Vernal for us southern hemisphere folks, Autumnal for you northern hemisphere lot. However you observe it, and under whatever name-- even if you use the rather silly neo-wiccan Mabon label cooked up by that dork Aidan Kelly-- enjoy! Best wishes for a brand spanking new season!

The past few days have been more summery than spring-like; up to 30 degrees Celsius (That’s 90 degrees Fahrenheit for the US folks, and I can’t believe I find that hot after living the first 34 years of my life in Phoenix, for heaven’s sake) The extended forecast calls for a very wet spring and a stinking hot summer. We shall see.

Tonight we were skirted by thunderstorms which cooled it off beautifully and made the air smell so fresh. I’m looking forward to curling up under the window and reading in the cool evening breezes before bed. I love perfect, simple moments like that.

I didn’t plant the tomatoes yesterday, will do it later today. It was good that I held off, the wind was pretty brutal at one point and I had to bring my little tomato plants indoors-- can’t do that once I get them into their huge tubs. I need to reconsider where I am going to place the tubs too, they may have to go alongside the house instead of the patio; less chance of wind damage there later on.

S. & L. came by today, and suggested I plant the carnations in the big Styrofoam produce boxes that I can pick up down at Solomons (the fruit & veg shop down the road). It’s a good idea; I’ll do that next week, must pick up another few bags of soil first. That also frees up some pots for the frangipani trees; R. said he’d grab some cuttings for me from his tree in Harrington. Those will be nice alongside the big aviary.

What else?

Poseidon is being so insistent, so I am working up a ritual to connect with him more this week. Am going to do some divination for general guidance, but haven’t decided yet what form it should take—I am best with horary astrology and tarot, but don’t know which (if either) would be most appropriate. Something big seems to be waiting in the wings, but damn if I have any idea what it is.

1) After being a good little bird coordinator & wildlife organisation veep (i.e. made phone calls, placed birds for per-release, answered emails pertaining to upcoming committee meeting, read notes to incorporate into new training course, and cleaned cages and fed critters) I spent 45 minutes calling the US. One call to mom to discuss wedding gifts for Pakistani rellies, 1 call to friend to whine about the heat.

2) Continued to whine about heat to birds, wallaby, neighbours, co-workers and random strangers. (It was only 88 degrees today- I know, I know, I am from Phoenix and should be used to heat, But I've now been in the perfect climate for too long, and it isn't HUMID in Arizona. Humidity kills me.)

3) Half-heartedly worked on two new book reviews for w_t_r : one on astrology & magick, the other on neo-wiccan neo-kemeticism, hope to have them up soon.

4) Kept checking email to see if new editor had returned latest review. I am so anxious to post it as it will be my first FIVE STAR review! (Yeah, I’m stunned too, and I wrote the damn thing!)

5) Watched Dr. Phil to complete semi-weekly ritual of yelling at stupid Texan shrinks on TV.

6) Overheated myself yelling at Dr. Phil and fell asleep whilst looking for good quotes to include in future book review. (The book on neo-wiccan neo-kemeticism.)

7) Changed pet birds cages around- ‘tiels now in one big cage, male turtledove now in big outdoor cage.

8) Laundry.

9) Tried on & off to find favourable weather report forecasting rain & cooler weather. (In luck- we are reverting back to our very weird weather of late & it is going to be cool & rainy again for a week.)

10) Looked at my current cross-stitch projects, but was too sweaty to sew.

11) Played around on LJ.

12) Took stupid mcwiccan fucknut quiz then spent twenty minutes kicking myself… for doing well! (And for succumbing to stupid twitchcrap crap.)

13) Tried to perve on cute neighbour but realised just in time that humidity made my hair (which is curly) look like Bride of Frankenstein. Ran inside and grimaced in mirror. Made no effort to fix hair, will do it when I take long cool shower later this evening.

14) Sent various longcat photos and comments to friends via internet. (Longcat is looooooooong.)

15) Spent ten minutes laughing ‘til I cried at funny “DO NOT WANT” dog macro again. Seriously, that picture and any references to testicles really crack me up. Can you imagine if the two were combined?

