#i want to be able to tame chickens and cows and sheep and such

[elflikesfrogs]

you should be able to be friends with every single mob in minecraft. no more violence i want to have buddies that follow me around and love me

[yatgb]

Reasons why Dream should be given a Prison Pet /rp

There's a plethora of passive mobs that can't turn hostile, so he can't sic his pet on anyone and endanger them. These include:

Parrots- small, easy to keep away from danger by being told to sit either on the ground or his shoulder. He can choose what color he wants to feel like he still has his freedom of choice

Cats- also small and can be told to sit to keep them away from the lava wall. He could also pick what color he wants, giving him independence and choice

Fish- these ALSO come in very many colors and shapes he can choose from. It'd need a tank, but he likely wouldn't be able to use the water to get out since it'll just make cobblestone he can't break.

Bees- can be tethered to the back wall with a leash to prevent it from flying into the lava. They can set up a system where he can gather honey for himself to drink/eat so he doesn't have to constantly wait on Sam to feed him

Foxes- a little tricky to breed, but if this one works he can have fun with giving it different things to hold. Also can keep this one tethered to the back wall to keep it away from the lava.

Any of the livestock mobs (cows, pigs, sheep, chickens, mooshrooms, etc)- these might take up a bit of space but they can also provide good company and a possible food source depending on what he picks (mooshrooms give stew, cows give milk, chickens get eggs which he can probably spawn more chickens with and have more than one pet if Sam allows him to)

horses/donkeys/mules- these can also get big and it might make his cell a bit cramped. Of course this can be fixed by either modifying the mob's data to keep it a baby or expand his cell. This is another one he can choose a color for, and he can ride it for a bit of entertainment.

He should be able to tame it himself (if it can be tamed such as if he's given a horse, a parrot or a cat) so it's actually His. He should also get to name it, because if you name something you can get more easily attached to it.

It gives him an attachment, shows him that attachments are okay to have

It also gives him responsibility, if he can take care of the pet then he might start taking care of himself

He needs something to keep him company when he isn't being visited

There have been like 2 wars over pets on this server because people care about them so much. If Dream can care about a pet then we might see a positive change in attitude and set him on the road to recovery

I really hope the prison situation changes. Dream is a terrible person who did terrible things; im not condoning his past actions and I fully realize that Dream was willing to keep Tommy (and whoever the prison was initially meant for) in those conditions. However, this doesn't change the fact that Dream, too, is human and doesn't deserve to live in those conditions. In fact, his condition in the prison is likely going to change nothing at all, and if he does change he's going to get worse.

A pet would be a great first step towards recovery and reform. If he rejects the pet, then he should still be allowed counseling and therapy to help him solve his problems rather than let him wallow in self-destructive tendencies.

[rejectclone]

Even though I’ve never played Minecraft EVER in my life, since Steve got in smash I tried learning some general stuff about the series on the wiki and apparently there’s no ‘real’ lore to him??? I tried making some headcanons at least since I genuinely like the character potential he has!

* Steve seemed to originate out of virtually nowhere, just being spotted by some villagers one day and he seemed to just set up camp nearby, soon making a small house of his own.

* He is mute, but is still capable of writing in English and communicating with ASL. Unfortunately for him, villagers and other sentient humanoid species do not comprehend his hand gestures, and thinks he’s just messing around with them, much to his dismay.

* As for how he learned how to write and use ASL, he oddly doesn’t seem to remember. He assumes he learned it from his parents, and yet he doesn’t even remember their own faces.

* He claims that he is a orphan, as most of his childhood memories seem to be in a haze, and his stronger memories seem to exist from his mid-teenage years as he was already living off the land on his own.

* He is gifted in both mining and construction, and likes to dabble in alchemy. However he is still a rookie at it, and has accidentally ruined many important items by trying to place enchantments upon them.

* He doesn’t really have that many hobbies, as he’s always focused on maintaining his home, crops, animals, and safety, which is a constant 24/7 endeavor. Later on after exploring more villages and learning new lifestyle related information, he has taken up reading as a small hobby. This is where he first learned of preforming alchemy, as he once thought it was impossible to learn if you weren’t ‘gifted’ with it.

* He has seen his fair share of mobs, but the ones that seem to ALWAYS rock him to his core are oddly enough, the zombies. He claims that every time he even glances at one, he feels extreme discomfort. Perhaps it has to deal with most zombies originating of supposed human origin, and their uncanny valley-ness getting to his mind.

* Zombies honestly may be the closet thing to ‘other human beings’ in the area, as Steve seems to be the odd one out in terms of species. Villagers, Illagers, Endermen, and other sorts are in abundance, but not his own kind. He tries to not let this go to his head, but there has been plenty of nights of him suffering from touch-deficiency and total isolation.

* Even though he may be seen as a outsider to many, nobody can deny how much of a optimist he is. Constantly beaming with joy and always willing to help, he has become well known for being one of the most incredibly helpful people out there.

* However it is quite rare in which he comes off as incredibly stoic and even morose. When like this, the metaphysical aura he gives off is immediately powerful and extremely unsettling, to the point some usually hyper aggressive hostile mobs seem to notice this and actually leave him alone.

* Genuinely did not know WHAT a cake was. Learned about it and tried it for the first time from a farmer villager, and has been completely enamored since. Has developed a bit of a sweet tooth from consuming too much after learning about it, and now tries to eat cake moderately. He also enjoys pumpkin pie, but only during the fall months since it feels ‘more cozy feeling’. Ironically not a huge fan of cookies, and prefers the chocolate in them to be used in cakes.

* His favorite mobs to interact with are most of his own livestock! He owns pigs, cows, sheep, donkeys, and even a rabbit! However, chickens might be his top favorite, and thankfully he doesn’t really eat them and instead just takes advantage of their eggs and how fun and enjoyable it is to maintain them. Later on as he saw parrots for the first time in person, he has been in absolute love with them!

* Even though he does keep and maintain livestock, he is petrified by the concept of keeping a permanent house pet. He has actually tamed some wolves and cats in the past, but has endured too much heartbreak when they are accidentally killed when trying to defend him when undead mobs attack near their home. He always breaks down when burying their remains.

* He does own a horse, but is wary of using it since the last thing he wants to do is accidentally overstrain it and cause it any harm. He still cannot bear to see any more animals under his care go through any pain for him.

* He keeps a small beehive near his house, as he enjoys how their pollination leads to some beautiful flowers sprouting up around his home. He sometimes harvests their honey, but has been stung so many times that he’s not really willing to harvest honeycombs again. It took him quite some time to realize that he needed to use a campfire to calm the bees down, as before he just literally shoved his arm in the hive to get honeycombs.

* He will sometimes try to add new flowers that he discovers from his travels to his home’s makeshift garden, but eventually he really started to put more effort in having a visually pleasing garden and not just having a mess of various plants and flowers.

* Kinda thinks Creepers are cute, but is equally scared of their odd ability to explode violently. He has tried many times to tame them but always inadvertently scares them, soon prompting their unfortunate demise. He still has hope for possibly meeting a non-exploding Creeper one day, but will still keep his distance out of fear.

* He is a good swimmer, capable to dive to considerable depths, but refuses to go down to the deeper parts of the ocean such as the surface floor. Mainly out of concern from accidentally drowning by not being able to make it to the water’s surface in time, and also his distaste for looking at the Drowned as they also give him that ‘off’ feeling.

* He doesn’t mind crafting potions when needed, but feels like most of the time they’re quite unnecessary as they mainly take away the trill and inherent danger of exploring. He will cave in however and will use the Potion of Water Breathing and the Potion of Fire Resistance when he knows he’s heading into some riskier areas.

* As for how Steve met Alex, it was quite sudden actually. He was just out exploring when he saw them hunting in the distance, stalking some Skeletons. He assumed at first it was just some brave Villager, but soon noticed how their physical proportions seem to mirror his. After realizing that they ARE human, he was too shy and terrified to actually go up to them and introduce himself. What if they thought he was a creepy stalker? Or a Pillager?! It seems to be fate however when Alex was soon cornered and he threw himself into the fray to help. After the fight, the two awkwardly interacted, as Alex does speak English but didn’t realize that Steve was mute. Since then the two have interacted more and more, showing to each other their homes and various bases, along with trading goods and their own life stories to pass the time together. He does hold some romantic feelings for Alex, but holds it inside of him as he fears that expressing his love would inadvertently scare them away.

* His body is wracked with scars, all from various accidents and misadventures. Strangely however, he does have some scars that would only be created from fatal wounds, such as a arrow entry-wound scar directly over where his heart should be, or odd deep bite wounds around his neck. Steve always seems to shrug these scars off and claim that they’re usually from falling debris when mining, but it seems unlikely.

* He claims that he tends to suffer from randomly occurring nightmares, all ending in brutal deaths such as being burned alive in lava or being ripped to shreds by zombies. If you were to ask what happened before these events, he will explain that it feels ‘just like any other day’ before the death happens. He is completely oblivious to the fact that after each nightmare, a new scar seems to appear on his body.

* Sometime after Steve ‘moved in’ to the area, there has been some strange rumors of another human, a unusually hostile human..... Some Villagers claim it is a near splitting image of Steve, but they refuse to believe it’s him. After all, why would he become so....... brutal..... The few that managed to observe this human usually claim that his body is usually drenched in his own gore from being mauled, charred beyond belief, riddled with arrows and weapons still lodged in their flesh, or even fully drenched in seawater with them perpetually vomiting it and blood out. Others claim that this human has no pupils or iris, just a unsettling white void that almost appears ethereal-like.

* When addressing Steve about this odd human lurking around in this area, he is actually quite curious yet afraid about it. He met Alex by chance, as they’re more of a free roaming explorer, so perhaps this new human is akin to Alex’s more extreme traveling lifestyle? He does agree however on their reported violent behavior to be..... deeply unsettling....... setting Illagers on fire to only chop up their corpses in the end, disfiguring and torturing Witches with their own potions, purposely corralling Creepers together to cause a horrible chain reaction to occur that deeply scars the ground, drowning Endermen and proceeding to gouge out their eyes after the deed has been done......... certainly dark actions for a twisted individual. Steve thinks they might be observing him, as he has found trails of blood and other various fluids leading up to his house’s door every few days. He can only hope that if they were to meet one fateful day, he would be spared.

[blackcatfromthevoid]

Things I wanna see in minecraft

Penguins! They'll just be waddling around in all the cold biomes but mainly glaciers and tundra. They'll also have an animation of them sliding on their belly and swimming thru the water catching fish. You could give them cod or salmon to breed them. It'd be cool to tame them too. Their item drops on death would mainly be ice, cod, and a feather.

Sharks! Instead of them being a hostile mob they're neutral. They'll usually swim lower in the water and if you throw your unwanted items away they'll eat it. Dolphins become hostile towards the sharks and often fight them. Also you could give sharks some fish (cod or salmon) or a bone and befriend or breed them. On death they drop mainly bones, bone meal, and string.

Seals! They live in the cold biomes just like penguins and are usually hostile to them. They are also a neutral mob. You can give them cod to breed them. On death they mainly drop leather and perhaps a new item their blubber.

Raccoons! They usually live in the forest biomes like forest, birch forest, dark oak woods, etc. They usually roam around and runs away from you like the fox mob. Also if you drop anything valuable or food items they'll steal it from you (they especially like stealing diamonds and cookies). They can be fed any food item (except pufferfish) however to breed them you use sweet berries. A possible new food item grapes can be used to tame them. On death if they have stolen something from you they'll drop said item. If they didn't steal anything they'll mainly drop sweet berries.

Frogs and Toads! Colorful Poisonous frogs that live in the jungles and bumpy toads that chill in the swamps. If you get too close to the Poisonous frog you take slight damage like walking into a cactus. If you eat them it has the same effect as pufferfish. Their poison can be use to put on arrows. A possible new weapon their poison could be used for are darts. On death they drop slime blocks and new items their poison gland and frog legs. For toads, they can be found in swamps usually chilling on lily pads. There is a chance for a poisonous toad to spawn which will act similar to the poisonous frog however the poison isn't as potent. On death they'll drop slime blocks and frog legs. There is also a chance to get a new item the toads eye.

Dogs! We have tamed wolves but not dogs. I want the dogs to be the same as cats where there's different breeds that will spawn in villages along with the cats. Some dog breeds I wanna see: German Sheppard, Shiba Inu, Corgi, Golden Retriever, Pitbull (these are all I can think of for now). Also dogs will be able to help you herd cows, sheep, pigs, horses, etc, into your stable areas or barn.

Update for cats! I want some new breeds like Persian, Siamese, Sphinx, Norwegian Forest Cat, etc. Also they actively scare away creepers and sometimes attacks them too. Also if your cat really likes you they'll occasionally give you a gift witch could range from flowers, feathers, or raw chicken. Tamed or untamed cats will hunt chickens.

Tigers! Usually an aggressive mob and will hunt food mobs like sheep, pigs, chicken, cows, fish, etc. They live in the jungles or any biome with a tropical climate. When they're not hunting they love to play in any nearby water. The tiger mob attacks the player under certain occasions, if the player gets too close to one with cubs, if the player attacks the tiger, or if the tiger is extremely hungry. If the player attacks the tiger for some reason and manages to get away before dying then the tiger will stalk the player until it finishes the job. To breed tigers give them chicken. Its possible to befriend tigers too, just keep them fed. On death they drop string and chicken or fish.

Alicorns! They're an extremely rare encounter however if you see them they'll give you pretty positive status effects like: strength, speed, haste, jump boost, fortune, etc. Alicorns are neutral mobs too. If you attack them it'll turn into a boss. They'll strike you with lightning, charge at you (from sky and land), and try to trample you. They have high health like the ender dragon and drop just as much XP. Items they can drop are feathers, new items they can drop are their horn. There's a possible way to tame them to however it's a long and expensive process. If you do tame them then you can ride them instead of using an elytra.

Imps! They're only in the Nether and are always aggressive. When they attack you they usually have a mocking sounding laugh. They fly around and if its 1 imp then they'll shot arrows at you. If its multiple then they'll sometimes pick the player up and drop them at a random place. Usually they'll do an attack similar to the phantom. If you attack them they'll run away from you long enough for the player to stop but comes back to attack again. They're about the size of bats so hitting them is hard however they don't have a lot of health. On death they'll drop a magma block, a bow, glowing arrows. They have a small chance to drop a blaze rod too.

[magnoliaestonefyre]

Hate at First Sight

“Baby, I dunno as it’s the best idea to bring Buttons.” Ember gazed at her oldest daughter, the large yellow snake already draped around her shoulders in a manner that was quite familiar to everyone in their family, but probably wouldn’t be to some of the others attending the party they were going to. If it had simply just been direct relations, the story would be a great deal different, but the fact of the matter was, Buttons wasn’t exactly your every day pet. Ever since Maggie had gotten her at the age of eight though, she and that snake had been glued together, never seeming to part for even a moment, even when the redhead was in the bathroom. It was as if they were two halves of the same whole and it had been difficult even sending the child to school for the first time without Buttons. That had lasted three days. Three days of tearful phone calls later and Anne had apparated before marching right up to the school with Buttons in order to speak face-to-face with the Headmistress. Ember still didn’t know what her wife had said in order to get an exception made on the exotic pet, but when it came to their children, Anne had no patience for tomfoolery, especially when it came to their animals. Having grown up on a farm, Anne was much more in tune with the delicate connections between human and creature than Ember was, who had been willing to maybe see if Maggie could make it perhaps just a little longer without her snake. She hated hearing the pain in her darling girl’s voice, but had accepted that it was something she just needed a little more time on to get used to, as all children do when leaving home for the first time. David had cried during his first week away at school, as had Danny, though he’d never admit it, and god forbid poor Ophelia. She had been so distraught on the train platform that the boys had to literally peel her off her father to get her boarded, but even she had grown used to school and been just fine in the end. Ember was fairly certain she had cried more than either of the boys, missing her sons in the house and having been overly elated to have them home when winter break had finally arrived after what felt like an incredibly long few months. It had been just as hard with Maggie.

“But Mam, Mum said I could.” Maggie frowned, stroking at Buttons’ head gently. The creature hung down over her shoulders, but had lifted up to rest her chin on top of Maggie’s red mane. It was much more well kept than Ember’s ever had been, despite being the same color. Maggie was much more subdued than either of her mothers, a gentle soul who enjoyed being out doors in the garden and spending copious amounts of time with the various animals they kept. Their ‘farm’ was smaller than the one Anne had grown up on, boasting a single cow, three goats, an adorable pig, a whole flock of chickens, two horses, two sheep, and a an old donkey. This wasn’t including their dog, George, or the countless number of cats that seemed to find their way into the house next door or took up refuge in the barn depending on their preferences, and of course, Ophelia’s fox who was still as rambunctious as ever. Maggie also had several other smaller creatures kept in tanks in the bedroom she shared with her younger sister, Violette. There was a tortoise, a couple of small lizards, and of course, Buttons. She had always been more taken with reptiles than anything else for some reason, enjoying their company the most despite them not being fuzzy. Not that you’d ever be able to tell by looking at her.

Maggie, or Magnolia Elizabeth, as she had been named at birth, had always been much more… girly, than either of her mothers could have imagined her being. She had been dead set on always wearing pretty things since she was little. Dresses with ruffles and lacy frills, shiny boots and shoes, tights and hair ribbons. Her grandmother had been over the moon when she realized she finally had someone who would actually wear all the old dresses she had tried to put on Ember when she’d been small. Of course, Meghan had also put them on her other granddaughters, but Cordelia had revolted and Ophelia had always wanted to wear the pink, pink, and pink ones, leaving the blues and greens behind. But Maggie, that darling girl, would play dress up to the point of several outfit changes a day. Even now, at fourteen, the girl had chosen a white frock embroidered with colorful flowers and short lace sleeves. Her long red hair hung down her back in perfectly done up curls, pinned back from her face with several sparkling barrettes. A straw hat was clasped in one hand, the ribbon around it white lace today to match, the shoes on her feet chunky sandals with two-inch heels which was as high as her mothers would allow Maggie to wear at her age. She had already surpassed Anne in height and would probably do the same to Ember if she kept growing at the current rate she was going. Meghan was decently tall and David had been as well, so it wasn’t particularly surprising.

“She did, did she?” Ember sighed, rubbing at her temples a bit. Of course Anne would think it was perfectly alright to bring an eight-foot snake along to a party. Anne had no sense of what was and wasn’t acceptable as far as animals were concerned, nor the idea that certain creatures might possibly make some people rather uncomfortable. Ember understood how she and Maggie felt, but at the same time… “Baby, Mum lets Tits sleep in bed with us sometimes, she’s not exactly-”

“What’s wrong with Tits sleeping in bed?” Maggie asked, tilting her head to one side, not really able to see the issue as to why a cow shouldn’t be allowed in the house for snuggles. Mrs. Milkietits was one of the sweetest creatures on their small farm and Maggie loved her dearly to the point where if her bed had been big enough she would have gladly shared with her. Unfortunately, when one only has a twin sized bed and a large snake that insists on sleeping with you, it was a bit difficult to add any other potential guests. Even George had to wiggle his way in now that Buttons had grown to nearly her full anticipated length. Maggie had told just one little fib when she’d been young, a promise that Buttons ‘won’t get that much bigger’ despite definitely knowing better by that point. At eight she had been hell bent on getting a big, big, big snake, but at the time, Buttons had merely been about two feet long. Surely an easy enough pet so long as she was taken care of properly. When she’d hit about four feet long, Ember had asked Maggie again, how long her snake was getting and this time, her daughter had told the truth. Potentially nine feet, but at least Buttons was a nice snake. “Violette gets to sleep in the house every night and she’s not nearly as well behaved as Tits.”

“Am too!” Violette shouted, racing into the room wearing nothing but her bathing suit, her strawberry blonde locks a mess that looked as if it had once been tamed but disrupted shortly afterwards. At nine, Violette had settled a little bit from when she’d been smaller, but definitely not by much. She was still wild and untameable but had become more aware that her actions did, in fact, tend to have consequences occasionally. Not completely, of course, but enough that she sometimes, on occasion, did think before she did something.

“Where are your shorts?”

“Shorts are overrated!” Violette shouted, booking it out the back sliding door of the kitchen and into the yard. Maggie shook her head, laughing at her sister’s antics. Violette never wanted to wear clothes that restricted any kind of movement. She would spend her entire day in bathing suits or leotards during the warmer months, occasionally topping them off with tutus or sports shorts. When they had been a bit younger, Maggie and Violette had preferred always dressing completely alike, matching outfits and hairdos. That had changed a good bit once Maggie had started Hogwarts and Violette was left to her own devices. Now they didn’t tend to match unless they were doing some kind of family photo or it was Christmas time.

“Violette Eveleen, you need to put on some actual clothing before our guests get here.” Ember called out the door before turning her attention back to her much more tame daughter. She sighed, eyeing the snake. “Alright, but keep your eye on her and if she scares anyone, bring her back up to the house.”

“Got it.” Maggie beamed, glad to have been given total permission on her snake. She turned her head, kissing at the scaly beast’s belly as her mam took off after Violette, not as fast as she usually was. snatching dry clothes off the laundry line as she went. Maggie watched them for a moment before putting her hat on and heading outside to try and help wrangle her sister. Her mother wasn’t supposed to be running about like she was used to, her slowly growing stomach already hanging out from underneath one of her normal tank tops, the sports shorts she wore hanging on for dear life on her hips. One more baby, her mother had said. Just one more now that Mammy was cured of her lycanthropy, one of the first of her kind to have ever been given such a gift. It had been a startling, wonderful thing the first night their Great Uncle Alphie hadn’t turned, and then, when Mam hadn’t done so the next month. Mummy had finally done it and soon the cure had been administered to Grampa and then Uncle Max and his son, taking away the painful transformations that had plagued them all for so many years. Maggie, personally, was excited to have a new little sibling despite knowing she would probably be away at school when they were born. She was hoping they wouldn’t be nearly as wild as Violette was though.

After letting Buttons down onto the grass, Maggie was able to grab her sister just as she made a corner around the large swing set they had all spent so many hours playing on throughout the years. Uncle Coal had built it before Maggie had even been thought of and it held up beautifully, but it also gave Violette plenty of places to try and escape. She howled as a Maggie lifted her into the air and Ember shoved shorts up her legs, buttoning them in place despite her daughter’s displeasure. Usually, there wouldn’t be any kind of issue with Violette scampering about in just her bathing suit, but today was special and they were having over actual people they didn’t know super well. At least, some of them. Maggie was quite familiar with Addie, her cousin Gulliver’s girlfriend who had been visiting for years at this point, but she hadn’t ever met the older girl’s family properly before. They were coming, along with some other members of the Weasley clan, for a good bye party for the pair. Gully and Adelaide were to be leaving tomorrow afternoon, heading out on a great adventure to the other side of the world to attend a magical performing arts university in New York. Maggie was pretty certain her Auntie Eveleen had been crying over it already despite the fact that she had four other children to look after still. Well, two once Hogwarts started back up next week, there would be more tears when Madeline boarded the train for the very first time this year.

With Violette dressed and her snake back on her shoulders, Maggie took her little sister’s hand and they headed through the gate into their grandmother’s back yard and then, over to the long path that would take them to the large field through the woods. It was where they did all of their celebrations and where the kids liked to play a lot when they were old enough to be out of sight for longer periods of time. In the summer it was perfect, with the pond for swimming, the beachy bit lovely for building sandcastles, picnic tables for food, and a large area where they would, on occasion, build a bonfire full of many wonderful colors.

 Maggie released Violette when they reached the field, letting her sister run off to join Tennyson and Sawyer who were already sword fighting with a pair of sticks on the playground. With a sigh, Maggie headed for the lake, toeing off her sandals when she reached the shoreline. She slipped her woven bag off her shoulder and tugged out her towel, placing it down on a softer portion of grass for Buttons to sit on while Maggie flopped down beside her, pulling out a book to read for a while. Behind her, family members were already finishing up tying balloons down to the tables and setting out food platters. The door to the storage shed nearby creaked and Maggie looked up, but it was only her brother Danny carrying some floats, his cheeks red from the sun… or from the brunette trailing along after him, her own face pink as she looked down at her feet. Maggie giggled but didn’t say a word as she returned to her book for the time being.

[the-writing-kitten]

I’m going to start doing some more world building, based off of this post, but bit by bit. This is for my Stonebreaker series, which I am currently doing a 30 day novel development challenge for also.

NATURAL WORLD

What is the geology/geography of your setting?

It takes place in a single corner of a fantasy/almost sci-fi world. Think northern Europe mixed with Old London mixed with almost-middle earth. It’s misty and gloomy with a lot of hidden sunshine. Right along the ocean on three sides, with rolling green pastures to the north and east.

What are the natural resources that result? Do they have precious metals? Rich soil for agriculture?

They rely mostly on fishing (they provide up to 65% of the entire world’s ocean goods), but they have a fair bit of livestock (sheep, goats, cows, horses, and chickens) and some farming of dryer goods (wheat, corn, rice, barley, and potatoes). They have good places for fermenting wine (from imported grapes), most beers, whiskey, and some ciders (from imported apples). There are few metal/mineral reserves, but there are some stocks in the northeast areas, and there are abundant, albeit few, oil reserves.

Are there natural geological borders (mountains, rivers, etc.) between your civilization and their neighbors or are borders hotly contested?

With the recent war, boarders are very strict and harshly protected by each country, though since each neighboring kingdom has their own walls and strongholds, the small space between these are often fought over. Most of these boarders are man-made, but some are drawn by rivers, which would then be considered “neutral ground” (though rivers here are too violent to do much with).

Have geological features impacted culture, religion, superstitions, traditions, attitudes, etc.?

With this area relying so much on their bodies of water that provide them with fish and good trading routes/ports, holiday and religious traditions revolve much around seafood and water. They have superstitions strong connected with water (rain, certain kinds of waves, certain kinds of fish), but also a lot of superstitions with foreign plants and animals (desert life, birds).

Are there major climatological variances, or is it fairly consistent?

It’s fairly consistent; dark, cold, misty, rainy. In the summer it becomes much more humid (because of the moisture in the air), and it can even snow in winter (especially in the more northern areas). The eastern regions stay humid for longer in the year.

Are there storms or other disaster events that your civilization contends with? How have they adapted?

Hurricanes and tsunamis are the most of an issue, but even those are not too big. Thunderstorms happen throughout the summer.

Has the climate changed over time? What impact has this had on the civilization’s evolution and history?

The climate has almost always been this way. The biggest change over time has been that’s gotten warmer during the summer, and for longer. But it’s still always been cold, misty, and rainy.

How are the seasons? How long do they last? How about day & night?

Spring extends from late March through the end of June. It rains much more around this time than usual, and it becomes a bit warmer. Temperatures can get down to mid 50s in the morning and night, and up to the upper 70s during the day. Summer picks up at July and ends promptly early September. This is the warmest time of the year, being anywhere from lower 50s to lower 80s, and it becomes very humid. Autumn goes strong from Septermber until mid December. It begins to cool off again, with temperatures between upper 40s and lower 60s. The humility subsides, but it still does not rain much. Finally, winter comes at the end of December and goes through early March. It can snow in the north or some parts of the east, but mostly it just rains more than in autumn, becomes more foggy than misty. Temperatures can get all the way down to lower 30s all throughout the region, and doesn’t go beyond the upper 50s.

Are there forests? Grasslands? Giant mushrooms?

There are thousands of miles of grasslands and grassy hills all throughout the region (especially the north and east), with strange plant growth (no mushrooms, though). There aren’t many forests, but you’ll find a lot of woodland areas.

How has it evolved in response to the environment?

Since there is so much open space in this region, people have mostly been able to settle and build without knocking down too much to make room. They build into the hillsides and cliff sides, build on or near the pastures they farm on, and have only cleared out parts closest to the oceans and bodies of water, since that is their most important natural resource.

How plentiful is it?

There is plenty of enough of what they need: agriculture, sea food, and alcohol.

Are there moons? Visible stars? Meteors? Comets?

The atmosphere surrounding this planet is basically exactly the same as our (except specific stars/planets/constellations mentioned in the story will probably be different because I don’t want to research the real ones).

Is nature something to fear/respect? Something to integrate with? Something to conquer and tame?

The people of this region very much view it as something to integrate with, which is why they have done so so seamlessly. They build around the nature, live off of it, and give back to it when they can.

[electricoutdoors]

Coyotes can be Dangerous – A Potential Threat to You, and Your Animals

Are Coyotes Dangerous?

Depending on where you live, coyotes could be a part of your everyday life. You may see them during the day and hear them howling at night. What does that mean for you and your pets? Should you be worried?

Are coyotes dangerous? Coyotes have been known to attack people and pets, so there is a possibility that they can be dangerous toward people (especially small children). With that being said, coyotes are not usually aggressive toward people and confrontations with them can usually be avoided.

Coyotes can be dangerous to you and your pets. Let’s look at ways to keep them away and keep everyone safe. [wc_toggle title=“Table of Contents” padding=“” border_width=“” class=“” layout=“box”]

Are Coyotes Dangerous?

Are Coyotes Dangerous to People and Pets

Coyote Attacks on People

What do you do if You See a Coyote

Coyote Attacks on Pets

Protecting Your Pets from Coyotes

How do You Know if You Have Coyotes in Your Area?

What Attracts Coyotes?

What Can Keep Coyotes Away?

Non-Lethal Ways to Keep Coyotes Away

Lethal Ways to Get Rid of Coyotes

Where Do Coyotes Live?

What Time of Day do Coyotes Hunt?

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Are Coyotes Dangerous to People and Pets

Like most wild animals, coyotes usually avoid people and populated areas, but this is changing as population centers are spreading into the wild and encounters between people and coyotes are becoming more common.

The decrease in the grey wolf population is also allowing them to spread into areas that historically didn’t have coyotes.

Feeding coyotes is one of the worst things that people do which causes them to lose their fear of people and increases the chance that they will attack people.

Coyote Attacks on People

A coyote will attack a human if it’s cornered or (very rarely) if it’s rabid. Coyotes can kill adults but it’s not very likely. There have only been two people killed by coyotes between the U.S. and Canada according to the Humane Society.

The small size (about 35 lbs. but they can reach 50 lbs.) of coyotes keeps them from being able to kill an adult easily. They also don’t travel in packs (some people call them bands) as large as those associated with dogs and wolves so they really don’t pose as much of a threat to people as you may think.

Most of the injuries caused to adults by coyotes come from them trying to rescue their free-roaming pets from an attack.

Children are at a lot more risk when it comes to coyote attacks. Even though it doesn’t happen often, a coyote could easily take down a child if put in that situation.

What do you do if You See a Coyote

“Hazing” is a term that’s commonly used when talking about coyote encounters. This means that you throw things, yell and make noise without actually injuring the animal. You’re trying to intimidate it and make it not want to come back into the area.

Here are some things you should do if you come in contact with a coyote:

If you have a dog with you, keep control of it! Pick up small dogs and keep larger dogs close to you.

Make yourself seem as big of a threat as possible. Wave your arms, yell, and stare straight into the coyote’s eyes.

Don’t turn away from them. Do not run away. This could trigger the attack instincts of the coyote.

Keep “hazing” the coyote until it leaves. (Between February and July you shouldn’t harass the coyote. This is season where coyotes have their pups and they will defend their dens violently. Instead, walk away calmly and without turning your back to it. You should still seem intimidating, but not overly aggressive.)

If you see a coyote in your yard, the steps to take are a little different. In this case, you need to stand your ground.

Follow these steps if you come across a coyote in your yard:

Make yourself seem as large as possible, wave your arms and yell at the coyote in a commanding voice.

Bang things like pots and pans together or other items to make as much noise as possible. This has the added benefit of potentially warning your neighbors.

Throw small rocks, sticks, balls, or anything else you have at hand to scare them away.

You can also stray them with a hose if you have one close by. Pepper spray and bear spray are other good options.

Coyote Attacks on Pets

Coyote attacks on pets are way more likely than they are on people. Coyotes tend to see large dogs as potential rivals and smaller dogs and cats as prey.

Rabbits, voles, and mice are the normal things that coyotes hunt, but feral and tame dogs and cats are also potential prey. As coyotes move into populated areas, wild animals are less common and household pets are more at risk.

If you leave your animals outside for long periods of time or let your cat roam the neighborhood, they’re at a much higher risk of getting attacked by coyotes.

Protecting Your Pets from Coyotes

There are some simple steps you can take to keep your pets safe from a possible coyote attack.

One of the best ways to protect pets is by aggressively harassing any coyotes found on the property. This makes the area less appealing and means they’re not likely to return.

Cats shouldn’t be fed outside. If you do feed them outside, do it at certain times and remove any leftover food as soon as they’re done eating. Consider feeding them on an elevated position that coyotes can’t reach.

You can also make use of cat poles (12 foot tall 4x4s placed vertically in the yard) so they have somewhere to run to if they’re approached by a coyote.

The best way to protect cats is by simply keeping them inside.

Dogs are at the most risk from coyotes that have become used to people.

Keep your dog’s food and water inside so it doesn’t attract coyotes into your yard.

Don’t chain your dog outside, and don’t leave them unattended if possible. This is especially true for small dogs that can’t defend themselves against a coyote.

Large dogs are less likely to be attacked but they are sometimes attacked because they’re seen as competitors.

How do You Know if You Have Coyotes in Your Area?

Coyotes can do a pretty good job of announcing their presence in any given area.

Howling is probably the most recognizable way that you can tell if coyotes are in your area. This is part of the way that they announce that a certain territory is theirs.

Scat is another way that they mark their territory. They use their feces to mark the boundaries and paths in their territory. Usually in very obvious ways.

You can tell the difference between dog feces and coyote feces because it’ll have a rope-like appearance with hair and bones in it. Dog feces are usually smooth because of the food we give them.

Finally, you can tell by their tracks in and around the area. One of the easiest ways to tell them apart from domestic dog tracks is by looking at the way that they’re traveling. Domestic dogs tend to wander about sniffing and winding their way through an area. Coyotes moving from one area to another will tend to travel in a straight line.

What Attracts Coyotes?

There are a lot of things that we do that will attract coyotes.

The primary way that we attract coyotes is by providing them with food. Most of the time this is by accident or by necessity.

Pets can be seen as food, the food we feed our pets can attract them and so can things like trash and compost piles. Even bird feeders, which attract mice and rats, can be a way that we involuntarily provide coyotes with a source of food.

Chicken coops and other farm animals will attract coyotes and composted meats or meat left in the trash will definitely bring animals to your property.

Dog feces and urine actually attract coyotes as well. Make sure that you don’t leave a yard full of dog poop and your pets will be a little safer.

What Can Keep Coyotes Away?

Keeping coyotes away from your property can be difficult. They’re extremely athletic, decent diggers, and become used to humans pretty quickly.

Non-Lethal Ways to Keep Coyotes Away

I prefer non-lethal ways to get rid of predatory animals if it’s possible. A lot can be done by just adding deterrents to keep them away.

Adding fencing is a possible way to protect from coyotes but it’s not really as simple as putting up a fence and calling it good.

Some coyotes can jump over a 6-foot tall fence and barely touch the top as they clear it. I’ve read accounts of coyotes climbing fences that are up to 14 feet tall!

With this in mind, it’s important to think about ways to keep coyotes from just hopping your fence. Wire mesh fences are actually one of the best ways to keep them out.

The wire mesh makes it more difficult for them to climb or vault over as long as it’s high enough to keep them from jumping it in a single leap. Wire mesh fences at least 6 feet tall will probably do the trick.

Be sure to bury the fence a foot into the ground as well since coyotes will dig under a fence similar to dogs.

There are products out there that you can put on top of your walls to keep animals from climbing on top of them. These spikes prevent animals from standing on top of walls and make it less likely that they’ll push off of the top as they try to climb over.

Scaring off coyotes with automatic lights are another way to keep them away. Automatic lights startle coyotes and can keep them out of areas at night. There are also automatic noisemakers that will keep them away.

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These automatic lights are highly reviewed over on Amazon.

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Urine from predators like wolves can also help keep them away from your property, but it has mixed results. Sometimes it works well and other times it doesn’t seem to have any effect at all. You can try urine as a last resort if nothing else seems to be working.

If you have animals like cows and sheep, you can get a donkey to act as a guard animal. A donkey in the same pen with your other animals will make all kinds of noise alerting the herd.

They’ll also usually chase the coyote and will even stomp them to death if they don’t run away fast enough. Not all donkeys are up to the task so make sure to see how they react before you trust them with the lives of other animals.

You can also keep coyotes away by limiting the areas that they like to sleep or take shelter in. Keep grass cut low, burn or dispose of loose brush piles and don’t have thin hedges around your property. They also like rocky outcroppings and premade dug out areas made by other animals. The only time they make dens is during the pup season.

Lethal Ways to Get Rid of Coyotes

When nothing else works, you sometimes have to go to lethal means to remove predators and keep your family, pets, and animals safe.

This is especially true when coyotes have become used to humans and no longer get startled away by harassment, lights or other noises.

Trapping and poison bait are common ways to kill coyotes. They work to get rid of them but you run the risk of killing your neighbor’s pets and other animals if you’re not careful.

For coyotes that just won’t go away, and are killing or threatening your animals, shooting them is probably the best option. It doesn’t risk other animals, takes out the nuisance animal and kills them quickly and humanely.

Make sure that you have a clean shot and use a caliber that’s going to kill them with one round.

Clean up after your animals as best as you can and take their food inside at night.

Where Do Coyotes Live?

Coyotes can be found all across North America from Canada to the United States and Mexico all the way down to Central America and even some tropical areas.

As time passes and people spread out more and more, coyotes and people are running into each other more often. In fact, Los Angeles is one of the places with the highest amount of reported coyote injuries!

They’re super adaptable and have been able to thrive where other animals are falling off.

What Time of Day do Coyotes Hunt?

Coyotes typically hunt at night and tend to sleep during the day although it isn’t uncommon to see them up and moving around during the day. They’re solitary most of the time but they do form small packs when hunting larger animals like deer.

Coyotes can be Dangerous – A Potential Threat to You, and Your Animals was originally published to: Ready Lifestyle

Coyotes can be Dangerous – A Potential Threat to You, and Your Animals published first on https://readylifesytle.tumblr.com

[josephkitchen0]

Fire Evacuation Procedures for Your Livestock

By Mary Wilson – The year 2013 was an informative and challenging year for Half Creek Farm in Bickleton, Washington. In late July and early August, we got our first “opportunity” to give farm fire evacuation procedures a try. We pretty much sucked at it.

I raise Kiko goats, British White cattle, Gotland sheep, a llama and a Holstein heifer. We also run a small herd of British Guernsey milk goats. We are raising geese, a zillion free-range chickens, ducks and three dogs.

Our animals are generally very gentle and used to us handling and touching them. We don’t have any craziness here (in the livestock sense). This fact led me to anticipate that should I ever need to put our fire evacuation procedures to the test, it would be a fairly simple thing to load all my gentle, well-behaved animals into the horse trailers and canopy and, away we’d go. Hah! That is not what happened.

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First, and foremost, you need to realize that all those friendly, sweet, easy to handle animals become raving lunatics when they sense something is wrong. My sweet Daisy (one of the British White cows) jumped her enormous girth (which I had no idea was even possible) onto a four-foot cattle panel and squashed it in half to escape the loading pen I’d thrown together. In spite of my warnings of oncoming barbecue weather, it took hours to lure Iris (the other British White heifer) into the horse trailer. That’s when I discovered that two of these girls weren’t going to fit in the horse trailer. So I took Iris and the llama to our friends’ farm in Goldendale (30 miles), dropped them off, and headed back. Daisy was having none of it, and ended up never being loaded out.

All of the meat goats were loaded up into the big horse trailer and hauled to Centerville, Washington (40 miles). When I arrived to unload the goats I discovered that one of my really nice registered Kiko doelings was crushed in the load. Not only is this heartbreaking, it’s a financial hit, as fire evacuation procedures are not cheap!

I unloaded the goats into the pasture provided by a friend’s farm and fed them to help settle them down. I was sharing a fence line with her goats, which made me nervous, and I didn’t have time to reinforce the fence between the two herds. This proved problematic, as the hay is always greener on the other side, and her herd broke through the fence and mixed with mine. That meant that a few months after I got my herd home I had to have the whole group blood tested for CL and CAE. Another expense I hadn’t counted on from our fire evacuation procedures.

I didn’t even try to move the poultry as part of the fire evacuation procedure, choosing instead to shelter in place. We have a large area behind one of the barns that’s void of grass and debris, and we put food and water out hoping for the best. The dogs stayed with us the whole time, traveling in the trucks while we moved livestock. The cats disappeared into the woods, not bothering to look to us for saving them.

Then we loaded the dairy goats and took them to a third farm. The dairy goats were near kidding and we were worried about them. We’d spent a lot of time and money having them AI’d and didn’t want to lose anyone. The people who owned the farm worked, which meant the girls would be alone for the day. They also didn’t know much about goats, so couldn’t tell when kidding was imminent, leaving us to check on them often. This farm was 25 miles from us on a side road.

Just when you think you’re finally set, you realize you’ve only begun with the hassle of the fire evacuation procedure. Once you have your animals moved, you are then responsible for making sure they get fed and watered. This was a really expensive challenge for us, as all of our shelter farms were about 30 miles away. We got up each morning and loaded up hay and buckets, and headed out to each farm to care for our animals. We couldn’t leave extra hay just sitting at our host farms because they had animals as well and their animals didn’t know our hay from their hay. So each day we’d drive out, feed and water all our animals, make sure they were doing okay, then in the evening we’d repeat it. One of the farms put the llama and the British White out on pasture so we didn’t have to do anything with them. This was so nice!

As we had feared, one of the British Guernsey dairy goats did indeed kid. We found her and her kid on one of our evening rounds and took her home, figuring if it got bad, we’d put her in the back seat of the car and run for it.

Dave made runs around our house and property with the Bobcat to help provide protection. There were tons of flying ash pieces in the air, and for weeks after the fire they remained on every surface on the farm. It’s amazing they didn’t start more fires as some of them were really large.

We brought the animals home in waves, about five days later, and then sat down to make a new fire evacuation plan for next time. We live in the rural west and wildfires are a fact of life. We have to be prepared to evacuate. However, remember there are many other reasons to evacuate, or to be prepared for disasters. From floods, to earthquakes, to volcanoes, we pretty much have it all and should be ready to provide for our animals as well as our families. With this in mind, I’m sharing with you some of the things that might help you in times of uncertainty.

Level 1=Get Ready, Level 2=Set, Level 3=Go!

We began waking up to heavy smoke in the air and flying pieces of ash. The fire departments sent trucks down to warn everyone to get ready for fire evacuation procedures (Level 2). They started advising steps to take to help minimize damage if the fire overran their fire line. It was a tense time. The smoke in the air was a constant reminder that all was not well.

Another thing to remember is that local wildlife is also on the run. Once your animals are out, open your gates, fill the water troughs, and close up your barns. You don’t want others running from the fire to be cut off from escape, or trapped in your barn thinking it’s safe, or full of your hay.

Pay close attention to local authorities and when you are moved from Level 2 to Level 3, assume you won’t be permitted to re-enter your place once you’ve left. All your animals need to be rescued before this point.

Finally, try to make sure valuable farm equipment is under shelter, and you’ve cleared around the shelter as much as you’re able. By now we’ve all had it drilled into us to clear a defensible area around our houses, but you should also have that same area around your barns and storage shelters. No debris, scrap lumber, or usual farm “stuff” should be banked up near any structures. If it’s valuable enough to keep, put it under cover; otherwise toss it, or put it in a pile in the middle of a clear field and away from structures.

So, I’ve told you how we did it, now I’ll tell you things that we would do differently, and things we’ve learned for the first time we executed our fire evacuation procedures.

1. Your tame well-behaved animals will become strangers. They won’t follow you like they always do, they won’t pay attention to the dogs, they’ll run everywhere but where you want them. Have a good livestock handling area set up in advance. It will make your life easier anyway so just do it. Sturdy aisles, good-working gates, and a well-built loading area will make things so much better.

2. If you have a lot of animals be sure you have room for all of them at host farms. In the case of a fire, you can’t just board at your neighbor’s because he’s boarding somewhere too. You need to be far enough away from the disaster to provide safety. Setting up reciprocal agreements with other farmers in advance is something you can do this week!

3. If you have a lot of animals and it looks serious, start moving them when you reach Level 2 of your fire evacuation procedures. You may not be allowed back if you wait until a Level 3 and have to make several loads.

4. On your final trip, leave a horse trailer at the host farm. When you return to check on your animals the next morning, bring plenty of hay and store it in the trailer. This way you can take a more economical vehicle for the rest of the fire evacuation procedures as you won’t have to haul hay every day.

5. Make sure all of your animals have positive identification on them, whether it’s a brand, an ear tag or tattoo. Have current pictures of unmarked animals and keep accurate records of where everyone went. It’s easy to lose animals while they are hosting at someone else’s farm, especially if everyone is working and there’s no one to watch your animals.

6. If you have to leave an animal behind, don’t chain them, or contain them where they will be trapped. Place them in a cleared area with enough food and water for 72 hours. Don’t rely on automatic waterers as you may lose electricity.

7. Make sure the host farms have all your contact info. Place contact info on your door when you leave.

8. When you have completed your fire evacuation procedure, put a sign at the end of your drive, advising fire and rescue that you have evacuated. You don’t want them to waste precious time going in to check to make sure you are safe when you aren’t even there.

9. Be sure to take important papers like registrations, health records, and vaccinations.

10. If you are unable to evacuate all of your animals, you need to decide which genetics are the most valuable. Prioritize if you can’t take them all.

The 5 P’s of Executing Immediate Fire Evacuation Procedures:

People, pets, and livestock

Papers — important documents

Prescriptions — medications, eyeglasses, hearing aids

Pictures — Irreplaceable memories

Personal computer

Before a Fire Evacuation Procedure:

Make a list of priorities. What will you pack when you leave? Write it down so that if it ever comes up, you can pull your list and begin loading the car.

Keep a kit: This should include a first aid kit, some emergency tools, a battery powered radio and flashlight with extra batteries, a spare set of car keys, credit cards, cash, water, non-perishable food, blanket/sleeping bag, a waterproof tarp, all packed in a backpack or carryall so you can grab it and go. Keep several packed and in handy places, like one in each car, and one in the utility room.

Always establish two escape routes in case of disaster.

When you leave your home:

Leave your electricity on and a light on!

Move flammable furniture to the center of the room.

Close shutters, blinds, and heavy drapes. Remove light-weight drapes and curtains.

Close fireplace screens and dampers.

Shut all interior and exterior doors and leave them unlocked.

Place a note on the front door stating names of all evacuees and your destination/contact info.

Place a ladder outside for roof access.

Originally published in Countryside 2014 and regularly vetted for accuracy.

Fire Evacuation Procedures for Your Livestock was originally posted by All About Chickens