Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in seachild_elf's LiveJournal:

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Friday, November 6th, 2009
1:29 pm	( role play rant, probably just me ) Maybe I should stick to my own stories for a while, it is NaNoWriMo after all. And if my stories don't get finished, at least I've got no one to blame but myself. Current Mood: moody (Comment on this)
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
10:36 pm	I'm still not quite sure whether all feline stomach problems are in the past. Tyrfing exhibits a more than healthy appetite lately, and he has found a new mine of rodents. Yesterday we managed to put both cat -and the gigantic mouse he brought in- outside just in time. Today, the almost equally big mouse managed to hide into the kitchen heating. So I had to put up a trap. My mom is going to have a fit when she finds out. *sigh* I'm halfway through The Woman in White. I feel cheated. I was promised a classic mystery, and barring from a small part in the beginning, I haven't seen much mystery yet. What annoys me more than the absence of the mystery is how the book is quickly becoming a social drama, which is really not my cup of tea. It practically reads like a train-wreck. It doesn't help much that half of the characters are totally, totally useless. *sigh* Maybe the second half is better. Current Mood: cranky (Comment on this)
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009
1:12 am	I've been cleaning up a lot of vomit and diarrhoea the last week. We think we've finally isolated it down to Tyrfing who will be kept inside tomorrow without food to see if it helps with his digestion problem. The thing is that Tyrfing is not the best cat to be kept inside all day, nor the most cooperating victim to be starved for 24 hours. Especially not since as he vomits all his food on the carpet almost everyday, he is in a perpetual state of insistent hunger. Tomorrow is going to be a long day. God help us all. Current Mood: pessimistic (Comment on this)
Friday, September 18th, 2009
9:56 pm	I know the city zoo is involved in the breeding projects for amphibians in relation with Amphibian Ark (I'm a patron of the project), but it is still somewhat surprising to see your zoo being so mentioned in the latest Amphibian Ark newsletter with a research project you haven't heard about. What was more surprising is seeing my own home town being mentioned only a couple lines further down. I guess it only goes to show. Here I am, reading through an international newsletter, being interested and fascinated about other country's efforts to preserve amphibians, while other people read the same newsletter and can be fascinated by a project in my own home town to help migrating amphibians cross a very busy road. I have know about the project for so long (I'm a patron, but for some reason have never been a participant) that it's so common. I know that street, I know the dug in buckets dug in alongside the road, I know the process of collecting the frogs that fall into it, and I know how the releasing of the amphibians in their breeding pools goes. And somehow I never quite realised how un-common this must be to people in other countries. Maybe I should try and participate next February. Current Mood: surprised (Comment on this)
Monday, September 7th, 2009
12:15 pm	I've run across the overflowing bin in our shop, full with things that get broken with customers handling them. So I've taken a load home and started repaired the necklaces and bracelets that I could. Restringing, changing the clasps that broke off, putting new screws into sunglasses, even repainting a couple of pearls that got damaged by a customer's perfume. There's something very satisfying about being able to repair something with your own hands. I'm almost sad I've reached the bottom of the bin. Current Mood: creative (Comment on this)
Thursday, August 20th, 2009
9:19 pm	I've been much amused by the fact that there is a computer-game firm named Frogwares. I wonder if I'm slightly biased to all things remotely related to frogs because I quite like their games. Current Mood: amused (3 Comments |Comment on this)
Monday, August 10th, 2009
11:09 pm	Adventures with wildlife ( Cut for lenghty adventure )  Current Mood: longwinded (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 18th, 2009
7:57 pm	Due to getting worked up over the organisational mess of the elections, I totally forgot the blood drive the next day. Darn, and just when I had finally worked up the courage to go and figured the now-deceased home-grown bubonic plague wouldn't have any consequences any more. It's going to be at least four months now before I can go and donate since I just had my tetanus shot renewed today. Ah well, I better put it in my agenda for October then. Current Mood: determined (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 9th, 2009
