#im sticking to mammals after this i think. maybe a bird if i have to

[lycocarpum]

It's been a little bit since I updated you guys on the turtle, and mostly thats bc it's been a little while since I worked on it, but i finally got to sit down with it last night!

So, embalmers in ancient Egypt really valued good smells. Rot was something to be minimised and avoided to great extent, and a lot of their resins and incenses used in the mummification process smelled really good to combat that. I like to think that my forefathers in the practice would be pretty impressed with how far I've gotten without having to deal with foul smells. I did not think this treatment would work as well as it has been, especially on turtle skin.

But... Therein lies the problem that I'm now facing. For some reason, I didn't really consider how buoyant turtles are when I decided that I'd be soaking it in a jar for several weeks. The head, right arm, and right leg managed to float just above the surface of the water and partially mummify. This isn't a BIG issue, except that the skin is so tough to start with that I really need it hydrated before I start stripping it away. Also, it has dulled literally all of my tools. I need new scalpels so badly.

Last night I managed to expose almost all of the pectoral and pelvic girdles, scooped out more of the inner membrane, and cut away the skin anchoring the neck to the shell. Now I just need to let the feet, head, neck, and tail soak for longer. I might have to do another round of acetone if it's being really stubborn, but I think it'll be okay in the H2O2... I hope, anyway. If not, we'll have to look into other solutions.

As enlightening as all of this has been, I'm really missing the efficacy of insect helpers rn. Being responsible for cleaning every delicate little bone and joint is both tedious and frankly terrifying, esp when my grasp on turtle anatomy is tenuous at best. However, the ligaments holding the sockets together are surprisingly VERY resilient. this is giving me hope for when I get to the toes, though I'm more worried about leaving behind bits of meat that will rot moreso than loosening a bone. The whole thing has also been bleached a nice coconut white. In that regard, it's already looking cleaner than a lot of the specimens in the lab.

[freckliedan]

For the ask; everything that has a “4” in it. Festive, right? I hope you’re having a wonderful night ⭐️

happy 4th, anon!! & ty for the ask! i’ve been having a lonely night n this def made it loads better

(under the cut bc this got long)

4. What is your favorite word?oh.. maybe, home? but in sign language. it’s not the most beautiful or delightful word i know, in english or sign language, but it’s the one that makes me feel the warmest. (i’ve taken all 4 ASL classes offered at my college, and on one of the only days i was late during my last semester my teacher signed “welcome home” to me when i finally got to class and it’s one of my happiest memories. i’m also very gay for the idea of a home with my found family, so home is just one of my favorite words). 

14. What is your current desktop picture? i literally dont’ know how to find that on this computer because it was my best friend’s before they got a new one and gave it to me (because my old computer was very , very badly broken) but anyways i have no idea where to get the pic they have as the desktop from! so. rip

24. You can only have one kind of sandwich. Every sandwich ingredient known to humankind is at your disposal. i’m going to assume this means one sandwich right now, rather than for the rest of my life, because that’s a very cruel punishment to wreak upon a taurus with a gf who’s going to culinary school, 

right now i’d make myself a sandwich on nice homemade bread with mayo on one side and that nice fig spread you can buy at fred meyers on the other slice, melt some cheese on the fig slice, add bacon, tomato, lettuce, and avocado, and possibly an egg because i know how to live my LIFE

34. What was your last dream about?i don’t know but some of my friends were in it

40. Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets?this is skewed because i’m alaskan but sunsets in the summer and sunrises in the winter. summer sunsets are so nice to chase when the days are long and it never gets darker than twilight (genuinely i haven’t seen the stars since april or early may) and going to an outdoors ocean front park and watching the sun set behind the mountains is GORGEOUS and wonderful but in the winter we have so much darkness that every sunrise is a blessing and every sunset is the worst thing ever. in high school there’d be days where the sun both rose after i got to school and set before i went home at night so when the light shows up in the winter. i’m happy.

41. What is your favorite milkshake flavor?i’m lactose intolerant so it SHOULD be none of them but this bitch loves dairy YEET anyways it’s strawberry @ places that don’t have a lot of flavors and at places with wider ranges i still usually stick to fruit flavors! cherry is good.

