creatures!

Apr. 30th, 2026 10:20 pm
kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
[personal profile] kaberett

Went into town this afternoon to post some things, and observed Several Creatures. The blue butterfly around the lilac near the top of the hill was very welcome; the Egyptian goslings are starting to look almost grown up, with eye markings and a general reduction in fluff and increase in sleek!

(Elsewise today: SLEEP, post-gym Spatzen, more free electrons and therefore more laundry; both social and solitary wiggles; good therapy; and some Tentatively Positive Communication re Admin: the LRP.)

some good things!

Apr. 29th, 2026 10:56 pm
kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
[personal profile] kaberett
  1. DID make it to the post office and get A Parcel into the post!
  2. DID make it to THE GYM, and was Charmed to notice that one of the other regulars was wearing unexpected-by-me nail varnish.
  3. We brought home many Field Treets and I am continuing to merrily vacuum them up with my horrid little mouth!
  4. Saw the bat! Hello bat. What a good bat you are.
  5. Very much enjoyed the Graun on a photographer who spent a year following the ZSL veterinary team (NB multiple images of post mortems in there).
  6. Negative electricity prices for a while in there today meant: Much More Laundry (most of which is dry), surprise and delight at A running the underfloor heating in the bathroom (WOM FEET); b r e a d; experimental autopyrolitic oven cleaning.

vital functions (ish)

Apr. 28th, 2026 10:29 pm
kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
[personal profile] kaberett

Last week I:

  • finished weaving in the ends on A's gloves (before we hit site for the first event of the year)
  • read more She's A Beast
  • ate a bunch of food I didn't have to cook (current experiment: do Lichfield brownie bars only taste That Good in a field?)
  • explored Steeplechase LRP Centre when it had PEOPLE on it (and also when it didn't)
  • including seeing a green woodpecker!
  • and SO many birds of prey
  • made a bunch of unilateral decisions about where tents would go directly affecting two other departments in response to external constraints, and redesigned internal tent layout on the fly in response to different external constraints, and... it all worked???
  • rethought several steps in the lost property process and goodness that works way better and is much less stressful

and then today has been about half and half "sleep" and "endless lost property paperwork". And Now: To Bed.

tada

Apr. 27th, 2026 10:18 pm
kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
[personal profile] kaberett

Headline: hooooooome.

event: achieved

Apr. 26th, 2026 11:59 pm
kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
[personal profile] kaberett

Still some tidy up to do, but. Did.

watervole: (Default)
[personal profile] watervole

 Recent research has shown that some fatal diseases in garden birds are spread by bird feeders.  The RSPB (Royal Society for the Protection of Birds) stopped selling bird tables several years ago, and have now issued guidelines on what times of our one should not feed at all, and how often seed and suet feeders should be disinfected.

After thinking about it, I've taken down my feeders.  They were getting very little use in recent years, and when I'm unwell, I can't clean them regularly enough.

I still have plenty of plants that attract insects, and a tree with rough bark where I often see small birds looking for food.

Advice from the RSPB 

vital functions

Apr. 19th, 2026 08:17 pm
kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
[personal profile] kaberett

Reading. She's A Beast: up to November 2024. (Does it count as book research? Maybe, possibly: I'm having a lot of thoughts about the extent to which exercise reduces versus increases risk of injuries.)

Writing. I've... added another section or, perhaps, done another rearrangement? I continue to make notes on the current special interest that is movement? I am... not managing focussed writing time.

Listening. Hidden Almanac! I had The Realisation that it would be a good thing to play while we were laminating infinite potions! We have Emerged from the Accursed Hole! The paper wasps do architecture!

Cooking. O V E N. Still v excited about this. More Kaiserschmarrn, and I am about to bake some bread, and additionally and furthermore I successfully added protein to noodles.

Eating. A celebratory burger for reaching a nice round number on a lift. I have subsequently achieved said nice round number on a second lift, but that one is being banked for The Future.

More fancy bakery treats. :)

Exploring. On Wednesday A gave me a lift into town, and then rather than getting the bus the rest of the way to the gym I decided I would wander. Thus I encountered the former Enfield Electrical Works, a delightful building, and also had a brief adventure through a park I had not previously met.

Making & mending. Have I woven in the ends on A's glove? HAHAHAHAHA.

Growing. I have managed several short trips to the plot! And the free agapanthus I acquired from a garden post in Salisbury is looking happy with its new living arrangements. There are many things I wish to sow and none that I have got around to.

Observing. MANY BIRDS: a goldfinch on a trip down to the bakery! Ducklings! Multiple families of baby coots! The Egyptian goslings are all now happy to Paddle Industriously!

Plantwise: there is a fascinating tulip in a garden near coots the first that I do not understand at all; it's lily-flowered, with very pointed petals, and it started out all white except for some tiny blotches of red on the very very tips. The surprising (to me) part is that as it has unfurled further the red has gradually spread down the petal edges, and it's now got this bright red rim feathering ever-so-slightly into the still-white main body of the petal. (I do have photos and might even manage to post them, but not tonight.) The wisteria are firmly on their way out; my cherry tree has finally finally flowered; the redcurrant and gooseberry are flowering, and the josta is setting fruit. It's warm. I'm enjoying it so much.

sciatic nerves were a mistake

Apr. 18th, 2026 11:55 pm
kaberett: Trans symbol with Swiss Army knife tools at other positions around the central circle. (Default)
[personal profile] kaberett

Around the beginning of March (before I started lifting! it's okay, I promise I am monitoring all of this responsibly <3) I had a couple of weeks where I didn't manage to do as much stretching of my hips as usual. Whereupon. my left leg. pitched a tantrum. So I have been grumbling along with sciatic-nerve pain for the last month and a half, and getting on with life around it because, you know, pain, watcha gonna do.

... this morning, on the way to Acquire Breakfast, it blessedly, unpleasantly, emphatically twanged -- and there ensued several whole hours wherein it didn't hurt.

Tragically I then resumed sitting on the sofa in order to poke at computer some more, and despite position shifting......... yep, it retwanged itself.

I Am Doing My Stretches. :|

Some good things nonetheless:

  1. brief respite from The Grumpy Nerve
  2. we arrived at coot nest #1 when it was still in shade, and hung around long enough for the sun to hit it; whereupon the grown-ups Stood Up and the BABIES went on ADVENTURES. at one point a mallard with went by with her four tiny fluffy ducklings! and then subsequently More Coots! and all the Egyptian goslings are happily pootling about in the water, now, and several of them have discovered that they can go ZOOM under said water :)
  3. there is on the way to the coots a very dramatic tulip, which I have been watching with interest: it's lily-flowered, with very pointed petals, and started out almost entirely white with just a tiny splotch of red at the tips of the petals. it's now got red feathering along all the edges of all of the petals and it's delightful.
  4. bakery treats: v pleasant savoury pastry thing, Bred Puddin, cardamom bun. also enjoyed nibbling some of A's ridiculous raspberry brownie cruffin Situation.
  5. we made a trip to the Household Waste Recycling Centre! I did not acquire a weights bench! ... A did acquire a scooter. for scooting. with The Child. therefore: we successfully got multiple things Out of the house, and the thing that has come in is Not My Fault. (and will make the Child very happy!)
  6. ... turns out that doing lots of stapling hurts less when I actually activate muscles all the way down my back than if I just sort of mash my joints...

Most Popular Tags

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags