[Gossamer's Scrapbook] The Ethereal Canyon I

[Gossamer]

. Today Has Been A Good Day... Well, all in all it hasn't been a bad weekend. Lets just pretend I didn't spend the majority of it sick, and instead look at the fact I finally did get Webbing and Divination up. I think they turned out halfway decent, even if personalities like Charon had to fix my links because I cannot simply make a Rek'keli link work! Thank you guys. If anyone has any issues, feel free to raise them anywhere you'd like - publicly, in my pm box, etc. The same goes for questions. I also got Phylonura 3/4 of the way written with Abashai's help. That's Druidism, if any of you just went 'huh?'. It's pronounced Fie-Low-No-Rah. I might have that up tomorrow (or even late tonight) though it might be better off being posted later in the week. I find its always good to pour pissed-off energy (yea I'm still torqued) into something productive rather than sit around stewing about issues. And its always doubly good to remind folks, myself included, that I hold things to such high standards because I produce serious writeup by producing said writeups. Tarot cracked me up today. He asked for a rundown of the last few days when we ran into each other in chat. I filled him in and he simply said "Ah! Business as usual I see!" Yes indeed. Moving on. H flashed a pretty piece of silver i chat that by all reports indicated her long time boyfriend and well-known hotie (with a brain!) had picked up for her. The rock was gorgeous. This is good news to me. When your in a happy loving wonderful relationship, you tend to want everyone around you to be in the same sort of relationship you want everyone and I do mean everyone to fall in love all around you and hook up just as badly - big bad scary commitments and all. Life is sorta funny that way. If you have a good thing going, you want everyone to have it good as well. Not that I'm funny or that I think life is funny. Life just surprises the heck out of me most days. I'm never quite sure, anymore, what I'm going to wake up too. I'm normally someone that likes zero drama - or maybe just a little sprinkling of drama like some people on a low salt diet enjoy by sneaking a pinch of salt only infrequently. But these days its a challenge. And while I do appreciate humor - I rarely generate it. I will leave that to others far more qualified. I'm not really good at being funny. Some people are. I just have never considered myself a funny person. I'm the quiet girl that sits back in the back of a classroom and figures out all the ways a professor is probably wrong or slanted or otherwise radical (and then feel privately amused at this) rather than speak up and get involved in the discussion. If someone is being petty or retarded, I enjoy letting them go for it. An incident in politics this weekend comes to mind. Just because one half of the Congress isn't in session, doesn't mean - dipshit - that you appoint people they normally need to approve. Don't you ever wonder why approval ratings drop? Or is that some sort of conspiracy on the right? It's easier to lay blame, I'm sure, than take responsibility. So, rather than cracking jokes - when things aren't funny, I'm looking for hidden meanings and patterns - even in poltiics. That isn't to say I have an analytical mind. I do not. I have a very artistic mind. I've always had a huge love of science but had to continuously fight for the correct brain hemisphere to be on the correct task at any given time... because they often were flip flopped. But you make due, no matter how poor the tools are, with what the Gods gave you. I mean, I often remind myself at least I use them... as pitiful as they are. I see a lot of people lately having a lot of epic fails in the common sense department. This is acutely so when I turn on the news or listen to NPR or browse my favorite news websites. It's not pretty out there folks. I hope you enjoyed your celebration last weekend because there's going to be very little to celebrate in the days to come. Record layoffs have already been announced at ATT&T, John Deere, and a whole host of other places. It's saddening. I talked to my buddy on the phone yesterday for two hours because he was stuck down in LA and didn't make it back to Seattle on schedule. Guess why he was stuck? Shakeups at Pepsi down south. You know things are bad if our soda makers are having problems. Gotta love that. I know some of you probably read my blog and are wondering what I'm talking about... well, in the light of not elaborating, I'll simply say this. You'll see. I know I'm going to have a busy week at work with it being the first quarter of the first period, so I do not know how tired I will be after being sick last week. Still, three days off is delicious, even if you are on the couch sleeping most of the time. It's given me time to relax a little, take stock, be thankful for what I have and that my problems are relatively minor compared to others. Now, if it would only stop raining, despite politics and despite butthurts, things would be near perfect. The weather here in the pacific northwest has to take a turn for the better soon. We had a steady downpour of rain all day and that gets old. I'm a person that likes to go outside a lot - work on projects - etc but I've been such a homebody lately and that's probably because I really don't want to keep getting soaked to the skin and thus getting sick. So sun... any day now okay? I'm appealing to your greater sunny nature. The northwest needs a little dryout love. Immediately. I order it. So if you happen to have a magic wand out there or a spare wish laying around from the last time you rubbed your genie's lamp, please don't mind taking a moment to seriously wish the Pacific Northwest some really nice weather for a few weeks. Our trees and grass are by and large green enough for the moment. .