16) Let new bird (juvenile Figbird) bite me for a few minutes to make it feel as if it had taught me a good lesson. (Makes the bird easier to feed for some reason.)

17) Debated over dinner: mac & cheese with veggies, or banana & yogurt smoothie. Decided to have both, but have yet to get off my lazy arse & make them.

18) Grumbled for five minutes about one bad thing about NOT being married any more is that I no longer have spouse willing to help me enter books in LibraryThing. (In other words, one of us could type in book title, other one can shout them out from bookshelves in bedroom.)

19) Played with mice, but not much- they were too hot to play the way they normally do.

20) Watched lorikeets take baths, watched feral doves make nice to my pet doves, watched lone crested pigeon pretend to be pet dove, watched feral pigeons engage in half-hearted mating dance (which they gave up on, presumably because it is TOO DAMN HOT & HUMID HERE.)

Okay, I suppose some of those really weren’t a waste of time. The critters need me, and LJing with friends is fun & good for all of us. But is is damn hot.

What a day I had on Saturday!

( More animals than you can shake a stick at!Collapse )

Ouch. I hurt. It’s a bad one too, have been sick at my stomach and wasn’t able to even keep water down ‘til early this evening. Had to dash up to the chemist- I lied, it was more like a slow crawl- to get my prescriptions, was out of everything. Got home, took my tablets, took new heavy duty allergy pill and then went to sit outside while Jason hopped around. That helped- cooling off and getting the medication into me made a world of difference. I was able to have some spicy tomato juice a bit after that (I crave salty things after one of these monster migraines), then was able to eat dinner.

As of now, nearly midnight, my head still hurts but it is at a manageable level.

And, of course, it is storming all around me (but not on me) so the head never lies- it is better than any meteorologist. When the head throbs like this, it generally means rain or thunderstorms. (Head pain coupled with an ant invasion into my flat is a sure sign of heavy rain here; in fact the ant thing is lore I’ve heard form the “old-timers” in the region. They are right.)

Priscilla the sugar glider has bitten me twice, but not hard- more like firing a warning shot over the bow. She mainly bites when I take food away from her, or when I hurt her eye putting in the ointment. She loves mealworms, so I’ve been using them as a treat for after she allows me to treat her eyes.

Another odd Poseidon “coincidence”- was looking through a cross-stitch books at shell patterns (am thinking of doing something with seashells & horses or whatnot for an alter hanging) and had Futurama on in the background. Bender set off in a boat and twice invoked Poseidon!

I know, it’s only a cartoon- but why today? Why now? Or is it- again- that I am just keying into an awareness of Poseidon? Either way, his presence is making itself known to me.

Spent time by the river yesterday reading about Poseidon, think and watching the birds fly over the river. Took some mandarin & cinnamon muffins with me and a berry soda- shared an offering with Poseidon as I mused about him and his deeds. Then I stopped by the fish & chip shop and noticed that they have a statue on their counter with mermaids & seahorses and shells on waves- very Poseidon-ish, but what else can we expect in a fish & chips shop?

Took some photos of the river, hope to get all the film developed soon and will post the shots- it is a really pretty view.

The tiniest sliver of the crescent moon is visible tonight. Poseidea is coming; must prepare.

I have comments to respond to and posts to make and emails that are shamefully late, but right now I have to lie down. Just took the heavy duty load of pain meds, and hope they kick in soon so I can get a good night of sleep.

Hello LJ friends both old & new!

I am about to go offline for the next 24 hours. It is pouring rain, and I am about to make the trek with all my beasties back home after house-sitting. It will be hectic as I get settled in, but I will be back soon to update you on all sorts of fun stuff- the RavingFluff games, the critter count, and other silly things to amuse or perplex. ;-)

Hugs to you all, have fun slapping the bunny!

Good morning! (Well, it is morning here at least.) ;-)

Woke up an hour early today, and have decided not to try to go back to sleep. *yawn & stretch* Don’t want to go back to bed, partly due to this awful allergy attack, and partly due the fact that is has been raining all night and watching the sunrise in the rain and seeing the early morning animals is too much fun!

Got in another bird last night, another little Magpie Lark. That makes three of them in care here: my peewee Terry and O. & B.s peewee, now this new one from Old Bar who is about the same age as O. & B.s bird. I have put him in with Zorro just so I could assess him overnight; he just chirped at me so he’ll be hungry & screaming soon.

