Interesting night.

Tonight my partner and I were asked by his brother if we minded thawing out some mice and giving them to his adolescent red-tailed Boa Constrictor. After holding the poor, frozen baby mice in a hot water (They were in a plastic bag), we brought them into his room and got comfortable to watch the snake eat. We put two of the mice atop a rock inside the enclosure, and put another in the floor of it. The snake had come out from its hiding place at this point, arching up toward the bag as we lowered it into the enclosure. The snake moved toward the rock with the two mice on it, and my partner and I lay down on the bed about three feet away, our heads directly across from where the snake was on the rock.

This was when things got strange.

The snake seemed to make eye contact with me. We stared at each other for what felt like forever. I moved my head to the right, maintaining eye contact. It moved it's head to the right. Thinking a fluke, I moved my head back. The snake did the same. These were the subtlest of movements; my partner was right beside me. But I did it enough times to be sure, the snake was following me. I felt like I had connected with Kale.. We held each other's eye contact and I felt myself building some kind of adrenaline rush. I can't explain it, it was as though my body was getting pumped for something. This stopped when I broke eye contact with Kale. I locked eyes with him again, and felt my breathing become almost heavy, along with the same adrenaline rush. Maybe we had connected on such a level that I received some of his feelings; I'm not sure. We were still staring at each other, (to the best of my memory) when suddenly he lunged, mouth open, in a strike. But it wasn't the mouse he aimed for; he lunged right at the glass toward me. I gasped; jumped back, and dug my nails hard enough into my partner's leg that I feel guilty. He had made a strike at me.(How he does toward his prey to eat.)


I don't know what happened; all I know is I made an incredible connection with a snake tonight. I think I'll go see if he ate any of the mice now. Goodnight everyone. :)

Outdoor Dogs

My partner and I spend a fair bit of time at his parent's house, and I'm absolutely saddened by only one little fact: That they have outdoor dogs. This is not their fault, the dogs are not housetrained and there's not really a way to train them as their only remaining outdoor dog is around ten years old. She's the sweetest girl, never pulls on her leash or jumps. My heart just bleeds for her. They love her, they make sure she has her food, water and shelter, and we walk her. But still, it doesn't make me feel any better. Day after day after day she's stuck out there, alone and sad. We actually recently saved her life.. A chance walking of their trained dog led us to discover that weeds had tangled around Roxy (She gets herself stuck on many things, the weeds are now cut down) into her collar and were asphyxiating her. My partner managed to hack through the collar and free her, but the sight of her collapsed on the ground losing air will never fully leave me. She doesn't deserve this..I just feel so horrible for her, it's unreal. At night you can hear her cry when it's time for her dinner.. But is she really crying just for that?


There really isn't another option. There are no farms around that would take her, and even if they did, they'd have to keep her outside. A pound would euthanize her before she'd become adopted.

So it falls to us (mainly my partner and I, as his parents can't really take over all the walking, etc.) to walk her, cuddle her, and tell her we love her. She's so happy when we take her for walks.. I took her off her chain this afternoon and she BOLTED for the fence, sticking her nose through and waiting to be allowed to roam. I love her, I wish there was a way we could train her; but this is not our house and there's no way we'd be allowed to try and train her here without serious property damage.



Anyone who thinks about getting a dog and keeping it outdoors: Please don't. If there is any other option besides the pound, please don't.

The spirits in this house.

I visit the house of my partner usually only on holidays/days I can leave the city for a few weeks without any problem. I've noticed them before, but recently they've been more active in the house.. We share this house with spirits of some sort.

I've seen what I can only call "minor" or "smaller" ones in shape, that never seem to interact with us personally. I get glimpses of them moving about the house occasionally, especially in my partner's room. They're small in shape (The ethereal shapes and shadows that I can see, anyway.) and never seem to make contact or come nearer to us than being in the same place. They don't feel unfriendly, I imagine they're just getting on with their business as we are.


Occasionally though, we encounter "larger", more threatening entities. We went walking in town one night, sat down in an nearby school yard and just sat and talked. I happen to glance to one side of me for a moment and saw something very strange. It was a large shadow, shaped like a large dog or a wolf. This one, did not feel overly friendly. I saw it for a split second, and it was gone. I didn't tell my partner, and we went home. A day or two later at night, he came in the room and sat down. He told me that he thought he saw a dog at the bottom of the stairs. A shadowy figure, just like I'd seen the other night. I didn't tell him about what I'd seen until after he told me this.

Yesterday night we were talking, and he happened to mention that he'd been walking past another room, and thought he'd seen his dog in there, sleeping. Thinking nothing of it, he proceeded into his room, and saw his dog in HIS bed. We're not sure what it is, but there's something very dog/wolf-like in the house. His experiences may be unrelated to the form I saw when we were out that night.

They have had five previous dogs over the course of their living in this house, four have passed on and one recently ran away. (We're holding out hope that he was taken in, because none of the local pounds have him.) I suppose it could be one of their dogs who remained in the house.

These are not the only forms we've seen, my partner had a problem with a very invasive one that terrified him for quite a while a few years ago.

I'd appreciate anyone's thoughts on this.

Abortion Rights.

Today I'd like to deviate slightly from the usual subject matter of the blog and bring up something that I find really important: Abortion rights. Specifically, ignorant people who bash/condemn/humiliate women who have had abortions. It's not enough that this woman has had to terminate her own pregnancy, go through intense physical and emotional distress and trauma, and probably spend the rest of her life crying at random times because the memories are just that strong; (I have had the unfortunate role of confidante to friends who have had this procedure, I am not making these up.) but let's condemn her and make her want to kill herself while we're at it!

What is wrong with some people?

Not really being okay with abortions is fine, it is your personal preference and there's nothing wrong with that. But when people actively seek to condemn people who have had an abortion, and try to take away their right to do so.. That is wrong.

Who are these people to tell a woman what she can and cannot do with her body? They have no idea of the circumstance, of the financial, physical, and emotional state of the woman. They have no right to try to intimidate and scare a woman out of having an abortion if she chooses to do so, and equally no right to condemn her afterward for what she's done. No one wants to have an abortion, sometimes they are necessary.

These "religious" people who stand outside abortion clinics holding up signs, or the fanatics that bomb the clinics.. Who are they to judge, exactly? Are they without "sin", guilt, etc? No, they are not. (Especially seeing as if you bomb an abortion clinic, you're going to kill people. Where are your commandments now, hmm?)

It just makes me sick to see so many people condemning innocent women for what was probably one of the most difficult choices in her life. People need to take a step back and lose their holier-than-thou attitude.

Religion.

Everyone who has faith/religion is probably certain of one thing: No one really knows what happens after you die. No one really knows if there's going to be a white light, a tunnel, and then everlasting happiness with the God of your choosing, or if you just fade into the cosmos. Some people believe in the after-life stories of their faith strongly enough that they consider it knowledge, but truly, no one "really" knows.

I personally, have faith. I am a proud Pagan woman; but that does not get in the way of the real world. I have my spiritual beliefs, and then I have the physical world, and my beliefs in that. The ability to separate the two is what separates people with religion, and religious extremists who have lost touch with reality. I'd like to cite the Muslim religion at this point. Many followers of Muslim faith and customs are perfectly rational, functional people who live rich and fulfilling lives. But you never hear about those Muslims in the main-stream media, or anywhere else really, because all anyone wants to talk about are the Muslims who are blowing things up and assaulting people because they've drawn or shown the image of Muhammad.

Sweden - Over a picture drawn in 2007 of the Prophet Muhammad as a dog, two men aged 19 and 21 broke into an artist's house and attempted to burn the place to the ground. This is over a picture. This wasn't even the first time it had happened. The artist had received threats from other sources, including al-Qaida. He was assaulted while giving a university lecture, and was even the target in an alleged murder plot involving a woman who called herself "Jihad Jane."

Does anyone else see the insanity here? There is a thing called religion, where sensible people take comfort and value in their faith; and then there is extremism, where people lose all sensible touch with reality and ruin it for the rest of us.

Of course Muslims are not the only people to have ever taken anything too far. I'm certain that in almost every religion, some people will eventually lose touch with reality and do things that do not make sense to the rest of the world. But regardless of your faith, people need to keep touch with their reality, and stop religious extremism. There is a profound difference between having faith, and being controlled by it.

The "It" ideal.

I'm sure everyone's noticed that some people seem to be better accepted than others. Everyone knows that one friend that seems to be liked by everyone, the social butterfly that everyone loves to talk to. Often this person isn't even particularly attractive, funny, or any other attribute that could explain why people seem to flock to be around them. What they have I can simply only refer to as "It."

What is "It?" The unexplainable reason for that social butterfly that is loved by everyone. They don't even have to be a nice person, such as that one cocky guy in highschool that treated all the girls like crap, but they flock to him anyway. This person's attitude says they couldn't give a fuck if we like them or not. This could be why everyone seems to like them. They crave acceptance from someone more socially adept than themselves, and will continue to follow this person whether they receive it or not.

The possessors of "It", may not even be aware. They're just happy people with large social circles, possibly not even realizing how loved they are. They may not even be aware that so many people flock to them and strain so hard for their approval.. They just simply have many friends. There's something seductive about them, and not necessarily even sexually. They (whether purposely or not) draw you in with the things they say. They're interesting, and at the same time make you feel like they care about and are interested in you and what you have to say. This can often be bad for the person befriending the possessor; as many people will become clingy/needy toward the possessor when they stop getting the attention they crave.

The unaware possessors are my favorite kind. They're just nice people, and they love to be social and treat their friends well. The more aware possessors often seem to be more choosy over who's social affections they return, and they are often quick to cut ties with someone because they know they've got many more options in friendship. Some people call this being confidant and socially adjusted.. I call it something more.

Many people are confidant and socially adjusted. But they don't seem to have that attitude that possessors of "It" seem to have. This is not necessarily even a bad attitude, just a multitude of confidence that will win them friends and lovers for many, many years.