
★

No title available
Peter Solarz
sheepfilms

Love Begins
let's talk about Bridgerton tea, my ask is open
tumblr dot com
Sweet Seals For You, Always
YOU ARE THE REASON
d e v o n

izzy's playlists!
noise dept.
occasionally subtle
One Nice Bug Per Day

Kaledo Art
cherry valley forever

blake kathryn

oozey mess
DEAR READER
Claire Keane
seen from United States

seen from Canada
seen from United States
seen from Türkiye
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from Türkiye
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States
seen from United States

seen from United States

seen from Spain

seen from United States
seen from United Kingdom
seen from Malaysia

seen from Canada

seen from Malaysia
seen from United States
@weird-geck
Some tips for buying a used car for people that know nothing about cars
I’m a mechanic/auto shop owner. I figured I’d put some stuff together for anyone interested in buying a used car but doesn’t know anything about cars. Obviously the best option is to take it to an auto shop to have it thoroughly inspected by a professional before you buy it. The key word here is BEFORE you buy it. I don’t know how many people I’ve had come to my shop for an inspection after they bought it….ugghh. The $150 or so you spend is worth not buying something that may have thousands of dollars of problems. But if that’s not an option, here are some tips to help keep you from buying a lemon:
1-Buy a cheap OBD scanner/reader. You don’t need to spend a lot, as they’ll all do what you need here. A bluetooth OBD reader and the TORQ app for you phone seems to be pretty popular/good choice. Practice using it on some cars. Some of the stuff I’m going over may seem daunting, but if you practice it on a car a few times, you’ll get the hang of it, and this will all make sense. You could be saving yourself thousands in repair here, so take a few hours to practice it. It’s not hard once you do. You should be able to do all of the stuff I’m going to talk about with your scanner in under 5 mins total. You don’t have to worry about reading and interpreting data. The main thing you want to do is check for codes in the engine and transmission ECUs. ECU stands for Electronic Contrul Unit. Basically, it’s the computer that controls the engine or transmission. They are sometimes referred to as ECM, or Engine Control Module, and TCM, or Transmission Control Module. Sometimes they’ll be referred to as PCM, or Powertrain Control Module. This is what it’s called when only one computer controls both the engine and automatic transmission. The PCM may be one physical computer, but logically, it’s 2 computers. So if you connect your scanner to a PCM, you’ll still see two separate options, one for engine, and one for transmission. Do note that if you have a manual transmission, there won’t be a transmission computer.
So when you connect to each one, there should be no codes in either. If there are codes, there’s an issue. It may be minor, it may be major. Google it if you want, but not knowing what the codes mean, your best bet is to walk away. If your scanner is a better one, you can also check other modules (computers) for codes. However, it’s pretty common on newer cars, especially European, to find obscure codes in obscure modules. Normally they’re not an issue. Focus on the Engine and Transmission. ABS (antilock brakes) and SRS (safety restrain system…airbags, seat belts, etc) modules normally shouldn’t have codes lingering either. Make sure to also check after test driving. The codes may have been reset by the seller to hide a problem (more on that in the next paragraph). They may have returned during your test drive, so check again!
Use the scanner to check the monitors on the engine ECU/Computer. Monitors are a series of self checks that the ECU does on the engine. All applicable monitors should be set (passed/complete). They get reset when you clear the check engine light, or when you disconnect the battery (usually). If all of the monitors haven’t passed, then it’s quite likely the person selling it has reset the check engine light recently (may be trying to hide a problem), or there’s a problem that isn’t allowing the monitor to complete. Not a good sign. Walk away. To complete all of the monitors can take quite a few miles and sometimes several days. So there’s a good window there for you to catch someone doing some hanky panky.
2. Crank the engine without starting it. What you want to do is listen to the engine during a continuous crank. On American cars and on Mazdas, this is easy, as they have what’s known as a Clear Flood Mode. You turn the key to the on position, wait a few seconds, depress the gas pedal all the way, then try to start it. The engine will crank away without starting for as long as you hold the key (or in the case of a push button start, until you hit the button again). If the engine starts, quickly let off the gas so you don’t revv up the engine too high and try it again. You’ll want to listen to it for a good 10 seconds or so. This is a very easy way to check compression on an engine. The main thing you hear when cranking an engine is the electric starter working to try and spin the engine. As a piston comes up and compresses the air, the starter has to work harder to spin the engine, and the speed/pitch of the starter changes. Once the piston comes back down, it’s easier to spin the engine, so the speed/pitch changes back, and then repeats as each consecutive piston moves up in the compression stroke. Every engine sounds different, but they all should have a very steady rhythmic starting noise. Kind of a WAAA WAAA WAAA WAAA WAAA. If one or more of the cylinders has low compression, you will hear the starter have an off-rhythmic sound that repeats. So for instance, if you have a 4 cylinder engine with one low compression cylinder, it would sound like WAAA WAAA WA WAAA WAAA WAAA WA WAAA WAAA WAAA WA WAAA etc. Every 4th pitch change will sound different than the other 3.
For reference, here’s what a normal cranking sound should be: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6v0h_Ygqox0
Here’s what a low compression cylinder cranking sounds like. It’s at about :55 secs :https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOghpmVhVng
If you listen closely, you’ll hear the unsteady rhythm. Loss of compression is usually piston rings, valves, or head gasket. All costly. If the engine sounds funny when cranking, walk away.
If the car you’re looking at doesn’t have a clear flood mode, you can remove the fuel pump relay in the engine compartment fuse box, which turns off the fuel pump. Most cars have one, but some don’t. Some cars can be a real PITA to disable it from starting. Google the car you’re looking at with something like “YYYY Make Model clear flood” or “YYYY Make Model disable fuel pump” and see if there’s an easy way to achieve this. I’m sure there will be a Youtube video showing you exactly how to do this.
Practice this beforehand on cars you have access to if possible to tune your ear to the sound. You can also do this periodically on your own car to see if any problems are arising.
3. Check the fluids. All of the fluids will have minimum/maximum marks. If fluids are low, someone has not been maintaining the car well, or it has developed a leak. Not a good sign. When checking the engine oil, it should range from clear to black. If it looks like chocolate milkshake, there is a major problem. RUN AWAY. You can also smell the oil on the dipstick to see if it smells like gasoline. If it smells like raw gasoline, the engine is either injecting way too much fuel or you have bad piston rings. Either way they’re bad. If the oil level is WAY above the full mark, like an inch or more, then either some other fluid is making it’s way into the engine (very bad) or someone sucks at doing an oil change. Remember to check the oil with the engine off and on level ground. Some new cars don’t have dipsticks (mainly European). If so, you’re SOL. Check the coolant in the reservoir. It should be green, pink, red, yellow, orange, blue, or purple, depending on manufacturer. If it’s rusty, walk away. Remove the radiator cap (only if the engine is cold) and look at the cap and in the radiator. If you see any rust or chunky/gritty brown stuff, walk away. If it’s just water, walk away (be careful here, Ford’s yellow coolant almost looks clear). Check the automatic transmission fluid. For the most part, it should be red, but sometimes amber or green. It may be black. That’s dirty. Not a deal breaker, but they haven’t been keeping up on maintenance. It should not smell burnt, though. That’s bad. If it looks like strawberry milkshake, that’s really bad. Also, remember that you should check the level on automatic transmissions while the engine is running in Park and after driving it and getting the transmission good and hot. The only exception is most Hondas. That’s checked after driving but with the engine off. Google it for the car you plan on looking at to make sure. Many new cars don’t have a transmission dipsticks, so again, you’re SOL there.
4. Start the engine and listen for any noises. The engine should be cold. If it’s at operating temperature, the seller may have warmed it up to hide some cold start engine noises. Be wary. If it makes any noises, walk away.
5. Look for maintenance records. If it has consistent oil change records at an oil change place, at least they’ve been changing the oil. Unfortunately, oil change places only check easy profitable stuff. It’s better than nothing, though. If the records are all at an independent shop, that’s better. Indy’s will usually do a pretty thorough check up on the car when servicing it. If it has all dealer records, that’s the holy grail. Dealers will find any nick nack that’s wrong and upsell it. They also commonly don’t do thorough diagnostics (this is an unfortunate effect of the way dealer shops operate). So if it needed repairs, on top of having new parts that needed replacing, it may have other new parts that it didn’t even need. Plus those new parts will be good quality OEM parts, not chines junk of questionable quality.
6. Check that everything works on the car. Check the A/C, the heater, the windows, the locks, the mirrors, the head/parking/brake lights, etc. If the owner neglected to fix obvious problems, what else did they decide not to fix?
7. Look under the hood and look for any hokey work. Random zip ties holding things on, tape, broken plastic pieces, a battery that can move around if you push on it, wires hanging, etc. If it looks like unprofessional work has been done on what you can see, how bad is what you can’t see?
8. How does the car look? Is it dirty, full of scratches, stained? If the owner cares so little about the interior/exterior, they probably have the same attitude towards the mechanical part of it.
9. Check the tires. Aside from general condition, do they all match? If all the tires are different, they’re cheap/broke, and have probably cheaped out on a lot more than just tires. Lay your hand flat on the tire tread and light feel around the tires. If you feel a repeating pattern of flat spots/dips, you have suspension problems.
10. Try and stay away from used car dealers. Used car dealers get the majority of their cars from auctions. A lot of cars that go to auction are sent there by someone that doesn’t want it, usually because there are problems. Not all, but many. New car dealers send trade-ins that are too old or the wrong make to put on their lot, and some of those are decent. However, the small used car dealers usually buy the bottom of the barrel cars at auction. They’ll fix the minimum needed with the cheapest parts possible to maximize profit. They’ll make it look pretty, though. Good chance you’re buying a polished turd. Not all used car dealers are bad, though. Check reviews. Look at what they have on the lot. If they have a lot of high resale value cars on the lot, they’re buying the good stuff at acution. If all of their cars are under $10k, with a lot under $5k, move on.
11. Obviously, test drive the car. Drive it at different speeds up to highway speeds. Brake easy, brake hard. Find a crappy road or railroad tracks to drive over. Make sure there are no noises or vibrations. Get it good and warm. When you’re done, open the hood and take a good whiff. Make sure there are no strong smells (like burning fluids or other things). Look under the car and see if anything is dripping or the bottom of the engine is covered in fluids (bring a flashlight, it can get dark under there). Don’t be alarmed if you see water dripping under the car at about the same area as the base of the windshield/firewall. If the A/C or defroster was on, that is just condensate from the A/C system. Touch it. If it’s not oily and looks/feels like water, it should be OK. If you’re test driving a manual car, the clutch engagement point should be somewhere in the middle of the clutch pedal travel. If it’s right at the top or right at the bottom, clutch repairs are in the near future.
12. This one is a little more advanced, but not too difficult. It’s also pretty important. You’ll need your OBD scanner. What you want to do is look at the engine data and search for the fuel trims. An engine computer injects fuel based on a bunch of sensor inputs. It has a base fuel map programmed into it that it references, based on those sensor inputs, and injects XXX amount of fuel. There is an oxygen sensor in the exhaust system that analyzes the exhaust gas and acts like a quality control inspector. It tells the computer whether it injected too much or too little fuel. The computer then makes adjustments to that base fuel map to make sure it’s injecting the proper amount of fuel. Those adjustments are called fuel trims. A 5% fuel trim would mean the computer had to add 5% more fuel than the base map. A -5% fuel trim would mean that the computer had to reduce fuel by 5% from the base fuel map. In a perfect world, fuel trims would be zero. However, that’s rarely the case. Fuel quality, different atmospheric conditions, engine wear, engine or sensor problems, etc, make it so that the base fuel map is never perfect, so the computer is always adding or subtracting fuel (usually it’s adding, but sometimes it’s subtracting). I don’t like to see a computer adding or subtracting more than 10% fuel. Any more than that and there may be a problem. Any more than 15-20% and there is definitely a problem.
So what you’re going to want to do is look at the data on the engine computer. You want to make sure you connect to the computer using the GENERIC OBD2 option on your scanner. Different car manufacturers will call these fuel trims by different names, and display the percentage in different ways. If you connect to the engine computer the standard way, you may be confused trying to find and read the fuel trims. But if you connect using the generic obd option, it’s always going to use a standardized display format across all vehicles. Some really cheap OBD scanners only connect using the generic OBD protocol. You’re going to see a long list of a bunch of different data. Scroll through until you find “short term fuel trim” and “long term fuel trim”. I’m not going to explain what the difference between those two data parameters are, as that doesn’t matter here, and may end up being confusing. I’m just going to tell you what to do with the values you see.
Short term fuel trim, depending on your scanner, may be displayed as: Short term fuel trim, STFT, ST, or ST%
Long term fuel trim may be displayed as: Long Term Fuel Trim, LTFT, LT, or LT%
Let’s assume your scanner uses the more common STFT and LTFT designation. You’re going to see a number after the letters, so STFT1 and LTFT1. The number means the “bank” or side of the engine. A 4 cylinder engine only has one “side” so you’ll only see STFT1 and LTFT1. However, a V6 or V8 engine has two sides of the engine (3 or 4 cylinders on one side, and 3 or 4 cylinder on the other side, hence the V6 or V8). The computer controls fuel independently for each side of the engine, so you’ll see a STFT1 and LTFT1 for one side of the engine, and STFT2 and LTFT2 for the other side. Don’t be alarmed if you’re looking at a V6 or V8 engine and you only see STFT1 and LTFT1. Many late 90s cars and some early 2000s cars didn’t control fuel separately for each side of the engine, and lumped both sides into one bank.
When looking at the short term and long term fuel trims, you’ll notice the long term fuel trim number stays pretty steady, but the short term fuel trim number may change a lot. This is normal. What is important to note is that they are cumulative. So if STFT=4 and LTFT=3, then your total fuel trim is 7%. Let’s take a look at some examples on a V8:
STFT1 : 3 … STFT2 : 6
LTFT1 : 2 … LTFT2 : 1
So the total fuel trim on bank 1 is 5% (3+2) and the total fuel trim on bank 2 is 7% (6+1). Each bank is below +/- 10%. That’s pretty good.
STFT1 : -5 … STFT2 : 3
LTFT1 : 3 … LTFT2 : 1
Bank 1 fuel trim is -2% (-5 +3) and bank 2 is 4% (3+1). Again, that’s good.
STFT1 : 6 … STFT2 : 7
LTFT1 : 10 … LTFT2 :15
Bank 1 fuel trim is 16% (6+10) and bank 2 is 22% (7+15). That’s not good. Walk away from this one.
Here’s one more that’s a littlte different:
STFT1 : -20 … STFT2 : -20
LTFT1 : 22 … LTFT2 : 20
Hey, 2% and 0% total fuel trim on each bank. SWEET! this car is running almost perfect! Well not really. Why is the LTFT adding 22% but then the STFT is taking a bunch of it back? There may be an intermittent issue going on here. So add the absolute values together as well (treat -20 as 20) and see what that total is. Here we have 42 and 40. There’s some interpretation required here that you’d need some experience to do, but I’d say anything over 25 when adding absolutes is cause for concern.
Check these numbers with the engine running at idle, and rev up the engine and hold it at about 2500rpms and check it there. Like I said, you may see the STFT number change pretty quickly, so just use the average of the numbers you see for that one. If you have someone with you, you can have them check the numbers while you drive as well.
Practice this on a car you have access to beforehand.
13. Last and not least, don’t trust the person selling the car. Trust your eyes, your ears, and your instinct. You don’t know this person, they may be lying about the car, or try and tell you that the thing you’re worried about is no big deal, it’s just this or that. Or they had a guy check it out and it’s a really easy/quick fix. Be patient and find the right car. If something is fishy or doesn’t seem right, move on to the next car. A car is a pretty big expense. Most people budget for the purchase price of a car and don’t consider there may be considerable extra expense in fixing major problems. Minimize the possibility of those extra expenses by inspecting the car the best you can.
I would recommend running through these things, and any others you want to add, on your current car, your parents’ cars, friends’ cars, etc. Do it several times. Get comfortable in making these checks so that when you’re doing them in front of some stranger on their car, you won’t forget anything.
