Category: Insects/Critters

lazy day

I showered, did a load of laundry and slept like I was getting paid to yesterday. I guess I was processing the phone call from the clinic. A few things were cleared up and she’s sending me some literature. I can still lose 20 pounds and stave this off…. I feel like there are a million goddamned balls in the air, and I have so little control over most of them, and inconsistent control over the rest.

Pankakes and tea for brekky

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this is one of Kevin Gannon’s dogs (@thetattooedprof) and this is TOTAL MOOD FOR NOW

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This is Peter Coffey @petercoffey’s photo of an oil beetle. THEY FLOP OVER AND PLAY DEAD WHEN THE FLASH GOES OFF so he posted this pic with a complaint about how they are his new least fave thing to photograph and I’m thinking WHUT this is berloody amazin’

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Somebody mention the angel Castiel?  S’gonna be all right, my beauties.

everything’s got spin, and the spin is in

TFW you want to boast on social media about a gaming accomplishment — but the real point is that it would be virtually impossible for someone with early onset dementia to do what you just did. I broke 5 minutes, I broke 5 minutes AND took 20 seconds off my most recent record. yay Sherlock, my favourite puzzle game for MORE THAN 30 YEARS.

I was supposed to write somebody a letter today…. I’m going to clutch the negligibly small sore spot on my flu shot arm and plead that all I want to do today is vote. Also, there are leftovers, I got mild peri sauce Barcelo chicken yesterday and I found it absolutely delicious.

Various physical signs in my body indicate that my liver is much happier with me eating less carbs and sugar. I still don’t have any way to check my blood sugar. A diabetic friend is really happy with her implant (she’s lost weight in a healthy way, she has needle-like accuracy on her sugars) but I’m hoping to turn the boat around still, so we’ll see.

I reviewed my schedule of habits to develop and I think for the next week I’m going to concentrate on drinking enough water. So every time the clock shows a multiple of three, I should drink a third of a litre of water at minimum, and make less than half my daily liquid consumption tea. Let’s see if I can get this habit established! I’m very well established with an evening routine, so I’m happy about that, and I’ve also stopped looking at the computer at bedtime, which means sleep starts faster and I’m not doomscrolling right before bed.

In the morning, the wifi doesn’t talk to my laptop from 4 am to 7 am. I get much more done in terms of writing, editing and letter writing now during that period since I’m not making myself unpleasant on twitter the entire time. That’s usually the time I mail the letter, if I leave the house for that purpose.

Murder hornet found in BC. How jolly.

Moose eating pumpkin. 

Okay I’ll be thinking about this one for a while:

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text accompanying a ‘Lower Decks’ graphic: Star Fleet Academy should not be in SF. There’s no canonical indication that the land was ever returned and military school on stolen land is a military occupation.

that’s how you advertise

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Give the people useful info!

Slept most of the day yesterday, still managed to do a load of laundry and sleep a full night just now…

more from England, in this case from @JonnElledge, for pOp

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donated to the Potlatch Fund today.

I want a proper breakfast and I already ate one. GREEDY GUTS

remember went pOp didn’t hear the woman trying to plead guilty when the cop didn’t show?  This university professor SHOWS THE SAME ENERGY

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Lucy Liu fest

Watched the last Elementary, and then the first one, because I missed it, and then the first 20 minutes of Charlie’s Angels, which got kinda repetitititive and then we stopped. Watching Lucy shake her hair out repeatedly and wear a series of truly stunning gowns was wonderful.

Like a lot of people in the PNW now that the smoke has briefly let up I can’t stop coughing.

Thinking about cinnamon buns and biscotti this am. Shall thought become action? stay tuna! Currently running the dishwasher

445 words on “Firehall Bob” an UPSUN short, and 15016 on the fic which has a working title of ‘daily schedule’

Below: artist: Peter de Seve

Shown, a witch on a broom looking at a black kitten through a pet store window at night, and the kitten is looking back. All the other kittens in the window are asleep.

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@TamikaButler on twitter is responsible for this gem:

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nothing yesterday

Well, not much. Walk in Lougheed Mall and picked up some veg with Paul. I was feeling so exhausted but there was chicken to cook in the fridge so I made asparagus and mini potatoes and corn and breaded chicken breasts for an early supper and then pretty much collapsed after that. I did a little tidying but the air is so oppressive I felt like crap.

AQI currently 139, went up and down all night.

Currently putting together a list of the birds seen and heard in Deer Lake Park. I think it’s marvellous that when I went to the list there was no American Coot! But American Coots come to Deer Lake all the freaking time, so immediately I was one up on the list.

The list is the names of the birds and their habitats and songs, since Paul and I are tired of always hearing the birds and never seeing them. I already know that we’ve repeatedly heard both ospreys and merlins, which blows me away. Their chittering calls are very distinctive. Getting the info here.

Insomnia. Woke at 10:30, up til 3, back down again and up at 8.

Le Mans weekend.

Fic 14,966

slime bunny

Giant African Snails make great pets, said no one ever, except some people do keep them.

r/aww - The Giant African Snail. It's a slimy bunny

 

I made an online order. They said they delivered the printer ink… it was a yoga mat. I did actually order a yoga mat, but the one they sent is the size of a bum imprint. I am not confused and angry! I am just confused!

r/Art - Maskissing, Johnson Tsang, Digital, 2020

This image shows two offwhite masks, formed into human faces and kissing. Maskissing, Johnson Tsang, Digital, 2020

 

Bee democracy. I think I want to read that book. Did I tell you Lois and Bob have bees. They had an empty hive and put attractant in it a couple of years ago, no dice. Then this year a swarm appeared and moved in. Now we know how they made the decision! By consensus!

a baby hummingbird drinks from a raspberry while in a woman's palm. It has just voided onto her hand.
Baby hummingbird

Baby hummingbird drinking from a raspberry and peeing cause that tiny bod ain’t got no room to store anything

stolen from @ddoniolvalcroze on twitter

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LOLOLOLOL

Okay so in this picture of two merged transit ads, there was a KFC ad underneath and a VW car ad on to…. the mashup, with the corporate logos on either end, reads as follows:

A car powered on ~ free range chickens

& designed by a team ~ of hand picked potatoes

Experience driving on ~ Mushrooms & Coke

Stolen from @ghostwoods on twitter

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I died when I saw this. It’s a picture of a man dressed in  ice cream cone – as in, looking exactly like a man sized cartoon-eyed ice cream cone –  taking a selfie in the BR store bathroom with the legend “How tf am I essential worker”

I stole from @dannolan, goodness alone knows who made it or how he tripped over it.

Hey pOp which snail are you?

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“Open image in new tab” or your OS equivalent will pop this pic larger. Shown is a three by three grid of charming snails from medieval illuminated manuscripts. Some of them look very medieval and some look quite contemporary, although the one with a boar’s head is a bit much.

And here’s a good article about the philosophy of consciousness.  Pull quote:

I think of consciousness as a weakly emergent phenomenon, not dissimilar from, say, the wetness of water (though a lot more complicated)

Massimo Pigliucci is the K D Irani Professor of Philosophy at the City College of New York and he’s written about Stoic philosophy

stoic quotes when someone properly grounded life should have look outside themselves approval epictetus wisdom nature

 

BRIEF wildlife encounter

If I remember to get a camera, I’m not in the moment, so this is unrecorded in video.

Small brown bird, dapper despite being distressed, greets me by flying through my hair as I go into the media room. I set everything down (I was carrying NOT ONE BUT TWO ARRAYS OF HOT LIQUID GAWDAM AND IT WASN’T EVEN FIVE AM AND I’D ALREADY ALMOST WIPED OUT IN THE BATHROOM) after congratulating myself at not tossing the entire array at the ceiling with an unhinged scream, and considered my options.

While the bird flew pretty much nonstop across the room, NEVER CHEEPING or making any sound not associated with flying, I turned the light behind the TV off and the room light on. That accomplished, I turned on the light into the games room and turned the room light off. The bird obligingly flew into the lit room, whereupon I closed the door, which was the first point at which I could be guaranteed that the bird would not fly up the stairs, into Jeff’s room, and shit on his head as a conversation starter.

And then THE JAPANESE NOREN that has scowled across our living space from various doorways ever since mOm gave it to John in the mists of time BALKED THE CRITTER. It couldn’t fly under it and instead it perched on it – repeatedly, glaring at me.

Talking and moving slowly and carefully, I remonstrated with the bird. “Sister – the door is that way!”

I opened the back door and folded back the noren so the bird could get through the second-last door, and then, scant inches from the open door, the bird communed with my laundry and went all Disney like it didn’t want to leave.

“You may not nest in my underwear, there is a cat in this house, which you already know, dumdum.”

I advanced on the bird and it flew off into the morning twilight. I closed the door and thought, “I didn’t take pictures. I didn’t try to catch it. I just tried to find the fastest way to get our unintended guest out of the house.”

Now I have told you what happened. I supposed one morning I’ll come downstairs and there’s a raccoon going through the trash and then you’ll really hear me screech.

