Rats, Gardens, and Warmth
Mar. 29th, 2004 04:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greenstormTook the babies in to the vet today - Sweetie's been sneezing, and I guess has one of those very-common bronchial infections. The vet gave me some antibiotics (man, does she ever *scream* when I give them to her) and a bunch of really sensible and cost-effective advice on being nice to her lungs in the future so that even with this possibly-chronic infection she'll be in good shape.
I met a small dog at the vet with a spotted eye that had white, brown, and blue in it. It was a very friendly dog, and revised my opinion entirely of small dogs. I think I could own one now someday.
The Juggler helped me get going on double-digging the back garden the other day, which was really nice. There were enormous chunks of concrete in it, but now it's a really good bed, or the part we dug is at least. There's a patch with lots of small gravel that irritates me (I might put potatoes in straw on top of the turf, and just not dig it this year).
I came back from the grafting class at VanDusen with a very small York Imperial apple on M9 rootstock, so it'll be a very small tree (if the graft takes). Grafting is hard and requires lots of skill, unlike bonsai which to my knowledge just requires aesthetic appreciation.
Mom and the brother are leaving for Japan the day after tomorrow, where they'll be for four months. I'm going over there tonight with the babies, to visit them, and then heading out to work tomorrow from there. I sort of need a baby diaper bag, with clean bedding, food, antibiotics... I definitely feel like a mom.
The vet's was expensive, on the same note (well, not really, but it was an unanticipated cost on top of an impulse buy). I realise I like to feel slightly stressed about doing things to help people, to stretch myself slightly to help people. I've been doing that in my relationships and it ends up getting taken for granted a lot, so maybe I can do it instead with my rats and know they'll live safely and happily, and not direct it where it isn't making me happy.
On a related note, we had our scheduling talk on Sunday. We're off the two-day-per-week thing, where I'd go over there two days a week, and back onto an ad-hoc just-ask sort of system. We've decided that having another place to ask people to (so we don't have to coordinate a switch, and can just coordinate a date) is important. I'm scared, because I've discovered that time *alone* with people is important to me, and to my relationships' health. That's a rare commodity nowadays, though perhaps it'll be less so with another sleeping area in my apartment so I can ask people here rather than having to arrange that switch.
It's really warm today -- I'm in shorts and a t-shirt with all the windows open, and it's nice. This apartment is going to be brutally hot in the summer, I think.
I've still got to put together my VanDusen presentation for Thursday, which I think I'll do tomorrow (bah!) or Wednesday. It's only a ten-minute presentation, but the area I can do it in is limited. I need to get into the garden and think.
After that the classroom part of guide trainign is over, and VanDusen switches to Tuesdays 1-4pm for me. That frees up some more of my time -- I'm going to take on the Horticultural Zone Coordinator hat for VanDusen's Garden Show, which is intermittent kind of business, after that.
Still taking the occasional VanDusen couse - a fruit-growing one's comin gup this weekend, I think, and there's an organic veggie one in a bit.
I'm also considering a birth control switch to a non-hormonal method. That might be something I go in to consult with a doctor on tomorrow, as well. Everything has sucky side effects, it seems, but I think I'm willing to risk some physical ones in exchange for the mental distress I'm getting right now.
I think that about sums it up. Take care, and I'll post pictures of the rats eventually. :) Their names are, if I haven't said already, Sweetie and Small Rat. Not my fault, they maned themselves. Birthday Feb. 11th. Sweetie weighs 90 grams right now, and Small Rat just a touch more I think.
I met a small dog at the vet with a spotted eye that had white, brown, and blue in it. It was a very friendly dog, and revised my opinion entirely of small dogs. I think I could own one now someday.
The Juggler helped me get going on double-digging the back garden the other day, which was really nice. There were enormous chunks of concrete in it, but now it's a really good bed, or the part we dug is at least. There's a patch with lots of small gravel that irritates me (I might put potatoes in straw on top of the turf, and just not dig it this year).
