Month: May 2024

A collection of giant microbes that are no longer in the curio cabinet.

Recently, my husband’s sister brought us a curio cabinet. My husband had no use for it, and I immediately filled it with stuffed animals.

Why? Because putting them into a cabinet – with glass shelves that reflect the mirrored parts of the cabinet – will prevent them from getting covered with dust.

Zyn checked the display that was embedded in her left wrist and cursed. She was going to be late for work, again. After diving into the autonomous vehicle assigned to her by the Company, she quickly punched in the coordinates and pushed the buttons that said “go”.

There was nothing left to do but drum her fingers against the dashboard. The auto scooted slowly along the path of lights at a pre-programed speed The Council decided was safe.

My husband and I have, over the years, been the caretakers of several cockatiels (and three parakeets.) The parakeets don’t live as long as the cockatiels do – but they burn bright while they are here.

In general, we have had up to six cockatiels at a time. Most (if not all) cockatiels are happy creatures who appear to really love the birds in their flock. (Humans count as “part of the flock” to them, it seems.)

Fireworks by Jingda Chen on Unsplash

Unfortunately, the neighbors in the apartment complex nearby are shooting off fireworks right now. It started shortly before it was officially New Year’s Eve 2023.

Was hoping that the massive amount of rain we had all day – rain that was hard enough to knock the door off the outdoor housing for our water heater – would have been enough to prevent the fireworks from happening.

Bowl of popcorn by Keegan Evans on Pexels

My husband went to his sister’s house for the 4th of July. I can’t go because they have a multitude of little dogs – which I am allergic to.

I allowed Lucy (our cockatiel) to sit on me for a while. Birds like to sit on shoulders, for some reason.

It’s raining really hard where I am (in California). When this happens, the wind and rain together pull the door off of our water heater cabinet (which is outside).

The door has been thrown against the neighbor’s porch and has developed an annoying dent across the front of it.

I’ll fight with it – again – whenever this atmospheric river stops long enough for me to go out and put the door back.

January 4, 2023

It’s not quite New Year’s Eve here.

And outside, the rain has stopped (for now).

There are children that are blowing what are probably paper horns, which make exactly the high pitched, strained sound you would expect.

lightbulb on a yellow background by Riki Risnandar on Pexels

We used to have a “smart” lightbulb that can be used as a speaker. In the past, we used it to make sure there was a light on in the room our cockatiels were in.

One night, the neighbor who lived next door accidentally connected her TV to that lightbulb. The cockatiels were suddenly presented with loud, crashing, movie noises.

Close up of a crow by Dimitar Donovski on Unsplash

Earlier today, a large crow sat at the front of our mobile home and yelled. Later, another, (or maybe the same crow?) stood in the middle of the alleyway and barked at the mobile home across the way.

Then, the crow turned around and looked at me. A second crow sat up on a wire, watching.

mouse by Alexas Fotos on Pexels

November 24, 2020: We have unfortunately attracted a mouse. It somehow got in our vents, and has been making noises in there at night.

The only vent it can fit through is the one in a bathroom. The vent is decorative and has wide openings. At first, the mouse seemed to think that the bathroom somehow led to “freedom,” and we would hearing it bouncing around in there.