#cleaning ask

[flock-talk]

Are your birds trained to go to the bathroom in their cages or do they go wherever in their bird room? Also, how do you deep clean their toys and room ?

They can go anywhere in the room, it’s designed to be easy clean so it’s not really a concern if they poop all over the place in there. I just arrange the ropes/perches so there’s always a clear walkway through the room that won’t have poop on it.

Intense deep cleaning depends on the type of toy, soft woods and dyed ones that can’t be soaked get wiped with really hot water + vinegar. Ropes and hard woods get soaked in scalding water and vinegar. Both get scrubbed then left in the sun for UV sterilization. Things that don’t get chewed on like the walls and floors get soaked and scrubbed with a mrs. Meyers all purpose cleaner. Things that are Too Large to be carried up and down the stairs (the large branches mostly) get scrubbed with vinegar, the cages usually just need a wipe down but if there’s bits stuck in the cracks they’ll get taken outside and power washed prior to a wipe with mrs. Meyers cleaners. Food bowls and bathtubs get soaked in scalding water with a little dish soap.

I try to use cleaners that will kill the most bacteria (mrs.meyers) but for items that spend a lot of time in a bird’s mouth I like to err on the side of caution and use something that 100% can be ingested (vinegar). A balance between the absolute safest option and the thing that’s actually going to clean things properly. Everything gets rinsed out and dried thoroughly before being placed back in the room.

[horrorlesbians]

i want ten million trinkets but i also want my death to not be a burden for those I leave behind

[oomles]

Shrimple and Clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight

~🦐👑~

[eydilily]

your pearl is one of my favorite designs for her i’ve ever seen <3 her face shape feels so right, and i love how you draw her hair. by way of a request, have you ever drawn her as an avian?

thank you so much! pearl's design is definitely my favorite to draw :')

ive done a bit of practice with pearl and grian as avians but that was way before i started posting hc publicly! ( these ones are new :D )

also played around with an alternate version! i dont know much about birds but i saw the australian barn owl and took more inspo from them

[prettieinpink]

HOW TO GET OUT OF A READING SLUMP

Inspired by how I'm currently trying to read again. 

START SHORTER. Try to read something manageable for you, and it doesn’t have to even be a full novel. It could be an essay on something that interests you or any short stories you find. Get into the habit of reading at your own pace, till you feel ready to take on something bigger. 

SET REALISTIC GOALS. Instead of wanting a goal like completing a book within a week, I would say 20 minutes of reading per day or at least 2 hours per week. You don’t have to track the time when you’re reading, but make mental notes of when you start reading and how long you read. 

EXPLORE. You may even be tired of reading certain genres, and not notice it. While in a slump, I would explore different books and see what interests me the most. For example, if you love reading romance books, try some action ones instead(or vice versa.)

REREAD FAVES. The familiarity of some books can help us get back into the swing of reading. Every time I reread a book, I always pick up on new details that I didn’t notice before. Reread one of your favourite books and try to spot details that you didn’t spot before. 

MAKE A LIST. Create a list of all the books that you want to read or reread. I feel like the process of seeing all the books you could, really encourages you to pick up that book. 

TRY A DIFFERENT FORMAT. For a lot of us, reading paperback or hard copy is the way to go. However, when I’m in a slump, I feel like opting for a different format helps me to get back into reading. For example, a digital book, or an e-book. (or vice versa)

READ IN A DIFFERENT ENVIRONMENT. I love LOVE, reading in an actual library. It is not for everyone, but a change of scenery can help. Some ideas can be at a park, a cafe, beaches and or a nature trail. 

PAIR READING WITH ANOTHER ACTIVITY. Some examples are exercising, cooking, travelling/commuting or doing mindfulness activities. This is more for getting back into the habit, once you’ve got it again, I would say to focus only on reading. 

[forgettable-au]

FORGETTABLE-AU (Page 61-64)

* I-I don't think we were talking about the same thing...

[BEGINNING] [PREVIOUS] [CONTINUE]

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

Silly Welsh language question! How would you say "ouch" in Welsh?!

One sec, let me go and punch my husband

[chiricat]

me eat you whole

[shiny-eyed-corvid]

the contents of my trinket shelf

[zhukzucraft]

You are now Joe Hills

Joe: Howdy, y'all! This is Joe Hills, live from Double Life² SMP

Joe: I'm standing here by my lonesome 'cause most of the folks are scampering into that Great Big Hole on the horizon

Joe: Can't say I blame them

Joe: And over here we've got some mob murder happening. Oh the humanity!

Joe: Now here's a man on a mission if I've ever seen one. He sure seems to know what he's doing!

Joe: Meanwhile our fellow newbie is doing some good old tree punchin' right at spawn

Joe: Hope that's not a faux pas

Joe: With so many roads to take, how is a regular lil' guy like me supposed to decide? But decide I must, and soon

=> Joe: Follow Etho

Start Over -- Go Back

The time for suggesting the course of action is over! An update is being worked on, and the old post finish will now be hidden under a readmore

What will you do?

================================================

This is where action suggestions come in!

If you want to suggest what Joe Hills should do next, please put it in the replies! After 3 days I will collect all the suggestions and choose one or more to base the next update on!

And remember: soulmates are getting assigned soon~

[flock-talk]

hey, im curious what you use to clean the floor, other surfaces etc, in the bird room? and also if you have any suggestions for household cleaners in general that are effective but non toxic for animals to be exposed to the smells/any residue. i know you have a lot going on right now so absolutely no rush in responding. thank you -pennaraptor

The vast majority of the room gets cleaned with warm water and vinegar, individual things like bowls or monthly deep cleaning parts (soaking ropes) may get diluted gentle dish soap and extensive rinsing. You can also use steam cleaners, I’ve not personally used one.

I have heard that mrs. meyers cleaners can be bird safe depending on the scent. They’re a more “organic” style cleaner so some of their scents are sourced from essential oils which can be safe provided it’s not a toxic scent (like tea tree oil is outright toxic, lavender and citrus can be safe, etc). They’re supposed to be a bit of a more gentle “natural” cleaner. They make concentrate formulas so you can heavily dilute it in a spray bottle to make them safer. I’ll use that brand to clean the rest of my house and monthly wipe downs of bird room surfaces the birds won’t chew on (the floor, the walls) to make sure things are getting disinfected properly. To be extra safe I usually do another wipe down with water to ensure everything is rinsed off and provide ample time to air out the space before birds move back in. Although I dilute it so much the scent is usually so faint to begin with that it’s gone by the time I’m done cleaning anyways.

There isn’t a ton of concise research on cleaning chemicals with birds unfortunately so there isn’t a for sure guarantee whether something store bought will be totally safe. Vinegar/water is the most commonly used cleaner for parrots since it won’t do harm if ingested but it is not a 100% flawless cleaner so some bacteria and viruses can still survive through a cleaning with it. That’s why I’ve opted to do regular daily/weekly cleanings with vinegar and just a once or twice a month wipe down with the diluted Meyers cleaner.

[inkskinned]

love when men cry about body hair bc "it's hygiene" and yet 15% of cis men leave the bathroom without washing their hands at all and an additional 35% only just wet their hands without using soap. that is nearly half of all men. that means statistically you have probably shaken hands with or been in direct contact with one of these people.

love when men say that women "only want money" when it turns out that even in equal-earning homes, women are actually adding caregiver burdens and housework from previous years, whereas men have been expanding leisure time and hobbies. in equal-earning households, men spend an average of 3.5 hours extra in leisure time per week, which is 182 hours per year - a little over a week of paid vacation time that the other partner does not receive. kinda sounds like he wants her money.

love that men have decided women are frail and weak and annoying when we scream in surprise but it turns out it's actually women who are more reliable in an emergency because men need to be convinced to actually take action and respond to the threat. like, actually, for-real: men experience such a strong sense of pride about their pre-supposed abilities that it gets them and their families killed. they are so used to dismissing women that it literally kills them.

love it. told my father this and he said there's lies, damned lies, and statistics. a year ago i tried to get him to evacuate the house during a flash flood. he ignored me and got injured. he has told me, laughing, that he never washes his hands. he has said in the last week that women are just happier when we're cooking or cleaning.

maybe i'm overly nostalgic. but it didn't used to feel so fucking bleak. it used to feel like at least a little shameful to consider women to be sheep. it just feels like the earth is round and we are still having conversations about it being flat - except these conversations are about the most obvious forms of patriarchy. like, we know about this stuff. we've known since well before the 50's.

recently andrew tate tried to justify cheating on his partner as being the "male prerogative." i don't know what the prerogative for the rest of us would be. just sitting at home, watching the slow erosion of our humanity.

[bklily]

thinking of comedic ways of how the hell that talk is gonna go

[eydilily]

Your designs have me bounce around my house giggling, I can't stop looking at your art it's so gorgeous 😭

Could you draw Tango but with glasses? After the recent post that went around I can't stop thinking about it and I think glasses would look so good on your design? (no pressure tho) (just love your art so much)

Anyway, have a nice day ❤️

i think i got possessed for 3 hours . thanks for that

[becausegoodheroesdeservekidneys]

would love your opinion of the newest episode of DW, if you get the chance.

HAHAHAHA YES I HAVE MANY THOUGHTS

Alright okay so

I only have one complaint, which is that that wasn't a faerie ring. You could still have the shamble, no problem, but it should have been over the top of an actual faerie ring, which should be a mushroom (or, at a push, stone) circle. Not some cotton that would blow clean off the cliff edge in three minutes.

HOWEVER

This is the first time I've seen Doctor Who do a time travel story using, not Doctor Who time travel lore and rules, but Welsh faerie rules. (First time I've seen anything do it, in fact.) In Welsh myth, people who enter faerie rings or get entranced by the music become suspended in time, out of sync with the real world. They think they danced for a night, but when they return it's been 100 years, and they crumble to dust as soon as they eat/drink/step on land/etc.

In this case, this is what I think happened to Ruby. She spent that time in Annwfn, seeing what would happen if the binding on the ring was broken. When she 'dies', she returns to the spot and lasts long enough to give her younger self the warning, then crumbles to dust.

But, a time travelling Ruby is not the woman who follows her throughout the episode. That, in fact, is a gwyll.

The gwyllion were hag faeries, usually of mountain tops (though Pembrokeshire's liminal cliffs are 100% from Welsh mythology - it was said that if you found a faerie ring on one but only put one foot in, you could see the faerie islands in the sea. And that faeries used to visit the human markets in Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion. So while gwyllion are unusual there, it's not an impossible relocation.) They were malicious and sometimes vicious faeries who delighted in making people lose their way, could strike an uncontrollable and ungodly terror into travellers, and who feature in more that one myth as an old woman that someone tried to approach, but they always appeared at the same distance away, impossible to catch up.

CAN YOU SEE THE PARALLELS

And the best part!! Is that this is why she defeats UNIT!!!

Kate tells Ruby that her agents have necklaces of silver and salt to keep out the supernatural, but that's just generic fairytale shit. That doesn't work on gwyllion. Salt drawn in a line would provide a barrier, but the UNIT soldiers aren't trying to trap or block the gwyll; they're trying to capture her. What works, very specifically, is a knife. Iron or steel for preference of course, but it needs to be a knife.

But UNIT has no Welsh employees and the soldiers have guns, not knives. And so they all become entranced.

(This is also what I think the gwyll 'says' to everyone to turn them against Ruby. She doesn't say anything - she sings.)

This is also the first time I've ever encountered any mainstream media doing Welsh faeries and understanding the tone to strike, which is 'unknowable, unstoppable and fucking terrifying'. I think I've only ever read it in Catharine Fisher books, and she's a Welsh author so... yeah, obviously. But I basically vibrated with delight and excitement for the entire episode.

Oh my god, hang on, Roger ap Gwilliam! Okay, I have two theories about him.

My weaker theory and the one I don't like is the kind of boring and obvious one, which is that he is himself not human. A lot of Welsh folklore features the devil, and I get that vibe from his role in the story. But, I'm not keen, because I can't see the link to the gwyll.

But my strongest theory, and the one I have chosen to believe, is that he's a human who made a deal with the Fae for power, and then reneged. There's a Metric Fuckton of stories about humans fucking up Fae gifts in some way, and the punishment is usually something ironic but always results in the loss of the gift. It could be a faerie harp that makes everyone dance, and the Fae tell the giftee not to abuse it, but they cruelly force everyone to dance so long and so hard that the faerie returns, takes back the harp, and then takes the human's ability to ever make music again, so example (by taking fingers or eyes or tongues as well, often.)

So I think Mad Jack strikes a bargain for power - but, then tries to abuse that power (nuclear war). But part of the bargain is that the Fae cannot approach him directly ever again. In the real world, they therefore tempt him into the faerie ring and bind his soul there, problem solved - until the Doctor accidentally lets him out, and gets his own soul stuck. Ruby, therefore, becomes the instrument through which they manage to take that power away once again - and then, her final Fae gift for her service is that they use the temporal anomaly of the faerie ring to send her back, at the end of her life, and give her a second chance. This time, with Mad Jack's soul left bound in Annwfn.

The fun part is, RTD is a writer who understands the power of not explaining everything and leaving some things up to the viewer's imagination, so none of this is ever going to be explained lol. But yeah, that is a gwyll. The moment she appeared, I said out loud "Oh holy fuck, gwyllion." That was a gwyll.

As a final observation, I loved seeing Siân Phillips, and I choose to believe they filmed those scenes in a pub because they could only get Siân if they agreed to just come to her local. The woman is a queen.

[kingkatsuki]

Imagine Dynamight going to a school to be interviewed by the little children there, sitting down in one of the chairs in their classroom that is far too small for his hulking form but he sits down in it without complaint as the kids sit down in front of him with crossed legs.

And he loves it, because they have no filter— just like him, and they end up asking him the most blunt questions without hesitation. And some of the questions he’d never usually answer if they were coming from broadcasters or reporters, but he can’t lie to these kids so he keeps responding openly and honestly.

Even when one of the little girls asks “Mister Dynamight, do you have a girlfriend?”

It’s a rumour that’s been circulating for months as the media try to work out who the mysterious woman is in his life (if there even is one!) and it’s confirmed immediately when Bakugou answers with a, “Yeah, I do.”

And as his PR manager is having a meltdown in the corner, Bakugou’s grin is wide when the little boys in the room sound out a simultaneous chorus of “ewwwwwww”