[Gossamer]

. Good News Today... I sometimes smile and sigh and get that whimsical look on my face when I think about the past. My family used to own a big cattle ranch on the banks of the Salmon River near the junction of of Iron Creek. Our spread was just east of the Frank Church River of No Return National Wilderness Area. So... I know Idaho pretty well. Idaho is a beautiful place and in many ways its incredibly wild and scenic. Salmon Idaho is no different. Elk roam freely. This made me a good candidate for a Volunteer in a very special project. In 1995 I helped a professor from the University of Montana who was a Wolf Biologist preform what was called a Hard Release of wolves into the Frank Church Wilderness. This was right around the time you were hearing all the news on the soft release of wolves into yellowstone. In 1996 we were back again, releasing quite a few more in the dead of winter in the dark of night in super secret conditions (because people in Idaho were well armed and pretty angry about it). Those Alberta Wolves thrived, only a few fell to angry ranchers, disease, and elk (elk are mean!). One got taken out in Montana by a cougar, and the rest dispersed. Now, fast forward to 2010. Idaho had their first wolf hunting season. This might horrify you but let me tell you it warms my heart. I remember back in the nineties when we were holding our breaths and cheering for the success of 35 wolves to make it in the wilds where there had been zero wolves for at least fifty or more years. Do you know how many there are in Idaho today? Fourteen years later there are an estimated 840 wolves roaming wild and free in Idaho (not counting those in Montana, Wyoming, Washington, and Southern Canada). That's after the first hunting season of wolves in Idaho concluded. They sold 220 tags, of which they collected back filled in tags (meaning killed animals) of about 3/4's of that number. Cattle Ranchers have learned to live with them again. Deer and Elk populations are more stable with them present. Mice are truthfully downright afraid these days. It just warms my heart that from those thirty five individuals we now have over eight hundred (more like a thousand before this hunt). Even the individuals that ran home straight back to Canada did a wonder for the Idaho population because as a wolf moves, it leaves a scent and scat trail that can last season upon season - so those fleeing out left a trail that others followed in. Fresh genes. Fresh territory. A wilderness that now rings with wolfsong at night. I can only imagine how lovely eight hundred sound when even the coyotes around here lighten my heart nightly. Most city people are horrified at the thought of these wonderful animals now being hunted. But the truth is, hunting brings in hundreds of thousands of dollars that in turn is used to manage the population even more. More revenue means more radio collars, more flight time tracking animals in remote backcountry by plane... more census information, more on staff biologists and all that equates to better understandings on how these animals work and what they need for habitat which in turn brings more animals due to better management which in turn brings more money via additional hunting and all of that stimulates a very poor Idaho economy with all the activity and fuss. Wolves are good for everyone. I'm really really glad they are thriving in the lower 48 states once more. Even if Yellowstone is still having some controversial results, I think the delisting of Grey Wolves from the ESA was a good thing... no a great thing. And I think this country as a whole has benefited tremendously from it. .

