u/hendrong

I live on a forest property. We have pet ducks, living in a duck pen, with a kiddie pool in it, filled with water at all times, that often gets splashed out, obviously. Around the pool is a ring of big natural stones. Underneath the pool, between it and the stones, lives a huge toad, bigger than my palm. Most likely a common toad (Bufo bufo).

When I say it "lives" there, I mean it is sometimes there when I lift the pool up to empty and clean it. Also, late one evening, I saw the toad walking near the pool.

(Funnily enough, the exact same thing happened many years ago, when we had a duck pen on the opposite side of the property. It might be the same individual toad. Maybe this dude just love duck pools.)

I want to remove the toad, because the ducks might hurt him, and I think he can't get out of the duck pen, the wire fence has pretty small holes in it (I have no idea how the toad got in).

Now for my question: The toad obviously wants to live in a cozy, wet place, so I don't want to chuck him into any old bush. Can I build a wooden box for him that will make him super comfortable?

What do I need to think about, it that case? Should it be small and have a low ceiling, so he can jam himself snuggly in there, like in a crevice? Should I put wet moss around the floor, walls and ceiling, so it stays moist?

Etc.

I have three Indian Runners living in a small-ish house (some 4 by 8 feet). They have acces to an outdoor pen all day long. I have dug down hardware cloth all around the house and pen, so it's predator proof, even against digging predators. The house is very well-ventilated, there are large openings high on 3 of the 4 walls (again, covered with hardware cloth if they face outwards).

We opted for a somewhat unusual floor arrangement. The house doesn't have any inlaid floor, it's open towards the natural ground at the bottom, which is soil. In order for the floor to get to a good even height, we put several inches of other soil on top of it. The only soil we had available for that was, sadly, not very absorbant - it's very fine-grained and dusty - but it does absorb moisture, if slowly. Finally, on top of that earth, I put some two inches of wood shavings.

When the top layer of wood shavings get dirty, every three days or so, I put more wood shavings on top of it, so that it covers the poop.

I never stir - my reasoning being that if I stir, the old poop will resurface and be exposed to the ducks. Also, it would mean more work, and more disturbing the ducks (we all know how scary rakes are to birds!)

I intend to rake out all the dirty shavings and start over once the house gets so full that it starts to overflow out of the door opening.

My question is simple: Does this sound like a good method? I suppose it operates under slightly different "rules" than most other deep litter methods, since I have earth floor underneath, which ostensibly should bring about more organisms from outside, perhaps even worms, that can help break down the dirty bedding.

Vad tror ni om att kombinera badrum och hall?

När man lever ett aktivt liv på landet kan det vara rätt drygt att gå från hall till badrum när man varit ute och blivit skitig, ska in, och behöver tvätta av hela sig, eller kanske iallafall fötterna eller händerna. Det blir lätt smutsigt på golvet mellan hallen och badrummet.

Vad tror ni om att kombinera badrum och hall i ett? Alltså att ytterdörren öppnas in till ett rum där man har, säg, dusch, wc och handfat till vänster, och skoställ och hängare för ytterkläder till höger? Det är fullt möjligt att det finns såna lösningar, men jag tror aldrig någonsin jag sett det.

Asbra idé, eller missar jag någon uppenbar nackdel?

OBS: Jag planerar inte att bygga mitt eget hus på VÄLDIGT länge. Denna diskussion är högst hypotetisk i nuläget.

Thinking about insulating my coop with styrofoam.

With chickens, you have to cover up the styrofoam, or the chickens will peck at it. How is it with ducks? Can I leave the styrofoam exposed on the inner walls?

For the last two decades, I've visited a vast gallery of psychologists, psychiatrists, therapists, coaches, shrinks and probably witch doctors too, I can't even keep track of all of them. And they all have one thing in common: They never say anything I hadn't figured out on my own long ago.

"Don't be too hard on yourself".