12:59 pm	Putting a collar on a cat seems more difficult than putting a bell on one We're not having much luck with collars for Tyrfing. Since he's now graduated to out-door cat, we want him to wear a reflective collar so he can be seen in the dark, and have an address-pendant. The first collar we found looked good, but proved disastrous. It was covered with a light felt on the inside, and it either proved too irritating or allergenic for Tyrfing: he had a bald ring around his neck within a week! So we bought him a new one, of fake, yellow reflective leather. That one seemed good enough. We took on the habit of taking off the collar when he came in for the evening, in the idea that his hair would grow back faster if he only wore a collar over it during the day. I suppose we've got no one but ourselves to blame for weakening the lock, because he lost the collar yesterday. *sigh* We spent an hour with torches in the garden in the night, hoping we might find it again since it was reflective. No such luck, but we did gather at least two dozens of garden snails, illegally munching on our garden plants. The red-cheeked turtles were very happy to feed on them. So it wasn't a complete waste of time. He now wears a third one, of reflective fabric, yellow and silver. I hope he doesn't lose this one either. I have a feeling we'll have to fetch him a reserve collar for next month when we go on holiday, and my grandparents come over to look after the pets. It's a good thing Tyrfing doesn't mind people putting on his collar, in fact he enjoys the attention, sits still and purrs. Still, I wonder if his previous collar ever turns up, he doesn't leave the garden much yet, so it's either there or in the house. I'm kind of thinking we'll see it hanging in a tree somewhere in winter, when all the leaves are gone. Current Mood: grumpy (Comment on this)
Thursday, May 28th, 2009
12:38 am	You know your mind works in strange ways, when you and an innocently looking squirrel hold a staring match through the kitchen window for a couple of minutes, and you then proclaim to the world: "That squirrel is up to something." He just was. Current Mood: cranky (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Thursday, May 21st, 2009
12:39 am	RIP Echo I just learned that Echo, probably the most famous elephant in the world, has died earlier this month. If there ever was an animal that commanded one's respect, it was Echo of the EB-family in Amboseli. I also hear her son Eli may have been killed by poachers. And the world is just the little bit less bright. Current Mood: sad (Comment on this)
Sunday, May 3rd, 2009
12:10 pm	Life has been good the last few weeks. I managed to go to the Elf Fantasy Fair, the largest fantasy-themed festival in Europe. Finally. The last time I made it was four friggin' years ago. Things always get in the way, people suddenly couldn't accompany me or everything else gets planned for that very same weekend. But I got there this year, even though it again was a close shave. Bliss. Returned with our bags full of goodies, we did. Dad bought a couple of arrows, a cool leather quiver and an equally cool pouch with decorated leather. We might test them out in the future when the weather's good. I got to point him in the direction of several objects saying: "Dad, remember how it's my birthday next month and remember how I was to say if I saw anything I wished to get? Allow me to draw your attention to this book and that one and I'll just distance myself for a couple of minutes and forget all about it." Good times. We had a surprise party for my sister's birthday, in which we invited a great deal of her friends. It was great to see her suspecting all things, but the thing we had planned. (It is notoriously difficult to keep anything from her, she is terribly curious and persistent.) We went to a restaurant, something we rarely (if never) do, so we didn't get stuck with all the dirty dishes afterwards. Yeay. Sis's out of the country for months now on a dig. I get stuck with doing her taxes, hang on, when did I agree to that? We got our parents tickets to a rare concert they absolutely wanted to go for their anniversary. They mostly knew nothing about it even happening, and they now have front-row seats. Friends of mine managed to find an affordable house to their liking and in the location they wanted. Something that is not evident in these dark economical times. They've moved a town away now, so that is a bit of a bummer, but hey, can't win them all. I offered to help paint and move, but we'll see if they take me up on it. The garden is absolutely lovely and everything's in bloom. The azalea's, the wisteria, the magnolia, and practically everything else I don't know the English name of. Bright blues, purples, reds, yellows and whites splashes all around the garden. Heaven. Still not enough butterflies to take advantage of it, though. But we've got tadpoles, well rather toadpoles, in the pond. Wheeee! And the first water damsels have appeared. Current Mood: happy (Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 21st, 2009
