quietann

Trump Tribute

quietann — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 05:00:28 GMT

J called me this afternoon, while I was waiting for Dad's prescription, to tell me she had to have Trump euthanized this morning. He had some unknown issue that seemed like colic but wasn't, and he was in a lot of pain. I had not seen him in a while and now I regret it.

Trump let me fly:

Trump got me through my first and only horse trials:

(more photos from that event at http://quietann.livejournal.com/554716.html)

I fell off Trump and got badly hurt, but it wasn't his fault. I fainted, and fell off, and poor scared Trump ran back to the barn. And when I was ready to start riding again, he took care of me:

Trump was Feronia's trailer buddy when she really needed one:

Trump kept Feronia and me company for a little while when Feronia was hurt:

Trump was the first horse I ever hacked out on my own, and he was awesome.

Trump hated water:

Trump liked hugs:

I miss him....

baby rats explosion!

quietann — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 05:27:27 GMT

thanks to my husband, I could waste hours watching this...

quietann — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 01:45:34 GMT

http://www.eternalmoonwalk.com/

A brief note on Dr. Tiller

quietann — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:11:47 GMT

No one has probably noticed, but for someone who is expressly (and sometimes expressively) pro-reproductive rights, I've been silent about the murder of Dr. George Tiller.

I've not said anything because others said it better. And I'd be preaching to the choir here. And because, frankly, in case there are any "non choir members" reading this, I gave up having the abortion debate years ago, so don't even try.

I didn't attend the vigil in downtown Boston, either. I bought a bathing suit instead, no disrespect meant, but I am also more or less done with vigils/protests/rallies/whatever. I did a lot when I was younger.

And good for all of you who have stood up in public. Carry on!

bye-bye :(

quietann — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 20:39:51 GMT

I seem to have lost buymeaclue from my LJ friendslist. It was over that comment, and my further response, of course. I understood what she was saying; there are parts I agree with.

I will miss her.

On a purely selfish level, I will miss her posts about her horse Tucker, which are all locked, so I can't see them now.

leaving this one unlocked.

Dreamwidth

quietann — Mon, 04 May 2009 15:48:58 GMT

I am also on dreamwidth, same user name. I have not (yet) set up cross-posting or anything else.

Show photos

quietann — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 04:00:28 GMT

Click on the golden pony to see photos taken by eventing_ponies at yesterday's show. Show write-up is still coming... I have a bad cold, my head is all fuzzy, and I am taking tomorrow off from work.

trapped by a.... turkey???

quietann — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 04:08:46 GMT

Ben and I were heading out tonight and I found this guy behind my car in the driveway:

This was one pissed-off turkey! He did NOT want to move. He did NOT want to let us move, either.

I backed the car out of the driveway very slowly, while he, behind us, moved back and forth and even pecked the car a couple of times! He kept up a loud series of fowl curses. I finally got the car into the street, where another car kindly waited for us to *very* slowly get turned in the correct direction. (Actually, I suspect the other driver was dying of the giggles!) Mr. Turkey was last seen crossing to the other side of the street.

(I have a feeling I know why he's pissed off. I've been seeing a hen turkey with two toms in close pursuit, and I think this guy finally lost the fight to Imprezz Teh Gurl. So he's sexually frustrated and taking it out on my car...)

quietann — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 01:54:30 GMT

Copy this sentence into your livejournal if you're in a non-same-sex marriage, and you don't want it "protected" by the bigots who think that gay marriage hurts it somehow.

And THIS is why I like Obama

quietann — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 23:32:33 GMT

Just so everyone starts on the same page, I'm a lifelong democrat, one of those relatively well-off socially liberal sorts. Small-d democrat because every once in a great while, I'll vote for someone from another party. And I will admit to not being 100% on-board with Obama, though I *never* would have voted for McCain (because of pesky things like his record on reproductive rights). And especially with Sarah Palin as his running mate; I view a vote for McCain as likely a vote for Palin, and there is No Way No How I want That Woman sitting in the Oval Office with her finger on the nuclear button.

So anyway, I'm sure anyone who's been listening to the news has heard recordings of some of the scary (IMHO) crowds at McCain/Palin rallies. It started at the RNC on the night of Giuliani's and Palin's speeches... The utter hatred expressed scared the cr*p out of me (because I am a member of several groups the Far Right would just as soon erase off the face of the Earth, as far as I can tell.) The fact that, with the exception of a couple of half-hearted attempts on McCain's part, no one's trying to stop the haters scares me even more. (And I do think McCain tried, but he just sounds so... old and tired, and he's given up I think. Palin doesn't even bother to try. She revels in the hate.)

