Roads to Safe Places

Stress resulted in this this week:

Crocky and I went to a local insect exhibition today. It was at a tiny community centre around the corner and the poster had promised all manners of exciting large exotic creatures and they charged a rather hefty entrance fee. However, we soon realised in the first room that it was two small and rather dingy rooms and most of the all insect exhibits and also most others were pinned, some already very old and discoloured, and therefore not all that exciting - even though the organisers had clearly attempted to make them look more interesting by arranging them in terrariums. 

The second room was a very pleasant surprise because the organisers had brought their pet reptiles, spiders and myriapods and were showing them to visitors. Espeially the boas and the tortoise petting zoo were a big hit, though was a bit worried for the tortoises in particular. But the owners always watched out for their animals, and especially the teen handling the snakes and spiders seemed to know what he was doing and always made sure that the visitors treated his charges with respect, so I suppose they were fine.  



( Spiders, insects, myriapods, and snakes. )

I want giant millipedes as pets. Crocky favours the boa we met today, but I think that these tiny plant-detritus eating creatures that don't grow to a length of 6m and don't live on live piglets are infinitely preferable. 

Turns out that there are two great spotted woodpeckers!

Usually, I've only ever seen this little guy: 



And I always get really excited whenI see him, and even more when I see both of them: 



♥

( More woodpecker )

Hello there, geese, welcome back.

Was the trip really worth the effort, though? You were only gone for two months this time.

Let's have some ducklings!

Let me preface this by saying: Don't feed ducks bread. It's unhealthy for them as well as the lake (if you are hell-bent on feeding them, and ducks looking as cute as they do and these birds being tame, anyway I can understand that, either use feeding pellets, or stuff like grapes or peas). The ducks on the Maschsee in Hannover are being fed by the students from the school across the street as well as the scores of visitors to the lake that come every day and they're so used to humans they're practically tame, more so than any other inner city birds I've ever seen. They'll even take food directly from people's hands.

And now on to the mallards and their offspring.



( Many many ducks and ducklings... )

Day 01 → Your favourite song
Day 02 → Your favourite movie
Day 03 → Your favourite television program
Day 04 → Your favourite book
Day 05 → Your favourite quote
Day 06 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 07 → A photo that makes you happy



Our pets. ♥
I've grown up with our dogs and our zoo, and the time I've been living with Crocky is the longest time I've been without pets. I miss living with animals, and I get sad whenever I think of all the poor animals at the shelter. I wanted to volunteer at the local shelter so I could help making their lives better, but volunteering is not as easy as I thought it would be - they don't seem to take volunteers who help out with the pets, apparently, and since I'm broke I'd rather donate time and walk the dogs or pet the cats than money.

Day 08 → A photo that makes you angry/sad
Day 09 → A photo you took
Day 10 → A photo of you taken over ten years ago
Day 11 → A photo of you taken recently
Day 12 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 13 → A fictional book
Day 14 → A non-fictional book
Day 15 → A fanfic
Day 16 → A song that makes you cry (or nearly)
Day 17 → An art piece (painting, drawing, sculpture, etc.)
Day 18 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 19 → A talent of yours
Day 20 → A hobbie of yours
Day 21 → A recipe
Day 22 → A website
Day 23 → A YouTube video
Day 24 → Whatever tickles your fancy
Day 25 → Your day, in great detail
Day 26 → Your week, in great detail
Day 27 → This month, in great detail
Day 28 → This year, in great detail
Day 29 → Hopes, dreams and plans for the next 365 days
Day 30 → Whatever tickles your fancy

We left Hamburg in the early hours of the morning for our excursion to the Merfelder Bruch, home of the last remaining herd of wild ponies in Germany. While other herds did not survive because their feeding grounds became scarce as cultivation increased, the local Herzogs protected a part of the horse's habitat and the herd, which has been living in the area since the thirteenth century.

In contrast to other herds of wild horses these are all female, for there is not enough room to accommodate a herd with both males and females. The colts are caught once a year, some of them are sold and tamed, only two stallions returned and the rest of the colts that are not sold sent to live in a separate area. To prevent inbreeding there have been projects in the past decades to exchange colts with similar herds of wild ponies in Poland.

We heard to rather interesting talks on the horses, the area and projects to support them, and were lucky enough to have the horses really close by, up to five meters from us, feeding and dozing.



