making it up as we go

Fallout 4 Companions Fan Art

>>>WATCH THIS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLd_UvgTDaA (yes this is domhnall’s actual father)

dad hux fucks up again !!! !! !

A Writer’s Prayer

Let me forgive myself for the stories that are not perfect, for the scenes rushed through and the plot points fumbled, and the language less than it ought to be, and the phrases that make me wince even though no one notices but me.

Let me forgive myself for the stories I didn’t write, didn’t finish, or didn’t let anyone see - because I was too busy, too lazy, too tired, too frightened, because I was living my life, or saving my life, because I was falling in love, or falling out of love, because I had run out of words, or room, or time, let me forgive myself for all those stories that live inside me and not on the page.

Let me forgive myself for my failures, but also for all those times when I tallied my shortcomings instead of celebrating each small success. Let me celebrate now: not the life that I dreamed of, but the life that I have, not the stories that I dreamed of, but the stories that I’ve made, not the writer I imagined I’d one day be, but the writer that I am.

And then let me keep working.

                                                             - Terri Windling

After logging onto their computers today, staff here at the Museum of English Rural Life were greeted by an unusual email from the Assistant Curator:

There appears to be a dead mouse in this mousetrap…

It began.

…which is not described as being there on the database. Can you perhaps check whether it should be there and/or decide if having a dead mouse in the trap is the best way forward from a conservation perspective. [/s]

So, this retired rodent had managed to sneak past University of Reading security, exterior doors and Museum staff, and clambered its way up into our Store. Upon finding itself there it would have found the promised land; a mouse paradise laid before it full of straw, wood and textiles. Then, out of thousands of objects, it chose for its home the very thing designed to kill it some 150 years ago: a mouse trap.

The trap itself was not baited, but this did not stop our mouse from wriggling inside and, finding itself trapped, meet its demise. The trap was manufactured by Colin Pullinger & Sons of Silsey, West Sussex in 1861. It is a multi-catch trap with a see-saw mechanism, and you can see its object record here. It is known as a ‘Perpetual Mouse Trap’ and proudly declares that it ‘will last a lifetime’. How apt.

Pests are, of course, a perpetual menace in any museum. Curators and conservators are always alert for the tell-tale signs of moths, beetles and rodents which feast on the organic materials we hold in store. Hygiene and regular cleaning are a first line of defence, as are glazed cases. Objects are also treated before storage or display to ensure anything lurking within is killed. And while our most vulnerable objects have always been cased – such as clothing and leather – the rest of our stored collection made of sturdier wood and metal was only fully glazed over last year. This mouse may have snuck into the trap before this glazing, or otherwise managed to get in while construction work has been carried out for the Museum’s redevelopment.

We have traps set for pests, but we can never catch everything all of the time. This mouse managed to sign its own death warrant before it could do any more damage, the extent of which was only a nibbled label. We will also have to determine whether this mouse was a scout or part of a larger family. Luckily, because the collection is heavily used it is often only a matter of time before any kind of infestation is noticed and nipped in the bud. This mouse was found when our Assistant Curator was in the Stores selecting objects for use in an interdisciplinary research session on the subject of ‘Animals at Reading’. Our current MERL Fellow, Professor Karen Sayer, is also particularly interested in traps as part of her ongoing research into rats and pest control and regularly views our collection.