Pretty Pink Patterns!

I love keeping up to date with the new discoveries in the animal world - it's amazing to think that tomorrow there will be dozens more previously unknown insects and a few new animals discovered. Every day means new findings and new delights.

Recently, they discovered another marvellously pink coloured animal in Madagascar - meet the Liophidium pattoni.

Apparently, the snake's fluorescent colouring is to mimic nasty-tasting millipedes in the leaflitter, and they don't yet appear to be toxic or aggressive.



They've also made a colourful RE-discovery a few weeks ago. Apparently, this is one of the world's most elusive amphibians, the Bornean Rainbow Toad (Ansonia latidisca). It lives in trees, and was last seen 87 years ago before making a sudden reappearance in Malaysia. You can find more info: Here

Related Quote of the Day: "You probably don't want to put this in your mouth." - Amphibian Expert Robin Moore, on an interview about the Bornean Rainbow Toad

Pretty Pink Patterns!

I love keeping up to date with the new discoveries in the animal world - it's amazing to think that tomorrow there will be dozens more previously unknown insects and a few new animals discovered. Every day means new findings and new delights.

Recently, they discovered another marvellously pink coloured animal in Madagascar - meet the Liophidium pattoni.

Apparently, the snake's fluorescent colouring is to mimic nasty-tasting millipedes in the leaflitter, and they don't yet appear to be toxic or aggressive.



They've also made a colourful RE-discovery a few weeks ago. Apparently, this is one of the world's most elusive amphibians, the Bornean Rainbow Toad (Ansonia latidisca). It lives in trees, and was last seen 87 years ago before making a sudden reappearance in Malaysia. You can find more info: Here

Related Quote of the Day: "You probably don't want to put this in your mouth." - Amphibian Expert Robin Moore, on an interview about the Bornean Rainbow Toad

Lethargic Lizard...

I came home on Thursday after jury service and discovered Kyle had collapsed. The pic is how I found her, with heavily sunken eyes, and all her temples (top of head) concaved.

Thankfully I have a good vet's phone number and a great team of friends over at BD.org who were very happy to help. We were able to diagnose her with extreme dehydration, probably brought on by not eating her greens and eating WAY too much calcium. Too much protein from just eating bugs had drawn out more water from her system, forcing her to eject it all - inadvertently losing more liquids.

I immediately bathed her and she drank deeply from the tub whilst I called the vet. The vet wouldn't be in on the Friday, but she was able to call in ahead to the Taunton branch so that I'd be able to collect some Critical Care formula and hydrating salts. I'm just glad Kyle chose a week when I was actually IN Taunton - my lift was kind enough to run me to the vets to collect in the morning.

His Lordship bathed her whilst I was at jury service, and we finished SUPER early, so I was able to dash home and start treating her properly.

Tsammy recently received his new German Commander's cap in the post from a friend, so he took charge and made sure we followed the rota. (It's a 1960's vintage Action Man German hat, but it fits like it was made for him!)

After a couple of scary days, Kyle seems to be pulling through - the large quantities of fluids and care formula are doing their job; her eyes are back to normal (though her eyebrows are still a bit flat) and the sharp edges of her skull have softened, the water storing fats in her temples haven't filled out yet, but we're getting there.

Understandably, it's left her very wobbly and she's lost a LOT of weight and muscle tone quite suddenly, but I believe she's a very tough little dragon and should recover well given time.

Related Quote of the Day: Walls for the wind, a roof for the rain and tea beside the fire. Laughter to cheer you, those you love near you and all that your beardie might desire. - Ado, beardeddragons.org

Lethargic Lizard...

I came home on Thursday after jury service and discovered Kyle had collapsed. The pic is how I found her, with heavily sunken eyes, and all her temples (top of head) concaved.

Thankfully I have a good vet's phone number and a great team of friends over at BD.org who were very happy to help. We were able to diagnose her with extreme dehydration, probably brought on by not eating her greens and eating WAY too much calcium. Too much protein from just eating bugs had drawn out more water from her system, forcing her to eject it all - inadvertently losing more liquids.

