Icon by @ThatSpookyAgent. Call me Tir or Julian. 37. He/They. Queer. Twitter: @tirlaeyn. ao3: tirlaeyn. 18+ Only. Star Trek. The X-Files. Sandman. IwtV. OMFD. Definitionless in this Strict Atmosphere.
The shelter where I volunteer got some new hissy babies and we were making progress with socialization yesterday.
Play video, sound on.
There was this old lady who lived across the street and cats would just appear at her house. They’d never really be seen again, and she had a cat of her own with a collar and all who never really left the house but would spend most of the day by the bay window. But the rest were just a revolving door of random cats. Which naturally meant kittens would pop up too.
So one time when I was doing my high school volunteer hours at this animal shelter, she showed up and said she had some kittens to drop off and some to pick up. I thought it was weird but I figured she fostered them and so I assumed she fostered cats and that explained the amount of random cats I’d see at her place (turns out she’d lure strays in for spaying/neutering and then take them to shelters around the area for socializing and ideally adoption).
So she dropped off three extremely socialized and friendly kittens that I guess she had picked up 2 days prior. And then grabbed a kennel thing with five feral-ass kittens one of the donors found near a dumpster.
I had seen them earlier but the day manager told me they had just gotten them the day before and they had not been socialized because they were waiting for “the expert”. And I guess that was this lady. So she puts on these thick black gloves and goes “Sweetheart can you hold this for me? I gotta prep the babies”, and I held the kennel still while this woman just 100% no fear sticks her hand in there and grabs a kitten that is NOT happy about it. She then grabbed it by the head gently, wrapped a tea towel or some type of cloth thing around it, and then laid it down to do something that was like equal parts origami fold and burrito roll?? Idek. Point is the kitten was PISSED. But it couldn’t move or anything because she wrapped it and secured the wrap with one of them big old timey baby pins. And she did it to the others as well. It didn’t even take her 5 minutes lmaooo. Then she put them back in the kennel and went home.
I asked the manager about it and he said “Oh yeah she’ll be here in 2 days to drop them off. She has a M E T H O D.” And just as he said she showed up two days later, with 5 perfectly friendly kittens in tow!
I didn’t ask because I assumed she was a witch and also I didn’t care, but I had mad respect for her 😂
I wish to meet this woman and also to learn from her so that I can do this magic
The idea of dragons in modern times is so fun because imagine a hot summer day on your vacay and go to use the hotel pool and staff is like “valued guests we regret to inform you that the pool area is out of service at the moment, we apologize for the inconvenience”
And people like “wtf why” looking out their hotel room window and there’s this. This dragon just curled up in the pool chilling, literally, cooling itself down
Some of the staff are trying to gently shoo him away and the dragon does a soft little “rrrrrr” like a grumpy cat and a warning puff of smoke and they’re like “fuck it i don’t get paid nearly enough for this” and no ones using the pool today sorry!
There’s a history of pickled beets in my family. Growing up in the great depression meant that for my grandma that was sometimes the only thing available to eat and she HATES them. But my grandpa loved them so she would always buy a jar and when he opened the jar she’d be all the way in the next room and somehow just KNOW he was opening the jar of beets. She’d come running into the kitchen just to tell him ‘yuck!’
Years pass, grandpa died, my dad got into the habit of taking her out to eat at places with a salad bar so we could make sure we all get our greens. He’d always pick out a few pickled beets for himself. Grandma would point at them and say 'yuck!’
Years pass, my grandma is getting on in years. She has a Facebook account, but she just kind of treats it like a family newsletter and barely actually interacts with anyone and just kind of lurks. She has an aide to help her around the house and keep her company and do things that are hard for her. She can’t really type anything because last month she had a stroke that messed with her spatial reasoning and typing is hard.
A few days ago, I told Facebook that I had pickled beets on a taco and it was pretty good. My grandmother, age 96, alerted her aide that it was imperative that she reply. And so her aide Naiya, age 22, on behalf of the matriarch of the family, got on her Facebook specifically to tell me…
Trying to fall asleep in summer is much like the dilemma described in Katy Perry’s hit song Hot N Cold (2008).
Allow me to demonstrate. I am not a visual artist, but I will attempt to communicate my point. If any actual visual artists would like to improve upon this, please feel free.
Well, I can’t sleep for SOME REASON, so here’s more.
ALT
