Today’s three otter pups are from the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium, via Zooborns. Click through for more photos, and video of the mother teaching the babies how to swim.
Please feel free to use this thread to natter about anything your heart desires. Is there anything great happening in your life? Anything you want to get off your chest? Reading a good book (or a bad one)? Anything in the news that you’d like to discuss? What have you created lately? Commiserations, felicitations, temptations, contemplations, speculations?
Categories: Life
Soggy here, innit? 
In memoriam: Diana Rigg 
Getting out the ‘yes’ 
100 books by women in 2016 
Hoyden About Town 
Sydney’s weather was kind enough to put off the deluge for five days after our meetup! How’s everyone doing? We’re fine but we’re also not in a very vulnerable suburb or building. Unfortunately I had appointments in both Bankstown and Gosford(!) yesterday; this did give me a good tour of the end times.
We had a worrying lake in the front garden, but we have electric garage door access so we just went in and out that way instead for a few hours until the deluge ended and the lake drained away. It was getting up close to the front door at one point though (still would have had to rise a few more inches to get over the doorsill).
I’ve had a draining week, what with a client who has spent 2 months telling head office that I’m not doing enough, yet telling me to my face they think I’m doing a great job. It’s frustrating, and difficult to not take personally.
In happier things, I managed to finally get around to reading Ursula Le Guin’s The Left Hand of Darkness and am enjoying it so far. Next on the reading list is the Annals trilogy, which I found on sale recently.
I got up early to start work finishing my paper, which is due next Friday, so this is the last weekend I have to work on it. I have done absolutely nothing so far today. It needs significant culling, and a conclusion.
Rebekka, that was me last weekend, this weekend I’m supposed to be reading all about the Fair Work Act, which is actually very interesting and yet here I am, noodling online, NOT reading FWA, and NOT taking advantage of the (rare) sunshine to dry clothes. Good luck with it.
Ugh Jennifer, what is with people doing that? *Sends comfort telepathically*
Ok, those have to be evil vampire otters: to be *that* cute, they *have* to be sucking the cuteness out of all who look upon them, leaving their victims as bitter and ugly shells. No other explanation will suffice.
(((Jennifer)))
Aren’t they adorable with their wrinkly little bellies?
Notice how, UNLIKE SOME SMALL MAMMALS (looks sideways at evil pugalier of doom) they wrap their tails around their bums instead of flaunting their ARSES IN PEOPLES FACES (Tries to look sternly at evil pugalier of doom who wags his tail and looks quizzical… Oh noes I cannot stay mad at you!!)
Oooh, Helen, you have a pugalier? We have a pug. Their modesty is definitely not preserved by their tails 😛
Those baby otters really are delightfully squishy, I keep coming back to look at their bellies.
And my editing is going woefully. I’ve been through my whole paper, but instead of it resulting in words being cut out, it’s resulted in words being added in. So now I’m 1200 words over the limit and still haven’t written a conclusion because I can’t think of a snappy first line for it.
Ah conclusions…mine often end up being ‘So…in conclusion…I’m tired and low on available word count…so…bye!’.
Yep, making lots of progress here on the FWA! (Not really, no)
And if it wasn’t for the fact that I need to maintain an HD average, that’s pretty much what I’d be doing right now.
I now have two lines of conclusion, starting with a quote from Spike, “Death is on your heels, baby, and sooner or later it’s gonna catch you”.
Yes Bek, I’m a Casper fan (I’m sure he has many.)
I’m so chuffed, Casper has fans!
We’re starting renos and hailstorm repairs next week including a full Colourbond roof replacement, all new battens & barge boards, & roof plumbing, new rainwater tanks, and a ceiling replacement.
I’m really not looking forward to a whole lot of constant hammering and whatnot, but I am looking forward to getting it over with.
Ooh, renovations! I have no idea what battens and barge boards are, but it all sounds very exciting!
Are the water tanks for the garden, or are they going to be hooked up to bathroom/laundry?
I hope the work goes smoothly at your place Lauredhel. I also hope insurance is picking up the tab, it doesn’t sound like it’s going to be an inexpensive job.
I have made a new resolution not to argue with people on the internet this weekend. If worst thing that happens to me this week is someone disagrees or disses me or ignores my voice on the internet, then I’m doing okay, I’m still wallowing in privilege. I’m thinking of it as a [incredibly frustrating] learning experience and hopefully will become a better ally because of it.
Rebekka, the tanks are for the garden (and some drinking and soapmaking) – one near the vegie garden, and one near the fruit trees. We use enough scheme on the edibles right now that we’re not too inclined to hook up indoor plumbing at this stage, as it would take a long pipe run and a pump.
Mindy: Insurance is picking up the repair aspects of the job, we’re just taking the opportunity, while putting up with repairs, of doing some renos as well so all the disruption occurs in one batch.
Good luck with that, Lauredhel. Hopefully it won’t take too long!
I’ve been cleaning my room all day. I’m finding the cleaning is distracting me from some trauma-related depression issues I’ve been having this week. As time goes on, I feel less able to speak about certain things I’m going through, cause bringing it up brings people down and I’m supposed to be ‘better’ now, you know? I’ll be working things out with my psych, but it’s going to be a *long* two weeks till I can see her again.
Oh, and I can has TARDIS for my birthday party! 😀 😀 😀 July’s gonna RAWK!
My daughter has been commenting on my blog…
I feel like perhaps we deserve a filter break around here, but it seems there is indeed a push for Victorian voters to vote below the line in order to not vote for Stephen Conroy. http://filter-conroy.org/ (I have no idea who is behind that site, incidentally).
Laurdehel, sounds like a better idea not to use pumps to move water long distances from tank to indoors – I was reading a paper last week (that my parental unit gave me, he’s a water engineer) about the energy costs of tank water – if you use a pump, the energy costs of tank water can be equivalent to desal. Should give you nice soft water for soapmaking, too.