I immediately bathed her and she drank deeply from the tub whilst I called the vet. The vet wouldn't be in on the Friday, but she was able to call in ahead to the Taunton branch so that I'd be able to collect some Critical Care formula and hydrating salts. I'm just glad Kyle chose a week when I was actually IN Taunton - my lift was kind enough to run me to the vets to collect in the morning.

His Lordship bathed her whilst I was at jury service, and we finished SUPER early, so I was able to dash home and start treating her properly.

Tsammy recently received his new German Commander's cap in the post from a friend, so he took charge and made sure we followed the rota. (It's a 1960's vintage Action Man German hat, but it fits like it was made for him!)

After a couple of scary days, Kyle seems to be pulling through - the large quantities of fluids and care formula are doing their job; her eyes are back to normal (though her eyebrows are still a bit flat) and the sharp edges of her skull have softened, the water storing fats in her temples haven't filled out yet, but we're getting there.

Understandably, it's left her very wobbly and she's lost a LOT of weight and muscle tone quite suddenly, but I believe she's a very tough little dragon and should recover well given time.

Related Quote of the Day: Walls for the wind, a roof for the rain and tea beside the fire. Laughter to cheer you, those you love near you and all that your beardie might desire. - Ado, beardeddragons.org

Pause for the Prodrome

I have been researching into the vasovagal response - the symptoms I had were known as a "prodrome", sort of like an early warning system. It's caused by adrenaline from the stress in my case; the adrenaline makes all my blood vessels dilate, the blood pressure to suddenly drop and all your blood to pool in your legs. And when you consider how long my legs are, I'm impressed I didn't actually pass out. Apparently I'm tougher stuff than a wussy little scare!

But it does explain why the blood slowed dramatically when I went half deaf and fizzy visioned - there wasn't enough blood in the top half of my body.

However, looking up treatment methods had my laughing my ass off - this line in particular: "The cornerstone of treatment is avoidance of triggers known to cause syncope in that person." Uh, well, DUHHH. Not the most helpful bit of advice I ever heard. (And I'm guessing these tablets won't help much.)

With a bit more digging around I now know that lying down and putting my legs up will help reduce this particular side effect of my phobia. Rumour has it that licorice root helps too. Although useful to know, the response is... well, purely a response to emotional stress and not the underlying problem.

I'm not sure how to progress from here, except to get more blood tests I guess, like immersion therapy or something. Oddly, the internet isn't offering many useful suggestions. Any ideas?

Pause for the Prodrome

I have been researching into the vasovagal response - the symptoms I had were known as a "prodrome", sort of like an early warning system. It's caused by adrenaline from the stress in my case; the adrenaline makes all my blood vessels dilate, the blood pressure to suddenly drop and all your blood to pool in your legs. And when you consider how long my legs are, I'm impressed I didn't actually pass out. Apparently I'm tougher stuff than a wussy little scare!

But it does explain why the blood slowed dramatically when I went half deaf and fizzy visioned - there wasn't enough blood in the top half of my body.

However, looking up treatment methods had my laughing my ass off - this line in particular: "The cornerstone of treatment is avoidance of triggers known to cause syncope in that person." Uh, well, DUHHH. Not the most helpful bit of advice I ever heard. (And I'm guessing these tablets won't help much.)

With a bit more digging around I now know that lying down and putting my legs up will help reduce this particular side effect of my phobia. Rumour has it that licorice root helps too. Although useful to know, the response is... well, purely a response to emotional stress and not the underlying problem.

I'm not sure how to progress from here, except to get more blood tests I guess, like immersion therapy or something. Oddly, the internet isn't offering many useful suggestions. Any ideas?

Munchies with Melf

A week's worth of patience has been rewarded, as His Lordship's Danish friend "Melf" decided he'd drop by whilst on holiday in the UK.

He was supposed to be holidaying with his family in Sweden (a stone's throw from his hometown of Copenhagen), but that didn't feel enough like a "real" holiday, so they took a ferry here instead, to enjoy the sunny beaches of Bournemouth. Amazingly, the weather stayed good until today, so they came to visit us - and we took them out for dinner.

They were delighted by the idea of Ostrich Steak at Garth's, and as it's awesome, they braved it. We had red wine and mushroom sauce, whilst Melf and his wife went for the pink peppercorn and brandy - good for dippin' a chippin it seems. "Numnuhummmmnum" seems to be the Danish for "Nomomanom".



Nicolaj (the younger of their little boys that came with us) says his burger was great. His parents were pleased and offered him a burger the next day, but he says it wasn't as good as the one at Mulberrys! High praise if ever I saw it.

Hehehehehe - I just unwrapped Hyphen! I was trying to put him in his waterbowl for a soak when I realised he'd gone into Jumpsuit mode, so I carefully unzipped a strip down his belly and the rest peeled off beautifully. I got the whole back and sides skin.

Hyphen was all "Aaaaaahhhhhhhh."

Munchies with Melf

A week's worth of patience has been rewarded, as His Lordship's Danish friend "Melf" decided he'd drop by whilst on holiday in the UK.

He was supposed to be holidaying with his family in Sweden (a stone's throw from his hometown of Copenhagen), but that didn't feel enough like a "real" holiday, so they took a ferry here instead, to enjoy the sunny beaches of Bournemouth. Amazingly, the weather stayed good until today, so they came to visit us - and we took them out for dinner.

They were delighted by the idea of Ostrich Steak at Garth's, and as it's awesome, they braved it. We had red wine and mushroom sauce, whilst Melf and his wife went for the pink peppercorn and brandy - good for dippin' a chippin it seems. "Numnuhummmmnum" seems to be the Danish for "Nomomanom".



Nicolaj (the younger of their little boys that came with us) says his burger was great. His parents were pleased and offered him a burger the next day, but he says it wasn't as good as the one at Mulberrys! High praise if ever I saw it.

Hehehehehe - I just unwrapped Hyphen! I was trying to put him in his waterbowl for a soak when I realised he'd gone into Jumpsuit mode, so I carefully unzipped a strip down his belly and the rest peeled off beautifully. I got the whole back and sides skin.

Hyphen was all "Aaaaaahhhhhhhh."

Help! Block bigger than the Lego Wall of China

Hope you've got your imagination hat on - I'm really stuck. I don't know how I wrote myself into a corner, but the story was literally writing itself. I wasn't telling them what to do, I was just writing it down as it happened...

I need to get a female main character into a massive rock band's hotel room. She's currently posing as merchandise specialist, but the doorman's asked for her pass. (I know, I don't know how that happened.) She's already dodged the worse of the suspicion by pointing out her "assistant" is useless.

The other bit is much the same problem - I'm supposed to be getting a band to do a charity gig at a massive stadium - but I need to get past the security team at the concert hall. They're supposed to be unbribable, and intelligent, though they're actually monkeys. Sort of.

If anyone has any ideas, let me know - I've really boxed myself in. Whoops!

Help! Block bigger than the Lego Wall of China

Hope you've got your imagination hat on - I'm really stuck. I don't know how I wrote myself into a corner, but the story was literally writing itself. I wasn't telling them what to do, I was just writing it down as it happened...

I need to get a female main character into a massive rock band's hotel room. She's currently posing as merchandise specialist, but the doorman's asked for her pass. (I know, I don't know how that happened.) She's already dodged the worse of the suspicion by pointing out her "assistant" is useless.

The other bit is much the same problem - I'm supposed to be getting a band to do a charity gig at a massive stadium - but I need to get past the security team at the concert hall. They're supposed to be unbribable, and intelligent, though they're actually monkeys. Sort of.

If anyone has any ideas, let me know - I've really boxed myself in. Whoops!

Park 'N' Ride

Got lift to the Park and Ride! A couple of the other Jurors are from here, so the lass from Portsmouth and I have been able to hitch a lift, saving £16 a day. I have to say the Park and Ride is a really sensible system - the buses are great, and they even have leather seats!

