vital functions
Jun. 2nd, 2019 08:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
kaberettReading. Daring Greatly did not progress because it needed returned to the library and I was only managing it a few pages at a time, but this means I'm strongly considering buying a copy so that I can take it that slowly. (Possibly actually in paper, so I can scribble on it and flip through it.)
Bats in the Cracks: rock climbers and bat conservation, viarydra_wong, who Knows My Interests.
All of The Consuming Fire, John Scalzi, briefly reviewed yesterday.
So far today I've got about halfway through kari by Amruta Patil, whose work (graphic novels) I have previously enjoyed; took it down off the "gifts I need to get around to reading" shelf and actually settled in.
Next up is returning to the Shaun Tan. (I've got a bit stuck in executive dysfunction, because I want to read all the accompanying notes, but I think I want to read them immediately after each story and then reread each story, but I'm halfway through the book, so do I... go back to the beginning and do it over? Do I finish up from where I'm at currently and then go back? WHAT DO.)
Watching. Elementary! Brief thoughts. Good Omens, the first episode thereof so far, which I very much enjoyed, including all of the H2G2 and Monty Python homages. Detective Pikachu, which, I have so many questions but also obviously I'm a massive fan of the Giant Torterra Situation. (HEAVIER-THAN-AIR GAS DOESN'T. FLOAT.) Date activity with A, who is v glad to have seen it.
Listening. A put some Fall Out Boy on in the car, on the way back from Kew on Monday, which I think is the first time I have ever consciously listened to same and I cautiously Didn't Hate It? (I actively dislike most new music on first listen, if I'm not playing it myself, essentially because it's unfamiliar auditory input and therefore Hard Work.)
Cooking. Particular excitement of The Week: blanched and then dehydrated some carrot, because I have A Theory about carrot cake macarons that I want to Explore, not least because I'm currently generating a lot of egg white through making ice cream.
On which topic: batch the second of apricot ice cream, because we... finished the first. Alas this time I got distracted and let the jam... get a little over-caramelised, which means the entire thing is slightly stickier than the previous batch and also Of A Different Flavour, but it isn't bad and Adam is still going to eat it, so.
(Bonus bits: apricot-pistachio tart; the sweet potato-peanut stew, with spinach from the allotment.)
Exploring. Chihuly at Kew: Reflections on nature. Giant semi-abstract glass sculpture, vaguely botanical and zoological in theme. I particularly enjoyed Sapphire Star (obviously), Fiori Verdi, and Neodymium Reeds and Turquoise Marlins.
Creating. I? Took some photos at Kew? On the film camera? We will see how they turned out.
Growing. I... do not understand why (or how) I am doing such a bad job of keeping my chilli and tomato seedlings alive, but the attrition rate is a little ridiculous and I'd super like it if they survived.
I've significantly rearranged the plants on the patio, which I've spent about a week gearing up to do. Most of the herbs are now in a slightly more sheltered corner; the lemon has moved to be against the south-facing wall, which hopefully gets it a little more sunlight without exposing it to too much more of the wind. A kindly took me to a garden centre yesterday, where I acquired (1) some cut-price strawberries, and (2) a not-actually-terribly-cut-price strawberry planter; I need to get some more manure to fill the latter enough I can move the former into it properly.
The cut-price National Trust tulips are mostly dried out, so I should work out where to store them.
At the allotment, I've scrubbed out the water butt and got it actually set up; I've weeded the allium; and I've made more progress on the carpet harvest, tedious at it is. (Feeling a bit overwhelmed about the Carpet and The Tomatoes And Chillis That Aren't and so on and so forth, but hey, let's See How This Goes, I'm growing some allium, I can cope.)
Observing. Two robins in the Tropical House at Kew: very unfussed about humans, perfectly calm less than two foot away and beeping enough that you could see them inflating and deflating themselves. Was p excellent.
While at the garden centre A got a bird feeder stand thing. It is now installed in the tub containing the bay tree; the tits have discovered it, and the pigeons are... still trying to work out if they can reach the hanging seed-feeder from the tray we're sticking the suet cakes in.
Poking. I... caught a 100% IV Stantler.
Bats in the Cracks: rock climbers and bat conservation, via
rydra_wong, who Knows My Interests.All of The Consuming Fire, John Scalzi, briefly reviewed yesterday.
So far today I've got about halfway through kari by Amruta Patil, whose work (graphic novels) I have previously enjoyed; took it down off the "gifts I need to get around to reading" shelf and actually settled in.
Next up is returning to the Shaun Tan. (I've got a bit stuck in executive dysfunction, because I want to read all the accompanying notes, but I think I want to read them immediately after each story and then reread each story, but I'm halfway through the book, so do I... go back to the beginning and do it over? Do I finish up from where I'm at currently and then go back? WHAT DO.)
Watching. Elementary! Brief thoughts. Good Omens, the first episode thereof so far, which I very much enjoyed, including all of the H2G2 and Monty Python homages. Detective Pikachu, which, I have so many questions but also obviously I'm a massive fan of the Giant Torterra Situation. (HEAVIER-THAN-AIR GAS DOESN'T. FLOAT.) Date activity with A, who is v glad to have seen it.
Listening. A put some Fall Out Boy on in the car, on the way back from Kew on Monday, which I think is the first time I have ever consciously listened to same and I cautiously Didn't Hate It? (I actively dislike most new music on first listen, if I'm not playing it myself, essentially because it's unfamiliar auditory input and therefore Hard Work.)