This is just for mOm everybody else ignore it

So I realized in minutes that nobody else on the bus gave a shit about birds (reindeer, foxes, sure) so I quit calling out stuff I was seeing on the bus…  so this is my post about birds. I am a potato photographer so no pics.

On my lifetime list now:

Common wagtail. They are ahem common.

I did NOT see a skua. Whatever it was, it wasn’t a skua. Skuas are fucking ginormous and whatever this was it was much smaller.

Ravens every day.

Northern Diver – saw that one SUPER close, from the bus, under perfect light, breeding plumage like jewels nested on a grey silk pillow.

Waders (they like to sit on posts next to the shore so they were easy to spot)

I saw TWO ptarmigan, once the first day and once the second last day; first one was snow white and the other was coming into breeding colours.

So many arctic terns, including in a nesting area, and man do they squeak.

I never saw a golden plover to identify it but the little fuckers never shut up and are beloved as the Icelandic sign of spring.

Pink footed Goose

King Eider!!!! man you cannot miss those suckers. Those I only saw on the East coast, right on the ocean.

BARROW’S GOLDENEYE they breed in the Lake of Midges and I saw a breeding pair in still water at the side of the road in that part of Iceland. They went by pretty fast but there’s nothing else in the Icelandic bird pics that matches.

so there you go mOm you can start looking at the pics on line.

 

Increments

Sandra posted a pic I sent her of the Chanterelle mushrooms; it’s at the FAQ part of her site. I am also thinking of her these days; a mutual acquaintance is a professional German translator so maybe since all of her best customers are German tourists we can get her site translated.

I am getting fairly nasty arthritis pain and loss of mobility in my finger joints; practicing each day does not improve it, but I’ll lose all my skillz if I don’t keep on it. I’ve been practicing almost every day for a year now and everybody including me can tell. Bless Interfilk for sending me to Georgia! I had such a good time. I’ve got Conflikt 8 to look forward to… I’ve never missed one!

Paul took me walking in Oakalla (otherwise known as Deer Lake Park) yesterday. It was a simply gorgeous day, and we saw a green frog sitting up in one of the little ponds next to the walkway. Thanks be, they’ve put in a portable potty in the parking lot on the Royal Oak side, I sure needed it as I was exiting the walk. Then back to Geekhaus for beers on the back deck. Paul brought jello! it was a welcome respite from the heat. I got the ceiling fan fired up in my room and it’s been much more pleasant sleeping… most mornings these past two weeks I’ve woken up collared in sweat, bleaugh. I swapped parsley salad and nuts for the jello.

This morning I’ll be off to a late breakfast with my friend Sue.

Sang froid, hot butt

The sang froid is her – she rocks the uneven bars.

The hot butt is me after Paul’s delayed family Indian dinner at Best Quality Sweets on Main St.  I am suffering today, although I didn’t yesterday.  Yes, it’s Too Much Information.  I told Jeff he should be happy there were no leftovers for him or he’d be suffering too.  I noticed neither of the kids put their hands up for the check, but since neither of them read my blog, they won’t feel the rebuke.  For 60 bucks including tip we ate like ogres.  This is a lacto vegetarian restaurant.  The mango lassi was suPERB, the chai tea kinda whatever with weird spice sludge at the end.  I ate so much I had no room for Indian sweets for dessert, which is FULL.

I am about ready to quit being a Unitarian, having reached my load line on denominational bullshit. I won’t of course, it’s just all part of my engagement with the faith.  Nothing’s perfect, including me, and if people want to nice me to death, I can always back away before that last soft word turns into a killing blow.  Also, I am one moody individual, so I just need the mood to die back and I’ll be fine.  A foolish consistency is what’s asked of us when we believe that organized religion is necessary or even possible.

I am NOT a nice person.  I’m nice to my my mother, but so what?  Even the guy who kept two women as sex slaves was nice to his mother.  It’s not a good test…. What I want more than anything else is to keep all my bad behaviours and still be categorized as nice, and that’s when the crazy train really starts to pick up speed.  Woo woo!

Speaking of train whistles, I ran across this article which made me very happy.   My room is at a sonic collection point for train noise (it hits the neighbour’s house, bounces against the garage and then slams into my window) so even though the whistles are 2.5 kilometres away sometimes I feel like I am right on Columbia St.  If NW Council can make it stop I’ll do handsprings.  Mentally of course, I couldn’t even do that when I was little.

There’s a new species of waterbear, from Antarctica.  How sweet is that?

My symphysis pubis spasmed in sympathy.  Ow ow ow ow ow.