Gorgeous photo. Spin is right, the reflection fits perfectly into the right third of the picture

What the actual fuck is happening

So like universities and scientific organisations have to fall in line with whatever odd ideas this guy thinks up to go after, or they lose the funding for research?

I really don’t like this direction. This is an unreasonable amount of control and a dangerous precedence to set

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays

Woke in the night and had the best sleepy cuddles.

I regret not getting a cat much sooner, but the cat distribution system has blessed me with the most special one.

Fuck Colesworth. Having a disability and requiring both generic brands and delivery makes it hard to have other options… but don’t think I haven’t noticed the gouging, or how toothless the recent trust busting measures were.

I’m so tired and cranky these days. Everything is just a hassle

baleeted

That's how corporations nickel and dime you. I resist subscription services almost completely (I pay for cloud backup storage for my phone in case of breakage/theft and that's it) because as well as being a constant financial drain they inevitably degrade and enshittify, often even removing things you paid for

Good thing you did. You don't want hot cross buns

Back from the hospital. Both positively and annoyingly, results were normal despite being in a fair bit of pain. But I will be getting a referral to a new specialist and also to a pain clinic so that's a win.

I'm missing the pitter patter of tiny beans. I downsized to a week. It's tempting to get Melbcat back asap but someone said maybe it's it's best to leave her there for a few days to settle in and get used to the cattery just so she knows it's safe for next time.

Also they are seriously underestimating yield. I don't expect a lot but with my little containers I can expect a literal handful of produce for the expenditure and work and see it more as a relatively cheap hobby. I could expand vertically but that has challenges as a renter.

Ps. On a more practical and less ragey note.

If you do do the guerilla gardening thing for edible food or start a vegie patch please test your soil for heavy metals and other contaminants. I won't be bothering as containers are what is feasible for me but if you're interested try these guys https://www.360dustanalysis.com/ or you can look at a soil map for your area (less reliable)

Please be aware contamination concerns (and council bylaws, and anti-fox measures that add up) also apply if you plan to keep chickens. Which I would love to but yeah. I don't have the space, the living situation stability, and staying on top of it is more than I can handle.

Also for foraging, I'm not experienced but be wary of things growing by paths ie dandelions or blackberries - you don't want a mouthful of dog wee or sprayed weedkiller. Do not try to identify wild mushrooms by yourself.

And be very careful of buying foraging guides online as there have been cases of AI written foraging guides with inaccurate and dangerous advice, ie tasting something to identify it. See my above point about mushrooms. Make sure the author is reputable.

Pps. Seriously do not do edible guerilla gardening on a golf course. One you'd probably get charged and two the soil is heavily contaminated from ages of being soaked in arsenic based pesticides. Or something. Idk. Nothing you want to be eating.

Remember that any netting used should be a particular type to avoid entangling and killing birds or animals. "Hungry animals are easily caught in ‘bird netting’, which has a mesh size greater than 1cm square. Wildlife friendly netting should have a mesh size of less than 5 mm."

I'm not kidding, an anti-cruelty regulation came in 2019. If you have the old netting you need to replace it.

And be careful of roaming neighbour cats. They love to use the soft soil of vegie gardens as an open air litterbox, potentially opening you up to parasites or bacteria if you don't prevent that.

Hey guys, sorry it took so long to get over here. I’ve been very tired and was a bit intimidated by the learning curve of the site.

Melbcat is here with me, happy and spoilt.

Edit: I’ve been resting a lot, learning to draw in an app on my phone and debating whether I’ll maintain a vegie window box