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- Nuns
- Bagpipes
- A family of deer.
Add Spike and it'd be crack!fic to go.
- Bagpipes
- A family of deer.
Add Spike and it'd be crack!fic to go.
Happy Hallowe'en...
Oct. 31st, 2007 02:48 pm... because the best way to celebrate All Hallows Eve is clearly to dress up your dog or cat.
( Or even your guinea pig. )
( Or even your guinea pig. )
of fan-ku and fauna
Jul. 1st, 2007 12:03 pmLast night I got stung on the elbow by a wasp. I was kneeling down and leaned forward, and put my elbow down right on something that stung it. Hard. I think it was a wasp but I didn't get a good look. It really hurt, still does!
Also, one of our fish, the male pineapple swordtail, died a couple of days ago. By the time I noticed the following morning, much of his biomass had been recycled back into the aquarium (in other words, somebody had eaten him), but fortunately so far everyone else still looks healthy. That was an interesting lesson/discussion for my son - much like the time there were (very unexpectedly) baby fish in the aquarium one morning, but by suppertime they were gone despite my efforts to protect them...
On a happier note, the other night![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
madame_meretrix posted some awesome fandom haikus, which triggered a whole impromptu evening of Fan-Ku (TM). Go check it out for a mix of fun, weirdness, beauty and porn mostly about SPN, J2, Spike, and accountancy (yeah, really). I missed it, being asleep at the time (darn time zones), but wrote a spur-of-the-moment thing the next morning:
( only for her would I write Spangel )
Also, one of our fish, the male pineapple swordtail, died a couple of days ago. By the time I noticed the following morning, much of his biomass had been recycled back into the aquarium (in other words, somebody had eaten him), but fortunately so far everyone else still looks healthy. That was an interesting lesson/discussion for my son - much like the time there were (very unexpectedly) baby fish in the aquarium one morning, but by suppertime they were gone despite my efforts to protect them...
On a happier note, the other night
madame_meretrix posted some awesome fandom haikus, which triggered a whole impromptu evening of Fan-Ku (TM). Go check it out for a mix of fun, weirdness, beauty and porn mostly about SPN, J2, Spike, and accountancy (yeah, really). I missed it, being asleep at the time (darn time zones), but wrote a spur-of-the-moment thing the next morning:( only for her would I write Spangel )
apoptosis in action
Apr. 22nd, 2007 03:03 pmBaby frogs are amazingly cute.
We've been raising tadpoles, from a bunch of frog eggs scooped from a puddle in the park across the way, and have now had to take two small batches of completed frogs back to the park before they figure out how to climb/jump out of the stage II aquarium (stage I still has the ones that haven't got any legs yet.)
It's pretty amazing to watch an obligate water-breather transform into an obligate air-breather. But you know what's really weird?
( Cut for biology dithering. )
Happy Earth Day!
We've been raising tadpoles, from a bunch of frog eggs scooped from a puddle in the park across the way, and have now had to take two small batches of completed frogs back to the park before they figure out how to climb/jump out of the stage II aquarium (stage I still has the ones that haven't got any legs yet.)
It's pretty amazing to watch an obligate water-breather transform into an obligate air-breather. But you know what's really weird?
( Cut for biology dithering. )
Happy Earth Day!
nice surprise(s)
Apr. 6th, 2007 10:15 pmI just discovered that Aftermath won runner-up Best Slash at the Shades of Grey Awards. This was a delightful surprise! (Not least because apparently they don't notify the winners.)
Also, the tadpoles are starting to get eeny-weeny back legs.
Also, the tadpoles are starting to get eeny-weeny back legs.
Oh. My. God. I. Have. Hedgehogs.
Jul. 19th, 2006 10:16 pmIt's been hot here. Really hot. Record-breaking hot. Cools down nicely at night though, when I open all the windows. Tonight, though, for the first time, I've taken my laptop out in the tiny back yard. I'm sitting at our patio table, watching the sky fade through an odd sort of steely blue mixed with yellowish-grey smoke at the edges, lovely meandering breeze with scents of honeysuckle and mown grass, and listening to this constant rustling in the ivy and leaf litter around the walls.
Initially I assumed it was the cat who'd been on the walls earlier - it's getting too dark to see well - but then the rustling was right up beside me, maybe three feet away, and the ivy is not so thick I wouldn't see a black-and-white tabby. So I looked a little closer... and a hedgehog came ambling out. Came across the patio and is now sitting where my feet would be if I hadn't folded them up under me at his approach.
There's another one down on the other wall, I can still hear the rustling.
Dear God. I have hedgehogs in my garden.
Life is good. :)
Initially I assumed it was the cat who'd been on the walls earlier - it's getting too dark to see well - but then the rustling was right up beside me, maybe three feet away, and the ivy is not so thick I wouldn't see a black-and-white tabby. So I looked a little closer... and a hedgehog came ambling out. Came across the patio and is now sitting where my feet would be if I hadn't folded them up under me at his approach.
