this snapshot is actually very telling of my everyday life: things to do, like unfinished sock knitting (on the table) and studying (japanese books in the basket), but cute rats distract me. they are supposed to be twilight creatures but as there is more and more daylight and actual sunshine, so does their energy level rise. they still take a long nap during the day, thank goodness, but bright mornings get pretty busy these days.
this is also what life with rats looks like. don't worry -- the quilted thing is actually a pee soaking pad for the vermin when they hang on my bed. they usually tinkle right next to it. this mess is my latest obsession, soba-cha, with turmeric and black pepper, after sharing with sysi and savu. they love the roasted buckwheat dregs. soba-cha is one of those flavours that really get my happy hormones going, i'm always left glowing inside after a cup. i roast the buckwheat on a cast iron skillet and that in itself is like a meditation.
another densely 'my life' photo, me browsing instagram, savu brazenly stealing the good bits (avocado) from my salad...
despite my big plans, i'm still in hibernation even though it is slowly getting to look like spring might be on its way here. still trying to sort out moving boxes. still moving boxes in, to be honest. everything is piled up in my work room, because i don't have either the physical or mental energy to sort through everything. i get a bit done and then fall down exhausted. it's frustrating because i finally have this amazing room but it's a cluttered mess after a year of moving in, when i really just want to start fresh work. but all in good time, i guess.
one thing i did do was wash the snowflakes off my kitchen windows. the next day, it snowed a lot and it seems to have been 'the new snow that slayed the old'. it's still cold and mostly lifeless, but spiders and flies have woken up, and some sunnier yards are sprouting spring bulbs. i feel like drawing flowers on the glass next. or bunnies, for easter.
yesterday i rode my bike for the first time this year, to japanese class. now there's only two lessons left, which makes me sad because i have absolutely loved going there. it's still uncertain whether there will be a follow-up course next semester or not. fingers crossed! i have learned so much in such a short time (compared to previous ten years of studying on my own) that it kind of terrifies me. it's hard to explain. i definitely want to keep on learning, though. the bathing monkeys print is by dick vincent (from etsy) and it focuses me on my journey towards living in japan one day.
i visited forest home on monday and squeezed in some pine bog time. it was all frozen and asleep. no mushrooms in the woods so i just foraged from the freezer and had a nice instant noodle soup with false morels. i also ate some rather ancient pickles. the garden is so shaded it was mostly snowy still, but daylilies were already sprouting by the side of the house, as well as nettles, which were just short of being pickable size. can not wait for wild greens!
bought back some sticks for the boys to chew on. last time i accidentally got them rowan, which is too bitter, instead of aspen, and now i think this was maple and that was not such a big hit either. basically what they like to do is peel off the bark. here's my baby beaver showing how it's done.
the photos are mostly of savu because my pics of sysi are all blurry. here's a cute one, though. chilling in a temporary nest while their cage is getting a thorough scrub. sysi is having skin issues and keeps scratching his sides raw, he was already getting better after a course of antibiotics but now it's even worse on the other side. the vet didn't find signs of pests, so i'm treating him for protein sensitivity now and putting green clay on the sore as well as giving him homeopathic arsenicum. if that doesn't work, i'll start the antibiotics again. it's a vicious circle because the healing skin also itches and so he scratches... and licks and chews. a collar isn't really an option. i tried wrapping his torso but it was a disaster, he panicked so much. he is also a big boy so he overheats easily. (he actually doesn't over-eat like you would assume from his 900 gram figure, it's that innocent cherub on the right that's the food hoarder.) sysi's right side is looking much better already so assumably it's some kind of hot spot flare that just has to run its course.
sysi has had similar issues before, when he was younger he had excema on his earlobes and that i think was because i stopped giving the dog kibble he had been having as a baby, and his body cleansed that way. he smelled horrible, they both did, when they came to me. after two weeks on a vegetarian diet they became little perfume puffs. they have actually been having only vegan food for a good while now and doing just fine. this thing with sysi may have actually come from these texturized broad bean pellets i gave them because i worried over protein. sysi won't eat them anymore so maybe he knows they made him itchy. adult male rats don't need that much protein anyway, and just because rats can eat anything doesn't mean they should. in the wild, a rat wants to survive and make lots of babies. they don't live to be old very often. for a pet, you want them to live a long and healthy life, and for that, plant-based is the way to go, especially with such a tumour prone animal.
savu agrees, he loves salad and kale, and is anxiously awaiting the first dandelion leaves!
