rinalia

Because it has pit bulls. That's why.

But because I think it's just an easy, right thing to do:

Hi,

I just signed a pledge to repeal Prop 8 and I thought you might be interested in 
joining me and over 100,000 Courage Campaign members across California.

We have to come together right now to say that we refuse to accept a California 
where discrimination is enshrined in our state constitution. 

Please sign the "Repeal  Prop 8" pledge now and forward this to your friends as 
soon as possible:

http://www.couragecampaign.org/RepealProp8

If you aren't familiar with Prop 8: It was a measure on the California ballot to add an amendment to our state's constitution banning the right for gays to marry. Taking away rights should not be included in our Constitution, no matter how polarizing the issue is. I don't think petitions are necessarily the most provocative method of creating change, but they have been known to sway judges and, at the very least, they show that people care about an issue. Feel free to sign.

The Mighty Quinn

This is Quinn. He is wild-born, but something happened that left him orphaned and near-death. A wildlife rehabber noticed the sickly bird and intervened, took him to a vet and nursed him back to health.

A tame turkey in the California wilderness is not a safe turkey, especially not near a "holiday" that celebrates gratitude through the suffering and slaughter of another life.

So Quinn is now at the sanctuary.

I like Quinn a lot. He is tall and lanky, a bird made for flight and speed. He talks, urgently, inquisitively and intensely. If I had my way, I would sit and talk with Quinn all day. He does not speak like the other turkeys - not because he is wild, but because he has missed out on the passing down of songs from parents to offspring, of the sharing of trills between friends and siblings. His calls are louder, more urgent and lack the the subtleties of the other turkeys.

When I do my (poor) imitation of a mother turkey's trill, he cocks his head to the side, stretches his neck out, takes a deep breath and then screams at me. I'm not sure if he's saying "You're not my mother!" or "Your turkey talk sucks!" but he's curious and pauses always after his yell for my response. I don't know any other turkey talk except that one trill, so we bandy back and forth like this for a few minutes before he decides to see what the real turkeys are talking about.

And if there is one thing turkeys are most adept at it is talking. Their vocalizations are varied and many, their clucks, trills, whistles and gobbles all convey some sort of turkey thought, emotion or opinion (they are VERY opinionated). Sometimes it's obvious - the loud toot toot of an angry turkey hen, the full-throated warble of a courting turkey tom, the indignant yelp of a turkey hen who does not want to be petted, the soft trill of a content hen as she preens...sometimes the turkeys talk for the sake of gabbing or discuss stuff only turkeys really care about (or that humans are too inept to understand). I've seen turkey hens stand up tall, fluff their feathers and begin to wax eloquent on some very important subject. It does not matter that no one is listening for she has something to say and, darnit, she's going to say it loud and clear.

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