"Do what you yourself want, not what others expect you to do."

"You never know what the future might bring"

And so on.

Gee, thanks a lot, sir/ma'am. I could have gotten that info much cheaper and faster by buying a Chinese fortune cookie.

It seems that therapy is only good for people who are too stupid to figure those things out themselves.

(And yes, I know already that at least half the comments will blame med for doing it wrong. "You didn't open up enough". "You didn't follow the advice of the therapist". "You didn't stick to the therapy long enough." Etc. I've had this conversation before. Y'all are exhausting.)

Ventilation is always a big issue when keeping a terrarium. If you get a big, naturalistic enclosure for a hamster or a couple of gerbils, they will dig deep tunnels. (Never mind what they do in the wild!) How do they keep these tunnels ventilated enough?

An acquaintance of mine is having his eye removed due to cancer soon. He's told me he will get an eye prosthesis. That got me thinking: I have never really liked the look of eye prostheses, so if I lost an eye, I'd probably just wear an eyepatch. But I'm wondering: What do you think the general opinion is on such patches? Will people not mind, or will they think "look at that idiot cosplaying as a pirate"?

Nyss när jag cyklade vinkade jag åt en bil som släppte förbi mig. Eftersom jag inte ville släppa styret för länge så höjde jag bara handen litegrann, innan jag tog ner den igen. Jag tror jag höjde handen så lite att bilisten aldrig ens såg undersidan av handen, utan bara fingertopparna på sin höjd. Anser ni att en sån vinkning uppfattas som lite oartigare än en fullhöjdsvinkning där man klart ser handens undersida?

Det här kommer jag gå och grubbla över i 4-6månader.

First of all, I want to say I greatly enjoyed season three. But rather than give a comprehensive review of the season, I want to discuss one particular aspect I felt was missing from it: The sense of wonder.

Take the reveal of Marius, for example. In the show, he is just a weird dude that shows up out of nowhere and mutters to himself. Now, I don't particular mind them making Marius a weirdo - living for two millennia, large parts of them guarding two living statues, could do that to a man. It's a fresh and fun take.

But contrast that to how it's done in the book.

First of all, the build-up. Lestat is driven by a burning desire to find out about the origins of vampires. In doing so, he travels the globe, guided by vague rumours he picks up here and there of truly ancient vampires that are supposed to be hiding in remote places of the world. And wherever he goes, he leaves written notes on slabs of rock and the like, where he tells Marius he is looking for him. Eventually, Lestat goes into the ground and enters a state of torpor.

Now that is one hell of a buildup! The reader is, at this point, at the edge of their seat, wondering how it will go. Wouldn't it be cool as hell if one of those ancients existed, let alone if Lestat found them?

And then, Marius comes and digs Lestat up! And it's not done offhand, like in the show. Rather, it starts with Lestat starting to stir in his slumber, because he is hearing a strange, rhythmic, pulsating sound. Pretty soon, both Lestat and the reader realizes that the sound is the heartbeat of a vampire, one so immensely powerful that other vampires can hear it from the distance! ONE OF THE ANCIENTS IS APPROACHING! (I remember fanboying so hard when I got here.)

But it doesn't stop there... It has been established that Lestat has been aware of all the tiny little bugs surrounding him in the soil. And the ancient vampire approachim him IS DESCRIBED AS BEING SO POWERFUL THAT TINY ANIMALS CAN SENSE HIS POWER AND FLEE WHEN HE COMES CLOSER. HOW COOL IS THAT!!!??

(The vampire turns out to be Marius, who digs Lestat up.)

Now, I am sure I can't make the original book justice when describing this. But I get chills just relaying all this to you. Anne Rice is such a master of creating a sense of wonder.

I don't want to bore you to death with a wall of text, but Magnus and Akasha are revealed ways that are at least as badass.

Now, I don't want to shit on the show creators too hard. Creating this sense of wonder is so much harder when you don't have direct access to the characters' thoughts, like in a book. I for one can't say how it could have been done in live action format.