[Dhanya]

As much as I personally don't enjoy the idea of hunting, it's always wonderful to see a reintroduction program go well. I often think that if you can give something a monetary value, you're more likely to succeed, as that's what people care more about. That's a wonderful success, congratulations!

[Gossamer]

. Fun Fact For The Day... When I'm training in something I really like I like to do a lot of research and gather a lot of facts. Because my PC is learning philtering and poisions I've been a busy beaver collecting a ton of info on the glassware found in labs. I didn't just cut and paste off a big list either, I really went in depth looking for eq so I can be sure my pc knows what shes doing when she uses her stuff. Plus, I purchased an uber expensive philtering lab for hundreds of mizas so I want to know whats in the lab itself, right? Its been fun. I really have forgotten how much fun these sorts of things can be. Anyhow, I was reviewing measurements with glassware and dry unites and found this fun fact. I thought I would share it with you. I hope you go.. "Interesting" like I did. Question: Why is lb the symbol for pounds? Answer: Have you ever wondered why we use the symbol 'lb' for the 'pounds' unit? 'pound' is short for 'pound weight' which was libra pondo in Latin. The libra part meant both weight or balance scales. The Latin usage was shortened to libra, which naturally was abbreviated 'lb'. We adopted the pound part from pondo, yet kept the abbreviation for libra. .

[Gossamer]

. Cats and More Cats... One thing you'll find a lot of on Mizahar is cat lovers. We all seem (with a few exceptions) to really love our cats. I have quite a few of them. How I got them is a long and involved story, but to make it short I used to live in a renovated vet clinic out in the country. My landlady was a vet, and often she ended up with animals no one wanted. She often gifted them to me with the promise of food, vaccinations, and all the wormers they needed. I was single, out in the country, and so I had a time and energy to devote to them. I ended up with a lot of older cats, and later when I moved to our little farm with Gillar, we acquired even more cats because three barn kittens were born that year to a stray. But, as all things happen, this year took some of our cats from us. They had a diseases FIP, old age, and one was struck down with lymphoma. A driver called me a few days ago. He had a stray that needed a home - a sweet cat he said, though her one fault was that she was pregnant. She couldn't go to the shelter here. We have a lot of people out of work and a lot of people who have no money or time to feed their animals... so there's a desperate situation among homeless cats and dogs. Pregnant females are normally given no chance at all for adoption because of the fact you aren't just adopting the mother, but the babies that will come too. Kittens are still fairly easy to find homes for, but older cats and dogs are in dire straights. We agreed to go see her and take her home. She's gorgeous, friendly, everything the driver claimed this stray was... and abandoned by her family who moved out of a nearby house. And now we're on kitten watch, because along with all the sweet things she is.... this girl is as big as a house. And unless shes housing an alien in her belly that likes to kick and paw and make this lovely girl uncomfortable, she's got about four kittens on the way. Here's some pics. Notice the fact shes normally sprawled out? When shes pacing it exhausts her... so she flops down for love. But she cant sit still for long cause the little ones want out... and she paces again. I feel really sorry for her, but I think we got a great new addition to our home. When I asked Gillar about her, and told her she was a calico, he simply said... "Well, thats a color you don't have yet. And ... well we know we can comfortably operate with about four more." I took that as a yes, and I'm glad we brought her home. Oh! She doesn't have a name either. Any suggestions? .

[Cayenne]

Namewise, I am sticking with Peaches. She just looks like a Peaches to me.

Otherwise, if you want something fancier... Aelith. ^_^

[Alistair deGrey]

I enjoy Aelith. Although I do consent that she looks like a Peaches in the first one.

((By the way, your page got cut off or something? May just be my screen though.))

