All the way from the southwest tip of Indiana ...

Joe and Julie Dyson - April 21, 2006

Here we are ... all the way from the southwest tip of Indiana; just right across the mighty Ohio River from Kentucky. I still wake up some days and think, "Did we really quit our jobs and move to Arizona?" I guess that means we are living a dream. At least I hope so.

Both of us were born and raised in Gibson County, Indiana. We have never lived more than 30 miles from our families. After 18 years of marriage and frustrated with our jobs; we felt we were ready to take a chance on a better quality of life. Joe has worked every shift imaginable in mostly manufacturing and production supervision. Even with a switch to the coal mining industry, the outlook was bleak. I have spent all my years in various administrative positions with the last being in the coal mining industry as well. I spent many weekends alone while Joe worked, occasionally searching for a better life on the internet.

I discovered Caretakerjobs.com. We never knew such jobs existed. How cool!! We were up for a goat rancher position in Texas but were not allowed to bring our dogs. Not bring our dogs . . . out of the question. Then we saw the ad for an Exotic Bird Sanctuary in Arizona. Arizona ... that is a long way from Indiana but let's give it a shot! After all, we have a Moluccan; does that mean we are qualified? Well, long story short, here we are. We dropped out of the rat race, for a better quality of life.

So here we are with our three dogs, oh yeah, don't get me started here. We have alpha dog, Caly, a St. Bernard/Lab/Chow mix. She is the energizer bunny. Never runs out of energy. Then there is the very laid-back Monte, a Lab/Boxer mix. He looks very formal, all black and white, like he is wearing a tux. Then there is the Love Bug, Levi, a Brussels Griffon. For anyone who does not know what that is, do you remember the movie As Good As It Gets? Same dog, different color. He sleeps between our heads every night. Joe calls him a "momma's boy" and that is exactly what he is supposed to be.

Okay, then there is Haley, our Moluccan Cockatoo. She may think she is a dog. She can use the dog door to let herself in and out. She has the nicknames of "Hilda the Horrible" and "Destructo Bird". Yes, she has ruined several items including cell phones, remote controls, computer keyboards, cameras, roof tiles, plumbing, and electronics; do I need to go on? But she is our monster and we created her and we can't imagine life without her.

So far we love it out here. We have no regrets. To work with animals every day is a dream come true; even if you get bit on a regular basis. (That is probably the worst part of the job.) The best part however is, having a bird talk to you, even tell you it loves you, and wants to cuddle. Some just make us laugh.

We love the other "four-leggeds" too. I told Sybil she was lucky I didn't try to bring Staley and Athena home with me every night. I love those dogs. I miss bottle feeding Miss Mini Moo and Chance. That was awesome.

Okay, so I have rambled on long enough. We both want to make the Sanctuary an even better place with even more open-flight aviaries. The birds' happiness is very important to us.

So far, we consider the Sanctuary and Cascabel home and hope to for a very long time.