I'm just saying I miss it. And highly recommend the book.

Chickens are removed from humans by about 300 million years of evolution. And yet, one of the most endearing traits of chickens is that a human can often quite easily hear what a mood a chicken is in, based on her (or his, roosters count as chickens too) vocalizations.

A chicken who is sad and lonely and looking for the rest of her flock will let out a long, sad, drawn-out "gaaaaah gaah gaah gaah gaah gah".Your heart almost breaks when you hear it. A happy chicken who has just found awesome food will do a cheerful, high-piched, quick "bok! Bok! Bok-bok!" A chicken who is cautiously but curiously examining something new will sing a tentative, quiet, long "baaaaaaaw..?" that's rising in pitch. And my favourite: We had a rooster who would sometimes let out a clearly offended, short, powerful "Baah!" if someone did something that displeased him.

How is it that I, a human that is so distantly related to chickens, can instinctively hear what they mean with many of their noises? Considering the time scale, shouldn't I and the chicken have evolved to interpret social vocalizations completely differently?

Ninety-nine times out of a hundred when I wipe my butt, everything goes according to plan. But on rare occasion, I get a tiny bit of poop on a finger. And I always have to wash my hand forever before my finger stops smelling like poop. I can rub my hands with soap under running water until no poop particle can possibly be left on me, and when I put my fingertip under my nose, the smell is still there.

Why is that? Almost every other bad-smelling thing can be washed away with a normal effort.

The only other thing that has been similarly stubborn was the smell of rotting flesh I got on my hands one time when I was cleaning an animal skull.

I tried to do a few online quizes to answer this all-important question, but they left me unsatisfied. The questions were too few and superficial. So I'm just going to reason myself to an answer. As you know, what type of bender you are is connected to your personality, so you should be able to answer the question by some honest self-analysis.

The easiest one to discard for me is firebender. I view firebenders as, well, fiery. Passionate, larger-than-life, look-out-world-here-I-come, go-getter types. And that's the opposite of me. I'm an insecure, hide-in-the-background kind of guy.

I was giving airbender serious consideration. They hate conflict and violence, like me. And they have a good sense of humour, like me. But airbenders are all about non-attachment, and that's not me at all. I'm a chronic overthinker. I will obsess over old conflicts years after they have happened. I love routine, and I love my possessions. Doesn't sound very non-attached. So guess this alternative is out.

Then there's earthbender. I was doubtful about this too, because I'm not always resilient. But I can be extemely stubborn and set in my ways. Earthbenders are very creative, which I am. I do love gardening, a hobby strongly related to earth. And it is very important to me to do everything by the book and follow the rules.

And as the final cherry on top, I have green eyes!

We don't even have to consider waterbending at this point - I think I would be an earthbender.

What would you be?

Akasha in the novels is from Uruk (in present day Iraq), and then moved to Egypt where she got married and all the events of the story of the first vampires unfolded. I'm just wondering if you guys thinks she will be from further down south in Africa in the show version of events, since the actress doesn't have the same ethnicity as Iraqi people (which, AFAIK, was similar to today, even 6000 years ago).

Note that I have nothing against such a change or the choice of actress. It doesn't make the story worse in any way I can think of if she's from another place. I'm just curious, I like speculating and trying to predict where they will take the show.

I have 3 Indian Runner ducks, who came to me at 7 weeks of age and have now been in my care for 1 week. They are given unlimited access to water and duck specific feed (pellets, which they are eating). As treats, I give them green peas (bought frozen, then thawed). And they are absolutely obsessed with those peas.

It's a tremendous treat, and has in a few days made them go from hiding in their designated nest box whenever they see me, to literally eating from my hand.

However, I am scared that they will eat so much of it that it's bad for their health. How much can I give them? The last three days or so, they have gotten about a cup full (so 1/3 cup for each duck).