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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Re: Pets
Date: 2004-03-30 11:23 am (UTC)Sweetie is getting *so* much better at taking her medication, she just sniffs disgustedly at me a bit on the icky-tasting one. They're both learning to (but aren't quite at the point where) come when I call. I handle them twice a day minimum, more with Sweetie because I don't want to give her medication every time I handle her. They're quite a handful, very tiny and energetic!
I've had a lot of pets that I miss -- my first was a white netherland dwarf rabbit named Cotton, and then a bunch of rabbits and some dogs followed. I really like dogs, but they need more room than I've got here, and aren't as mobile as the rats. I need mobile right now!
I've half a mind to do something simple along the lines of freshwater fish, but am not financially able to right now. They're calming. I've never spent much time with turtles, though. How are their personalities?
Turtle personalities
Date: 2004-03-30 11:28 pm (UTC)That said, they do make a whole lot of waste, and tank cleaning was why I stopped keeping fish as well. I found I spent more time cleaning the aquarium than I actually did enjoying the fish!