green [DM ME TO FOLLOW] @troodon@vulpine.club

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so, hey, are you on DreamWidth? if you are, I'm elynne over there, here's a public post https://elynne.dreamwidth.org/2310931.html, leave a comment if you'd like to hang out there!

it's in my bio.
it's in my pinned intro.
IT'S IN MY DAMN USER NAME.

DM ME OR I WILL NOT APPROVE A FOLLOW REQUEST. (unless I'm already following you, in which case auto-accept)

TWO FOLLOW REQUESTS WITH NO DM = BLOCK.

feel like I should be posting this every damn day. I mean that won't work either, but...

"badly explain your fursona"

um... look, the *accurate* explanation is "post-ego-collapse refugee dinosaur from an alternate dimension, who used to be a Martian paleontologist," so

account note: if I boost a toot that has a picture or gif that isn't captioned, I *pledge* to immediately follow it up with a non-@ reply describing the image.

also: if you can, please, PLEASE caption the images and gifs you post? if you can't, it's okay, but if you can, please do.

oh is it #introductions time again already?

* furry-adjacent saurian/dragonkin
* bitey, with feathers
* green hair
* #agender (they/them or zie/zir)
* currently ace/aro
* historically #polyamorous
* intermittent #writer mostly of #fanfic
* lifelong depressive disorder, currently mostly in remission
* #oneiromancer
* occasionally posts about "woo-stuff" (magic/spirituality/weirdness)
* frequently posts about wildlife (birds, coyotes, squirrels)
* 2 adorable #cats
* 1 adorable #spouse

I set up a box on its side with a cat bed under a soft terrycloth bathrobe I don't use any more under my desk, and Nar has given his nap of approval. this is Nar. there are many teacup panthers, but this one is mine. 💚 🖤 💚

on the drive back to PAWS I made up a little song about "Crow No Go," the crow who would not go, but I didn't sing it out loud because you're not supposed to talk while there's a wild animal in the car, which makes sense. I brought it back to the office with a verdict of "Crow No Go," and it was taken into the exam room for rechecking. best case scenario, if it seems fine on exam and continues to be fine in the mews, it'll get put back on the board for release in a more secluded area. worst case scenario... well, we can't release a crow that won't survive on its own.

I feel bad about it. I did what I could, I feel like I absolutely did my due diligence and made the best of the situation, but still--I was supposed to *release* the crow back to the wild, not give it a brief field trip and possible death sentence. :/ I'm pretty sure that's the crow with the head injury we had in the nursery for a couple of months, too, who I was able to get to eat a couple of times when nobody else could. I don't know for sure, but still. doesn't feel great. I'll check the records to see what happened with it when I go back next Monday.

here's to you, Crow No Go. *tosses some peanuts in the parking lot* (end)

there was no "isolated spot" to take the crow to, so I brought the carrier to a ledge under some trees, opened the box, and stepped back. the last crow I released was out of the box and away in two seconds. this one... just sat there. I stepped back, peeked in--yeah, it was alive, upright, and looking at me--and stepped back, and... it continued to not leave the box. I tapped the box, jostled it a bit... nope.

a couple of other crows meanwhile had come to perch in the trees above us and were yelling, so I closed the box, moved it to directly under the trees where there were some low branches, opened it again, and stepped away, and... nope. I tilted the box on its side so it could see the ground; the crow seemed perfectly content to stay in the box. by this time I had something of an audience, so I closed the box up, put it back in the car, and went back to PAWS.

if there hadn't been people around I would have felt better about manually taking the crow out of the box, putting it on the ground, and letting it scoot off on its own; but with lots of people around and actively watching, it seemed like a bad idea. (not as bad as if there were a bunch of children around, but still, bad) (cont)

lots of cleaning... mostly the ward and the raccoon cleaning pad, which didn't have much on it anyway. things tend to slow down in winter, and it's definitely trending in that direction.

when I logged in that morning I checked the release board and claimed a crow that was being released to a park just off Aurora that I was familiar with. at the end of my shift I got a rehabber-in-training to catch the crow for me, which was... a little concerning. it was in a raptor mew with two other crows, and it flew fine, but when she put it in the box it just kind of rolled over on its side. she said "huh, that's... not good," picked it up and put it on the ground in the mew, where it stumblehopped on one foot a bit, then fluttered around before being caught again and put in the box. she figured it was just a slow starter. so off I went! on the car ride there were some pecking sounds from the carrier, but nothing alarming.

