vital functions

[kaberett]

Reading. The Starless Sea, Erin Morgenstern, somewhat slowly and that is because I am savouring it and it is great.

Watching. Planet Earth: from pole to pole. This episode appeared to basically be an explanation that there's A Planet, with Climate Zones, and Different Wildlife, with a rough overview of (1) their Exciting New Camera Technology and (2) the general concept of remote regions of the planet that humans mostly don't interact with much. We were, naturally, very excited about the penguins. I had somehow failed to clock that polar bears, like... other bears... hibernate; we were DELIGHTED by the Large Bear popping in and out of its den in entirely implausible fashion, and by the smalls being terrible at walking.

Some more facts: caribou do the longest overland migration of any animal (David Attenborough said, as they all splooshed into some water and did a swim). The taiga -- boreal forest -- contains (very few) Amur leopards. We then moved on to sakura season in Japan, followed by autumn in North America, because we are doing a whistlestop tour of the globe, leading into More Migration, specifically of the Baikal teals, before somewhat incoherently landing at the famous birds of paradise clip...

... and moving on to the topic of great white sharks commuting migrating, ditto elephants, okay the seasonal wetlands are pretty excellent.

Simone Giertz's latest(ish): Driving my car around is... weird || TRUCKLA UPDATE + CYBERTRUCK.

Listening. Oh gosh. Lots of Grace Petrie & ONSIND & Positive Songs for Negative People.

Exploring. We went!!! on an adventure!!! to pick up a trailer to put the Tramper on so we can go on WALKS in NATIONAL PARKS and I am Extremely Excited.

We also did Several Social, by which I mean, me_and facilitated me doing a lot of social. Three different humans' houses!

Creating. Tiny bit of experimental colouring, layering blues & yellows to attempt to mix a green. Not entirely sure how I'm feeling about the result.

Growing. Oh gosh. Oh gosh. Okay, well, I picked up a large fork from the egg humans, and I spent Some More Time attempting to dig holes, and... there... is so much masonry in the place I was trying to put a bed leg. So much. I'm not even sure how big it actually is; I haven't found the edges of the lump yet. It's... a thing. I need to decide if the better part of valour would be just sawing the leg that's giving me grief shorter and re-treating it with Wood Gunk, and honestly I am beginning to lean towards "yes".

But: I've also sowed some green manure, and I've kept up with feeding the bin, and a bunch of seeds have arrived, and I'm going to have a go at growing loofah this summer.

I've also cut down the straggliest bits of fennel, so the plot's looking rather tidier in that respect, too.

Playing. I was BRAVE and I GOT MY ACT TOGETHER to tidy up my desk a bit & also update the OS on my desktop OS, which honestly went remarkably smoothly, and as a result I have spent some of Sunday evening playing a wee bit more Portal which, turns out, is much easier with a proper mouse (try to look shocked). I continue astonished that I'm managing to do this with A watching me, and amused at his bafflement at the parts I struggle with vs the parts I find much easier than him.

Board games: Forbidden Desert with Y and A, when they came over on Thursday night -- i.e. new game with new people. I contributed strategy! We won! I didn't cry! Go me!

Poking. Oh gosh lots of things. Including, two minutes before the end of Community DayWeekend, my first shiny Ralts, about which I am delighted. Turns out! Somewhere in the last year or so! I'd acquired both a 100% Bulbasaur and a 100% Larvitar. I also did some very resentful reading about How Trainer Battles Even.

Comments

[sporky_rat]

Forbidden Desert was fun last time I played.

[batrachian]

My researching* was seeming to indicate that polar bears have caves but is mostly all for the smalls; they don't really do the full blown biochemical True Hibernation State.

*that is, inhaling the Wikipedia article for...reasons...

[batrachian]

...And I am going to explicitly tag this as a "my understanding does not match this", where is the disconnect? Is not intended to be an "I am right you are wrong", by any means. Words are hard.

[wolby]

whaaat I did not know loofah was a garden vegetable! why did I always think it was an ocean plant?? Next time I have a space to garden...!

[cesy]

What is ONSIND?

[aldabra]

Masonry at the allotment rather than the garden?

Have you got a shed? I think allotments are way way easier with sheds. Might you have found a shed foundation? Sheds are way way easier if you've got a foundation before you begin. If it is a shed foundation you may want to put the bed somewhere else and have a shed. Or a summerhouse. Or a greenhouse. Or a polytunnel. Really, if it is large and flat it is potentially an asset.

[shanaqui]

I really need to get to The Starless Sea. And my long-delayed reread of The Night Circus, actually.

[kaberett]

I have a greenhouse installed! Alas this is not large enough to be a foundation of a shed (or greenhouse), and also it's buried between 1' and 1'6" deep (ish), and also it's right along the edge of the road through the site. It... is not flat. It is just really awkward.

[kaberett]

e.g. https://onsind.bandcamp.com/album/anaesthesiology

[kaberett]

It's a squash! It apparently needs to be Quite Warm but I'm hopeful that the greenhouse will be sufficient for it.

[aldabra]

8-(

[tree_and_leaf]

I played Forbidden Island for the first time a few weeks ago. But the friends we played with said Forbidden Desert is even better.

[pipisafoat]

I find myself excited/proud/interested for all of this! Particularly a New To Me Board Game (yay! always good) and your adventure-->walks.

[kaberett]

OKAY, SO, thank you for the prompt to look it up & here are some salient facts!

• Planet Earth was released in 2006
  
• as of 2015, we know that walking hibernation isn't a thing (at least for polar bears)
  
• polar bears do, specifically, maternity dens, which A Mother With Cubs genuinely won't leave all winter (barring issues with structural integrity) (see also)