In contrast... I heard a little piece on NPR yesterday... a very brief recording of what happened when some folks at an Obama rally in Ohio started booing when he mentioned McCain. Obama Shut. Them. Down. In about 3 seconds, using a voice I know well -- my mom's School-Teacher voice, the "You have just blown it, kid, and you'd better stop" voice. I don't remember what he said exactly, but it was something along the lines of "Now I don't want to hear any of that." There was a moment of deafening silence, and then he said something really inspiring, and the crowd was cheering.

Wow. Just... wow.

My friend cz_unit made a post on Hope versus Hate, back in September. Here is an excerpt.

[Palin]'s all the things we're ashamed of, embarrassed by, or loathing of our selves. And instead of doing something we can channel it into hatred of others.

Contrast that with hope. With hope, you have to take responsibility for what you have done and take steps towards making it better. With hope there is no outlet for your fury other than your own self for being stupid enough to get yourself into a hole. With hope you have to take action to make things better instead of sitting on your couch in front of your repossessed house, curing the "government" or "liberals" or "blacks", or "wetbacks, slopes, wimps, gimps..." and so forth and so on.

With hope you become the change.

There were things about the post I didn't like, but if you want to, you can go read.

This little radio snippet was the perfect demonstration of Hope over Hate.

quietann — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 01:53:41 GMT

From coalboy and before that many others...

Bujold quote meme: when you see a Bujold quote on your friendslist, post another Bujold quote in your LJ. Let's see how long we can keep this going!

"I'm tired of your stupid war. End it." -- Cordelia Naismith Vorkosigan, _Barrayar_

kih-TEN update

quietann — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 01:41:31 GMT

Sam is out and about, climbing all over the place and mewing. He really wants to play with Naku, but she is Not Amused by this.

I can get the cats engaged in parallel play, chasing the red dot (laser pointer). Naku will hiss if the kitten catches the dot, but they do seem to be tolerating each other. Tomorrow morning, I'll let the little guy out of his cage in the morning and let him have a full day with Naku. He'll still be in his cage at night, so he can eat his special kitten food.

As he's getting out and exploring, he's becoming somewhat less cuddly, but I think it's simply that he knows I am the person who puts him in "Jail."

kitten

quietann — Sun, 20 Jul 2008 01:19:19 GMT

He's currently yowling his little head off because I put him back in his cage after some time exploring outside of it. Yes, he's getting to know Naku without the protective bars. So far, he's just mystified as to why she keeps hissing and won't play with him.

This happened first this afternoon, when I had him in my lap and he took the agenda into his own paws and jumped off onto the cat tree. Naku hissed, but he just kept exploring. She's being very demanding of my time and attention, no doubt because she needs to be sure she's still #1 cat.

Kitten update

quietann — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 02:46:18 GMT

The kitten is doing great. I keep changing my mind about whether he is Sam or Whit, though. In any case, he's discovered that while Naku can hiss at him all she wants, she cannot actually get to him, so his attitude towards her is pretty mellow:

ETA: wren13 predicts that he will top out at 12 to 13 pounds, which is twice what Naku weighs.... but I suspect that she will still be top cat.

He loves being a lap cat, and puts up with things that no self-respecting cat should:

We can has (medium-sized, orange, male) kitten

quietann — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 03:17:13 GMT

Thanks to wren13, Naku now has company again! He is a 14 week old, short-haired orange tiger kitten, quite shy but also cuddly. I turned down the Pine Banks male cat because he was just too domineering and huge for Naku.

The little guy is living in a huge dog cage in my office. He and Naku can sniff noses but not get to each other. There has been a certain amount of hissing and growling, but at this point the little guy is sacked out on top of his cat tower, and Naku is on the stairs and fairly relaxed. They will spend a week or so like this.

~~No photos yet, but he's awfully cute.~~ He might get named Sam, or Whit.

He's resting on top of his litterbox, which allows him to see Naku and to stretch out... he is LONG!

Green Acres photos

quietann — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 05:02:12 GMT

My favorite of the day -- at the end of cross-country:

During the dressage warm=up:

Chatting with Joc and her husband:

Video: during warm-up:

Trump is a big boy! This was taken after dressage. It was a hot day...

