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Our First Trip To The Bird Show

If you are caught in someone else's frames
Break out!
 

Continued from Page 1

The trip home was a little quiet to say the least.  What was wrong with us?  We had two beautiful feathered babies at home, we just attended our first bird show, purchased several dollars worth of toys,treats, and signed up for a great bird magazine and yet we were feeling cheated.   We decided not to dwell on what we could not have but be happy for what we did.   There would be many more bird shows to attend and who knows maybe the next one will have even more to offer.

When we arrived home we fed and played with "our" babies.  Then Jacob (our son) and I decided to color eggs.  The next day was Easter Sunday.  Jacob not only loved to color the eggs he loved to eat them, which meant there would be several to color.

I wondered, as my mind wandered off thinking of the pretty yellow nape, if Jerry was thinking of the grey?   I couldn't wait to get the eggs colored, put the baskets  together and hide them for Jacob and the grandchildren.  I wanted to talk with Jerry and not about baskets or eggs.  I wanted to see if just maybe I could talk him into the beautiful yellow nape.  I read so many good things about them I just knew she would be perfect for our family.  Jerry loved birds.  How hard could it be to convince him?

Harder than I thought!!  He really wanted the grey baby.  I told him some of the stories about the greys were not very nice.  They were known to take to only a few,  more often only one person.  Whereas, the yellow napes seem to get along pretty much with everyone.  He said the grey was the better of the two birds.  She was only a baby. She was also less expensive and would take up less cage room.  She  would not be as apt to be a screamer, and we both had to admit the breeder of the grey seemed  more committed to her babies.  All in all the baby grey was a better choice. 

No decisions were made that night except that we could not agree on anything.  We were past the point of the lack of money or space, we were on a mission, which baby was right for us.  Don't ask when we forgot about the important things.  Or was bringing home a baby the most important thing?

After the kids found their baskets, early Sunday morning, I started calling some of the breeders listed in the Bird Talk magazine.  I called a wide variety to ask their opinion on both the grey and the yellow nape.  Each seemed to have their own ideas that one was better than the other, depending on who you were talking to. 

Finally I found a breeder who raised both. She had the most information of all.  She told me the good points and bad points of each in question.  By the time I finished it came down to more or less personal choice.  They all agreed  buying the youngest was a good choice and the price for the grey was incredible.

I sheepishly told Jerry of my findings.  Although why should it matter we were not going to get her, it was all speculation.  It was 2:30 pm and the bird show would be closing at 5 pm.  There was no way of even knowing if the breeder was still there.  She said once the gentleman came in to pick up the other baby she was going to head back to Nashville.   Her store was located in Nashville where she had several other breeds of babies that were needing her care.

Making our way through traffic we finally arrived at 4:45 pm.  Now we were placing the decision in a higher authority's hands.  If....the old proverbial IF the breeder was still there and IF  the baby was not sold  then we were suppose to have her.  This was now our logical thinking.

When we approached the place where the breeder's booth was located it was empty.  All the toys were gone and everything was put away.  Everything except for a little cage I saw sitting under the table, as before.  Surely they didn't leave forgetting to take the cage?   As we were standing there the breeder walked up to us.  With a smile on her face and her hand extended she said "I knew you would be back". 

She explained how the gentleman decided he wanted the baby we looked at because he saw how gentle it was with Jerry.  She told him Jerry would be coming back today to pick her up, so he took his original choice. 

I asked how she knew we would be back.  "Did we have "addict"  stamped on our forehead"? She said she's been in the business for a long time and when a baby takes,  to potential parents, it's almost a guarantee.  She did say she thought we were about to prove her wrong, since it was almost closing time.  Her husband wanted to leave by 4 pm but she stayed around hoping we would return. 

We held the baby grey again making sure she was just as sweet as the first time.  Ruling out that we caught her at a vulnerable moment the day before.  She was just as gentle with both of us as before making our decision to take her home a final one.

We brought a small cage with us just in case we took her home.    The breeder gave us some  small perches and a couple of toys to add to her cage as needed.  The ride home was once again filled with ideas on what to call our newest baby.  After many choices Smoki was unanimous. 

Smoki was by far the most beautiful bird I ever saw.  Jerry let us know right off Smoki was his bird.  I told him I had my hands full with Sydney and Charlie.  Besides I missed my pretty playful yellow nape.

Our home now consisted of Sydney (our cockatiel), Charlie (our Red Lored Amazon) and Smoki (our Timneh African grey).  Smoki was taken immediately upstairs to the bedroom, where she would be quarantined for 6 weeks.  Be sure to visit Smoki's room, when you click on next,  to see how she adjusted and lived with our family.

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