# Wish me luck, I'm off to England today!



## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

I can hardly believe it, but today's the day! I'm flying to England to attend the Falconry and Hawking Event where I will be introducing myself and handing out thirty resumes.
I'll also be meeting the love of my life for the very first time in person! We've been best friends online for almost five years, but we've never met in person. I'm SO nervous!!!!!  
I've been planning this trip for ages, but could only just now afford it, and I had to go while there was a Falconry Festival going on so I can do my best to find a job while I'm over there.
My best friend is a falconer also and we're going to be camping near the festival. I love camping and tomorrow night there is supposed to be a spectacular meteor shower too .
I'm headed outside of give Pan some loving before I get a shower. I'm gonna miss my little dog, Max and my goaties SO much!!!!!!!!! But I have a good friend coming over who will take good care of them while I'm gone.
I'm SO EXCITED!!!!!!!


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## TinyHoovesRanch (Jan 16, 2010)

WHOA.....LUCKY!!!!!!

Im sooooo JEALOUS!!! I have wanted to go to England my WHOLE life!! Have fun and soak up all those accents


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

I know, right? My guy's accent just drives me crazy! He was actually born and raised in South Africa, and his accent is so beautiful!
I'll be taking lots of pictures. I have trouble posting them on here but I'll put them on my fb page. Friend me! I'll post links here to the best pics and I have my facebook photos set on "public" so you don't have to be a fb member to view them.


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## Frosty1 (Jul 12, 2011)

Sounds fantastic!!!! Have a great time!!!


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

Thank you! I'm headed to the airport now! :clap:


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## 8566 (Jul 18, 2012)

OMG ..... you are going to have a great time and don't let those nerves get to you about meeting your BF in person. 

Falcons and the olympics and a star shower!
I wish you the best in getting a job there and I hope you have LOTS of offers.

Visit an old castle for me. :wahoo:


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## Stacykins (Mar 27, 2012)

Wow! Have a grand time, that is awesome! I hope you take and share pictures aplenty!


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## TinyHoovesRanch (Jan 16, 2010)

AHHHHHHHHHHHH im so happy for you!!

Definently post pics, and put a link to your facebook and I will add you!


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## .:Linz:. (Aug 25, 2011)

Safe and happy travels! Wish I could stow away - I'll get there someday though!


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## meluvgoats (Apr 19, 2012)

You'll have great fun! I've recently been to England on hols! And yep gotta soak up the accents!


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## Lamancha Lady (Dec 13, 2011)

Have a safe flight and a wonderful time.


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## liz (Oct 5, 2007)

Have fun and try to not worry too much about your "kids" at home :hug:


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## toth boer goats (Jul 20, 2008)

Good luck..... :thumb:


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## luvmyherd (Apr 9, 2011)

Best wishes. May the love of your life be everything you've dreamed of. :dance:


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## Goat Song (May 4, 2011)

Aaahhh! I am SO jealous!! I absolutely ACHE to do falconry someday!!! When you manage to tear yourself away from the festival and your friend, and you're back on TGS, I want to hear about your bird! Hawk or falcon? What kind? How long have you been doing falconry? Gaah, I am so jealous... :wink:


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

Goat Song said:


> Aaahhh! I am SO jealous!! I absolutely ACHE to do falconry someday!!! When you manage to tear yourself away from the festival and your friend, and you're back on TGS, I want to hear about your bird! Hawk or falcon? What kind? How long have you been doing falconry? Gaah, I am so jealous... :wink:


Caitlyn, sorry it took me so long to reply to this. My trip was awesome, but once I got home there was just so much to do!
About my falconry, I'm a general class falconer. I actually became an apprentice in 1996 and flew my first two redtailed hawks in '96 and '97, but because of personal issues with my sponsor I let my paperwork lapse in '99 and flew a lanner falcon (non-native birds are not regulated by the government and lanners are from Africa). I kept Star (my lanner) for eight years and then lost her to WNV. After that I helped a wildlife rehabber by raising an eyass (baby) american kestrel. I raised him to maturity and was flying him outside free when my evil business partner decided that I was spending too much time with him. She took him thirty miles away and turned him loose (porbably dooming him because he had physical problems that hindered his hunting ability) . (I didn't find out the truth about this till two years ago. She told me that one of our summer campers had accidentally let Chriton out of the house and that he must have gotten lost.)
Anyway at that point my sponsor had died so I wrote FL Fish and Game and told them that I wanted to renew my falconry licence and upgrade to general. They mulled it over and eventually granted my request. Within a month of getting my general permit I aquired the bird I have now, Caprica, a female harris hawk.
I've had Cappy for three and a half years now and we hunt squirrels and the occasional rabbit (it's hard to find rabbits during the day here in FL) during the hunting season.
Caprica is an amazing and wonderful bird and I love her dearly. Harris hawks are one of the very rare species of raptor that is social in the wild. So they are perfect for falconry. My girl truly enjoys my company. They hunt co-operatively in the wild so learning to co-operate with a human falconer comes very easilly to them.
I'll see if I can post a picture of her.


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## 8566 (Jul 18, 2012)

had to study the pic to figure out what I was looking at .... 
That's a pretty good size bird.
Way cool.

Glad you are home safe and the job hunt went well.


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

I tried to fix the picture and my computer froze up.
Lets try again;


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

This is Caprica with her favorite food item, the common grey squirrel .


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

Here's a pic of Cappy in her mews (hawk house) sitting on her "nest" LOL.


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## Stacykins (Mar 27, 2012)

So you'll be able to bring Caprica to England, right?! Or would import/export laws hinder that? I really hope so, since she must be a special girl to you, after three and a half years of teamwork together!


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## Zarafia (Mar 25, 2012)

Stacykins said:


> So you'll be able to bring Caprica to England, right?! Or would import/export laws hinder that? I really hope so, since she must be a special girl to you, after three and a half years of teamwork together!


Yes, Stacey, because Caprica is captive bred and closed banded I can take her with me. Caprica and Max, my pomerainian, and one pair of tiny parrots, called lineolated parakeets are the animals I can take with me (though I am constantly thinking about figuring a way to take Pan and Sprite with too!).


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