
thejeff |
thejeff wrote:Quote:I didn't know you were in the Howe Caverns area. I used to do a lot of caving up around there.
as the rock they were looking at came alive...that was college number 1 , which is right down the road.
I think i like secret caverns better, its more natural and the place could honestly be a d&d dungeon with zero work.
Just add a few monsters.
Yeah, it's not as big, but it's not as overdeveloped either. Plus I love the signs. :)
Both of them connect to other wild caves in the area. I got to do a trip where we came out in Secret just by the waterfall - after hours so we didn't get to scare any tourists though.

BigNorseWolf |
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Said college. The dorm room heaters are cranked to 90. So you crack your door or you roast
One of the RAs likes to take advantage of that and poke their head in trying to catch people.
So i tell the guy in the room next to me to knock on the wall when he tries it in his room. Set up a tarot card table cloth and dragon candle holder on the floor, put on the cloak.
"Dennstabula punctilabula quercus alba in quinitom draconis. Rkyley cuthulu ryleh...."
Next day our much cooler RA
"Hey, Bob said he's NEVER going to patrol down here again, why do I think I should ask YOU about that?"

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BigNorseWolf wrote:Ok, I am missing context here. Catch for what?Said college. The dorm room heaters are cranked to 90. So you crack your door or you roast
One of the RAs likes to take advantage of that and poke their head in trying to catch people.
Smoking weed? Cohabitating with co-eds? Dancing nekkid on the tabletops?
What did you do in your dorm room that you didn't want the RA to see? :)
BigNorseWolf |

Drejk wrote:BigNorseWolf wrote:Ok, I am missing context here. Catch for what?Said college. The dorm room heaters are cranked to 90. So you crack your door or you roast
One of the RAs likes to take advantage of that and poke their head in trying to catch people.
Smoking weed? Cohabitating with co-eds? Dancing nekkid on the tabletops?
What did you do in your dorm room that you didn't want the RA to see? :)
In my case it was putting duct tape over the light on the smoke detector , which was placed precisely to beam a laser into my eye as i was trying to sleep...
But mostly I had the idea and thought it would be funny...

BigNorseWolf |
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Speech in highschool. I do mine on the psychosomatic nature of "curses" and cures.
"If I just say poof you're cursed, no ones going to believe that. But..."
Some hair from a willing audience participation member, a giant dragon goblet that started smoking when I added blood red koolaid (because of the dry ice) and some ominous chanting from the necronomicon....
Three funny/odd/funny things happened.
The teacher freaked out and stopped me about 30 seconds in...
During the students question and answer one of the kids asked if the volunteer was ok. He said he was, and his headache was even gone.
Same students asked me what I"d do if my volunteer did freak. "I'd show them the "curse" I was reading was a protective prayer "not in the face not in the face" , not a curse..."
Pause to consider why that might have gotten rid of his headache despite the hypothesis of the speech....No. We did NOT work that part out in advance...
Third thing i was told i was not allowed to keep the dry ice. Because safety. Go give it to the chemistry teacher. Said teacher oooed, took the class out onto the field, crushed the dry ice and put it into a 2 liter water bottle, set a bucket on top of the bottle. Calmly took 2 steps to walk away, then started running. There was a loud BOOM anad the bucket achieved low orbit. I think we may have found A piece of the 2 liter bottle.

BigNorseWolf |
3 people marked this as a favorite. |

Park trucks on the side of the road, leaning in the window to talk to one of the guys. All of a sudden he looks down and starts panicking.
Figuring he's about to make a break for the woods (and that maybe the car caught his foot on fire or something... they were prone to that sort of thing) I open the door and step to the side like a doorman.
Instead of my buddy... a rather large garter snake comes crawling out of the car. Looks around. And Slithers off into the woods.
"he was in my boot...."
We hadn't been walking around the woods for at least an hour at that point...

