Thank you! She's just trying to stay warm, lol.

:

Hello my darlings, Happy New Year. I just wanted to chit-chat a bit and catch you up on what's going on in my little family.

Some of you have been very observant and have mentioned that I have been rather absent from the forum for quite some time. I have only been able to do the minimum amount of Subeta-ing to get the achievements and then I sign off. I haven't done much of what I love to do, interacting with the ones I love and cherish.

As it turns out ( and I have mentioned this to many of you in my gift cards ) that I have been quite ill since September with a recurring upper respiratory infection and I have very little strength to do any more then to do the minimum amount of my work and then collapse into bed when I get home.

I will be seeing a human doctor next week and I hope he can help me.

So, this is the reason why I was so late with my Luminaire gifts...I missed the whole tree thingie. Sorry bout that.

Enough about me. I want to talk about my family...

Weldon is still retired from the Watchers, my communities military force. Ever since the end of the Great Civil War, he had been in charge of the Watcher Air Corps, training pilots, organizing flight schedules and strategic command. But since there was no longer any need for combat air support, he transitioned the Air Corps from a combat unit into a humanitarian and rescue unit and downsized the entire division. He essentially downsized himself out of a job. For which he was awarded the promotion to Brigadier General Weldon George, Retired and placed in reserve. Weldon now spends some of his time volunteering with fire and rescue brigade in our village. He also spends every other weekend with my twin brother Friedrich, the Master of Lore and History doing research. Together, they are writing Weldon's memoirs and a detailed historical account of the events that preceded the Great Civil War. I promise you that it will be a riveting read. Weldon does all the cooking here at home and has gotten very good at it.

My oldest children:

Luna is still single, she is too picky in her quest to find a mate, although there has hardly been any measurable exploration that I have been able to observe. I'm not too worried, Luna is strong, smart, beautiful and she'll soon find the right one when she is ready. In the meantime, she finished her Journey-Level II examinations in Lore Craft and has been offered a position with my brother, the Lore Master, Friedrich as his personal secretary. Luna will be moving to the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains where the Hall of Lore is located buried under the fuselage of an old wrecked Mitchell B-29 bomber. Luna is very excited and starts in mid January.

Jairen finished his Journey-Level III certification in Music Lore and Education and moved up the mountain about fifty miles from here. I heard that he is now married, but we haven't met his mate. We are very proud of him, but he is too far away to visit on a regular basis. We rarely get news via the Sierra Bird Network, their range is also quite limited.

Sparkles became a Level II metal-worker and works in Captain Lizzi Leastweasel's fabrication shop working on new inventions with Merril Starchild and Captain Lizzi. Sparkles hasn't taken a mate yet, but there is a rumor that he has his eye on Lizzi and General Mitch Leastweasel's middle daughter, Pansy. They would make a delightful couple and perhaps lots of grandchildren for Weldon and me.

Jacqueline took a mate (Jacko the Gatherer) right out of apprentice school, never finished her Journey Level I exams and is the most driven and successful of all my children. She is pregnant with a litter of five and due to deliver in a month, which will make me a Grandmama. She lives just up the road from here and she is on a maternity sabbatical from her job as Public Relations spokesweasel for Master Sparky Wheezle, the Chairweasel of the Woodland Council. Jacki is brash, outspoken, perky, flirty, and has just the right amount of sass to make a great PR weasel. Everybody loves Jacki.

Aya, the Little One Mark II. Aya is the spitting image of me, pure white, black arrow on her tail, diminutive, smart and a dang good healer. Aya just passed her Journey Level II Healer exams and she can leave Healer's Hall and hang a shingle out in the community if she wants to, but she wants to stay and be close to me and Weldon. Aya is married to Captain Robin of the Watchers and they are waiting to start their family until Robin's next promotion to Major. Aya still only speaks in one or two word phrases but nobody cares, she is loved by all who know or meet her. I'm glad she will be staying close to home. It really confuses folks when we stand right next to each other and don't say anything...

My Younger Ones:

Glendolyn is finishing her apprenticeship classes and she is expected to be selected for training in engineering up in the mines. The Master Miner has made all the arrangements with Weldon and training starts in February. Glendolyn Is taller then any of her brothers and sisters and taller then even Weldon. (Though Weldon isn't all that tall...he looks like a child next to my big cousin Bosco, the largest of the Wheezle clan.)

Samwise is finishing his apprenticeship too and he is hoping to be selected to apprentice with the Watchers, though his grades weren't top of the class. It will be interesting to see what trade selects his, he is super hyperactive like I was. I just didn't get in as much trouble as he seems to have gotten himself into. Still, he is well loved by his instructors, he is a very sweet-natured child despite his tendency to resist any efforts to reign in his impulsivity. If the Woodland Council ever starts a space program, Sammi is their best candidate for astroweasel.

Buckmeister is also finishing his apprenticeship classes and has no idea of what he hopes to be selected for. Truth be told, he could go anywhere. Though he seems blissfully unaware of the world around him, he scored the top score in maths, and wrote the top essay on the written exams. So far five Masters have written letters to Weldon and me offering to wave the apprentice fees if we would consent to a prearrangement. Too bad there is no Selection Hat in the Woodland Council...that would make selecting a trade so much easier. Wherever he goes, Bucki is going to love it, be loved by his Master and he is going to do something fantastic. All my children will.

As for Weldon and me, we're trying for our third litter. I'm not going to give you a play by play commentary here, but lets just say...well (giggle) let's just not say anything. I'll keep you informed as things develop.

I love you all.

That's the news from Glen Meadow, Where the stoats are cute and fuzzy And all the ermine good looking.

Love Frieda. Master Healer of Healer's Hall Glen Meadow, California

, thank you for giving us this update... I was worried. Wishing you a better 2018 then 2017 and hope the human doctor can help!

Full and speedy recovery dear Friend

hope you get to feeling better soon! sending you big hugs and much love sweetie!! ❤

Good to see your name again . I hope the new on your health is good and the remedy as easy as possible so you may have a Happy New Year.

So good to hear how things are going for you and your little family. Hope you feel better soon!

I hope you are feeling better soon like really soon ... I hope that a human doctor can help you instead of like I guess the alien doctor you have been seeing lol get better quick we miss your furry face on the forums

: LOL!! Alien doctor! Har!

You all know what they say about Healers being the worst patients. Since I'm the Master Healer of our community, I guess that makes me the Master Pain In the Rump in our community.

Weldon reminded me that they call human doctors for all wee creatures "Vetrinarnians." I reminded Weldon that they call males who attempt to be funny in front of their mates...bait.

in the insect world I call them Preying Mantis the female eats the head of her mate before they mate that is how the male is stimulated he has to die first which is I guess is to help control the population of the species lol

: Ick! I just gotta wonder about how death by copulation (shudder) ensures the survivability of the mantis species. In my little world, copulating is like the national pastime...

If anybody needs anything from the blue building just ask me I have all the items plus more then enough points to get anything you want either comment or ping me and I will be happy to get it for you

yea I think that would suck being a Preying Mantis ... this fall my wife and I witnessed a preying mantis mating it happened right on front porch while we were out there enjoying the afternoon shade

I read an article on it and the theory is that by feeding the female mantis more eggs are produced and a great deal of the male mantis goes to feeding the eggs. Of course, the flip side is that if the male survives he has a chance to mate more than once and father more eggs that way. Six of one, half a dozen of the other. Duane, did the male survive?

I don't know if the female did but I do know that the male didn't make it he was more then half way eaten which I thought was cool as shit .... I also recorded a spider keeping a locust tied up so he couldn't get away every time the locust would try to get away the spider would hurry up and fix the spot that got messed up and as the locust moved around the spider would web up the locust wings so he couldn't try to get away finally after about an hour or so the spider wins the battle and he had locust for dinner..... I had a tarantula for 15 years it was awesome I know a lot about spiders because of that plus where I live at we every poisonous spider there is for our region we have black widows,brown recluse and we a ton of poisonous snakes as well its always a surprise when mowing the grass lol

Spiders and most snakes are venomous, not poisonous. (The Asian Tiger Snake Rhabdophis tigrinus, is the notable exception that accumulates toxins in its tissues, but also delivers venom via fangs). Poison has to be ingested or absorbed, like with toads and poison dart frogs.

Just thought you might like the trivia.

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I am now having a collective case of the willies. Praying Mantises creep me out because they do that whole mock-offensive scare tactic thing that has been know to cause to me to pee.

Then there's the whole morbid fear of spiders issue...I once attempted to squash Weldon with a boulder because he had a little spider on his shoulder. The hysterical screaming nearly shattered his eardrums.

And then there are crickets. Mind you, I can catch and eat a grasshopper like any good little weasel child, but I will beat a cricket into a paste all the while doing a weasel-war-dance of mindless terror. It's not pretty. It's so undignified to have to watch the Master Healer behaving like that.

My hatred of crickets is legendary and it really makes Weldon angry when I go on about how all crickets should be rounded up and exterminated. He loves crickets. He counts their chirps and calculates the temperature. He tried to keep a cricket in a little cage in our bedroom once until I found it and immolated it in the fireplace. (shudder) Yeah, I have an irrational fear of most insects and arachnids, but crickets are the worst. And I cannot even tell you why.

And talking about my fears only makes it worse....I may never sleep again now.

😰Oh dear, and most bed-time sound machines would be no help for you 'cause their "Soothing night sounds" are 90% cricket chirps... 😱

I do hope you feel better soon hun.

You live a little too close to nature for my taste, lol.

Goodness, I didn't mean to freak you out. For what it's worth, I find praying mantises to be the creepiest things around. Heheh, there was a time once when a group of us kids were frightened away just by one perched on a window screen. It waved its arms at us and we were out of there.

~ Sorry you have been so ill!! Thanks for the update and I hope the doctors can help you get well! ~ uhm gross lol! Learn something new everyday... I had no idea that is how the mantis mate... getting your head bit off, yikes!!

We have Brown Recluse (spelling?) in our neck of the woods too. I don't think I've come across one thank goodness. I forget which poisonous snakes we have. I've mostly seen black snakes and the snake that looks like a coral snake but it's not, forget its name. One year we found a bunch of baby snakes in the garage! Lovely. Found a snake or two in the basement, not so lovely lol. If I remember correctly one of our cats might have killed one in the basement. The joys of living in a wooded area... we get mice in the house all the time, but I have a couple of good hunters (cats) now. Before them I would catch and release the mice because the older cats were not good hunters lol. Now I don't need to bother, I find them dead. Lots of wood roaches too, but they prefer wood not the house but since we use a wood stove and cut and stack wood I see them a lot. And big ugly beetles one time in the cut wood shudders. We also have these big ugly wood spiders (I think that's what they are), brown and fuzzy. I freak out if I find one in the house... catch and release.

I'm rambling lol.... Good Morning Bears!!!

Good morning Bears! I HATE snakes of any kind. Don't care if they are poisonous or not. Scares the crap out of me.