Chronographia

Thanks!

Thanks! They don’t need to do a blood draw until December—four glorious months of not exasperating a phlebotomist!

Thank you!

Thanks! (I’m moderately pleased to provide difficult-to-come-by tissue samples for the university’s cancer research. It’s probably the best thing those internal organs will ever do.)

Pro: my white streak is growing back.

Con: the world sees fit to dump fresh new Crows Before Bros copyright bs on me. For my birthday. AGAIN. This is the… [counts on hands] EIGHTH DAMN YEAR IN A ROW.

It is my birthday and I had my cancer treatment exit exam yesterday, so I’m officially in remission.

It left me unsettled, but it did fulfill the quality of “quiet.”

A friend rec’d the Hogarth Shakespeare series to me (specifically Hag Seed by Margaret Atwood) and I’m keen to delve into them when I’ve got a minute. But I don’t think I’d classify it as quiet or focused on interior development.

Oh.

She is assessing it for OSHA compliance.

Becky Chambers’ To Be Taught, If Fortunate. For a scifi novella, there’s a bit of Interstellar-esque action, but the narration focuses on ethics and interior thoughts.

(You may have already read, and I certainly remember a similar conversation about her Robot & Monk books.)

(So many sad goldfinch noises. So many “why are you being so MEAN” utterances.)

As the Tithonia rotundifolia (Mexican Sunflowers) are pushing 8 ft along the fence line, it is a daily joy to watch the hummingbird bully birds five times her size out of their profusion of red and orange flowers.

Truly, she’s the bird version of a terrier. With a sword for a face.

Yup, that’s him the Bloödcheep!

Birdportant update: a rival cardinal has moved in, but by some quirk of fate, has no head feathers. It looks like a particularly colorful skeksis, so we will be naming Richelieu’s antagonist The Chamberlain.

Birds are dinosaurs who shrugged off a couple apocalypses. Some eat bone marrow. Some drink nectar. They outswim fish in the sea. They smile politely at gravity’s demands. ‬

‪I am grateful to see them. I am grateful to feed them. I am grateful to know them.‬

Hey, West Coast, tsunami watch right now:

A TSUNAMI WATCH IS NOW IN EFFECT WHICH INCLUDES THE
COASTAL AREAS OF CALIFORNIA, OREGON, WASHINGTON, BRITISH
COLUMBIA AND ALASKA FROM THE CAL./MEXICO BORDER TO CHIGNIK BAY ALASKA...

forecast.weather.gov/wwamap/wwatx... WWA Summary for Tsunami Watch

Well they did evolve to prioritize drinking from red flora, so it’s not a stretch.

I don't think we spend enough time being grateful that hummingbirds didn't evolve to drink blood.

A group of errors is called a comedy.

Honestly, I’d decorate my own faux-Fabergé egg for the Cursed Object vending machine’s grand prize* but the machine already jams plenty because it was not optimized for egg capsules. An embellished egg might just break it entirely.
____
*most cursèd object I can reasonably lay my hands on

Squinting at the VFMA’s website to determine if the Fabergé egg galleries are part of the renovation closures or not.

This might be the year that I break my Do Not Interact With Cursed Objects In Museums policy when I visit Richmond in August (hashtag #howthingsaregoing).

That there’s a World Bog Day? Or that bogs and fens are distinct in their pH ecosystems?

a red monster with horns is standing next to a woman in a cave . Alt: An animated gif from the movie Labyrinth (1986), with the red furry beast Ludo (a puppet) standing next to Sarah (a young human woman) who is attempting to cover her nose. They are in proximity to the Bog of Eternal Stench, and Ludo proclaims (along with the caption) “SMELL BAD.”

Happy Bog Day to all who observe! Remember: bogs are acidic, fens are alkaline. Don’t mix them up.

Trash panda bathroom does not sound enticing either, I would not trade you for it.

So far it’s a regular scent of decay, without scent glands going off, so I don’t suppose I can hope for the male skunk having shuffled off this mortal coil.

A quick check during daylight shows that there are no remains around the hedge, so the decaying must be coming from *within* the hedge. Superb.

Surely what this 90º week needed was a rotting animal carcass situated just below the big living room window as what needs to be open due to lack of air conditioning.

(Getting in that area proves difficult due to 1) hedge and 2) skunk burrow behind hedge.)

WHOA!

Stylized fireworks would be my guess.

The hummingbirds do not know where to escape our various midday pelting rainstorms, and are just out there vigorously shaking off the water and glaring at the sky. Hummingbird sighting CONFIRMED. This is not a drill.