There's another one down on the other wall, I can still hear the rustling.
Dear God. I have hedgehogs in my garden.
Life is good. :)
Music meme
Jun. 13th, 2006 07:25 pmVia witling:
1: open your mp3 player.
2: put all of your music on random.
3: write down the first 10 songs it plays, no matter how embarrassing.
4: write down which Whedonverse characters and/or pairings the song makes you think of. (I believe the meme started as "whatever" it made you think of, but I likewitling's take on it better.)
( I think iTunes cheated a bit - or maybe it just knew Latin was appropriate. )
So, that was...interesting.
In other news, upon returning home after two weeks away, the first thing I did was check and count the fish. One was...missing. What remained of his skeleton was eventually found. They had timed-release food, and this was the previously sick fish, so I have resolved to believe that he died spontaneously, then was eaten. Otherwise I'll feel really guilty.
witling:1: open your mp3 player.
2: put all of your music on random.
3: write down the first 10 songs it plays, no matter how embarrassing.
4: write down which Whedonverse characters and/or pairings the song makes you think of. (I believe the meme started as "whatever" it made you think of, but I like
witling's take on it better.)( I think iTunes cheated a bit - or maybe it just knew Latin was appropriate. )
So, that was...interesting.
In other news, upon returning home after two weeks away, the first thing I did was check and count the fish. One was...missing. What remained of his skeleton was eventually found. They had timed-release food, and this was the previously sick fish, so I have resolved to believe that he died spontaneously, then was eaten. Otherwise I'll feel really guilty.
I swallowed a bug
Apr. 30th, 2006 04:52 pmGot my bike out for the first time this year and went for a ride on a trail I'd been unaware of until last week - an old rail line, now walking/biking trail, that starts near where I live IN THE CITY and somehow, within 5 minutes cycle, has cows in fields beside it! Then a little further on, there's more city. I never realized there was this green corridor so close; the entrance is not obvious. It was sunny, not too warm, and flowering trees all round. And cows!
And yes, I think I probably swallowed a midge or two.
One of the fish got suddenly, dramatically sick Friday night. I noticed when feeding them, just as dashing out the door to work. I had not-really-enough time to find a spare large tub, fill it with conditioned water and scoop him into it, then worried much of the night that he wouldn't live until morning when I could get drops for him. He really looked awful. Fortunately, he's survived, and is now back in the main tank which is being generally treated. The fish-store-man's opinion is that he was bitten by another, which let fungus set in. I blame his mate. She bullies everyone in the tank.
I just realized I have 2 weeks left on the first fic challenge I've ever entered, and I haven't written a word. I haven't even got a decent scenario yet. Ack. Inspiration, please strike soon. :)
And yes, I think I probably swallowed a midge or two.
One of the fish got suddenly, dramatically sick Friday night. I noticed when feeding them, just as dashing out the door to work. I had not-really-enough time to find a spare large tub, fill it with conditioned water and scoop him into it, then worried much of the night that he wouldn't live until morning when I could get drops for him. He really looked awful. Fortunately, he's survived, and is now back in the main tank which is being generally treated. The fish-store-man's opinion is that he was bitten by another, which let fungus set in. I blame his mate. She bullies everyone in the tank.
I just realized I have 2 weeks left on the first fic challenge I've ever entered, and I haven't written a word. I haven't even got a decent scenario yet. Ack. Inspiration, please strike soon. :)
Dolphins and depression
Feb. 17th, 2006 12:13 amWord for word from a respected medical journal:
"Thirty patients with mild to moderate depression who swam and played with dolphins for an hour each day for 2 weeks were found to have reduced depressive symptoms. Patients in the control group swam and snorkeled at the same Honduras location. Although the researchers acknowledge that most patients with depression will not be able to access large aquatic mammals, they hope that this first randomized trial showing the antidepressive effects of interaction with animals will spur other, similar trials."
Y'know, sounds like an untapped market. Anyone wanna invest in a dolphin-therapy company? Heck, if there was a dolphin pool down the road, I'd go. And I'm not even depressed. Forget massage therapy and St John's Wort. Let's start an open-access Marine Mammal Mood Enhancement program!
*cough* sorry, it's late, and I've had chocolate
"Thirty patients with mild to moderate depression who swam and played with dolphins for an hour each day for 2 weeks were found to have reduced depressive symptoms. Patients in the control group swam and snorkeled at the same Honduras location. Although the researchers acknowledge that most patients with depression will not be able to access large aquatic mammals, they hope that this first randomized trial showing the antidepressive effects of interaction with animals will spur other, similar trials."
Y'know, sounds like an untapped market. Anyone wanna invest in a dolphin-therapy company? Heck, if there was a dolphin pool down the road, I'd go. And I'm not even depressed. Forget massage therapy and St John's Wort. Let's start an open-access Marine Mammal Mood Enhancement program!
*cough* sorry, it's late, and I've had chocolate
