Kriimuline-blog - Luulud

do you have the "my, what a cool and lovely autumn poem" perchance

Netflix has been announcing some new cast members for season 2, and so far, they have chosen exactly NONE of our fan casts (remember the fan cast polls we did last year?). Not even Jamie Lee Curtis!

Rude.

Sometimes a disability is an all-or-nothing, you can either do an activity or you can't. But often it's much more complicated than that. Some disabilities come in waves, some in acute attacks. Some can technically do an activity, but it's gonna cost them later with pain or worsening of symptoms.

If someone can do an activity one day, but tell you they can't the next day, believe them. If they're a loved one, you can inquire as to why in order to understand them better. If you don't know the person well, the best thing to do is to say "ok" and leave it at that.

Us disabled people have to constantly explain ourselves, defend ourselves, handle being accused of lying or exaggerating. We feel like we're constantly in front of a judge, having to prove our very being.

Having someone go "Sure, no problem" when we say we can't do something, will make a disabled person immensely grateful.

I'm happy to announce that this month I was finally able to buy Pirlouit a proper packsaddle! Doesn't he look very professional? And handsome. He receives a lot of compliments every time a visitor sees him all dressed up.

If he looks a bit wary in this photo it's because it was the first time I added the baskets, and as he'd never seen such large baskets before he wasn't sure they weren't about to eat him. His nervousness only took the form of twitchy ears though, there was no drama. (And he can be very melodramatic, so really he's been very stoical and self-possessed in the process of getting used to the packsaddle.)

He can also sulk for days if I make him do something he doesn't like (e.g. hoof care, which he seems to interpret as pointless torture), so I find it gratifying that every time we've used the packsaddle so far, he didn't try to avoid me the next day but came to greet me—he makes it very obvious when he is offended by an activity, and I'm glad that he seems to enjoy being asked to help carry things :).

When I bought the packsaddle I was a bit concerned about the girth being too small, because Pirou refused to let me measure his circumference beforehand (and I was pretty sure having to resort to some sort of girth extender would embarrass him) (but he does have a very round belly...)

But no; I was able to fasten all the straps—though I spared him the crupper strap at first.

I had to have two tall trees felled in the pasture (because of a project I will talk about in another post), and I also cut a couple of storm-damaged trees in my woods, so I spent a lot of time this year cutting & splitting logs. I now have several stacks quite far from my house, in places that can't be reached with a wheelbarrow, and my donkey's help is very appreciated to carry everything to the woodshed. Plus, the people who visit me are usually more into doing stuff with the llamas, so this allows me to give attention to Pirlouit too, while doing something useful.

Aren't you proud to be now in my Top 3 Most Useful Animals, Pirou?

... wait he's still grumbling about that one comment.

"I know your school didn't teach you how to write fanfic-" I know this is something said in response to Americans whining about their education system in response to racism, but my school English class actually did have us write an epilogue to a book we were reading as an assignment, so in a way my school did teach me how to write fanfic. I have no point to make with this point and I don't care to i just wanted to share a tidbit about my life