rose_cat: (cat rose)
Stop this ride, I want to get off. And take my kitty girl to solid ground.

progress, such as it is )
rose_cat: (missy cat)
...which, under the circumstances, is the best place for her to be. Which I know, but I'm not really feeling it right now.

details )
rose_cat: (missy cat)
We took Missy -- who, as several of you know, has had chronic kidney disease for over three years now -- for her regular (as in every few months) checkup. veterinary details and general sadness )
rose_cat: (Default)
Is anyone else bothered by a picture of a cat in a dryer?

Cats are adorable, and a cat snuggled in a pile of clothes is even cuter. A cat in a basket full of clothes is one of my favorite things ever. But I digress.

The specific picture I'm referring to is at tumblr, and is not disturbing in itself: Get out of there, cat, you are line-dry only.

Non-graphic account of what it reminded me of. )

Maybe you don't feel the same way as I do about animals. In that case, I think a picture of a small child, playing in an old refrigerator in a junkyard, is comparable.

I'm not saying that nobody who's aware of the danger can think it's cute, just that I can't. (Perhaps I need to learn to compartmentalize more.)

I'd like to explain this to the tumblr poster, and to get the word out about preventing this kind of awful accident, but I'm not a member and can't comment there. So I'm saying it here: never, EVER run a dryer -- or washer, for that matter -- full of clothes without carefully checking first. Even if you don't have any pets of your own. Because it could be someone else's.
rose_cat: (Default)
Not another one. GODDAMMIT. What the hell is wrong with people?!

I hope that you and your loved ones are all okay. If not, I am so sorry; my sympathy and heart go out to you.

In case you want or need it, an article giving a basic rundown of the facts is here: Associated Press: News guide to the Colorado movie theater massacre

Take care and stay safe.
rose_cat: (no friends shark)
Well, it's official. According to the US government agency NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), mermaids don't exist.

HMPH! I beg to differ. (Hey, science isn't always pretty.)

Besides, would Animal Planet lie to us? Huh? WOULD THEY?

Reactions to the news were mixed. )

Fortunately, not all of the US government's agencies are such killjoys.
rose_cat: (ncis abby artist)
Today I received a link in email to this entry in the Monterey Bay Aquarium's blog, SeaNotes:



Sad News: Death of a Great White Shark

The entry, a couple of videos, and a few links. )
rose_cat: (Default)
Damn, damn, DAMN. Also, deep sadness.

I’ve been watching an anise swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio zelicaon) for several weeks now, ever since it appeared in the back yard, on one of the wild fennel plants on the iceplant slope. (I started scattering seeds a few years ago, and now have plants as tall as seven feet.) Over the years I’ve seen very young ones. They managed to survive and grow to 0.2-1.5 cm (about .08-0.6”) in length, but after that they all disappeared. This was the first one to have made it to the last stage – about 5 cm (2”) – and turn into a chrysalis.

I was concerned that after a couple of weeks, the chrysalis still hadn’t turned to a butterfly (as monarchs do in about that time) despite the warm weather. But with some research, I learned that swallowtail pupae often go into what’s called “diapause,” and don’t emerge until next spring, if not longer. (It’s a kind of hibernation.) During that time, I saw a wonderful thing: an adult swallowtail, flitting around the plants. It stopped to drink from the yellow flowers. It didn’t stay around long enough for pictures, though.

So I watched and waited and hoped that eventually I’d see the first beautiful swallowtail in years, praying that nothing would go wrong. It gradually began to look dryer and turned brown, which isn’t uncommon.

I dashed out every morning, usually in pajamas and slippers, to check on it. My camera stayed by the door. I really wanted not to miss the emergence and to get pictures.

But it wasn’t to be. Yesterday I was greeted by a horrible sight: an empty shell. The butterfly comes out through one end, so that wasn’t what had happened. Something had popped it open and removed the developing chrysalis like a peanut. Now the remains were covered with happy ants. I wasn’t happy at all.