11:19 am	Of caterpillars and plants Last Sunday we visited the spring plant fair, I had made a list of herbs I wanted to buy specifically for caterpillar food. Butterflies are declining after all, and as we've now got a nice volume of nectar plants as butterfly food, we considered trying to do something for the caterpillars as well. After all, if you want the butterflies, you've got to live with the caterpillars. So we've got some nice plants lined up now: Hyssop, origanum, menthe, and thyme. Some of them are used to a more mediterranean biotope, so I'm planning of planting those in a bowl that I can put inside in the winter. So far so good. But at the same time, something's decimating plants in the greenhouse. And it's doing it sneakily under the cover of darkness. So yesterday evening, we go to investigate, flashlights in hand and what do we find? Caterpillars. At least two dozen. Well, there's a first. Considering they're practically eating only the Corsican plants, there's little doubt on their origin. They must have come back as eggs on one of the plants we took home with us last year. And so, after an hour of caterpillar hunting, I now have a glass jar holding two dozen of caterpillars standing on my cabinet. And after spending another hour pouring over the butterfly and moths books, I have yet to identify the species. Sneaky bugger, this one is. But they eat lettuce as well as our fern and juniper, so we'll probably try to have a couple metamorphose to butterfly or moth and then try to identify it. Still, it was odd, you buy plants to get caterpillars in your garden and you end up with free caterpillars in your greenhouse. Current Mood: curious (Comment on this)
Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
2:34 pm	Fun fact There is apparently a dinosaur called the bambiraptor... Definitely made my day! Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Thursday, February 26th, 2009
9:28 pm	Living with Alzheimer I've watched the double documentary following (the newly minted sir) Terry Pratchett during the first year after his diagnosis. I was oddly moved by it, not so much because he's one of my favourite authors, but because his reactions were so recognisable and honestly human. When they introduced the seriously wonky helmet, designed to halt brain degeneration by firing impulses into it, I thought: 'Come on, you're not just going to buy that without any clinical trail?' But as the documentary wore on, I started to realise that when your own brain is betraying you, eroding slowly the bit that is you, wouldn't we all be willing to try anything, no matter how unfounded? It was a sobering thought. I can't say I enjoyed the documentary, because it reminds one of a rather bleak, but ever so likely, personal future, but I am happy that I saw it. God knows I already have enough charities on my list, but I'm going to look up the Belgian Alzheimer research trust. I don't think it matters much if the donation is inspired by a sense of altruism, or a sense of frightened egoism, but it there's no point in ignoring something we're likely to deal with at some point in our lives. Current Mood: thoughtful (Comment on this)
Thursday, February 12th, 2009
11:56 pm	Darwin Day Today is the 200th birthday of a man who quite changed the way we look at the world, back in his time and even today. That man was Charles Darwin. You will find him featuring on a lot of blogs today. I wanted to write something to commemorate this day too, so I decided to pick something close to my heart. Ladies and Gentlemen, I present Darwin’s Frog! Darwin’s Frog (Rhinoderma darwinii) is –naturally- named after the man who discovered it, Charles Darwin. He came across the amphibian during the equally famous Voyage of the Beagle. This diurnal frog hails from southern Chile and Argentina where it can be found in forest streams, swamps and leaf litter on the forest floor. It’s a relatively small frog, about 2,5 to 3,5 cm. At least, small compared to the European frogs I’m used to. Males and females look alike, but females tend to be slightly larger. It can either be green, as in the picture, or brown.  You can easily spot the camouflage trick the frog is relying on for its protection: a leaf-shaped frog will be harder to spot among many other leaf-shaped… leaves.  If a predator does see through the disguise, the frog will play dead, by throwing itself onto its back. The belly of the frog is white and black, possibly also as a deterrent to predation. A further distinct, visual aspect of Darwin’s Frog are the unwebbed front feet. Some of the toes on the hind feet usually are webbed. The Darwin’s Frog has an interested take on raising its young: the tadpoles are carried around in the vocal sac of the male. Therefore the female lays only a small number of eggs, less than thirty, unlike many other anurans. The eggs are deposited in the leaf-litter and mommy then heads off never to be seen again.  Dad gets to become a single parent and is left with all the babysitting. As soon as the male can spot movement in the eggs, he takes them into his mouth and places them in his vocal sac. As the tadpoles continue to develop while squatting in the vocal sac, dad’s throat visually grows thicker. Just think about what it would be like, having thirty squirming babies deposited on your vocal chords. The course of parenthood never did run smooth... After about fifty days the tadpoles reach metamorphosis, and dad throws them out of the house, into the wide world where they happily go about their business of bothering insects and other small invertebrates for dinner. Darwin’s Frog is listed on the IUNC Red List of Threatened Species as ‘vulnerable’. Its total population is estimated to have declined more than 30%.  