Cooking. Particular excitement of The Week: blanched and then dehydrated some carrot, because I have A Theory about carrot cake macarons that I want to Explore, not least because I'm currently generating a lot of egg white through making ice cream.
On which topic: batch the second of apricot ice cream, because we... finished the first. Alas this time I got distracted and let the jam... get a little over-caramelised, which means the entire thing is slightly stickier than the previous batch and also Of A Different Flavour, but it isn't bad and Adam is still going to eat it, so.
(Bonus bits: apricot-pistachio tart; the sweet potato-peanut stew, with spinach from the allotment.)
Exploring. Chihuly at Kew: Reflections on nature. Giant semi-abstract glass sculpture, vaguely botanical and zoological in theme. I particularly enjoyed Sapphire Star (obviously), Fiori Verdi, and Neodymium Reeds and Turquoise Marlins.
Creating. I? Took some photos at Kew? On the film camera? We will see how they turned out.
Growing. I... do not understand why (or how) I am doing such a bad job of keeping my chilli and tomato seedlings alive, but the attrition rate is a little ridiculous and I'd super like it if they survived.
I've significantly rearranged the plants on the patio, which I've spent about a week gearing up to do. Most of the herbs are now in a slightly more sheltered corner; the lemon has moved to be against the south-facing wall, which hopefully gets it a little more sunlight without exposing it to too much more of the wind. A kindly took me to a garden centre yesterday, where I acquired (1) some cut-price strawberries, and (2) a not-actually-terribly-cut-price strawberry planter; I need to get some more manure to fill the latter enough I can move the former into it properly.
The cut-price National Trust tulips are mostly dried out, so I should work out where to store them.
At the allotment, I've scrubbed out the water butt and got it actually set up; I've weeded the allium; and I've made more progress on the carpet harvest, tedious at it is. (Feeling a bit overwhelmed about the Carpet and The Tomatoes And Chillis That Aren't and so on and so forth, but hey, let's See How This Goes, I'm growing some allium, I can cope.)
Observing. Two robins in the Tropical House at Kew: very unfussed about humans, perfectly calm less than two foot away and beeping enough that you could see them inflating and deflating themselves. Was p excellent.
While at the garden centre A got a bird feeder stand thing. It is now installed in the tub containing the bay tree; the tits have discovered it, and the pigeons are... still trying to work out if they can reach the hanging seed-feeder from the tray we're sticking the suet cakes in.
Poking. I... caught a 100% IV Stantler.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-03 07:05 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-03 07:10 am (UTC)(also I absolutely had a climbing-related please-babble question for you and... it has evaporated, never mind, it'll come back to me)
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-03 04:07 pm (UTC)https://www.rspb.org.uk/birds-and-wildlife/wildlife-guides/bird-a-z/ring-ouzel/
They look like a blackbird with a white collar, they are very endangered, they like to make their nests low to the ground, often in crevices in rocks, one of their big breeding areas is the Peak District, and the qualities that make a ring ouzel look at a crack in a rock and think "ooh yes, I'll go for that" seem to be EXACTLY THE SAME as the qualities that make a rock climber look at a crack in a rock and think the same thing.
Two of their favoured breeding grounds are Stanage and Burbage, two extremely popular and busy crags. And what ring ouzels really seem to like is three-star classic routes at amenable grades.
This would not seem like a winning strategy for the ring ouzels.
But! In fact, the Peak grit has turned out to be a stronghold for the ouzel population, with the number of breeding pairs either staying stable or increasing every year over the last 15 years.
There has been a splendid team-up between the climbers and the bird conservationists. A team of mostly-climber local volunteers watch the birds, try to locate any nests a.s.a.p., then signpost them on the approach paths to let people know what routes and areas are off-limits (and then continue to monitor the nests, and remove the signs once fledglings have gone, or if eggs are eaten by predators etc.).
And climbers generally obey the signs!
(One year, I even got to report an ouzel sighting at an obscure crag where nobody'd noticed they were that year. It gives an idea of the general situation that, not knowing who to report it to, I posted about it on UKBouldering.com, because I knew that's where some of the hardcore ouzel people hang out.)
(Ouzels are among the very very few birds I can recognize -- apart from, say, parakeets -- and it's entirely due to the climbing community.)
There is regular reporting on the State Of The Ouzels by Kim Leyland at the Peak area BMC meetings.
BBC Springwatch: Ring ouzels in the Peak District
https://twitter.com/kimleyland
https://www.thebmc.co.uk/bill-gordon-awarded-british-empire-medal-bem
There are bird bans on routes to protect other birds too (e.g. kestrels), but we are all especially invested in the ouzels.
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-03 11:41 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-05 09:51 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-05 10:24 am (UTC)GOOD FOR THEM.
Meanwhile the front page of the RSPB has Ring Ouzels proudly displayed as "popular this month" ;)
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-05 10:40 am (UTC)(Looking a lot like a film star trying ostentatiously not to be recognized.)
(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-09 01:30 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2019-06-03 04:17 pm (UTC)(Crows are not frightened off by climbers. There's one route at Stoney Middleton where you can look through the online logbook entries at UKClimbing.com and track through the comments how many years the crows have been nesting in it. Apparently if they have fledglings, the adults will throw sticks at you.)
(ETA: years and years of comments going OH GOD THE CROWS THE CROWS)