Trumpie takes off galloping after a fence in the jumping warm-up:

Over the log pile (He nearly stopped, but I got him to change his mind...)

After cross country, I went to give him a hug and 2 seconds after this photo was taken, he tripped...

Heading into stadium jumping, Trump says, "More jumping? Kewl!" The stadium course was quite easy, with smaller fences than cross-country.

Small enough that Trump could basically step over them...

At this point, we were done. There was a break in the competition, so Joc took us over to school the water. Trump is really afraid of water and requires a lot of convincing to go into it.

Joc helps us out:

After a time or two through it, Trump decides it's not so bad and takes a drink.

Video: schooling the water; this was the 3rd or 4th time through.

When it's all done, Trump gives me a backrub (2 of a sequence of 8 photos):

Utah day 2 photos

quietann — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 04:11:13 GMT

I am home, phew. Two rat cages cleaned, all critters fed, and I should go to sleep soon.

The only photo I have from the wedding. The groom's cake, in chocolate. A mountain picnic starring Tom and Vicki.

Bear Lake, from the pass several thousand feet above:

Mountain creek:

View from the USU campus:

I went to Idaho:

View from Idaho into Utah:

repost of a photo, just for fun.

quietann — Wed, 21 May 2008 21:26:31 GMT

MA --> FL Rat Mobile

quietann — Mon, 05 May 2008 05:03:15 GMT

Just FYI --

This is what the van looked like as I was ready to leave home on Wednesday. There were 12 rats total. We added two more people and their stuff, for a rather tight squeeze.

PSA

quietann — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 05:07:09 GMT

This journal will be going friends-only for the foreseeable future.

My trust has been violated enough that if you're just here to read my unlocked Feronia posts, and I haven't yet friended you, I probably won't be. I am very sorry.

With all that said...

quietann — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 04:03:58 GMT

I voted for Obama, but I will support whoever opposes the eventual Republican nomination.

The crowds and lines at the Andover polling place were unbelievable, at 7:30 this evening. I parked in the middle school lot and walked to the polling station at the high school, just to avoid waiting and waiting and waiting for a parking spot. My knee was not happy.

batteries and greens

quietann — Wed, 30 Jan 2008 20:50:39 GMT

Does anyone out there use 357 button batteries? I have a bunch I got for my old insulin pump, but the new one uses AAAs.

Also, I am considering growing various salad greens in my brand-spanking new veggie garden this spring. I have proven that I can grow these from seed. What are peoples' opinions on any of the following, in terms of ease of growing, taste etc.? What are good early-season greens?

deertongue lettuce, beetberry, corn salad/mache, malabar spinach vine, purslane, New Zealand spinach, french sorrel, orach, tah tsai

Any others you would recommend? Easy vegetables in general? (Given that I live in New England, have a fairly short season, and somewhat hot/humid summers. The veggie bed will get full sun for most but not all of the day.)

degus!

quietann — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 02:12:22 GMT

Ben took a short break from Arisia stuff, and found this video of a degu chasing a cat. As most of you know, besides the rats and my cats, we have two degus, small South American critters that are related to chinchillas.

I have to say that I will be extremely happy when I have my husband back.

oops

quietann — Fri, 04 Jan 2008 03:51:32 GMT

Every once in a while, I forget to close a cage and a rat goes for a walk. Usually they don't go far, and if they are in the main rat room, the rats in the other cages let me know something is wrong because the "stranger" walking around makes them mad, and they fight with their cagemates. Or a particularly active/clever female rat manages to not get counted when I shut her cage door, and I find her minutes or hours later sitting on top of the boys' cage being a tease. (Some people say that rats can mate through the cage bars, but I don't believe it.)

So tonight, Esther went for a walk. Except she went into the kitchen, and under the heating vents, and eventually I found her, whiskers besmirched with grime, by the newspapers. Silly rat! She is one I really wish I had babies from, because she is gorgeous and friendly and healthy, but she never stayed pregnant :(

Ask and you shall receive...

quietann — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 03:39:03 GMT

lyonesse asked for baby rat photos...

9 day old babies -- with only 6 in the litter, they are very chubby.

Their mama Emanie:

1 day old babies. There are 11, though the one at the bottom right is probably not going to make it... I have no idea where mama was hiding them all; she never got that big!

Mama Evening Storm:

Papa Razi with (red-eyed) me:

And without me: