lj-music: Shuuush of the dryer
My hands have been killing me lately…sometimes making me yelp in the middle of conversations…just deep aching, in the big thumb muscle, the joints and the bones between the joints. And the left hand is numb on top of it all. I have so much to do and no one else to do it. And before you ask, no it’s not carpal tunnel. It’s arthritis and the numbness is due to thoracic outlet syndrome. I’ve had arthroscopy on both shoulders and I don’t get the numbness in the right side nearly as bad as in the left. But the pain…in the hands and shoulders, and the grip weakness…oh.my.goddess. Anyway…not sure there’s much I can do about it. My take home pay is going down because UT’s not giving raises* but our insurance premiums are going up. At the same time the deductibles and out of pocket cap are going up…so I’m paying out the fucking wazoo for insurance I can’t use. Nice. Goddamned Republicans. GOP=Grand Obstructionist Party.
Several years ago, one of the NCOs at work had gotten her son a pair of hermit crabs.
He wouldn’t take care of them, so she gave them to me. The poor things were in the little clear plastic Kritter Keeper they came in, with an inch of *growls* aquarium gravel, and she was giving them TAP water. GAH! So I did a bunch of research and spent about a 100 bucks getting a crabitat set up. Little guys were most appreciative and showed me by almost immediately moulting. The bigger one moulted several times and then went down and didn’t come up. Spikey had “disrobed” over the tank heater and dried out. So he’s buried with Caldwell, the Betta Fish, under the Texas Mountain Laurel in the front yard. So…that left Tiny, who is now way bigger than the larger one was when we got them (he was itty bitty at first, hence the name).
I’ve been keeping Tiny in a Kritter Keeper, with the proper bedding, water, and a sheet of cling wrap to hold in the humidity, so he’s doing okay. But hermies are social critters. He needs friends. So I’m going to get one or two more crabs and set the terrarium back up. Scorpionis (Thank you!!) gave me another 10-gallon tank. I have this little wooden typing table—so very, very ubiquitous at UT. I think the furniture shop must’ve made a kabillion of them over the years. I took it and peeled the fake wood Formica off the top and painted it. It’s kind of a pale yellowish now, but I think some nice dark green or blue will be a better color for a crabitat. One tank on top and one underneath, then get some of this…
…which is 4” in diameter (it’ll take the crabbies a long time to get too big to get through it)
and connect them…like this
And see if hermies like crabitrails…hee hee hee
I started this post on Friday and now can’t remember what the “associated crap” was. *facepalm*
*We are getting a one-time 2% payment, not a raise. It’ll be in time for Yule and for me, after taxes, etc. will be about $450…better than a sharp stick in the eye, and just in time for presents, but geeze…really?