the park was unfortunately rather crowded with tents, and people hanging around--at least two people were watching me the entire time I was there--which *could* have been fine for a release site, if... (cont)

Monday's volunteering gig was fairly unremarkable. I did get to help with meds & tubings in the Ward, which meant holding a Swainson's thrush, a spotted towhee, two juncos, and another bird that I cannot for the life of me remember what it was (song sparrow??) while they were weighed and got oral medications, which also meant being thoroughly bitten by several small birds and also catching them again after they managed to wriggle loose (the thrush got loose *twice*). oh and one rock pigeon and two glaucous gulls, which were super easy in comparison--the pigeon was pretty sedate, and the gulls were bitey but also big, not terribly mobile, and easy to hold onto.

while this was going on, the vets came into the ward to check the condition of the merlin that we had in there and move it to an outdoor enclosure, so I got an up-close look at a Very Peeved merlin, which was even more bitey than the small birds but didn't do any damage because the vets know how to deal with raptors.

after that I cleaned the feeder mouse enclosure and updated the count, from 22 to... 23. not a new baby mouse or anything, they were all similar-sized adults... I guess somebody miscounted them the first time?
(cont)

let the peanuts hit the ground
let the peanuts hit the ground
let the peanuts hit the ground
now there's crows all around

for some reason I have that song "tell me I'm pretty" stuck in my head, despite having heard it casually in the grocery store like four times, and now I'm going to have to filk it.

maybe sometime long ago
I forgot what I should've known
I need you to give me a treat and tell me
tell me I'm kitty
meowing too much all the time
scratching the furniture that you like
I need you to pet my head and tell me
tell me I'm kitty

I was hanging around in the wildlife center office watching the bobkittens on video--there's video feeds for each of the runs and the raptor mews, so the vets can check on critters' behavior without having to disturb/sedate them--and one of the kittens was earnestly fishing around in a hole they'd chewed/clawed in the wall, and got stuck. we weren't sure if she (it was the female) was actually stuck or not--you know how it is with cats, she was kind of still playing around and casually dangling from one paw, "hey no this is fine, everything's fine, I meant to do this"--until the other kitten wandered over and play-attacked her. when she *still* didn't disengage from the hole after this, three rehabbers were watching and starting to talk about how to fix the situation, because unlike with cats you can't just pick up a 25-pound wildcat and unhook their paw unless you want to get *severely* punctured, and they'd prefer not to put them through the trauma of separating and sedating them--when she suddenly managed to get her paw unhooked and immediately began zooming around the enclosure like her tail was on fire. it was worrying and adorable and hilarious. XD

I'm starting over as an entry-level volunteer grunt, so I didn't get to handle any animals today. hopefully as the fall goes on I'll be allowed to assist with medications and various interactions again, but for the time being I'm back to setup and cleanup.

that being said, I did get menaced by an osprey who was *very* annoyed I was taking away its half-uneaten fish (even though I was supplying three new fish)--it flew right behind me, and I was a bit worried, but it just fluffed, stared, and chittered angrily--and I menaced a few small birds as I was putting enrichment items into their enclosures, including a very brave chestnut-backed chickadee who was extremely unimpressed with the log I gave it, and a juvenile pigeon who just sat in the corner and watched me putting up branches for perching and another log.

we got two new bears today--a baby from this year and a yearling--both of them with burns on their feet from the wildfire, but all the bears are doing great and they're in good shape. we're rapidly getting into "barred owls attacking cars" season, as well.

