Marden's Ark. Nothing is marked up much as we are trying to keep prices low hoping it will increase sales! Thanks so much, birdhouse, for the excellent suggestion.

I have been trying to clone him for years with no success. LOL

I agree - I have never made a survey, but if there is an option to allow an "other" with free text option, that might be good to include because sometimes the answers just don't fit. Thanks JeffNOK for putting this together! None of the answers pertained to multiple birds, so I did it with Megan in mind. However, to be more specific in some cases - she imitates my voice pretty well but repeating things daddy says she uses her own voice. And as for wanting cuddles - she does with her dad but not with me. I can give head scritches with her permission. Marden was a whole different story. And Peck is very unique also.

It wouldn't let me go back to it again, if I click the link it just shows me that "Feeling charitable?" page.

Good news, I did some networking and found a very trustworthy person in CA who has plenty of connections and resources and she is already in the process of contacting him to discuss helping Chili find a good home!

Thanks everyone for the kind and encouraging words!

We got an Amazon donation account but I am not sure how to get involved with the Smiles thing. I will tell my hubby about that - he's the one who set up the Amazon account. I have set up a GoFundMe page but am waiting to hear back from support. They are adding us to their approved charities list. I hope this will give donors more confidence that we are legit and not just someone trying to scam some money. I have heard a lot of that lately, especially since that woman pulled that stunt lying about KFC and raising all that money. I think every time something like that happens it causes grief for legitimate causes because people become suspect about everything.

I attribute it to prayer and that new 1023EZ form - SO much easier to complete and I am betting a lot easier for them to review. Thanks!

That's funny because when my husband calls and I start off with "Your bird....." he knows she's done something bad. LOL. When she's good she's "our baby girl" LOL

Congratulations!! I am so glad your reunion with Maggie went so well!

I just sent an email and will let you know what response I get.

I am fairly new here and did not know Cocoa, but I am very sorry for your loss. You have a very beautiful baby. I love the name. I look forward to seeing more pictures!

Wow... Great ideas!!! I will run this past "the artist" and see what he says!

Sometimes the best suprises can come with tears... My husband took this picture a long time ago. It was just a chance shot, with an awfully cluttered background, but he saw the picture of Mar in flight and cropped it, masked out the background and it came out beautifully. He looks so much like an angel. I think the tranlucence is due to him being in front of a window and the light was shining through his feathers. Last night, he told me he *had* to go to Walmart. I waited in the car and he came out with this. Of course I cried. We are thinking about using this as a donor reward for donors who donate over a certain amount (of course we have to research shipping costs, etc.). I thought I'd share this picture here as I know many of you love flying pictures. If you want a digital copy, let me know.

I almost could not believe this. I had to look at it twice..... Two weeks ago, I borrowed the money from the generator fund to file the application for 501©(3) status. Our garage sale (first fundraiser) started today. We are hoping to raise the money towards the filing fee to repay the generator fund. My husband came down stairs after I'd been out there for a while setting up and went out to check the mail while I went to put the sign along the road that borders the side of our property. I heard a "WOOOO HOOOO!!!" really loud and wondered what he was going on about. A few minute later, he walks over to me and he said, with a straight voice, (evidently not realizing I heard the earlier outburst) and says "Well, when you get a letter from the IRS this quick, you just know it has to be bad news..." (trying to make me believe we'd been rejected). He then handed me the Letter of Determination which reads: ... We're pleased to tell you we determined you're exempt from federal income tax under Internal Revenue Code (IRC) Section 501©(3). Donors can deduct contributions they make to you under IRC Section 170. You're also qualified to receive tax deductible bequests, devises, transfers or gifts under Section 2055, 2106, or 2522. This letter could help resolve questions on your exempt status. Please keep it for your records. ... There was more but that is the important part. YAY!!!!! I am so happy! And in TWO WEEKS! I am still in shock! Answer to my prayers!

Thanks, it's my fault for posting so late. I actually did not notice the contest until just a couple days before it closed.

Thank you! We let the back portion go back to nature. My husband wants so bad to cut it but we leave it natural for the outside birds. Much grass and other plants have gone to seed, killdeer nest near the back, and the place is mockingbird heaven with the Bradford pear trees and the long grass. Someday the aviary will be there but for now it's my 'meadow'.

That would be wonderful! We are just N. of Raleigh outside of Youngsville NC. It's a pretty far drive from Atlanta, though.

I am praying that it is!!!

I bake our sweet potatoes. I do it in a pan because they tend to 'seep' and the juice that leaks out is sugary and carbonizes if it hits the oven floor and is VERY hard to clean up. Just stab them top and bottom with a fork a few times and pop them in a baking dish or 13x9 cake pan. I add a little water to prevent that aforementioned carbon problem. 350 degrees and time will vary from twenty five minutes to half an hour for a smallish one to 45 minutes to an hour for the really huge ones. You can tell when they are done by how mushy they are. Just split the skin and scoop out the cooked sweet potato. I serve ours mashed or put them in the mixer and add red palm fruit oil and different nuts, seeds and spices to make crackers in the dehydrator. I love sweet potatoes!