Couch 122 - Doin' what we do!

What do they do with the little kids who pick up feathers? Juvie?

An act passed originally in 1918 is one of those things nobody enforces unless you do it in front of a park ranger.

i give up. now the couch isn't even safe for me. i need to just disappear.

Then you're cleaning up your property. Possession is 9/10 of the law.

Art - instead of disappearing, why not use us to let off some steam?

Art - I think it should be fine -they are not going after people who pick up feathers from their own back yard without there being some other nefarious actions going on. Don't let this take you off into over-reacting on a bad day.

Don't disappear Art! Its a stupid internet article. Who even cares???

I AM sorry. They do say to put them in the freezer to kill off the cooties.

Late to the conversation but I feel almost like a little kid in an adult suit.

I can be an appropriate adult for my family, friends and neighbors. I have held adult jobs- working as a tech in ER, surgery, working in doctor's offices front and back office. Married twice.

I am most comfortable being a loner these days.

I let T see who I really am, mostly.

Art- I hope you are ok. You are not hurting anything picking up bird feathers. You might want to Baggie them and put them in the freezer, first for a bit like Una suggests to kill off cooties.

This gives your little such joy. Hope you let her have fun.
Please don't disappear.

my sons surgery went well and we are now home and he is resting .

Glad the surgery went well.

I'm with you on the inner child stuff. My T gratefully has never said anything of the sort to me.
Umm...how is not knowing a ridiculous law make you a bad person?!

Personally, I'd ignore that, how on earth would you ever get caught anyway? But I also mostly use stop signs as suggestions

Hey couchies.

It's early morning where I am, and I haven't slept a wink because I've been bawling my eyes out. I'm OK...just my family might never change. The sister would never care if I died. The parents would, because I work and give them money lol.

I'm over my stupidness earlier. I left work early, cried it all out for a little and napped and am feeling a little more human. I'm going to buy some feathers at Michaels (the kind of feathers that are legal to have) and pretend they are the ones I picked up and proceed from there. I know there's something more going on with me than bird feathers, and I'll figure it out at some point.

Thank you all for putting up with me.

Hey Art--Do you think maybe when you saw that effed up law that it was the equivalent of your mother screeching at you to not touch the feather and that threw you back into a kind of shame/fear mode and robbed you of all that innocent delight that is your nature? Because I've found that those kinds of connections are really helpful in being able to take the power out of them.

Is anyone on the couch? I could use some talking

Art -- I know this is going to sound really lame but what the heck (anonymous forum -- so, my reputation really can't get any worse!).

I was terrified of feathers -- especially pigeon feathers -- as a kid. I still have vestiges of that fear (very odd I know) -- especially when I visit home, where there a ton of pigeons. I distinctly remember my brother following me around as a kid holding a bunch of feathers in his hand and me running (I was rather awful at all things athletic -- dork was and is my middle name) screaming. It wasn't exactly hard for him to find the darn feathers since a whole lot of pigeons would come to roost on our balcony every day (pigeon poop was a thing I learned to avoid early on).

So, reading about you collecting feathers -- out of joy -- was oddly comforting (and, also made me realize that I'm quite far from ever being able to do that).

Art - I am glad you are feeling better. I think you may be getting a bit too concerned about picking up feathers in your own back yard and the law.

wow that's - yeah - that. makes so much sense. whatever else has had me super emotional for the past week or so put me in a place where i totally reacted in that old fear mode. thank you for that insight. i'm reminding myself now that i'm not that scared little girl anymore and there's no bird feather police going around arresting people in their backyards. thank you so much.

hi ellahmae i just came back from sitting outside if you're still around.

Art, you should get yourself some chickens and enjoy an endless supply of gorgeous feathers (and some yummy eggs, too). We had bantams when I was a kid and there'd be every variety you could imagine around--white, black, red, gold, green and purple-tinted, laced, spotted, speckled, striped, and many more.

Fifteen years and some good 'ol natural selection later, all the chickens are feral and sort of brown-grey, but they still pull of some fantastic plumage.

Glad you are back Art. I hope you keep collecting feathers

I'm around. My wife is having a hysterectomy so I am in surgery waiting area for probably at least the next hour

My doctors keep suggesting a hysterectomy. I can't bear the thought of it.

I hope your wife recovers quickly.

Bay - I hope it goes well.

My wife could not wait. She was celebrating at the store throwing boxes of tampons at me and going "awww who's the poor loser who is still gonna have a period??? You!! I'm gonna be FREE!!!!"