Some lovely and then sad things happened here Christmas morning. I
thought I'd sent this email along, but I just found it in my drafts
box, so I guess you haven't seen it. Since then. my life has lightened
and smoothed a lot. And there's no reason to expect any return of the
problems of the last months -- for those of you who don't yet know, I
live in a tiny town in Ethiopia, and the problems have been difficult
government bureaucracy issues that have kept me away from home and
under stress.

- - - -
The ferret cage was full of birds this morning. Sisay says it happens
a lot, but I've mostly been in the city for a long time, and haven't
witnessed it.

Because our water sources are very irregular, I have a 300-liter water
tank. It's installed in the middle of the ferret's first outdoor pen,
partly in order to give them more shade. There's something new wrong
with the  tank that makes it drip when water comes in, and there's a
basin below to catch the water.

It's Christmas morning, and abt 12 birds were bathing under the drips,
in the basin, and in the ferret water dish. It was enchanting. I saw
some birds I've only seen at a distance before -- they were a mated
pair, turquoise underneath and on their sides and heads, and on top
they were a soft, medium, slightly taupe brown. Darkish tails w glints
of dark blue. Maybe they were 4 or 5" long, bodies a little chunky,
beaks slightly short, slightly thick. Male had red cheeks! These were
the ones in the ferrets' water dish. (They aren't in my E Africa or
Ethiopia bird books. Do any of you know what they might be?)

Also there were the beautiful sunbirds and some yellow and brown
birds I don't know the name of but are plentiful here. It was just
delightful. Lots of chirping and some small skirmishes. It looked and
made me joyful -- the combination of sun, water, and playing birds was
wonderful.

Then Sisay changed the ferret water dish -- I'd asked him to, but meant
it for after the water stopped dripping and the bird celebration was
over. So all the birds went back out through the wire mesh except one
brown and yellow one that was too big for most of the spaces -- clearly
it'd gotten in via a bent area. Then Sisay insisted on catching it,
running and chasing the bird around and around. I asked him to stop,
but he wouldn't until he caught it when the bird finally tried to hide
down on the ground behind one of the ferret boxes near the fence. Sisay
then tried to comfort it rather than let it go, after teasing it after
it pecked him, and it died of fright as he held it cupped against his
chest, thinking to comfort and calm its fright.

Neither of us knew it had died, and I insisted that he release it --
by placing it on the branch of a tree. And of course it was too
late -- in fact it was already stiff, which amazes me, looking back
on it. How could that happen so fast? It hadn't been more than a few
minutes.

Sisay was distressed and I was distressed and angry, since I'd kept
asking him to not chase it, and then to let it just fly out via the
door I was opening, and then when he was holding it. I was sympathetic
to S's distress too, of course, but the poor bird. It was so sad, and
they all seem to be mated, though maybe it is less than I imagine for
that particular species. The flashier ones get more of my attention...

The little bird death still has me upset. And of course conflicted abt
Sisay. He tries and mostly has a good heart towards the animals, but he
is such a blunderer. He was also getting Hima cat to chase around the
outside of the pen and up the wire mesh as the bird was flying around
trying to find a way out.

Sigh.... Well, enough of that. Just part of the way life is, and isn't
it sad?

But I am tired of so many sad things and stress. I am convinced life
is about to improve hugely. I'm focusing on the marvelous release from
the problems of the last 7 months. I think everything will be resolved
in a couple-few weeks. Life is already much more of a pleasure, and
when everything settles down it will be more so.

I'm also changing staff in about 6 weeks -- not just the bird
incident, of course, which just happened. I'm giving Tsige and Sisay
a nice severance package. They might stay in Addis Alem and start a
little business.

I'm going to have some luscious chocolate now and read. It's Christmas
day!
- - - - -

It's now Jan 12, and yes, the good things have started to happen.
Instead of spending all my time in the capital chasing giv't
requirements, I have been home for almost a week. It is lovely. The
second ferret pen is well under way, all the animals are doing well,
and the garden has many flowers. I'm sleeping well, and making a few
new friends here in the tiny town. Ethiopian Christmas was last
Sunday.

[Posted in FML 7303]