Not much to report today except, as I expected, the USFWS has still not responded to my application for CITES permits for my birds. So as I predicted, I am panicking. Instead of going out for a beer or two tonight to relieve my stress, I am at home and now I am suffering intense foot cramps that have almost paralyzed my feet and make me want to scream. Is it time for some codeine-based pain relief or maybe just some alcohol?

The moving company representative had to reschedule visiting my apartment to look at my things until Friday evening next week. It sounds like the company where he works is rather small, since he said he is standing in for his boss who will be out of the office for three days next week. I can’t say as I feel too bad about his delay since this gives me more time to clean up the apartment after allowing the birds to fly freely most of the time for the past few weeks — and you know what free-range parrots do!

At this point, I am not sure how to proceed regarding relocating the parrots, but I have to do something proactive to relieve my stress before my feet have to be amputated. In addition to finishing several writing projects I am working on (Monday deadline), I think I will spend some time studying the USFWS and USDA rules again, trying to develop a rough timeline of my own and then check it with my bird breeder friends who are veterinarians and bird importers to see if my understanding of this process is correct. I can also contact the carpenter who will be building the shipping crate for the birds to get that started.

I must start working with the USDA as well as the German authorities soon because the medical tests (and the pre-export quarantine and that mysterious “isolation” period, whatever that consists of) that they require must be completed within a very tight timeframe prior to shipping, which means that delays in issuing the CITES permits by the USFWS will force me to repeat these medical tests if I get them completed too early. But it can’t hurt to make a complete list of which tests are required, and the associated costs. Since I have to bring my sick parrot back to the veterinarian next week to check whether she is really diabetic, I will use that opportunity to ask my veterinarian if I can submit a blood sample pooled from all five parrots for each test instead of testing each bird individually (to save the expense) and only re-test all five birds individually in the incredibly unlikely event that one of the tests is positive.