I came back from the grafting class at VanDusen with a very small York Imperial apple on M9 rootstock, so it'll be a very small tree (if the graft takes). Grafting is hard and requires lots of skill, unlike bonsai which to my knowledge just requires aesthetic appreciation.
Mom and the brother are leaving for Japan the day after tomorrow, where they'll be for four months. I'm going over there tonight with the babies, to visit them, and then heading out to work tomorrow from there. I sort of need a baby diaper bag, with clean bedding, food, antibiotics... I definitely feel like a mom.
The vet's was expensive, on the same note (well, not really, but it was an unanticipated cost on top of an impulse buy). I realise I like to feel slightly stressed about doing things to help people, to stretch myself slightly to help people. I've been doing that in my relationships and it ends up getting taken for granted a lot, so maybe I can do it instead with my rats and know they'll live safely and happily, and not direct it where it isn't making me happy.
On a related note, we had our scheduling talk on Sunday. We're off the two-day-per-week thing, where I'd go over there two days a week, and back onto an ad-hoc just-ask sort of system. We've decided that having another place to ask people to (so we don't have to coordinate a switch, and can just coordinate a date) is important. I'm scared, because I've discovered that time *alone* with people is important to me, and to my relationships' health. That's a rare commodity nowadays, though perhaps it'll be less so with another sleeping area in my apartment so I can ask people here rather than having to arrange that switch.
It's really warm today -- I'm in shorts and a t-shirt with all the windows open, and it's nice. This apartment is going to be brutally hot in the summer, I think.
I've still got to put together my VanDusen presentation for Thursday, which I think I'll do tomorrow (bah!) or Wednesday. It's only a ten-minute presentation, but the area I can do it in is limited. I need to get into the garden and think.
After that the classroom part of guide trainign is over, and VanDusen switches to Tuesdays 1-4pm for me. That frees up some more of my time -- I'm going to take on the Horticultural Zone Coordinator hat for VanDusen's Garden Show, which is intermittent kind of business, after that.
Still taking the occasional VanDusen couse - a fruit-growing one's comin gup this weekend, I think, and there's an organic veggie one in a bit.
I'm also considering a birth control switch to a non-hormonal method. That might be something I go in to consult with a doctor on tomorrow, as well. Everything has sucky side effects, it seems, but I think I'm willing to risk some physical ones in exchange for the mental distress I'm getting right now.
I think that about sums it up. Take care, and I'll post pictures of the rats eventually. :) Their names are, if I haven't said already, Sweetie and Small Rat. Not my fault, they maned themselves. Birthday Feb. 11th. Sweetie weighs 90 grams right now, and Small Rat just a touch more I think.
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no subject
Date: 2004-03-29 06:01 pm (UTC)Your babies are so cute, and look just like my "kitty" did years ago. Gah! Sweetie "screams" when you give her her medicine? Geez. And it sounds like you are a mom too. Cute. :)
We had OUR scheduling meeting too this weekend. Just 2 weeks at a time though. Too many things can come up and screw things up if we do too far in advance. It's not easy coordinating 6 people. I guess that also means we're going to have to do this every 2 weeks. Which is cool though, cause it gives us an excuse to get together and eat. :)
Anyway, i hope you can get things all worked out in a way that is suitable for you and everyone else.
Well, good luck with the presentation. What is it going to be about? Wow, you are really going head on at VanDusen. Horticultural Zone Coordinator? cool
My brain is swimming. So much information to go through. :D
Btw, just HOW did they name themselves?
no subject
Date: 2004-03-30 11:16 am (UTC)I'm just the hort. zone coordinator for thegarden show, so a whole bunch of companies and groups and people come and bring their pretties for the show and I deal with the hort. clubs. So that's not too bad, and it means I get to hang around the pretty garden show. :)
They named themselves by... well, I talked to them, and what I called them were their names.
Sweetie's getting *so much* better at taking her medication. I'm so prooud of her. Brave baby rat. :)