Marlee 🌵🐓

The skull of an American black bear

I’ve finally finished processing a dream skull of mine: the American black bear. This skull is now officially property of the California Department of Fish and Wildlife and was handled/processed with the proper permits

Just casually shopping for vibrators at 7:30am hoping to find one that’ll un-constipate my bearded dragon. You know how it is. If any reptile owners have recommendations, lemme know 😂

A black pug wearing an inflatable cone that is decorated to look like a watermelon. The dog has a large incision in her leg that is freshly stitched

My poor baby Snowball had to have a tumor removed today and is recovering from her surgery. She’s mostly out of the anesthesia fog and hates her cone and is feeling very needy ☹️

Everywhere I go I’m moving lizards. It’s my office day and as soon as I came in, this baby alligator lizard was in the building, next to the elevator. It did not want to stay in the hand but instead used me like a tree before being placed outside under a succulent

I just have too generous of an open door policy to my neighbors I guess 😂

I love snakes, but I’m less a fan of a surprise snake

Most of them have stayed in the garage, where they have a little gap in the floor to wriggle in and out of. No idea how they’re finding their way into the kitchen, but they’re not finding their way out on their own

🥹

A very small desert night lizard (a long and lean skink-like lizard) resting in the hand of the poster

It’s that time of year where my house is full of critters. I’ve relocated 5 of these little desert night lizards out of my garage and kitchen just in September alone

One of my friends has been making popcorn with walnut oil and omg it’s a game changer

She parked herself in the most inconvenient spot in the vet’s office and made everyone pay the troll toll (aka everyone had to pet her before they could get by)

A black pug sitting on a fuzzy pillow on top of a green couch. Her back is facing the camera, with her head turned to peek over her shoulder. She’s holding the tail and of a long segmented alligator toy in her mouth

She is less than bothered by the whole thing. The doctor said there’s only about a 10% chance of it being life threatening, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed and not googling it (I don’t need to go down any rabbit holes)

On top of that, I’ve spent the last several months dealing with my own health issues and learning that, not only do I have a chronic disability, but that it’s worse than I thought it was. So yeah 2025, can a bitch catch a break?? Please????

Well, just found out that Snowball has a mast cell tumor and has to get it removed next month. This on the anniversary of learning my brother’s cancer was terminal. Her surgery also falls during a trip I was looking forward to, so those plans are cancelled.

A warm buttered tortilla rolled up and held between the index and middle finger of a woman’s hand like a cigarette

Just a little something to take the edge off

It is!

A small square cake in a pan. The frosting is a gray cookies and cream with a large chocolate face of Pusheen the cat. The stripes of Pusheen are made with pieces of broken Oreo

This is very silly but I made a Pusheen cake for my friend’s birthday and I’m pretty proud of how it came out. This is my petition to bring back homemade looking cakes instead of the crazy realistic ones. I miss the simplicity of a cake decorated at home with little real skill

It was just me when I sold my house so my struggle was actually getting people coming and looking at the house. Oh my god packing up and leaving with my dogs every viewing nearly drove me to the edge. I can’t imagine stacking another person into that equation 😭

I swear, selling a house and moving completely changed my brain chemistry. Having to pack really made me question a lot of my life decisions. How did I accumulate so much NONSENSE???

A room with painted green walls and white tile floors covered in black and white geometric rugs. On the right is a blue bookshelf with several video game consoles, the center wall has a large garden window filled with plants and cloaked by orange gauzy curtains, with dried flower bouquets on either side of the window. The left wall has a recliner with a very large yellow squishmallow in it, next to a small nightstand. Above the nightstand, a guitar is hung.

I’ve been redoing what used to be my brother’s room in a way that matches my vibe and pays tribute to him. I set up a console tower of all the game systems we used to play, his guitar is hung on the opposite wall, live plants and dried flowers of bouquets given to me after his death on another

A hand holding out 5 library cards fanned out. The cards include the Riverside County Library System, Rancho Cucamonga Public Library, OC Public Libraries, San Bernardino County Libraries, and the Fullerton Public Library (specifically a card with Snoopy reading a book)

Having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card.
Did you know a lot of libraries let you get a card, even if you don’t live in that city, county, or state? California public libraries allow all CA residents to apply for library cards for free. Some allow out of state folks to get one for a fee

I had a bad bitch afternoon. Bad bitches go to their local harm reduction offices and grab some free narcan in case of emergencies, go to as many libraries as they can to get new library cards, and sell some clothes to the trendy second hand store before grabbing a little coffee.

A small ladder-backed woodpecker perched on the edge of a Joshua tree branch where fruits had grown last year

I’ve been hearing a lot of beeping around my yard lately and finally laid eyes on the creatures responsible for it. I have a couple of ladder-backed woodpeckers that have been visiting the Joshua tree to eat its fruits. Oh to be a little bird who beeps and eats.

These two about to drop the HOOTEST album of the year

The owls have returned and I have began drafting plans for a nest platform for them. Also in talks with my coworkers at fish and wildlife on potential raven deterrents just to keep em out of my yard

Ed got the most front row of seats 😂 he was tellin those ravens to heck off!

There were probably 40 or 50 ravens. They were lining the telephone poles, my fence, my roof! They were absolutely everywhere

I just saw a cool video of that recently! I’d love to get a nest box set up for these owls because they’re just such cool critters to have around (and I’d really like them to take care of the squirrels in my back yard)

The owls stole a raven nest next door two years in a row. Last year it wasn’t an issue but this year it is. I’m gonna do some research on owl nest boxes and see if that’s a viable option for them in the future

There is a full on turf war going on in my yard right now