me: we have one machine that washes dishes, and another machine that washes clothing. you may ask one question.
spouse: wtf? oh damn, I guess that was my question

if you follow me, and you're on an instance that has recently decided to unfederate/block/mute/??? vulpine.club for ~*~reasons~*~ and you want to keep following me, please consider moving to an instance that doesn't play "you can't be my friend if you're neighbors with someone who hangs out with that person" games, or you may find your follow list continues to get arbitrarily pruned for similarly vague ~*~reasons~*~ as time goes on. dream well, and good luck. 💚

look upon my works, ye mighty, and hit that share button, like and subscribe, seriously everything helps beat the algorithm

had to leave early because my back was hurting, but at least I got there today! it's kind of crazy busy right now--a lot of birds jumped out of their nests during the heat wave, like... a *lot*. like we have 7 baby bald eagles and *20* baby Cooper's hawks. we don't deal with the raptors in the BBN, but we had *so many baby birds* anyway. we had birds that I not only had never seen at PAWS before, we had birds that I didn't know were *local to this area*--Beewick's blackbirds and cowbirds, specifically, along with a score of swallows, a dozen crows, and innumerable other things--mostly juncos, finches, and robins.

this is supposed to be the *brief* report, heh. more later maybe, right now I need to go lie down and eat something. or maybe eat down and lie something? idk anymore

I *screamed* at the last bit. quick poll: name that variant!

okay PNW folks, today is the apocalypse. good news: if we survive today, it'll get better!

now's the time to:
* make a plan for if the power goes out
* let folks know if you need help with *anything*
* make sure you're stocked up on cool water and ice if possible
* make sure you're stocked up on whatever food you might want to have handy (fruits, easy protein that doesn't require cooking like nuts)
* look up info about how to keep your pets safe and put that plan into action
* maybe take a nap? idk

stay safe and take care of each other, beautiful creatures. we're all we have. 💚

this article is pretty comprehensive: https://www.romper.com/life/7-signs-your-cat-is-overheated-how-to-help-them-cool-down-9716802 another article I read said they should be given plenty of access to cool, fresh water, and also suggested making cool napping spots for them by wrapping a chilled bottle of water in a towel or blanket and arranging that in a box or bed. if a cat is feeling overheated, they can find this nice cool spot to rest in, and that'll help them regulate their temperature.

this information brought to you by my concern over Razi, who was breathing fast while flopped out on the bathroom floor. he was immediately responsive, is not panting, doesn't have sweaty pawpads, ate a little bit, and is now sitting out in the catio doing some evening sniffing. still, I'm going to set them up with a couple of cool napping spots tonight, and maybe a couple more tomorrow.

time to check in with PNW friends--how're we all doing? I'm okay, it just got nasty today but it's survivable, especially with shower breaks.

today's bad, tomorrow will be worse, and there may be power outages. now's the time to make sure your mobile devices are charged and can stay in touch with others, that you have cool water stored up, and that you know where cooling centers are if you need them.

stay safe, folks. 💚

I saw the screenshot that they're expecting 126 degrees in Tacoma on Monday. I told Spouse and he exclaimed, "that's murder weather." and he is literally correct. this weekend *will* have a death toll.

this is a perfect time to make a plan:
* get in touch with your local friends, and let them know if you're okay or if you need help. if everything is fine there, that's great, and means everybody can turn their attention to:
* reach out to your neighbors, especially elderly, disabled, or homeless folks. if at all possible, try to stockpile a couple of bottles of water and maybe some nuts or dried fruit or *something* to give them if they're in need. plan on knocking on a couple of doors and just checking to see if they're okay, *especially*:
* if there's a brownout, that is *specifically* the time to go looking to see if people need help. don't go too far, do *not* put yourself at risk--you aren't helping anybody else if you get heat stroke, you're just making it harder for others to get help--but if you possibly can, just check on your closest neighbors. you could literally save a life.

the fucking money-grubbers that put us in this position sure as fuck aren't going to give a shit about helping anybody but themselves--but we've got us. 💚

The planet Mars is: (check all that apply)

I legit did not know that there's been an increase in antisemitic violence in the US in the last month--I haven't seen anybody here posting about it--but I will damn well speak out about it: I DO NOT TOLERATE ANTISEMITIC VIOLENCE AND HATRED. if you want more context, read the article. I know too many Jewish folks, have too many treasured Jewish friends, to be silent on this. I don't know what else I can do aside from making this statement right now. you can be mad as hell about Israel's abuse of Palestine--I know I am--but it's *unacceptable* to use that as a justification to perpetuate violence and bigotry against Jewish people, especially in the United States, who have *nothing* to do with that situation.

I'm sorry if this is clumsy or insensitive, and I'm open to responses, *especially* from Jewish folks. I am *not* open to antisemitic responses, and will gladly block any account that goes in that direction.