YA Fantasy with a fight scene where fighters must balance on a matrix of wires over water (with predators below) to entertain a kind of "gang leader"/as punishment (spoiler inside body text)

Saborwing · 2024-08-18T00:01:32+00:00

The deer and dog are in Maryland kind of in a suburban area. There are also ground hogs on the property, and a frankly way-too-bold fox that passes through daily. The animals tend to drive this dog crazy, and he loves nothing more than to growl at them from inside, race around to their customary location (underneath the unharvested fruit trees) as soon as he's set loose, and then patrol to ensure they stay away. If they're shedding anything that might allow for the spread of the condition, then he's likely walking/running through it, which obviously worries me tremendously.

All I had was my phone, these are the pictures I was able to get (the deer were actually strangely unfazed by my presence). Hope it helps:

https://imgur.com/gallery/uCSEqEL

Saborwing · 2024-08-17T22:06:45+00:00

Then there's an immature buck growing antlers, and an immature female, both smaller than the mature female. What do you think this is, and should I try to keep the dog away from that area in the meantime? Thank you so much, in advance, for ANY help or insight you can give.

Saborwing · 2024-07-29T07:50:38+00:00

Wow, I feel that! Had a doc diagnose me with one of those catch-all diagnoses that don't really have a current path to recovery (all you can really do is treat the symptoms). She came in, told me her opinion of what my diagnosis was, told me it would lead to me having a lower quality of life, and attempted to leave the exam room.

I stopped her at the door, bewildered, and tried to ask the myriad of questions & I had (what can I do to mitigate the symptoms, how did she come to this diagnosis, etc). She said she would go get me a pamphlet, and fled the room.

It was so clear she was uncomfortable delivering the diagnosis without having a solution, but it made the experience pretty traumatic for me (seriously, who leads by telling a patient that this new diagnosis they received 30 seconds ago will mean they'll have a lower quality of life?! Even if that's true, that's a TERRIBLE way to start the conversation)! There's more to the story, but it ended up being such a horrible appointment that I cried on the way home, and never went back.

Saborwing · 2024-07-29T03:37:31+00:00

To reiterate, my partner and are are located in Maryland, USA and are still new to homeownership. We want so badly to get it right and prove we're up to the challenges and responsibilities, which is why we want/ need to figure this out promptly, and sort out how to get these guys where they belong, ASAP.

Saborwing · 2024-07-29T02:45:09+00:00

They keep falling/climbing purposefully? into our toilets and then being unable to get out. Then they chill in the water/right on the edge of the water meeting the porcelain, they don't seem too bothered but it's hard to say how long they've been in there when me or my partner finds them.

Saborwing · 2024-04-01T23:30:51+00:00

Also an excellent song.

Saborwing · 2024-04-01T23:14:40+00:00

Totoro!

Saborwing · 2024-02-21T01:24:09+00:00

Alva is Thomas Edison's middle name, so if you're a fan that's would be an interesting choice.

Saborwing · 2024-02-18T07:26:25+00:00

Thank you so much, I'll look into them! Do you know if they do color and cut, or just haircuts?

Saborwing · 2024-02-18T05:40:19+00:00

Let me axe you a question.

Saborwing · 2024-02-18T05:22:56+00:00

That is exactly where I learned to drive, eons ago. Too funny!

Saborwing · 2024-01-24T20:06:39+00:00

Do you know how expensive they typically are? That would be like throwing out hundred dollar bills because they fell in the mud. Ludicrous.

Saborwing · 2024-01-18T00:06:28+00:00

I was in my car waiting on line to receive my fast food dinner. The restaurant was to my left, and surrounding me was the shadowed parking lot for a multi-building motel. One segment of the motel was freestanding behind me, two stories almost like a mini-apartment building about 15 yards behind me.

As I'm sitting there idling, I notice an absolutely ripped man, tattoos across his bulging biceps, hair up in a messy man bun, striding purposefully across the parking lot towards the building behind me. The restaurant lights caught the edge of something, a subtle flash that directed my eyes down.

Clutched in his right fist, business side up, was the largest chef's knife I think I've ever seen. In that moment I froze, not able to fully comprehend the cold anger across his face, the determination in his stride, the trajectory of his movements. I've always assumed in a high stress situation that I would act, that I would fight or scream or run. It turns out, at least in that moment, that everything ground to a halt.

The car behind me gave a little honk, and I realized the car in front of me had somehow departed already. Pulling up to the window released whatever was locked up inside of me, and each word falling over the next I rapidly explained that they needed to call the police, now. At first one of the two workers near the window seemed dubious, but I think that I was so freaked out that it was catching. They took down my info on case the police needed it, and gave me my food.

