Except that it only happens at this one station.
On a walk around my property the other day, I spotted a baby squirrel and made the mistake of pointing it out to my friend. She proceeded to encourage the little one to come to her, and he did. So did his sibs. No sign of mom. Soon, she has all our human kids out in the woods to see and play with the baby squirrels (there were 3 total).
All day Saturday the girls spent the day playing with the little ones. They had an absolute blast. All they could talk about were the squirrels.
I wake up Sunday morning to find one of the human kids got up early to find them. What she discovered was bloody tail stumps. There was one baby left alive.
I don’t know whether to pit myself, my friend, the momma squirrel, the kids, or just nature in general. The kids are all understandably upset. I had said we should leave them be, but got overridden by the others. My heart hurts, for the animal and human little ones.
Well, I did posit that I might be an idiot!
Poor kitties, and poor squirrels. (But I don’t think it’s unreasonable to make a realistic choice about the use of limited time and resources. If the vet bills and time to save this single litter could rescue 3 other litters? It seems cold hearted, but very few choices we make are without consequences. 
)
My ear infection and upper respiratory crud has settled into a nice case of bronchitis. I rallied for prom preparations, spent Sunday and most of today dozing in the recliner. Sent Tony to pinch hit for me at the kindergarten end of year conference today, and Girl 2.0 took care of the little ones and dogs yesterday. I gotta get better enough to drag myself to a meeting with G2.0’s guidance counselor tomorrow. Tony isn’t familiar enough with the program we want to enroll her in, and won’t know what questions to ask. Ugh.
Sadly, over the years of doing rescue, I’ve gotten pretty callused about doing triage. There are so many homeless cats and every rescue group has limited resources. BB and I could afford to pay for the vet bills for these kittens, but even with massive intervention, there is no guarantee that they would survive. Not to mention that its better to break our hearts sooner rather than later.
The good news is that the kittens are all alive today and the one that was eating by himself has turned into quite the little piggy. Hopefully, his littermates will follow his example.
Dang about the bronchitis. I know that you are a big girl and don’t need to be nagged…but I do worry about you. You give so much to others that I don’t think that you take good care of yourself. Please start doing better in that regard. Your family needs you a whole bunch.
Just got reamed by a co-worker for being “unprofessional”. For eating at my desk “during office hours”. Umm, you’re a CO-worker, not my supervisor. And I probably had to take a late lunch that day. But she was so angry, I just blanked out and said “Ummm, thanks. Noted.” And backed away.
Come to think of it, I did notice her glaring at me from afar… over a week ago.
I mentioned it to my supervisor and she said “Do you want me to do something about it?” and I said “Naah, that’d probably make it worse - just wanted to know in case she starts complaining.” “Oh, she will. To everyone, not just me…”
Heh, The Young’Uns in my department went to HR within the first week our new manager started claiming that New Manager was playing favorites with me (New Manager and I have been work buddies for years – this is the first time in over 2 years we’ve worked together). New Manager was trying to find some footing andwas asking me this and that…one of the Young 'Uns happened to overhear it, blah blah blah.
Well, because we had a favoritism dilemma in our department a few years ago between our then-manager and then-assistant, HR is very keen on not letting it happen again; ergo, I was told to shut up, both New Manager and Assistant (who sides with the Young’Uns) were spoken to separately and together, and the Young 'Uns walked away free and clear.
So, because of the Young 'Uns we now have:
New Manager and I not speaking because of the whole “favoritism” thing.
Assistant and I not speaking because Assistant sides with the Young’Uns.
The Young 'Uns and I not speaking because I know they went to HR and they’re afraid of my temper.
Good times, good times.
The meeting went great (and I even wore one of the pre-approved outfits deemed stylish enough for public appearances with the teenage daughter. And mascara, lipstick, and eyebrow pencil. But I braided my hair and wore hippie shoes, to subtly communicate to the counselor my serious Earth Mother side. Because I have this gig down to a science.) And it worked. The counselor was at first skeptical of the wisdom of enrolling a rising high school sophomore in summer college classes, but a face-to-face meeting convinced him that it’s a realistic goal for at least this student, and this family. So we’ll figure out all of the paperwork together - our high school assigns a single guidance counselor for each graduating class, and they move up together. It’s a sensible system, given the changes that happen in various scholarships and graduation requirements and such each year. But this is a newer version of two previous dual enrollment programs funded by the state lottery, and my daughter is apparently the only freshman jumping at the opportunity, so it’s a new set of paperwork for all of us. (And I’m not pressuring the kid. When I got the program information and began describing it to her, the first reaction was “yes! Where do I sign up?” She’s an academically motivated kid. If only she were that enthusiastic about cleaning her bedroom and bathroom!)
And all of my recent illness can be traced to allergies. As soon as the plants finish their annual mating ritual? I’ll be fine. But allergies be damned - I’m still gonna enjoy my garden this year!
While I certainly wouldn’t call you a liar, I do think that stress tends to compromise the immune system.
One of the kittens was dead when I got up at 4 to feed them. Steve growled at me while he was protectively cuddled around the others. Being the good kitty mommy he is, he had pushed the dead one out of the cage.
Its hard to tell a heart broken feral that I’m doing the best I can. Besides Piggy, the little female was willing to lap at watered down gooshy food. They all got syringes full of KMR and watered down gooshy food and then I staggered back to bed.
This morning, all 4 of them wobbled over to the dish of KMR and watered down gooshy food and started lapping at it.
Jump with joy for me that 4 are going to make it, or throw things at me because I lost one. Me, I’m doing the happy dance. They are eating on their own now. Soon they will be eating solid food and I can put the feeding syringes away for the next batch. Sadly, I know that there will be a next batch.
Now if only there was a way to convince people (not you folks, I know that you already do it) to just fucking fix their pets to stop the fucking and the breeding and the unnecessary dying.
Dangit. My side of the recliner couch won’t recline anymore. I pulled on the lever and something came loose and/or broke. It’s cable-actuated; I can see the cable is attached at the bottom end. I can’t see how it’s (supposed to be) attached at the lever end, and I suspect I’ll have to dismantle the bloody thing to get at it. :mad:
And the fallout from management change continues. Two more confirmed leaving early May and one possible as soon as she finds out the other two are leaving. I think that makes 13 of 18 people gone.
The veterinary clinic environment calls for working interviews - they’re industry standard for sussing out practical experience and personality that will work when everyone works together in one room and frequently in very close quarters. Dipshit new “manager” doesn’t believe in them and says we’ll deal with those who don’t work out after they’re hired. Cool story bro, 'cause actually adding people to payroll and scheduling them and then firing them in 3 days doesn’t cost nearly as much as a 2 hour working interview.
Already had to do that twice. He also seems to think he will still be able to hire a Certified Vet Tech for $13/hr. Yeah…no.
Thieves that justify themselves with ‘I’m just borrowing a bit’, ‘It’s not a big deal, it’s just stuff’, so I can’t leave milk in the fridge without it vanishing, or tomatoes visible in the kicthen, or washing powder in the utility room.
Idiots that deliberately leave the front door wide open in a city street where there have been multiple burglaries lately, because they lost their house keys, borrowed another housemate’s set, and then wanted to watch TV turned up so loud that they wouldn’t be able to hear the door when said housemate got home at 1am…
Why does my landlord keep letting these people move in? He gets as annoyed about it as me, he lives here.
I am trying very hard to exercise and improve my fitness. The sole activity toward that goal that I can motivate myself to do is swimming. So today I get my stuff together, drive downtown, change, shower, enter the lap pool area and… It’s closed.
Dammit. It might have been nice if there had been some way I could have known this earlier. People in the pool area swear there has been a notice at the front desk since 12:30. I guess I *could *have missed it. I dry off, get dressed and exit. Sure enough, there is a sign prominently displayed at the front desk. “Has this sign been here for a while?” I ask the clerk. “Um, no, I just now put it up. I’ve been busy.” #$^%&(^%&^!!!
So, the remaining 4 kittens are all eating well. And using the litterbox. And filling the litterbox with stinky poops. I know that its just their systems adjusting to eating solid food, but holy cow! Its so bad that Steve only goes in to visit them after I’ve cleaned the litterbox. By this time next week, he won’t be able to visit them because they will be climbing up the cage to the top door.
Kittens are cute as can be. Kittens are a total pain in the ass and I never seem to remember this when I’m handed a litter to foster.
I can’t tell if I have an infected tooth or if it’s just a canker sore. It’s way in the back where I can’t see. I don’t want to go to the dentist if I can avoid it, atm. I just squeezed half a tube of ora-gel back there and hope for the best. But now the back of my tongue is numb and I’m drooling like a mastiff.
Sorry to hear about your mouth problems, Merneith. I’ve recently had problems with my teeth (and usually my teeth are just fine.)
I really hate loud cars. I don’t like motorcycles either, but at least with motorcycles, you more or less expect them to be loud.
Eyeglasses are a scam. I just got new prescription lenses for both regular and sunglasses, and decided that my old frames just weren’t cutting it any longer. I like lightweight, and the woman showed me some rimless models, one of which I selected. I woke up in the middle of the night last night and it occurred to me that I had just paid $335 for two earpieces, as there is no actual “frame” on these glasses. What a fucking ripoff. At least I got half off the sunglasses frames.
Two words: Nostril zit.
I’m so sick of hearing about BATHROOMS. For fuck’s sake. Use whatever bathroom you’re comfortable with. I’ve never had anyone try to mess with me in a bathroom but if someone did I’d kick him in the crotch.
And fuck you, Target, for grandstanding and giving those “American Family Values” morons a reason to get all up-in-arms.
Thanks. Teeth are just the stupidest, aren’t they.
No. The only grandstanding here is being done by those Family Values morons. The reason we’re in this mess is because we’ve tried to be polite about them and their stupid beliefs and they’ve come to expect that they should be catered to. We should have kicked their crotches in, years ago.