42. What football team do you support? (I will answer in terms of American football as well as soccer) i’m a lesbian

43. Do you have any scars?i have a chickenpox scar on my eyelid & on the upper limits of what could be considered my left tit it’s like, practically chest at that point, what’s a body,,, i also have a piece of gravel in my left knee from falling & refusing to let anyone take care of it in 2nd or grade, a scar on my left foot from doing dumb stunts as a 7 year old, and a nearly invisible scar beneath my right nostril from falling as a 2 year old ! im clumsy as Fuck

44. What do you want to be when you graduate?i want to work for a nonprofit that helps lgbtq+ teens! i don’t know exactly what that’s going to look like but it’s really important to me to help lgbtq+ youth who don’t have supportive families, and those who might be facing homelessness. i’m going to have a fairly generalist skillset when i graduate, so i don’t know exactly what role i’m going to play, but i know that i’m going to help kids that never got the unconditional love and support that they needed & deserved from family. i also am going to be a storyteller thru various mediums! written & multimedia & possibly podcasts. i’m working on that.

45. If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? i’d take away whatever current physical health thing i’m dealing with that i haven’t been able to get help for yet and that’s making me grow facial hair and have less energy & more apathy & doing a Lot (i think it’s PCOS and hormonal imbalances). it’s recent and it’s causing me a lot of troubles but other than that i’m so happy and so at peace with myself that i wouldn’t change anything about me, not my weight not my ADHD & depression not a Damn Thing. 

46. Are you reliable? yes!!! i’m  the kind of person that burns myself out showing up for others. if it’s not an important thing it sometimes slips my mind bc of my adhd but when it matters, i am always there. across time zones, even. if i give my word about something? i make it happen. im the reason they invented the phrase immovable object.

47. If you could ask your future self one question, what would it be?I wouldn’t change my past, and my future self probably wouldn’t, either. I’d just ask them to tell me about their happiness, I think. It would give me a tangible reason to keep working towards the dreams I have. 

48. Do you hold grudges?i’m a taurus. i don’t hold grudges over stupid things and i’m not petty for the most part and i don’t act like a dickhead when i have a grudge but it’s like, my dad missed the one and only choir concert i ever had when i was in the 10th grade for really stupid reasons when he said he’d be there, and that was in 2011, and it took me like 6 years to get to the point where i was completely past that. i wasn’t acting on the grudge but it was a grudge and it did affect like. how willing i was to trust my dad and ask him for things and how i felt about him for a really long time? so like. yeah. i hold grudges. i’m very willing to excuse people’s behavior up to a certain point but once a line is crossed someone has to work really hard to make up for the ways they’ve hurt me or loved ones of mine. my gf can usually talk me out of Forming grudges though bc she’s a virgo libra cusp and so good at being less intense than me w some situations.

49. If you could breed two animals together to defy the laws of nature, what new animal would you create?mammals with bird wings :c make the catwings book real.. cats whom can fly w soft lovely bird wings. i love cats and also flight

54. Have you ever baked your own cake? yes!!!! i’ve baked like box cakes obvi but last year for my gf’s birthday me & our best friend made a really cool coffee flavored alternative frosting cake for my gf & she really liked it & i’m like :’) 

64. What do you think about babies?i’ve been like........ yelling all night to @freckliephil about how much i want to have kids w my gf and how i can’t wait to be a mom. i think babies are very small and breakable and i’m not ready to have one right NOW at all but i am so, so excited to be a parent someday and to give a kid everything they need no matter what, like, babies are so cute and my cousin had a son this year and when i got to hold him for the first time i nearly cried thinking about being a mom someday. i’m cutting this short because i’m really, really emo abt babies right now but GOD. i want a baby. i want painting a nursery w my gf once we’re wives, and i want a rocking chair, and lullabies. i wanna watch the baby grow up to have me and my gf’s facial expressions and i can’t wait to see that baby grow into a person with likes and dislikes and an entire personality :c god. i just. i really, really love my gf and can’t wait to have a family with her. & we’re probably also going to foster but like! also. babies.