The Dino-Aspie Ex-Café (for Those 40+... or feeling creaky)

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Happy Belated Birthday, Richie!

Lemon, Those are so cool! I haven't crocheted anything but dishcloths in ages. You're giving me ideas!

Nan, Child Support accrues here, as well. At this point my boys' dad owes enough that they could each take Driver's training classes, get their licenses and buy a decent used car. But we aren't holding our breath on that.

Well, I got the job at the department store and started a week ago tomorrow. I was supposed to start the week before but ended up sewing those pyjamas for a week while we recovered from H1N1. I may have posted that. I don't remember and it's been a long 2 weeks. I like my job, I don't have to deal with anyone for more than 10 minutes at a time tops. And when I'm on the floor dealing with stock I can be almost invisible. It's interesting and all the strange people keep me amused. I'll keep at it until January and see if I still have hours after Christmas and decide from there whether or not I'll look for something else. And if I can still handle dealing with the public. At least there are no huggers involved in this work environment.

Congrats, Mom! Kid's temp job ended, they sent her to another one which was supposed to be for two months and ended up being for 3 days (which was ok, as it was answering the phone in the gyn cancer unit and the people she had to talk to tended to be extremely emotional - I guess if I was rotting from the inside and the nurse wouldn't call me back I'd be emotional too!) and now she's sitting waiting for another assignment. There's a chance there's one that will last through the end of the year that starts Monday, we're waiting to hear. It would be so much better if we weren't worrying all the time about her being able to see a doctor without having insurance - she would like to just spend a few years temping here and there, but is only doing it now while trying to find work with insurance coverage.


The check - the universe sets me up, it does.

Thing One, the perpetually happy and perverted society finch, was found all bloody in his cage about a week ago. At first I thought one of the doves might have beat him up, but was wondering how as he's a lot faster than they are and can outfly them. Turned out he had a tumor that had been growing under his feathers on his back and finally it bothered him enough that he yanked the feathers out of it and bled like ... well, a little stuck finch. He got himself slapped into the hospital cage and cleaned up and doctored some, and was thrilled when Thing Two joined him for company (he'd been moping). He just sang and sang his happy little song when Thing Two was put in the cage with him....

Anyway, the thing on his back was growing visibly, so we got him an appointment with the guy who is supposed to be the best avian vet in town. I assumed we'd be putting Thing One to sleep, thinking the mass was malignant to have grown so fast (and was still growing, daily). Vet looked and prodded said he thought it was benign, but because it was on his back he could not just freeze it off as he would have if it had been on a leg or a wing. But that if it didn't come off it'd get picked at and eventually an artery would be compromised and Thing One would bleed to death in a very unpleasant end. So Thing One went into surgery, and the doc thought he'd sail right through it.

Just after they got the mass off his back (it was benign), Thing One stopped breathing and they could not revive him.

So went Thing One into the wild blue beyond, and so went the child support check.
Thing Two is sitting in the corner of his cage, visibly drooping. He isn't singing, he isn't eating.

Amazing what putting a female society finch in with a grieving male society finch can do.... We've got singing and dancing, and all seem happy now.

Nan: Phew!

Also, you need to stop living in such interesting times.

such is life, lelia.

in putting girlfriend in to console Thing Two i forgot that girlfriend was originally acquired to help calm down a neurotic female zebra finch (the only survivor of the infamous la febre tainted pet food fiasco some time ago) and said female is not at all happy that Thing Two is monopolizing girlfriend. girlfriend is, however, now nesting - torn up kleenex has been carried up to the little bamboo nest and she's spending a bit of time chomping on cuttlebone (getting extra calcium) so i am expecting to see some eggs in the nest very soon.

i had to take neurotic female zebra finch out of the big cage as she had taken to chasing Thing Two around and trying to pull out his tail feathers. so she's in a cage by herself and not very happy. i think that as soon as i see hatched eggs and the babies are old enough the entire ecology will be rearranged again, or perhaps not.... grandma and grandpa bird are safely in their own cage and seem to have accepted their fates, albeit they complained loudly for a good 24 hours about the move.

still, there are more unhappy birds now than there were before the move, when only Thing Two was unhappy.... will wait to see if we get eggs. no eggs in a reasonable time, and i'll put everyone back the way they were and go to the pet store and purchase him some company. at least his mind has been taken off of Thing One, and he's eating and occasionally singing again. looks like heck, though. he needs a good preening and so far girlfriend hasn't shown any inclination to preen him. looks like a guy just coming off a 3 day drunk, head feathers all in disarray, a little disoriented, scruffy.

so yeah, maybe a new addition to the zoo. how to tell a male from a female is the tough thing - unless one sings, you can't. but either would do (although a male would be better as we don't want a population explosion and that is what society finches do best). that's the nice thing about society finches. they don't care who the company is or where they came from, they just need another member of the species to sit next to on the perch and they're happy.