Alas. Maybe next year. And maybe I’ll take it inside this time.


Links you might find interesting:

Anise Swallowtail Life Cycle with photos.

Photos of Anise Swallowtail emerging from chrysalis.
rose_cat: (Default)
How terribly and just plain bloody awful. 1,200 deaths confirmed so far and thousands more missing. Entire towns destroyed, many while stunned residents watched from the safety of higher ground. People crowded into shelters, many of which lack heat and sufficient food and water for everyone, but at least provide some respite from the bitter cold.

Rescue efforts are going on, and will be for a long time. And nuclear meltdowns at two of the reactors at Fukushima's power plant are possible.

Googling "japan earthquake the latest" brings up a lot of good sources of information.

According to the USGS website, the latest estimated magnitude for the quake is 8.9, Japan's largest on record (since 1900) and the fifth largest in the world.

A tidbit of positive news from LJ, though: [livejournal.com profile] honorh, reported missing Friday, has been located and is safe. She's American and has been living and teaching in Kamaishi. [livejournal.com profile] wendymr and [livejournal.com profile] roxyk630 worked their butts off over the last few days, helping to locate her and to keep her friends and family updated.

[livejournal.com profile] wendymr has posted links to several ways to help Japan's relief effort: V-gift in aid of the disaster in Japan, fandom fic auction communities (in which [livejournal.com profile] wendymr is participating) , and, if you want to give [livejournal.com profile] honorh a nice welcome home, help fill her LJ profile with the aforementioned V-gifts. [livejournal.com profile] wendymr's posts are here, here, and here if you want to read them.

I hope that you and yours are safe as well.
rose_cat: (be who you are)
I got this from [livejournal.com profile] captainpixie.


Originally posted by [livejournal.com profile] dr_is_in at Copied via quite a few other places.....not sure of the original source...

*I am the girl kicked out of her home because I confided in my mother that I am a lesbian.

*I am the person who is afraid of telling his loving Christian parents he loves another male.

*I am the prostitute working the streets because nobody will hire a transsexual woman.

*I am the sister who holds her gay brother tight through the painful, tear-filled nights.

*We are the parents who buried our daughter long before her time.

*I am the man who died alone in the hospital because they would not let my partner of twenty-seven years into the room.

*I am the foster child who wakes up with nightmares of being taken away from the two fathers who are the only loving family I have ever had. I wish they could adopt me.

*I am one of the lucky ones, I guess. I survived the attack that left me in a coma for three weeks, and in another year I will probably be able to walk again.

*I am not one of the lucky ones. I killed myself just weeks before graduating high school. It was simply too much to bear.

*We are the couple who had the realtor hang up on us when she found out we wanted to rent a one-bedroom for two men.

*I am the person who never knows which bathroom I should use if I want to avoid getting the management called on me.

*I am the mother who is not allowed to even visit the children I bore, nursed, and raised. The court says I am an unfit mother because I now live with another woman.

*I am the domestic-violence survivor who found the support system grow suddenly cold and distant when they found out my abusive partner is also a woman.

*I am the domestic-violence survivor who has no support system to turn to because I am male.

*I am the father who has never hugged his son because I grew up afraid to show affection to other men.

*I am the home-economics teacher who always wanted to teach gym until someone told me that only lesbians do that.

*I am the man who died when the paramedics stopped treating me as soon as they realized I was transsexual.

*I am the person who feels guilty because I think I could be a much better person if I did not have to always deal with society hating me.

*I am the man who stopped attending church, not because I don't believe, but because they closed their doors to my kind.

*I am the person who has to hide what this world needs most, love.

Re-post this if you believe homophobia/transphobia is wrong. Please do your part to end it.

rose_cat: (Default)
This is absolutely horrible. To my flist and anyone else who may be reading, if you or your loved ones are being affected by it, I am so terribly sorry. I'm hoping and praying that you are safe and OK.

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