BigNorseWolf |
3 people marked this as a favorite. |

The large newfie/black lab mentioned above that knew when mom was sick protected her back yard. The oil guys used to let the new guy go back there, only to be put up against the wall by the big doggie. They thought it was funny. Not sure what would have happened if they hadn't listened to the dog telling them "up against the wall and don't move"... everyone listened.
But for some reason the house wasn't hers. I don't know if she was used to pizza delivery, because she didn't like stairs so she didn't go there, or what. But anyone could walk in the front door and come up the stairs with no problem. (they were not allowed near lil sisses bedroom though)
Well, almost anyone...
We had a family squabble that my little sister tried to break up. In the ensuing mosh pit, big sis knocked lil sis down. At which point the Dog broke up the fight... because Lil sis is HER puppy.
six months later Big Sis comes back for a vist. Dog comes to see if there's pizza, sees big sis... grrrrrrrr... oh hell no. Stands at the top of the stairs and won't move.
"(Wolf) ... come tell the dog I can come on
"Com on let her in
"ggrrrrrrrr..
Me "Dog says no. Sorry.
Sis "Well we're going to have to get rid of the dog then.
Me "hmmm.. wouldn't count on it. I think you'd have to run the table to tie.
Sis "What?"
Me "Well, I'm voting for the dog, Lil sis is definitely going to vote for the dog, the dogs going to vote for the dog. That leaves you mom and dad to vote for you and really wouldn't be sure of two of those... "

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How are your rats doing these days Woran? I got a male this summer who is the largest rat I have ever seen outside the wild. ("the wild" = New York City subway system). I think he about a pound and a half (680g). Not sure he is the heaviest rat I have ever had, but he is definitely the largest.
Two have passed on by now.
One we had to put to sleep as he got dementia and started to forget what food was.The other of natural causes. Heart problems, which is prevailant in male rats.
The two that are left are being stinky old men that mostly sleep.
Does your big boy have any companions?

BigNorseWolf |
7 people marked this as a favorite. |

Crash. Thud.
"Hey, where's the turkey?
We had a huge thanksgiving turkey somehow make its way off of the island in the kitchen.
It was too high up for the dog to reach
If the cat had somehow dragged it off the table it would still be on the floor.
We found it with the dog and the cat sharing it in the closet. The cat must have pushed it off the table so the dog could pick it up and hide it. Whats more, the cat must have had that as a plan, otherwise she would have just taken a few bites.
They're not only smarter than we give them credit for they're plotting against us....

Vanykrye |
4 people marked this as a favorite. |

Crash. Thud.
"Hey, where's the turkey?
We had a huge thanksgiving turkey somehow make its way off of the island in the kitchen.
It was too high up for the dog to reach
If the cat had somehow dragged it off the table it would still be on the floor.
We found it with the dog and the cat sharing it in the closet. The cat must have pushed it off the table so the dog could pick it up and hide it. Whats more, the cat must have had that as a plan, otherwise she would have just taken a few bites.
They're not only smarter than we give them credit for they're plotting against us....
And you know damn well the dog didn't plan it.

Irontruth |
3 people marked this as a favorite. |

My current dog is a voracious eater. He's learned to open cabinets to get his food. I had to buy a large stainless steel locking cannister, and that's worked for a while now.
A couple months into quarantine, food security had gotten lax. I live in a studio, and if I'm home he doesn't try to feed himself. I had gotten a large deep dish pizza the night before. Pulled it out for lunch, and forgot to put it back in the fridge. After taking him out for our daily fetch, I dropped him back in the apartment, and went to a socially distanced gathering outside. I forgot about the pizza again.
Came back, and the pizza box was on the floor. There wasn't even a single drop of sauce on the box or floor, and he was about 2-3 inches wider in diameter.

Vanykrye |
3 people marked this as a favorite. |

My current dog is a voracious eater. He's learned to open cabinets to get his food. I had to buy a large stainless steel locking cannister, and that's worked for a while now.
A couple months into quarantine, food security had gotten lax. I live in a studio, and if I'm home he doesn't try to feed himself. I had gotten a large deep dish pizza the night before. Pulled it out for lunch, and forgot to put it back in the fridge. After taking him out for our daily fetch, I dropped him back in the apartment, and went to a socially distanced gathering outside. I forgot about the pizza again.
Came back, and the pizza box was on the floor. There wasn't even a single drop of sauce on the box or floor, and he was about 2-3 inches wider in diameter.
Yeah, but that's different. You were gone *FOREVER*. He was gonna starve to death. IMMEDIATELY.
In BNW's case, you know the cat was the coordinator of that. "NO, not HERE! He'll see it! Come on, lug that thing over here! I know a spot."

BigNorseWolf |
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And you know damn well the dog didn't plan it.
Only because that dog wouldn't trust the cat if it was her idea.
Middle of the night. Dog paws at the door. WOOF
Paws at the door WOOOF!
Alright alright, I'll let you out. Get out of bed. Open door to let dog out.
Dog turns around. Jumps into bed. Claims the warm spot and won't move.
I still tend to sleep leaving room for a dog.

Fergie |
3 people marked this as a favorite. |

Does your big boy have any companions?
He had a small female named Svanhild, but she had to be put to sleep a week ago. The two were a great pair, as she used to sleep on him like he was a bean bag chair. She was a super active little girl who survived a quadruple mastectomy for breast cancer. She bounced back from the surgery like a champ, but had some other internal issues that she could not recover from.
Siguard, the big male, has been kind of depressed (as have we all) for about two weeks now, which is just so sad to see. I'm going to have to start taking him out for some socially distanced socialization with humans. But we humans are just not as great as rats.

BigNorseWolf |
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The newfie/black lab would just come and get me when she wanted something. She opened my door her head (locked or not didn't matter), gives a "here boy" look and walked to what she wanted me to do: open the door, get food, go get something for the sick person etc.
I had my foot operated on and had what looked like a bound spiral notebook on my foot for a few days. I get home from the hospital, its time for her walk, she comes over, sniffs my foot gives me a look, and walks away.
I get the staples out. Process repeats for three days. Look at foot. Walk away. Third day, she sniffs the foot. Sits down and keeps staring at me.
" vacations over huh?"
Stare. Stare. Stare.
" fiiine.. lets go..."
Walks over to leash.
She did let me get away with only going to the end of the block though.

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The newfie/black lab would just come and get me when she wanted something. She opened my door her head (locked or not didn't matter), gives a "here boy" look and walked to what she wanted me to do: open the door, get food, go get something for the sick person etc.
I had my foot operated on and had what looked like a bound spiral notebook on my foot for a few days. I get home from the hospital, its time for her walk, she comes over, sniffs my foot gives me a look, and walks away.
I get the staples out. Process repeats for three days. Look at foot. Walk away. Third day, she sniffs the foot. Sits down and keeps staring at me.
" vacations over huh?"
Stare. Stare. Stare.
" fiiine.. lets go..."
Walks over to leash.
She did let me get away with only going to the end of the block though.
You've got to really, really appreciate animals that are good at communicating their wants to you. I have one cat who is very close to what you describe, she always lets me know EXACTLY what she wants.
The other has a single miaow for EVERYTHING. He's hungry, he wants attention, he has got himself stuck, he is pissed off at the other cat. The exact same miaow. Together with a look of disgust when I can't figure it out :-)

BigNorseWolf |
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We briefly had my sisters pitbull with us.
For christmas I got a very soft wolf blanket, velvety on one side, wool like on the other.
As I was holding it and heading for my room the pitbull came up. Rubbed up against the blanket. Her ears went up. She pulled the blanket out of my hand, turned around on it twice and flopped down on it in the middle of the hallway.
"Ermm.. merry christmas?"

BigNorseWolf |

Mauritania
A lot of the americans looked the same to the locals. Me, they could spot halfway accross the desert. The kids would point and go "Papa Tubab" which.. well the polite translation might be Papa Foreigner or Papa white guy.
The family i was staying with had company, so they tossed some rugs on a beam in between the houses for some extra shade. Flat side up and down to make it easier, but weaker.
We had a sandstorm come in and i saw the board flapping up down, up down, up down building up on itself in some kind of resonance. One of my host sisters was under the beam washing up.
"Hey, i think you should move "
"I'm fine...."
Really. really bad feeling.
"No, look. Seriously, I know wood. Lets go, inside the building..."
Move over and make a shooing motion inside, then take my own advice and head inside my room in the building. I turn around to go in and there's a loud CRACK and the board breaks off. The jagged end of it snaps and impales itself in the ground right where she was sitting.
Everyone stares at the board for a second. Then looks at me.
"What... Listen to the Tubab next time"
One of the The peace corps office overseers was worried that I'd disturbed someone washing up... because priorities.

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Woran wrote:Does your big boy have any companions?He had a small female named Svanhild, but she had to be put to sleep a week ago. The two were a great pair, as she used to sleep on him like he was a bean bag chair. She was a super active little girl who survived a quadruple mastectomy for breast cancer. She bounced back from the surgery like a champ, but had some other internal issues that she could not recover from.
Siguard, the big male, has been kind of depressed (as have we all) for about two weeks now, which is just so sad to see. I'm going to have to start taking him out for some socially distanced socialization with humans. But we humans are just not as great as rats.
Aw, poor Svanhild :(
Yeah, if you can get the male castrated, then males and females together are great (or if they otherwise cant reproduce). The males are completely devoted to the females, and that is just the way they like it ;)All my females had breast cancer at some point. Luckily its easy to operate on. (harder to keep them from pulling out stitches.
The last rat remaning can get very depressed. Keeping them near you helps, but you're right. Its not the same for them. Usually, males can be easily re-introduced to other male rats of the same age, one they are past puberty. Then a lot of the fight gets out of them (no reason to be the boss rat if there is no reproduction).
So if there is someone near you with another single male rat, there is a chance they could become friends.

Irontruth |
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BigNorseWolf |
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It's a COLD day for syracuse. Which means COLD. The animal behavior teacher sees me sitting in the front row in a t shirt while the rest of the class is getting out of their many many layers of parkas hoodies and sweatshirts. He facepalms points and me and asks the class "Who thinks its a mutant?"
I assume the few hands that didn't go up didn't hear him....

BigNorseWolf |
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Highschool. Just missed the bus and I'm running after it. Bright idea, throw my backpack at the bus , the driver will here the thump, see me in the mirror and stop.
Throw the backpack... which weighs around 40 pounds because I never had time to go to my locker.
Backpack hits the bus with a loud THUMP
Driver thinks she's hit something... and slams the breaks.
I'm now running full speed , having just launched a backpack, so hunched over face first.
CLANG. Face first into the bus.
Get On. Explain what happened. Get to school. I don't even get to walk into the cafeteria before my best friend just points and laughs at me, apparently having heard the story sometime between the bus arriving and me walking in the front door...

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3 people marked this as a favorite. |

Highschool. Just missed the bus and I'm running after it. Bright idea, throw my backpack at the bus , the driver will here the thump, see me in the mirror and stop.
Throw the backpack... which weighs around 40 pounds because I never had time to go to my locker.
Backpack hits the bus with a loud THUMP
Driver thinks she's hit something... and slams the breaks.
I'm now running full speed , having just launched a backpack, so hunched over face first.
CLANG. Face first into the bus.
Get On. Explain what happened. Get to school. I don't even get to walk into the cafeteria before my best friend just points and laughs at me, apparently having heard the story sometime between the bus arriving and me walking in the front door...
Given all your previous stories, I need to ask a question: how’s the bus?

BigNorseWolf |
4 people marked this as a favorite. |

At the doctor, going down my list of symptoms. A bunch of things fit but a few things are on the "that shouldn't be possible" list of not fitting.
I apologize, I'm veterinary medicine. And have been declared a mutant freak by biologists qualified to do so.
Doctor starts cracking up. "Sorry but I have to ask, do you do role playing games, dungeons and dragons or something, you remind me of some friends..."
Turns out he used to do gurps and warhhammer.