Lurking. If there's a switchboard gal inside my computer, she's been taking a lot of days off lately. I like your crocheted critters, Lemon.

I've been making beads and stuff, and even stringing them into finished pieces of jewelry occasionally.

Wow!! ! You're talented, Sleepy. If you ever want to sell them overseas let me know!

They are cute, aren't they!

Hey, not that it'll necessarily help here, but for Americans, here's a tidbit that just came out of our human resources people at work:

New Posting Requirement - Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) was signed by President George W. Bush on May 21, 2008 and goes into effect on November 21, 2009. According to a white paper prepared by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, GINA is designed to prohibit the improper use of genetic information in health insurance and employment. GINA prohibits group health plans and health insurers from denying coverage to a healthy individual or charging that person higher premiums based solely on a genetic predisposition to developing a disease in the future.

The legislation also bars employers from using individuals' genetic information when making hiring, firing, job placement or promotion decisions, and a revised “Equal Employment Opportunity is The Law” poster incorporating GINA language is now available.


The poster is also available at the U.S Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) at http://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/complianc ... ccpost.htm.


Now, if they'll just make it illegal to use pre-existing genetic conditions as a reason to deny health coverage.... - N

Government Health Warning: Wash your hands 50 times a day to prevent OCD!

~snork!~ you bad, grommit.

And..... we have eggs! I think I can see 3 in there. They are very, very small for Society Finch eggs, so they may not be fertile (it's her first clutch), but if so it won't be because he wasn't trying! The mom is chocolate pied and the dad is fawn, so it will be interesting to see the genetics working out. Just read up on them. Chocolate is, apparently, the dominant.

Heavecliff is curious beyond.. chirps?... and is wanting to look into the nest soooo badly, but keeps getting shoo'd away. At least having the females and undetermined's in with Thing Two is telling us who is what. TT first looked like he was going to sing to Heavie, but then sort of twisted his head sideways, looked more closely, and fluttered down to sing to Girlfriend instead. We always thought that Heavie was a crossbreed from Thing One and Grandma Zebra finch, and as such is infertile although a really beautiful light caramel color and very, very mellow like a society. Since Thing Two, who is almost as much of a sex fiend as Thing One, passed her by for a Society Finch female, it's pretty much a given he didn't recognize her as a Society finch. And that little dude has lock-on radar for a female of his species.

Ok, three eggs in there now, and she's started sitting on them all day and all night. That means it should be about 10 days or maybe a day or two more, but no more than that, until we see if they have made it to hatching. It will be nice to have baby birds in the cage again. The old zebras are looking like they could drop at any day - from age if nothing else. And without Thing One it's very quiet.

Spike is acting quite oddly - wants to come out of her cage and then won't settle on a shoulder or by the computer, just flies around in a big circle in the room a few times and then comes to rest somewhere and pants until she gets her breath back and then does it again. Perhaps she just wants to fly a bit....

I love those news bulletins.
Mine is not nearly so interesting. I've lost 8 lbs. Just 60 more to go!

Lurking and stimming as usual.....

looks like it might be FOUR eggs.

and the other news is that a trash truck pulled into the dump and set off the radiation detectors. apparently the thing is putting out like 10-15 rems per hour. i hope that poor driver is ok, and that whatever he picked up it was a the end of his shift and not the beginning. military is all a-flutter, i hear.

At the Trojan power plant, it was never terrorists or outsiders that caused problems with radioactivity. It was always idiot workers paid minimum wages. One threw a piece of rod into the back of his truck and drove all over town with it before being discovered.

[sings] Homer! Homer Simpson! He's the greatest guy in hiss-tow-REE!
From the town of Springfield, he's about to hit a chestnut tree!

D'oh! :facepalm: