A day in the life of Marcus: Fotography is Phun

Where in, I discover the joy photoing

Potted Pepper in B/W

The original snap shot

Painted in Colours

I play around with the other tools for a little

 S'potted

 is my favorite

Fleas

I guess i really am a flea-bitten hippie now. It started harmlessly enough, Pepper went too long without Frontlone treatment. So we treated her when these horrible insects appeared. They, of course, like all sentient creatures in dire situations, were forced to find a new home: me. I found anit-bug/anti-flea stuff - mycodex- and sprayed the house. It promises "to break the flea life cycle and controls reinfestation for up to 210 days." This was three or five days ago. Today, I believe, it couldn't get worse. Flea bits are hundred times worse then mosquitoes, thistle, maybe worse then ivies of varying toxicity.

I did find a remedy (kinda). While hydrocortisone based products reduce itching and irritation by immunosuppression, products like Afterbite™, mostly Ammonia, reduces itchiness presumably by lowing the skin PH. I come to this conclusion because baking soda (CHNaO₃) is a fantastic treatment for wasp stings. Anywho, I was reading a book about curative baths and they suggested a tincture of black tea to ease the skin. Ok it's not really a tincture, but a tea bath - a slightly brownish tannin heavy solution of bathwater. I tried both types of baths. Yesterday the baking soda and today the tea. It's definitely weird to have your bath water smell like delicious breakfast tea. I was supposed to use 2oz of dry tea leaves but i only had one tea bag left and no scale. So accuracy is out the window in these experiments. Also, I neglected to record or mark a bath-water level.

The baking soda bath definitely made me feel slightly better.If only for 45 minutes. The tea bath was much more relaxing. I also noticed with grim satisfaction many (5) drowned fleas. Tomorrow I guess I'll have to come up with some more aggressive solutions.

I hate parasites. especially ones I notice or leave incriminating evidence of their leechiness. Sure, i might no need all my blood; but i certainly don't need hundreds of horrible bites always arranged in groups. if i were a more creative man i'd come up with a decoder for reading the crytic messages the fleas are leaving in their bite patterns.

I think the worst of it is that neither Pepper nor Ruby seem to be suffering as much as I.  She's very intent on not scratching and Pepper, well, she's a cat. You can never really tell if she cares or notices the bugs. I've been thinking if I'm going to live with body lice I should eat them when I find them. It only seems appropriate. Vengeance, really, an eye for an eye and the like. Bite me, bugger, I'll bite you right back.

I've always romanticized about being a pirate. I guess this is a step towards living the dream. Yet without a ship or a crew I'm only a roof-over-my-head away from being a creative homeless guy. I just hope

until better daze, Marcus

back to monday

all yesterday i sat, staring at this empty blog space trying to think of something to share. I s'pose it's harder to be interesting when things are ...good. So i'll talk about someone else for a change.

Pepperchan almost caught herself a rabbit yesterday.

A juvenal bunny hopping playfully among clover and violets. He pauses once in every skip to sniff the air and nibble some grass. A warm breeze rolls through the grass. A dark shape emerges so slowly; slipping like a shadow towards it's unsuspecting prey. She stops. He stops. no longer does the air feel quite so warm. An odd chill. He looks up to see if a cloud has past overhead. In the clear sky the afternoon sun hangs above the leafy branches of a walnut tree but a shadow on the ground. Grass forgotten he slowly, ever so slowly for to do otherwise was to invite the specter closer, he looks across the grass. Still too young, too small to see over the long tufts of green. For an instant, even the wind holds it's breath.She is inches from him now. A paw's swipe. Run. He bonds away. She leaps to where he was. Flying dirt, pebbles and grass she takes chase. it is over in seconds. though every movement every action is like a choreographed dance. A kabuto. They waltz through tall grass, zig-zagging clover and around the tree until, finally, when his heart pounds ferociously in his chest, she gives up chase. He is in the middle of a field. Too far from cover to be safe. She paces ten - no six- hops away. A wooden pile of logs invites safety. He breaks for it. She tags playfully behind, tail wagging with delight. She neither closes the distance nor advances until he disappears. When he is gone from sight she retreats; sprinting home to tell her extraordinary tale.

today

I love Kitties.

went to the humane shelter. bad choice. fell in love with an adorible kitten (2 months). She's really not that cute: kinda scrawny and akward. She's my soul mate. I picked her up and she bent over backwards trying to lick my hands. adoribly ungraceful.
they named her "Whopper."
thats somesorta animal abuse.

anyway, now we're going to try to figure out if and how we can abopt her. Although we've no plans for the future.

yay!
-keep it real...ish. Marcus