Who d'you suppose decided the birds are free?

I'iwi aka Scarlet Honeycreeper (Drepanis coccinea), family Fringillidae, order Passeriformes, Hawaii

That’s right… they’re in the finch family, Fringillidae!

—Did you know that Juneteenth is also celebrated in a part of Mexico? Nacimiento Mexico was once home to thousands who escaped slavery in the US. As many as 10,000 slaves followed a clandestine Southern Underground Railroad to Mexico. —To date, many Black Mexicans from the Texas area retrace a portion of the same route their African American ancestors followed in 1850 when they escaped slavery. —Descendants of slaves who escaped across the southern border observe Texas’s emancipation holiday with their own unique traditions in the village of Nacimiento. —Slave hunters would patrol the southern border for escapees, led by the Texas Rangers but the Mexican army would be there waiting for them (the slave hunters) to turn them away.

contains the following

queer characters

calls to adventure

basement dragon

sassy old man

shitwizard

Please have a moment of silence for the people who were killed instead of freed when news of emancipation finally reached the furthest corners of the american south.

have another moment for the ledgers, catalogs, and records that were burned and the homes that were destroyed to hide the presence of very much alive and still enslaved people on dozens of plantations and homesteads across the south for decades after emancipation.

and have a third moment for those who were hunted and killed while fleeing the south to find safety across the border, overseas, in the north and to the west.

black people. light a candle, write a note to those who have passed telling them what you have achieved in spite of the racist and intolerant conditions of this world, feel the warmth of the flame under your hand, say a prayer of rememberance if you are religious, place the note under the candle, and then blow it out.

if you have children, sit them down and tell them anything you know about the life of oldest black person you've ever met. it doesn't have to be your own family. tell them what you know about what life was like for us in the days, years, decades after emancipation. if you don't know much, look it up and learn about it together.

This is Juneteenth.

I will post full thoughts after work today but you will need:

High value treats! My cats will eat garbage so any ole treat will do for them, but for other cats I always recommend something like Churu for prolonged handling sessions or small and soft treats for quick learning

A crate or backpack. If you want your cat to learn how to be outside adventure kitty, I recommend a backpack. If you are just looking to get them in a carrier for vet trips, any carrier will suffice. I personally prefer hard sided carriers.

A room to train in. Especially if you have more fearful or feral cats, being able to close a door and create a distraction-free place is super helpful.

A clicker. I find my cats respond better to the clicker than a "yes" cue. And if I am training my dog at the same time, it's not as confusing who I am rewarding (the dog cues to a verbal, I haven't taught him a clicker)

And for general vet visits, see if your vet will allow Happy Visits! These are generally half hour sessions where you and your pet (not necessarily a cat) sit at the vet and get cookies and chat with the staff. My clinic team will set up a full game plan as needed to prepare a patient for a successful visit, but sometimes all you need to do is walk in and sit in the lobby during a quiet time of day and then boogie-oogie on outta there.

Okay so the biggest thing you (general) should know about cats is that they are very not responsive to negative reinforcement or any type of punishment. It just makes them sneakier. The only thing that breaks this rule, really, is if you are trying to keep them from door-dashing but that's another topic I can spiel about elsewhere.

Handling: Especially for shy/nervous cats, the beginning steps should take place in a quiet room. I like setting up a "home room" for new cats in my house with the litter box, food and water dishes, beds, hiding places, and some toys. (This is important for homes with resident cats too, because you should always do a quarantine with new cats - especially ones that come from a farm or other outdoor situation!)

During meal times, go in and sit with the cats without trying to interact with them. Just place the bowl down and sit quietly. You may need to place the bowl closer to a hiding spot than yourself for starters and that's okay - the idea here is that you become associated with the food as a comforting presence. You aren't grabbing the cat, trying to pet it, anything like that. You are a safe thing that the cat can investigate at their comfort level. The cat will, eventually, come for sniffs, at which point you can offer what my vet behaviorist calls "friendly hands" - a closed fist the cat can sniff and, if it wants to engage with you, will headbutt!