Mealworm feast for the long one
I just learned yesterday that Pikachu, my favorite Pokemon, was originally designed not by Ken Sugimori (he only finalized the design), but by a female graphic designer named Atsuko Nishida.
Also after googling her, I found out that she’s also designed Sylveon–another favorite PKMN of mine. She’s also illustrated some very pretty Pokemon cards!!
Thank you Ms. Nishida! :-) May you get more credit and love for your contribution to the Pokemon franchise.
as a camera shy person myself, knowing she hides behind plushies is just amazing
Her and Yoko Taro are legends at hiding from cameras. xD
Here’s some other Pokemon she’s designed, for anyone curious:
source: x
and not to derail this post into anything overtly political, but: If it weren’t for a woman in the gaming industry, we wouldn’t have freakin’ Charizard. I feel like that’s something more people should know about!
So, VivinkArt on Twitter designed an Australian based Pokemon game, complete with starters, a map, and a regional champion - Steve Irwin
Gallopoli is the Pokemon Nurse companion
This little chicken turns into a goddamn 2 meter tall spider THAT IS BASED OFF A REAL SPIDER
the hunger
why would he eat like that
the hunger
The cronch goblin
me at the craquer barrél when they bring my mac and cheese out
Doug Jones Appreciation Thread
as Amphibian Man in The Shape of Water
as the Pale Man in Pan’s Labyrinth
as Faun in Pan’s Labyrinth
as the Angel of Death in Hellboy II: The Golden Army
as Billy Butcherson in Hocus Pocus
as one of the Gentlemen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer
as Edith’s Mother, Lady Sharpe in Crimson Peak
as Silver Surfer in Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer
as Saru in Star Trek: Discovery
as Abe Sapien in Hellboy
Sometimes in this world you have to find you niche. And sometimes that niche is having rubber prosthetics glued to your body. Doug Jones has found that niche.
hes so many of my fave boys
Also the single sweetest person I have met in the entire acting profession. Doug wins.
And this is also Doug Jones.
…in Budapest, with my daughter Maddy, long long ago in 2007. From http://journal.neilgaiman.com/2007/07/circus-drums-in-distance.html?m=1
Doug isn’t just a human special effect because he acts well under latex. He inhabits each of his roles, at a level of discomfort and with a lack of sleep that I would find murderous. (Think how early he needs to be in in the morning to have that latex glued on. Think how late filming can go. Doug has rights he sometimes elects not to use, in order to keep a production moving. I’ve seen him asleep propped up in order to keep a movie on schedule.)
And just the gentlest, sweetest person in the business. Today accidentally wound up as Me appreciation day on Twitter. It’s nice to appreciate Doug.
Fuck this tree in particular. [source video]
why birb
why
that has to be the angriest fucking woodpecker I haver ever seen
it’s a special kind of anger that leads you to methodically beat something down with your face
Feel free to unfollow me right now if you believe it’s okay to endanger your house cat or the local native fauna it absolutely will kill by allowing it outside unsupervised/off lead.
Outdoor cats have a lifespan of 2-5 years. Indoor cats regularly live 15+, even getting up to 20+ sometimes. Unsupervised indoor-outdoor cats often don’t make it past 5 and the ones that do are a very lucky exception. Why?
They get hit by cars. They get attacked by other animals (predators or other pets like dogs) including other cats. They eat things that are toxic to them. They get killed by other humans. They contract diseases like FIV and FelV.
Even if your cat DOES live longer than 5 years, cats that go outside are responsible for the deaths of billions of birds and other small fauna per year. There have been studies done on this. It’s not people pulling stuff out of their asses, it’s something scientists literally studied and reported results on. Don’t believe me? Google “do cats kill wildlife” and have a read. They’re on the IUCN’s list of worst invasive species and have contributed to the extinction of 60+ species, and they continue to cause a problem for other threatened species of small animals.
If you think it’s okay to expose your cat to these hazards and potentially cut its lifespan by more than half, if you think it’s okay to allow your cat to kill native fauna to indulge it’s “natural instincts” instead of, I don’t fucking know, playing with it with toys literally designed to allow it to safely indulge those instincts, then you have no business following me.
I’m not here to indulge your whimsy about how cats “need” to be outside unsupervised to be stimulated and lead a happy life- I can assure you, they don’t. There are p l e n t y of enrichment devices and structures people can buy or make to ensure that their cats lead happy, full lives indoors to the ripe old age they are supposed to lived to.
You also have the option of lead training your cat if you really believe they need to go out. This is something that proponents of “let cats go outside” ignore almost completely. They somehow believe that it’s all or nothing- either the cat lives 100% indoors without ever seeing sunlight OR it’s let outside without supervision where it can be injured, killed, or cause harm to the environment. Those aren’t the only choices. Cats adapt to leads very easily. They don’t like it the first couple of times, usually, but also usually when they figure out lead=outside, they get over it and the best of both worlds gets to happen- your cat remains safely under your supervision where it cannot come to or deliver harm, and it gets to go outside.
TL;DR Letting your house cat outside unsupervised is extremely dangerous both for your cat and the local wildlife and people arguing otherwise can see themselves out the door because I’m not about people endangering animals out of willful ignorance. You, along with every other pet owner out there, have a responsibility to protect your pets to the best of your abilities, and choosing not to do so in some misguided attempt to indulge their whims is poor animal husbandry. Any argument to the contrary is just an excuse to continue doing things which put animals in danger.
Your arguments sound very professional. Good for you being able to stay calm and argued your point so well.
Double on the unfollowing me if you have an outdoor cat.
Additionally if you do want your cat to go outside, you can buy “cat cage” installations and have them span your yard! It looks like this (pictures of our backyard):
We have this span your 4x6 meter backyard and is attached to the house directly. This enables the cats to go outside when they want without going off your property. And it’s nice to sit with them!
Here they call this a “catio” and it’s becoming more popular as a way to allow your cats outside time without having to directly supervise them, and they are GREAT.
Here’s one not attached to the house:
Here’s some from the outside view:
There are smaller versions too!
Catios and outside cat runs/perches are a fantastic way to give your feline access to the outdoors while still keeping them safe.
Serious question, because I agree with all of this but we have a naughty cat.
If our cat slips out when we open the door, and we can’t catch her, what should we do? We live in a place with a LOT of wildlife. She normally comes back in within an hour (she gets mad at us for “letting her outside”) but obviously we don’t want that to some day not be the case, and we want her to stop bringing us presents. Because gross and also not good for the environment/ecosystem.
Do we lead-train her and let her go outside and then she won’t get very far? Part of the reason she goes outside is to eat grass, so should we just buy some cat grasses and have them inside? We’ve thought about that but the grass isn’t always the only reason she’s outside, so we’re worried that she’ll keep getting out anyway and then that defeats the purpose of buying cat grasses.
Do we just not stimulate her enough inside? Like, seriously, what do we do about this cat?
For this, it sounds like she’d likely lead train fairly well. If she’s only gone for a short while, she probably just wants a little bit of outside time and she’d be fine. The thing about lead training isn’t that you just pop it on and let them out, you do need to stay with them while they’re out to ensure they don’t get tangled in anything or escape the lead. May I also recommend this person’s cat jackets for a harness? They are comfortable and fairly escape proof.
As for the “gifts” you may want to look into some additional toys for her that can satisfy her desire for that particular behavior. Stick and string toys and laser pointers are good for this, but a lot of people don’t reward their cats for a solid catch, which is fine, but if your cat is looking to chase and catch a thing she can eat, it may help to give her a treat at the end of playtime. This encourages play behaviors with you over going outside to do it.
As for the cat grasses, you can actually make her a little grass mat!
All it takes is a large litterbox (or if you want to do bigger, go to a hardware store and look for the cement mixing section, and they sell rectangular black tubs there- that’s what the first two tubs are at least), some clean dirt, and some grass seed without fertilizer in it (or if you can’t find that, you can plant cat grass from a pet store in the middle, it will spread but not as fast).
Again, any one of these on their own likely won’t completely solve the issue, but between the three, you may see a decrease in escapist behaviors.