[Gossamer]

. Gemstones and Characters... I'm on a gemstone kick lately mainly because I'm working on three separate writeups... four counting Semele herself - Jewelcrafting, Mele (Semele's Gnosis with gemstones), and The Gemstones of Mizahar. I'm excited for the gemstone writeup because it will take a great deal of work I did a long time ago that was wasted on another uninspired site and put it to really good use here. It is going to open a whole new dimension to Semele and her followers which will not have to be jewelcrafters to use her gnosis ability - and that excites me. I have about a hundred gemstones set up that do various things. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Here's a teaser: RAINSTONE Gemstone Name: Rainstone Location: Kalea and Western Taldera Mele Level To Use: 1 Mark Properties: Can cause rain to fall if water bearing clouds are present when activated via Mele. Rainstone is useless in deserts and climates where no prevailing rains are present normally. Rainstones also cannot control rainfall amounts and have been known to induce flooding. Value: 1 GM per carat, though more valuable in various dry locations ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Okay, so back to the topic at hand. What does this have to do with PCs? Well today there was a slight bit of drama (isn't there always?) where someone felt that their PC was a pivotal and monumental part of defining a race. Sometimes I agree with these statements and sometimes I don't. I like to think that typical members of a race are outlined in race writeups. Player Characters are almost never typical and rarely can someone point to a pc and say 'they are great example of an X race!'. PCs are always exceptional people, incredibly gifted, with problems and burdens and joys all their own. I mean, in terms of gameplay, the pcs are always the most important factions. NPCs never take priority over them. But its almost always 90% true that people don't want to play typical pcs. A lot of Kelvics, for an example, don't want to bond - but want to be dedicated to their independence. Is this an invalid form of rp? No not at all. Its just exceptional - meaning outside the normal - of what a typical kelvic might want. I've ran across Akalak that want only one personality. I've seen Konti who don't want to acknowledge they are konti (scales are normal for humans, right? Please god right???). But the key here is PCs don't tend to define a race. They tend to be the exception to it... or the hero among mortals types. This is all fun and interesting, but how it does relate to gemstones. Hmmmm? Look at the diagram below. Its a picture of a diamond with the facets all named. Each facet has a place and a purpose. Looking at the stone from all different angles some are short some are tall, some are fat, and some are thin with tiny tiny glittering surfaces. They are all parts of the diamond, but not a single one of them could be called typical. I'd like to think the race writeups are a lot like the tables of the diamond with some girdle thrown in to set boundaries (after all your race can't fly right? Don' go there!). Then, the pcs become all the other individual facets, with no two alike. This is really true of humans who are as varied as the stars. So all and all EACH and every pc goes fairly far to defining their race but almost none of them exemplify their race. I hope that makes sense because it was what I was trying to convey without a lot of time and use of fancy pictures like I can here. Also, a little personal sidenote: If you don't want to hear the absolute truth according to me (which of course is always subjective) please don't ask me my opinion on something. I won't pad it or tell you what I think you might want to hear. .

[Gossamer]