One of my coworkers says "dogs have opinions and cats have rules" when it comes to handling, which I've found to be really true. Cats have to 1. find something in it for them and 2. be given the autonomy to choose to do the thing. So all steps need to be taken at their pace and giving them plenty of what they find reinforcing - this could be catnip, treats, or a toy. It's unlikely to be touch or companionship in nervous cats (at least to start.)

I wouldn't try doing any "medical" handling, e.g. nail trims, until the cat is comfortable with regular pets/chin scratches. This is also a place you can introduce clicker training! You'll need to break down training into the smallest of steps and reward heavily. I can post some videos in a reblog~

Carriers

This is actually a lot easier than handling lol

I love hard sided carriers for safety. Too many cats have ripped thru the seams of carriers or gotten the flaps open... Plus getting them used to a carrier is easier with a hard carrier!

In the home room, leave the bottom of the carrier with a blanket. Sprinkle treats as you want, or even put the food bowl there.

Once you find evidence of the cat sitting in the carrier (hair on the blanket) or catch them in the act, you can put the lid on the carrier but leave the door off. Up the ante and leave really high value treats/food in there - you may have to leave the food at the doorway and move it back into the carrier slowly. Only move to the next step when you see the cat/evidence of cat in carrier.

This is the active step.... You will need to close the door to the carrier with them in it. Don't even latch the door, just close it, then reward, then open up the door and let them choose to go out if they want.

Once I have gotten to this point in the training, my cats never fussed with car trips - they knew the carrier was a safe place to be. If, however, the cats are upset by car rides, you can break down the training steps further into: kennel in car, kennel in car with car on, kennel in car in motion (short trips to start! Down the driveway and back for example).

If you are training with a backpack for adventures, use a similar process but leaving the backpack open. Some cats find this type of container to be very enriching and may play around/in the bag without prompting.

Also, leave the carrier out randomly for no reason or, minimally, several days before a vet visit so that they don't associate it with ONLY the vet. That can undo all of your hard work!

Vet Visits

This one can be a bit trickier... I mentioned doing Happy Visits before and that can be really really good for any animal at the vet. This is a step where. Other things that can stress cats out are restraint and pokes.

The main type of restraint we use are for blood draws, either the jugular or the back leg.

If you get a cat used to its head being held (cupped under the jaw from behind, usually with two hands) then it's not as scary when we do it. Reward! Reward! Reward! I like to give my cats Churu for the whole time I am holding them like this. Remember tho, if they are fighting you then back off of what you are doing and take a smaller step!

This particular cat is being held in what we refer to as a "cat stretch" (original, I know). It's mostly done when a cat tries to scrunch their shoulders up, but if you have been handling the cats to have feet touched then holding hands (paws) in the vet clinic is less of a fight.

And this is a back leg draw. We try really hard to avoid scruffing because it's such an aggressive move... but otherwise the process is the same. I don't know if I would recommend trying to train this one except maybe to hold around the belly? Let me noodle on that one!

Physical exams at the vet involve looking at the mouth, pressing on the belly, and moving/stretching the back legs. We sometimes just let a cat his at us and examine the mouth that way lol. Otherwise you can work on all those things at home too.

It's also okay and absolutely never shameful to ask for medication assistance with vet visits. If I was small, in a place that smelled weird and was really loud, didn't speak the language as the giants poking and prodding me.... i would probably get really fiesty too. Gabapentin helps a lot of cats at this stage! Both my cats need it for visits (girl because she will do a murder out of fear, boy because he is big and dumb and throws around his weight when he just doesn't want to) but on gaba, I was able to do a sitting jugular on my girl!!!

The biggest takeaways are:

Small steps, smaller than you think and

Go at their pace! Rushing it will make it worse.

I have book recommendations too but I am not near my bookshelf so I will have to reblod with all my references etc.

Junicorn x Witch Hat Atelier

Prompt 4: leopard appaloosa (ft. Euini)

natasha in endgame:

Forbidding the iranian team coaches from entering the country and forcing them to direct the game from MEXICO through a tv

Players from non european countries being stopped and searched like criminals with dogs

Deporting african referees just because of their nationality

Forbidding interviews from being spoken i'm languages other than English and forbidding journalists and players from speaking their native languages

Meanwhile, side note:

I haven't had time to verify this yet but I heard America's tourism is down 14% from this time last year