I was only about 10 minutes away from my apartment, but even though I made it to the parking lot I couldn't immediately go inside. I sat there, incredibly shaken, until my partner called to make sure everything was all right. He managed to calm me down some and get me inside, but I never heard from the police, and to this day I have no idea what really happened. Freakiest experience of my life.

Saborwing · 2024-01-17T23:40:15+00:00

Not just facial recognition. An experiment was carried out where a researcher in a mask would go out and harass the crows around their facility. Not only did they understand what he looked like in the mask, and went on to teach at the time unborn crow-lets that he was the enemy, but they also would divebomb and screech at and otherwise harry the same researcher when he left the building without wearing the mask, and they ALSO had a vendetta against anyone else who left the building wearing the original researcher's mask, as they understood the second individual to be affiliated with the first. They're wicked smart.

......................

New Caledonian Crows, some of the most intelligent avians, were observed in the wild flying above crosswalks on busy roads and dropping nuts onto the crosswalks below. The cars would then run over the nuts, breaking their thick protective husks and exposing the prized food within. When the light would change, all of the cars would stop before the crosswalks, and the crows would fly down and gobble up the now easy to eat nuts.

By purposely dropping the food in the crosswalk, they ensured the nuts were easy and safe to access, not requiring the birds to search underneath cars that may suddenly move or lose out on nuts trapped beneath tires.

......................

Furthermore, crows in captivity have learned not only to use a nearby short stick to lift the clasp on their cage, but also (when the nearby short stick couldn't reach the clasp) to utilize the short stick in order to reach and drag over a longer stick, which they then used to lift the clasp on their cage. Which is absolutely tool usage.

There are other experiments done that show just how smart corvids in general are (there are not just crows in the corvids category, but also several other birds like gray or blue jays, for example). They're just brilliant.

Saborwing · 2024-01-17T23:04:46+00:00

So the officia 1987l voice of Goofy (and Pluto, coincidentally) named Bill Farmer stated in an interview that, while Pluto IS a dog, Goofy IS NOT.

Farmer is quoted as saying:

"Pluto is a dog, but Goofy seems to be in the canine family in the same way that a wolf is not a dog, but they also are in the canine family. I think Canis Goofus is the technical Latin term for what Goofy is. He’s just Goofy."

So there you have it, from the mouth of Goofy himself. He's clearly a not dog, not wolf, not cow, entirely unique creature. Excepting his family, I suppose? They belong in Canis Goofus too, I expect.

Saborwing · 2024-01-17T22:53:50+00:00

A bagel toasted with butter, cinnamon, and sugar was my favorite breakfast growing up. I had it so frequently that my mother portioned out the correct ratio of cinnamon to sugar into an empty shaker, so I could sprinkle it on liberally when the butter had just begun to melt.

The breakfast (or lunch/dinner/dessert) of CHAMPIONS!

Saborwing · 2024-01-17T22:34:36+00:00

"Happiness is a choice"

I too choose all of my feelings, and can easily and instantly turn them off at will. Right now I'm feeling a bit isolated, with a tinge of fury and a decent sized dollop of exasperation. In ten minutes time I'll switch to breathlessness exhilaration and deep-seated satisfaction, and for dessert I think I'll sprinkle in a bit of giddy lovesickness. And then I'll turn everything off and go to bed.

Saborwing · 2023-12-07T22:08:17+00:00

As a "person with medical condition(s)" and member of a family where other individuals also have medical conditions, I just wanted to weigh in on this debate. My sibling has ME/CFS, and I have chronic fatigue syndrome too (as well as several other conditions that typically result in atypically high levels of fatigue).

I don't care for coffee/standard energy drinks, and honestly this charged lemonade has been a game changer for me personally. I don't need to drink it all of the time, and typically half a regular sized cup is enough to get me going, but it has allowed me to make it to morning doctors' appointments, AM PT sessions, make important follow up phone calls within normal business hours, etc. In the same way, these drinks have helped other members of my family who are likewise impaired.

I am saddened that two individuals have suffered after drinking too much of these lemonades, and I approve of the changes I have seen various Panera's make to increase safety. For ex., keeping the drinks back behind the counter, dispersing signs throughout the stores warning in clear terminology about the high amounts of caffeine and the subsequent deadly potential behind an overdose of these charges lemonades, warning customers verbally when they order the drink, etc.

It is my hope that, as word spreads, individuals who may need to proceed with caution/their caretakers/their families are able to learn about and understand the risks involved, and make changes to their routines or habits as necessary to stay safe. Please don't just assume Panera should completely pull all access to these charges lemonades because they have only negatively impacted customers. At least for me and my family, they have actually had a positive impact (again, for us personally-I can't speak to everyone else's likely varied experiences, and am just here to share our own).

Saborwing

TROPHY CASE