( Dülmener Wildpferde (15) )

Something nice for a change: I usually only whine about this city, but finally, I found something that I love about this city: it has may bugs!!
Yay, may bugs!


I saw the first ones today on my way to my appointment with my GP and rescued two from the street and put them back between some shrubs in the park. I hope they don't get stepped on.

I love, love, love these beetles, and I am not sure whether I should be glad that I don't live in a time in which they are so numerous that they they threaten our harvests or sad that they are so rare that when I saw one of them today I stopped and watched it until it has waggled out of sight, trying to remember when I've last seen one - which was back in the late nineties, and even back then my mother called me to show it to me because it was such a rare sight.

Also, I found 'Es gibt keine Maikäfer mehr'  on YouTube - ah, childhood memories - and pest control wank in the comments. Seriously, Reinhard Mey fans, I would have thought you were above that. o_O.

One of my Christmas presents was a macro lense. I tried it out on various items in our flat today, like a critter I caught in the tub and Crocky's flowers.

Surprise thermobia is surprising:



The species of the bug above, firebrats or Ofenfischchen, is over three hundred fifty million years old, though it is difficult to date these exactly from what I've read. Fossils are found from as early as the late Devonian and the early Carboniferous period. They lived in the hot equatorial regions on which tree ferns and 15m relatives of today's horsetail evolved and spread, forests which would become our coal deposits. Their species evolved before winged insects had, their order is thought to be the link between winged insects and their wingless ancestors. They retain their flexible abdomen in contrast to many other insect species which helps them to move quickly, and their long feelers and bristles function as an early-warning system. They can live up to four years and live in warm areas, feeding on lichen, algae, and anything else organic that they can obtain.

Unless, of course, you are a creationist, in which case ignore the above: these were specifically created by the Lord to live under our floorboards.

( 'You think you can catch me? Kiss my cerci!' (4) )

Scary flower face is scary:



( Yay, gerbera! (7) )

Yeah. Back to work.

I may not be able to post any entry longer than three lines at the moment, but maybe I can post pictures?

My amazing cat:

Hagenbeck's 100 this year. Hagenbeck is the illustrious zoo in Hamburg. It's too expensive to EVER go there, sadly. But I still love it. Although it was not even IN Hamburg when it was founded (but in Stellingen), it is today one of the most famous places in this city and definitely worth the visit.

It is one of the first zoos in Germany whose owners cared about proper animal care, and while I don't really agree with the existence of zoos in general, I am happy that there were and are people who want to ensure that animals in captivity have a better life.

Oh, this is just great. Five years, and then they'll probably be extinct due to deforestation thanks to the palm oil industry, of all things!

The paradox was brought to world attention by Friends of the Earth, whose ongoing campaign for producers, manufacturers and retailers to commit to sustainable palm oil was recognised at last week's Observer Food Monthly awards with the honour for best ethical contribution to the industry.

The UN's environment programme report, 'The Last Stand of the Orang Utan: State of Emergency', says natural rainforests of Indonesia and Malaysia are being cleared so rapidly that up to 98 per cent may be destroyed by 2022, and the lowland forest strongholds of orang utans much sooner, unless urgent action is taken. This is a full decade earlier than the previous report estimated when it was published five years ago. Overall the loss of orang utan habitat is happening 30 per cent more rapidly than had previously been thought."

Awesome.

I miss my girlfriend. Oh she is here, physically. She is busy organising stuff for various online affairs, and somehow I do not want to tell her to go offline and talk to me, because she seems to be having so much fun.

Fine, back to editing pictures it is. *sticks out tongue* Lots of them. Here goes -things which have been Done Before. 

Organising those sites is bound to be over at some point. ^^


 

( More Pictures. )
Something exiting happened today. I'm living in the basement, so the windows are overgrown, green affairs because there are plants in front of them. Well, they are better than any curtain and my father,who occupies my cellar normally, likes them there, so plants it is. Today, there was suddenly a rustling noise outside and I saw that it was a frog!! Sitting directly in front of the window!!



I tried to get Crocky interested in it, but she was too busy. It's pretty, isn't it? And more colourful than I would have thought. I was excited like a small child when I saw it and even climbed onto the desk and opened the window to get a closer look. Whee! A frog! ... or a toad? Will have to look that up.

Ah, well. Back to bed, and more cleaning and tidying and Latin stems tomorrow.

*hugs* to all.