Some of the separate populations, both inside preserved areas and outside, have disappeared completely between surveys, where in other areas a visible density decline is also noted. The main cause of the decline of Darwin’s Frog is thought to be habitat loss and degradation caused by human activity. Climate change and diseases are thought to play a role as well in the species’ decline. However, the fungal infection chytridiomycosis, that is blamed for the extinction and decline of many amphibian species around the world, has not been reported yet in Chile. Thank god for small miracles, I guess. But let’s not cry victory too soon. The Darwin’s Frog close cousin, and the only other member of the Rhinoderma-genus and Rhinodermatidae-family, the Chile’s Darwin’s frog (Rhinoderma rufum) is considered extinct by most since it hasn’t actually been seen for… well longer than I have been alive. Until its extinction can be confirmed, the Red List  gives it still as ‘critically endangered’.  Sources: Wikipedia,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin%27s_frog The IUNC Red List of Threatened Species, http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/19513 Vocal Sac-Brooding Frogs: Rhinodermatidae - Darwin's Frog (rhinoderma Darwinii): Species Account, http://animals.jrank.org/pages/127/Vocal-Sac-Brooding-Frogs-Rhinodermatidae-DARWIN-S-FROG-Rhinoderma-darwinii-SPECIES-ACCOUNT.html 300 Frogs, Chris Marrison, Grange Books, 2007 Current Mood: accomplished (Comment on this)
Saturday, January 31st, 2009
11:14 am	The age-old dilemma... So little wall left, so many things to hang up. Current Mood: in two minds (Comment on this)
Monday, January 19th, 2009
7:54 pm	We made use of the below-zero temperatures last week to clean out the freezer. Curiously, in the process of shifting the food, we came across the sink plug from the bathroom upstairs that we have been missing for at least a few months now. Just lying suddenly on the ground. No, we don't know where it came from either. It's one of those inexplicable stories, I suppose. Current Mood: amused (Comment on this)
Friday, January 2nd, 2009
11:07 pm	Happy Darwin Year! What I look forward to in 2009: No longer being a fungus factory! Visit to the specialist is on Monday. Here's hoping I get the all clear. The wound looks sufficiently healed to my untrained eye; A long, hot, soaking bath! I haven't had the chance for a luxurious bath for months thanks to these blasted fungal squatters; Finally pushing myself forward and getting a driver's license. My parents were kind enough to suggest they'll fund the lessons, which is very, very sweet of them. Now if only I can get myself over that mental hurdle, that yes, I can do this; Hubble being repaired and upgraded. I know I said it last year too, but the repair got postponed and rescheduled to 2009; More art! Need more art! I did very good with increasing my writer's output last year, but art suffered terribly in return. Must draw more, will never be decent artist without the exercise; Tyrfing losing his newly acquired  taste for wall-paper. I can't keep gluing the pieces back indefinitely, especially not when he eats parts; Sad to see the Year of the Frog go, pleased to see some encouraging results and that conservation efforts will continue; A new Star Trek movie. Please don't suck; May the Darwin year be glorious; An end to political blundering. Dude, we had elections back in 2007! Please get this darn government act together, idiots!; And good health, satisfaction and fun for all. Current Mood: cheerful (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 20th, 2008
12:34 am	And so the saga of my little homegrown bubonic plague plods ever forward, going from inofficially suspected fungal infection in the first stage, to an officially diagnosed bacterial infection, to - no, wait, scratch that- to contact allergy,  and finally to contact allergy with suspected fungal infection. I wonder what it will mutate into next or whether now that we've come full circle, it will finally scram. I decided not to bother with waiting until this thing beats it, and sent out my last end-of-year-donations, with a doubled donation for Médecins sans Frontiers and a doubled donation to Amphibian Ark as well. The Year of the Frog may be running at an end, but the Chytrid-fungus infection is far from through. And I sort of appreciated the symmetry between frogs suffering from a fungal infection and me likely having one as well. I've wrapped all my Christmas gifts, ended up buying a lot of gifts that my parents and grandparents wanted to give to each other but didn't have time to go to the shop themselves. At least this year looks like we'll make it through the holidays without approaching break-down level. I got a but a couple of extra shifts at work. And I got dad to repair my leaking aquarium, got two new fish too. Yeay! Tyrfing has taken to sleeping on the bed, which is terribly cute, if only he didn't have this tendency to attack my feet everytime they move, or pounce on any moving hair. I now sport two red lines on my cheek where he tried to apprehend an offending strand of hair. He tried to bite open the tupperware box in which I keep his food, in the middle of the night. Still has that identity crisis where he thinks he's a dog, I see. Current Mood: calm (1 Comment |Comment on this)