As long as we’re here, @crabcakedraws asked what I say to people in apartments whose cats scream and destroy things demanding to be let out, and first you should go have a talk with @pangur-and-grim about Grim’s behavior around go-outside time. My own advice is to take the time and effort to train your cat to go outside on a lead with you. If you think that’s too much trouble and you’d rather just expose your cat to the risk of illnesses, injuries, or potential death by opening the door and just letting them out, I definitely can’t stop you. But that doesn’t make it right or good.
Think of it this way. Children, actual human children, throw tantrums when they’re not allowed to do whatever they want; does that mean parents should allow kids to do whatever they want all the time? Absolutely not, and you’d be appalled at any parent that said they did so. Even if a child screams and cries, even if they throw things or hit you, you’re still the parent. It’s still your responsibility to make sure that they are receiving the correct/best care you’re capable of providing. Don’t want to do that/think that’s too hard? I have news for you: you may have chosen the wrong pet.
I’m going to keep adding to this because I have been getting questions.
Stray/Feral cats that do not belong to anyone are not what we’re discussing here. If you are managing strays or ferals that don’t belong to you but that in your location, that’s a different situation than someone who buys/adopts a cat and then releases it outside either permanently or off and on. The best course of action for managing ferals is to get them fixed (low cost spay/neuter places are GREAT for this! We got some feral cats at my college fixed for like $30/per) and make sure you give them what protection you can from diseases (for example, offering them wet food with a liquid wormer in it a couple of times a year). You can also affix reflective cat collars to them with bells- this will make them more visible to cars, and the bell can reduce their kill success by up to 30% (which, if you or others are feeding them is a good thing for local small fauna). If you aren’t sure a cat is a stray or an indoor/outdoor cat, buy a reflective collar and a tag with your # on it (costs like $10 total for both in a lot of places)- I can almost guarantee that you’ll get a call soon if the cat has an owner.
I’ve also talked some about enrichment, but we’re gonna talk some more, since it seems like people aren’t sure what counts for indoor cats. SO, let’s start with toys.
Wand toys (stick and string) are great for interactive play with your cat. They look like this:
They stimulate your cat’s drive to chase moving, fluttering objects and allow you to provide that live “kick” response when they pounce on it, because you can pull the string. They’re widely available but easy to make yourself- Here is a tutorial on making them yourself for cheap!
Laser pointers provide the same entertainment with a different sort of allure. Laser pointers are better for if you have a cat that likes to run a lot- you can easily send the dot far from you! They’re like $3.
You can purchase any number of chase toys that you can throw for your cat, in all sorts of shapes and sizes from mice to birds to random shapes. Many of them come with catnip in them. Some of them have noise makers so they shriek like the wildlife your cat is not killing outside. Some of them rattle. Some of them crinkle (in fact, you can get neat foil balls to throw that are shiny and crinkle). Some of them are spongy. There are so many options and cats LOVE them!
Kick toys are another great thing! Kick toys are usually bigger than throw toys and somewhat oblong, like a fish. In fact, many of the toys are shaped like fish! But there are also other kinds- I’ve seen rainbows and cigars and just big thin rectangles and bananas and a lot of others). These toys help satisfy your cat’s fighting/gutting instinct. If they were to indeed catch a big fish, they would be able to grasp it in their front paws and kick with their back legs to disembowel it. The same goes for other animals your cat might find itself in a fight with, including other cats. If your cat likes to tussle, this might just be the toy for them!
Circular ball toys are good fun for containing the small fast object your cat wants to chase (so they don’t lose it under the couch or something.
If you want to spend a little more for an active cat, you can look into getting them an exercise wheel! Many cats, when they figure out what it does, will thoroughly enjoy running on these things (and the videos on youtube are GREAT, if you want a good time go type in “Cat exercise wheel”). The first photo is the original wheel, but there are others out there now too.
If you want to take your cat outside but don’t want to lead train them or build a whole catio, there are other options like cat tents!
Indoors, cat tunnels are totally a thing and cats love them, especially soft ones.
You can also buy window perches that just suction cup to windows and don’t cause any damage to walls (good for apartments!) and they come in a variety of styles!
