Friday, July 1
Jul. 2nd, 2022 02:10 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
gottawonderToday I am grateful for:
Canada Day. I am no longer as sure about how Canada needs to come together on this day, because for the Indigenous people of Canada, the establishment of Canada as a nation came at the expense of their people. I personally see it as a day to celebrate our country, good and bad together, with the hope of bringing everyone forward, but I can see how it wouldn't feel that way for everyone.
That my husband seemed reasonably amenable to looking at the piles of crap behind the garage and beside the house, and earmarking the things that I can take to the dump. My goal is to clear all the piles of stuff off of a concrete pad on the West side of the house, because it has become a dumping ground right out in the open. There is now a big pile of old tires that I was once using in the garden as planters (they didn't do anything to control grass), a bunch of rotten wood, and a window frame that is now ruined from being outside that can go next time I feel like making a trip.
We also took down the Christmas lights. That's not even funny at this point.
Though he was amenable, he actually said that he wasn't sure why these things were such an issue for me, when we could have made more progress on the addition today instead. The giant pile of crap on the concrete pad beside the house is just not a problem for him to look at. Just like the mud hole on the East side was also not a big deal for him.
We went to go see River, and I worked on the obstacle course. It is the same course as last year, only this year R figures we should try to do it completely at liberty. Wow. Really not sure if it is feasible for us to do this in three weeks, in time for the virtual show.
River did well on some parts of it, the easy ones like the tarp and the bridge and going over the poles and around the pylons. The hard ones, even with a halter, are backing through an "alley" made of poles lying on the ground, side passing each direction, and a complete 360 turn on the haunches in both directions. Whelp.
After working for probably too long on the obstacles, I rode him for a while. It was a beautiful day for it.
Then we took down the goat pen in the garage when we got home (it is just four panels made of plywood fitted together that come apart in the summer when the goats don't need to be inside) and cleaned up what was left of the bedding.
We cleaned up and went in to town for the Canada Day fireworks, and that was pretty fun. We haven't had a fireworks since Covid started, and we've really missed it. I do feel badly for everyone's animals in town. It must be hard on them.
This year there were a few big cities that said they were no longer going to have fireworks, because it is too expensive and the insurance is getting pricey too.
I learned some fascinating things about the Spotted Hyena. They are not dogs, they are in the same family as the Mongoose, and closer to being a cat than a dog. The alpha female leads the pack, and in fact the males are usually subordinate in the pack. The females have an elongated clitoris that looks exactly like a penis, as well as a pseudo-scrotum. The female actually has to conceive as well as deliver pups through the opening in this clitoris/pseudo penis, which leads to high mortality rates of pups (and presumably some females?).
https://ideas.ted.com/everything-you-know-about-hyenas-is-wrong-these-animals-are-fierce-social-and-incredibly-smart/
Canada Day. I am no longer as sure about how Canada needs to come together on this day, because for the Indigenous people of Canada, the establishment of Canada as a nation came at the expense of their people. I personally see it as a day to celebrate our country, good and bad together, with the hope of bringing everyone forward, but I can see how it wouldn't feel that way for everyone.
That my husband seemed reasonably amenable to looking at the piles of crap behind the garage and beside the house, and earmarking the things that I can take to the dump. My goal is to clear all the piles of stuff off of a concrete pad on the West side of the house, because it has become a dumping ground right out in the open. There is now a big pile of old tires that I was once using in the garden as planters (they didn't do anything to control grass), a bunch of rotten wood, and a window frame that is now ruined from being outside that can go next time I feel like making a trip.
We also took down the Christmas lights. That's not even funny at this point.
Though he was amenable, he actually said that he wasn't sure why these things were such an issue for me, when we could have made more progress on the addition today instead. The giant pile of crap on the concrete pad beside the house is just not a problem for him to look at. Just like the mud hole on the East side was also not a big deal for him.
We went to go see River, and I worked on the obstacle course. It is the same course as last year, only this year R figures we should try to do it completely at liberty. Wow. Really not sure if it is feasible for us to do this in three weeks, in time for the virtual show.
River did well on some parts of it, the easy ones like the tarp and the bridge and going over the poles and around the pylons. The hard ones, even with a halter, are backing through an "alley" made of poles lying on the ground, side passing each direction, and a complete 360 turn on the haunches in both directions. Whelp.
After working for probably too long on the obstacles, I rode him for a while. It was a beautiful day for it.
Then we took down the goat pen in the garage when we got home (it is just four panels made of plywood fitted together that come apart in the summer when the goats don't need to be inside) and cleaned up what was left of the bedding.
We cleaned up and went in to town for the Canada Day fireworks, and that was pretty fun. We haven't had a fireworks since Covid started, and we've really missed it. I do feel badly for everyone's animals in town. It must be hard on them.
This year there were a few big cities that said they were no longer going to have fireworks, because it is too expensive and the insurance is getting pricey too.
I learned some fascinating things about the Spotted Hyena. They are not dogs, they are in the same family as the Mongoose, and closer to being a cat than a dog. The alpha female leads the pack, and in fact the males are usually subordinate in the pack. The females have an elongated clitoris that looks exactly like a penis, as well as a pseudo-scrotum. The female actually has to conceive as well as deliver pups through the opening in this clitoris/pseudo penis, which leads to high mortality rates of pups (and presumably some females?).
https://ideas.ted.com/everything-you-know-about-hyenas-is-wrong-these-animals-are-fierce-social-and-incredibly-smart/
no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 03:31 am (UTC)Come to think of it, we had an old car with forsythias growing out of it sitting in a driveway a long time ago.
The less I know about hyenas the better, I think.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 07:11 am (UTC)He knows it is hooey, but he also knows that it will be me who eventually hauls it away.
When it is gone, he will pride himself on being okay with me hauling it away, like he deserves a medal for letting me haul it to the dump.
We are teetering on the brink of having a junk vehicle in our yard. Our very old and beloved Nissan X-Terra pretty much never gets used anymore, and when we were driving it a bit a few years ago, was requiring more maintenance to drive it than it was worth.
What we probably should do is buy one more new small car for my husband to drive to work, get rid of the X-Terra, and demote my husband's current car to the role of the extra car. It might seem odd that we need extra vehicles, but I can't be without a vehicle ever, because of where we live. If my car needs to be in the shop, I have to have something to drive. If his vehicle is in the shop, he needs to be able to drive to his work place, which is often several hours away.
Right now, that X-Terra is just sitting there, likely full of mice, and getting older.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-04 07:37 am (UTC)That said, my husband's car is getting to that point where it might be better as a back up vehicle, and would cost less to run in that case than the X-Terra.
We've discussed getting a newer truck and having that as our third vehicle, but then he wouldn't drive that to work (too much gas), so what then, two newer vehicles?
None of our vehicles are clean either. Roxy rides with me sometimes, and my little car is more like my little farm truck. It is in decent shape still, mechanically.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-06 03:32 am (UTC)I know people who have spotless cars, but they don't restore their houses or have bull terriers.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-06 05:03 am (UTC)The truck isn't practical for most of the same reasons as the X-Terra as a vehicle for my husband to take to work, but he could if he had to. We mostly use the truck for garbage and building materials.
We don't really need four vehicles, we need three good ones, and we have talked about a newer truck, or a newer small car.