TwistedRibbon

They started messaging. Cachét complimented his drawing of a human-bug threesome and asked for a print. Three years later, Cachét and David got married. The human-bug threesome drawing hangs on the wall of their home.

Now take this logic and apply it to things like ADHD, autism, clinical depression, and other less visible/divergent disabilities. You cannot think your way out of feeling.

When I first found some triops by accident, back in 2010, they absolutely blew my mind. The next time I found a few, in 2018, I was excited to see them but they seemed less alien because I knew what they were. And since they lived in puddles quite close to home, I knew where to find them.

Triops eggs can dry up and lie dormant for extended periods, which allows them to live in the desert. They need good rain to hatch, and it takes two or three weeks for them to grow to adulthood. Their lifespan is 60-90 days in good conditions, but of course conditions don't always cooperate.

This year we had a nice monsoon, with steady rain starting in late June. I saw the first triops in Palominas at the beginning of August, and found this bunch a week or so later. I have never seen them laying eggs before, but that was clearly what they were doing as they made little dips in the mud by swishing their shrimp tails.

When I went looking for them at the end of the month, with a friend who was excited to see some triops, there were still good puddles but not a triops (or even a tadpole) to be found. At least I know they had a chance to lay eggs.

The vomeronasal organ is probably why a dog’s nose is wet. Most animals with vomeronasal organs have wet noses, too. It is difficult for an airborne odor to land squarely on the vomeronasal organ, since it is situated in a safe, dark interior recess of the face. A hearty sniff not only brings molecules into the dog’s nasal cavity; little molecular bits also stick onto the moist exterior tissue of the nose. Once there, they can dissolve and travel to the vomeronasal organ through interior ducts. When your dog nuzzles against you, he is actually collecting your odor on his nose: better to confirm that you’re you. In this way, dogs double their methods of smelling the world.