May have another bird coming this afternoon- a call came in last night for what we think is an Eastern Swamphen, but no one will know for sure ‘til later this morning. Another rehabber is picking it up, and she may drop it off here this afternoon as if it is a Swamphen, it’ll do better with the ducks for company. (They have the same sort of habitat & food needs.) I’ve never seen a Swamphen but in pictures; apparently it is a dark purple bird! Cool! We really do have the most amazingly coloured birds here.

May have to hold off on walking the ducks & the wallaby for an extra hour or so, ‘til the current storm passes. I am checking the weather radar, and it should move on soon, giving us a short break between storms. Then again, it is rather hard to tell as there are no radar stations to the west; just remote Aussie inner land- bush, mountains, deserts. According to the forecast it is supposed to rain all day today and tonight and through ‘til Sunday, with the highs in the mid-teens (around 60 degrees Fahrenheit). See why I love it here? So different that Arizona; hell, we only have a weekend of spring in Arizona, here it is the real, wet, sometimes hot, sometimes cool deal.

I really should catch up on my reading today; I want to get another review or two done over the weekend. But knowing me, I will be utterly transfixed by the animals and weather, and will curl up in a comfy chair by the picture window doing cross-stitch and watching the world hop, fly, crawl and run by.

Oooookay- the rain is really coming down now, doesn’t look at all like it wants to clear. Good thing ducks & wallabies are waterproof, or at least mostly. Even though they are in care, they are still wild animals- or need to become wild animals- so I may as well get them used to a bit more weather. I, on the other hand, will get soaked and am not waterproof. I washed my hair before bed, can’t carry the umbrella as it make small animals panic, and will have to dodge raindrops as I look after my charges. *whine* Fun? Yes, but not for extended periods. Let’s hope the critters eat & play quickly. ;-)

C. brought the peewee by lat night and finally met Katherine the Ringtail Possum. His verdict? She is a most unusual ringtail being that she is gregarious (for a ringy) and loves to be held and admired. I have really spoiled that girl. ;-) That may be good though, perhaps she will be less prone to all the stress disorders so common to ringtails. Poor little things have such weak little constitutions when it comes to stress, they can drop dead for almost no reason at all. So Katherine is a drama queen, but not that much of a drama queen! Awwww, cute possiepants!

Okay, it is 7:15am; must begin feeding all the animals. I made up everyone’s food last night and put it out to warm when I woke up, so it’ll be a breeze.

Oh yeah- something scared the bejaysus out of the big Australian Magpies last night (Domino, Dash & Toohey, my babies). I found myself out in the dark, overcast humid yet cool night right before the rain started with a torch (flashlight) looking into the aviary and trying to see why they were all hanging onto the walls and refusing to get down. This is odd, as they are diurnal birds, and can’t cope well in the dark. I couldn’t see anything, but all sorts of scary stuff crossed my mind- snakes, mainly. (Although it wasn’t likely that snakes would be out in that cool air at night.) They could have been spooked by an owl or a Tawny Frogmouth, but that isn’t too likely either. One of the maggies- I think it was either Domino or Dash- got so panicked at one point that s/he hung from the ceiling cross-post like a bat! In my nearly 40 years on this planet, I have never seen a wild bird do that. (Parrots & cockatoos family birds, yes, but not big birds like Australian Magpies.) They were really upset. I calmed them best I could & stayed with them for a while, then they finally chilled out and went back to sleep. I will go do a thorough search in a few minutes when I feed them, see if I can find any clues.

Hmmm… my head is starting to hurt again- definitely more rain on the way.

Today is looking more & more like a “curl up with a quilt & cuppa & good book” day- although as I said above, I need to read the bad books- get some of this review stuff done. Later I will reward myself with a re-read of Judy Harrow’s Wicca Covens. ;-)

Hugs to all of you from me & all the beasties!

P.S.- Took pictures of Jason with the duckies yesterday. Will post when I get the film developed. Turns out Jason likes the ducklings just fine… ‘til they try to crawl into his pouch. Then watch out- angry wallaby!