You can get your cat an autogroomer device, they come in several different styles:
This allows the cat to receive grooming from a source outside of themselves when you aren’t around.
You can purchase a see-through window feeder for birds, and place it somewhere that your cat will be able to see, so they will have something to watch while you’re not playing.
In addition to toys and activity devices like the above, you can give your cat enrichment during feeding and watering times as well. Waterers that have moving water are preferred by many, many cats:
And puzzle feeders can both provide enrichment and slow down cats so they don’t gobble all their food quickly (which often results in an upset tummy… I have heard a lot of stories of folks whose cats eat a bunch and then immediately puke it up whole… puzzle feeders help alleviate that! And they can be DIY for extremely cheap!)
(this one has toys in it, but you can put food in it too)
Anyway, there’s no reason your house cat HAS to go outside unsupervised or uncontained, and there are P L E N T Y of ways to vastly enrich an indoor cat’s life experiences while under your care.
Fucking superb you funky little goblin
The other day I watched a little boy get knocked to the ground by an older kid who was running by. He burst into tears as his mother hurried over.
“Here’s a bandaid for ya,” I said, producing one from my vest pocket.
“Oh, he’s not bleeding, thank you though!”
I lowered my voice and leaned in. “Kids think bandaids are health magic,” I said. “Ask him where it hurts and exploit that placebo effect.”
She did just that, and instantly the kid stopped crying and thanked her. “I’ll have to remember that,” she said.
Children: #HACKED
Also if you have a crying kid give them a cup of water. You can’t cry and drink at the same time and it gives them a chance to calm down.
Tell them their going to run out of tears so they drink the water.
My mom does this at her preschool after awhile the other children start offering the crying child little cups of water.
The mental image of 20 3yos clammering to give another crying 3yo a glass of water has me on the edge of needing a glass of water
I just realize I had inadvertently used the cup of water trick on the seven year old I sat numerous times.
today not only was it revealed that Toby composed a majority of the tracks in Game Freak’s new game “Little Big Town”, but Sans was confirmed to be in Smash (although as a Mii skin), in addition Sakurai mentioned how Toby came over to his house and they played Ultimate, you’d think that would be enough to show how blessed Toby is but
then this happens today too
A mom helping her kids beat a hard level in Super Mario Land, 1990s.
What are your fav places for getting bones? Youve inspired me to start collecting, but I want to do it right. I saw a seller with fox skulls sourced from a fur farm but I'm Too Unfamiliar with all the ethics involved just yet.
I ADORE Skull Store Canada, who can be found on the tumbz at @buy-skulls. They’re based in Canada but they ship all over the place for VERY reasonable rates (and thanks to the conversion rate it’s often cheaper to buy their stuff and have it shipped in- and Ben, the guy in charge, is very much on the up and up with what can and cannot be imported/exported), and I’ve really appreciated their vocal stance against the illegal use of big cat bone and their education and conservation efforts.
Skulls Unlimited is another fave place to start because they’re VERY on the up and up with legality and ethics. Their stuff is a bit more expensive than private sellers, but it’s a great starting place.
There’s lots of sellers on Facebook and Instagram, too. I’ve always felt confident around Jana Miller - she’s here as @bone-lust- and a lot of the sellers in the FB groups she maintains are really good. I’ve never bought from anyone on instagram, because I am bad at instagram.
reblog for noises
siamangs are so freaking weird. Somehow evolution produced a frog-ape.
Me, before I played the video: Okay they can’t be THAT weird can they?
Me, watching the video: what the fUCK
We're having some family that we haven't seen in a while over for dinner tomorrow, and I can see the conversation now:
"Oh, yes, we're very proud of our children. Our eldest son and his wife are having a baby, and he's doing very well at his government job. Our youngest daughter is getting married next year, and she was doing cool work with snakes for environmental research. Our middle child, however, just last night pranced upstairs giggling like a maniac while parading their ugly-ass plushie of the lead singer from a metal band."
@sanguinemsaucius I love you so much
My siblings wish they were me
Your siblings could never
Who needs familial approval when you're rolling with Cardinal Potato
Ultimate bedtime companion