. Animal First Aid Kits... I promised a friend I'd tell her what to put up in her first aid kit for her animals. I was getting after her the other day for not having some stuff I thought she needed to treat a wound. She of course did fine, but here's my 'must have' list of first aid supplies on hand for when your with your animals. I use a plastic case with a snap lid. I write phone numbers of the vet on the underside of the lid on a label. And finally I keep one in the barn and one in the house in the bathroom with the people first aid kits. Hope this helps. For dogs, cats, and birds: Mineral Oil (ear mites in cats) Baby Nose Mucus sucker out bulb thingy (for gentle ear washings in all animals - warm water only) Metamucil - (for cats with Diarrhea) Imodium (for dogs with Diarrhea - For small or toy breed dog, ¼ of the adult dose - For larger dogs ½ of the adult dose is enough) Bactine (non-greasy antibiotic spray/ointment great for birds) Neosporin (cuts, scrapes, burns - generic triple antibiotic ointments are fine!) Bandage material (gauze pads, cotton gauze, adhesive tape and masking tape, feminine napkins, baby diapers) Vet Wrap (assorted rolls of various sizes - the more the better buy it in bulk!) hydrogen peroxide - (a big bottle, you can't ever have enough) scissors - (large and small) tweezers - (various sizes) various eyedroppers (giving meds and cleaning wounds) or syringes w/out ipecac (to induce vomiting) activated charcoal (for poisoning or diarrhea and controls flatulence) Betadine Scrub (for cleaning me, animal wounds, great for lice/fungus on an animals skin - mystery rash hair loss? Try this scrub first.) Superglue (for sealing wounds rather than using suture) Plastic hair clips or potato chip bag clips - (great for holding hair out of the way, clipping it back to better clean a wound) Liniment - (I use Absorbine spearmint gel - topical analgesic - great for strains, swelling, bruises) Various Knives - Cutting out things Pliers - needle nose and blunt tip (porcupine quills and removing other nasty things) Snakebite kit - if your in areas where snake bites happen. Extra leashes - maybe even something to use as a muzzle for a dog if you need to clean a wound and the dog is in pain or dangerous about it. For horses I use the same above kit (minus the dog/cat stuff) but add: Banamine Paste (in case of colic) * Bute (for pain) * Bluekote (spray to stop bleeding and seal wounds) Clippers w/clean new blade Spray bottle with half mineral oil half mouth wash to spray on the tail a horse might be rubbing (worm them please!) Extra wormers - rotationally appropriate Shaker Can of Lice Treatment (deer are generous with their cootites) Extra vet wrap, diapers, and feminine napkins Koppertox - Thrush medication Wire cutters - if a horse is in barbed wire, bring your kit and be assured it has wire cutters in them. Enema Bottle w/Saline (for new foals that are stopped up) Pistol w/bullets - (for trail riding and dangerous situations where a horse falls or gets wounded beyond salvation - sometimes you might have to kill a thrashing horse to save a riders life too) Sharp Knifes - Various usages (never ever ever drive a horse without having a bigass knife large enough to cut a horse out of its harness in an emergency situation. Your a dumb dumb dumb if you don't! Harness can easily be replaced or repaired or spliced.) Vet Tissue Stapler - Closing big gashes in the field glue won't help with * prescription only due to either narcotic content or whatnot. Just ask your vet for them for your first aid kit and almost 100% of them will stock you up for the 'incase' emergencies horse owners ALWAYS use. If your horse colics though, and you know its really really bad, don't give Banamine until after you give the vet a call and they say to go for it. Because if its bad and the vet's coming out already, don't dose them because it might interfere with stronger stuff the vet can give them (or say not let them give it directly interveniously which works faster) . If you do dose, keep a really close eye on what you gave them dosage wise so the vet can compensate. I also keep injectable penicillin in the fridge in the house along with injectable ivemectrin (the kind for cows). Your local feed stores carry both these products as well as the needles and syringes used for them. I use the penicillin for the obvious (see the labels for dosage specifics) bites, wounds, and deep punctures, but the Ivemectrin I use if I get some sort of parasite problem such as mites. You can mix a bit of ivemectrin injectable into baby oil (I think its a 1 cc of Ivemectrin per a standard eyedropper glass bottle of baby oil - but don't quote me ask your vet first) for a little stronger mite treatment on cats/dogs. My vet taught me this when a normal topical didn't work for a stray cat with mites. If a horse gets lice, double up their dosage (or just give them a single good wormer one day, then again a week later) on paste Ivemectrin wormer along with using the lice powder and it will double whammy the lice and get rid of them for good. It works like a secret weapon charm. If your in doubt, talk to your own vet on dosages and their recommendations, but I've used this and it works great! Remember, I'm not a vet so don't take my word for it. Interestingly enough the FDA just approved Ivemectrin pills for some lice infestations in kids since most of the bugs are now immune to say Riddex sprays and shampoos. .

[Abashai]

Excellent info Jen! Next time we are in
Chat remind me to tell you about our
Horse. I keep forgetting about it.