And so another day of waiting is in progress. Thankfully I'm built with a near perfect ability to tolerate immeasurable lengths of time doing diddly squat. (Having a book, a laptop and my lovely little HTC's ability to be a portable internet hotspot is handy.) I have to thank my mother for "training" me, with considerable lengths of time being spent tolerating clicking of ballpoints and other such irritants. Hehehe.

If you're not as tough at waiting around for hours, here's a little entertainment for you whilst your brain and computer slowly melts: http://www.sketchswap.com/. Hours of procrastinationability.

This lunchtime, I managed to find the perfect bowl for Tsammy - it's identical to the one he's got, but twice the size. I'm sure we'll give him an inferiority complex, because every time I upgrade something, he wakes up and thinks he's shrunk! He was pleased that he could fit himself entirely IN this bowl, rather than going in circles with his head underwater and his back legs outside.

Park 'N' Ride

Got lift to the Park and Ride! A couple of the other Jurors are from here, so the lass from Portsmouth and I have been able to hitch a lift, saving £16 a day. I have to say the Park and Ride is a really sensible system - the buses are great, and they even have leather seats!

And so another day of waiting is in progress. Thankfully I'm built with a near perfect ability to tolerate immeasurable lengths of time doing diddly squat. (Having a book, a laptop and my lovely little HTC's ability to be a portable internet hotspot is handy.) I have to thank my mother for "training" me, with considerable lengths of time being spent tolerating clicking of ballpoints and other such irritants. Hehehe.

If you're not as tough at waiting around for hours, here's a little entertainment for you whilst your brain and computer slowly melts: http://www.sketchswap.com/. Hours of procrastinationability.

This lunchtime, I managed to find the perfect bowl for Tsammy - it's identical to the one he's got, but twice the size. I'm sure we'll give him an inferiority complex, because every time I upgrade something, he wakes up and thinks he's shrunk! He was pleased that he could fit himself entirely IN this bowl, rather than going in circles with his head underwater and his back legs outside.

Travelling to Taunton

It occurs to me that Taunton is bloody difficult to get to from here by public transport. Buses won't get there on time, the motorway is too fast and dangerous for my little bike, trains mean I have to leave the house at 7 to get there by 10 - but the best one; getting there by taxi, all of 27 miles, would cost £46. Each way.

So, as you can probably predict, I wound up getting the train. Apparently the later train allows a change at Castle Cary, lopping nearly 45 minutes off the journey, but not at any times I could use.

This is all because I've been chosen for Jury Duty. For those that have been fortunate enough not to discover what this means, you're randomly selected from the Electoral Register. (My name's still misspelt on it, after three years of complaints, emails, calls and letters.)

It's a governmental calling, so you can't get out of it unless you a) know any of the involved in the case you're assigned, b) have a sufficient medical reasonm or c) will be on an already paid for holiday.

This is a bad thing - for example, one of the girls forgot to move her Registry when she moved to Portsmouth. So she's having to stay at a friends house here so she doesn't get fined. Oh yeah - that's right, not only is it mandatory, but if you fail to turn up, they can and will stick you with a £1000 fine. Some cases can go on 200+ days too, but most normally consist of a bunch of short cases for a two week period.

My first day wasn't very entertaining. Nothing happened, and we sat around in the waiting room. They did let us out a little early though, so I took the opportunity to explore Taunton's magnificent Lush store. Yomnom bath bomb! Vanilla-y. The moisturiser I grabbed leaves you smelling like New York cheesecake, and the Toffee Apple bomb smells heavenly.

Proper lush!

Travelling to Taunton

It occurs to me that Taunton is bloody difficult to get to from here by public transport. Buses won't get there on time, the motorway is too fast and dangerous for my little bike, trains mean I have to leave the house at 7 to get there by 10 - but the best one; getting there by taxi, all of 27 miles, would cost £46. Each way.

So, as you can probably predict, I wound up getting the train. Apparently the later train allows a change at Castle Cary, lopping nearly 45 minutes off the journey, but not at any times I could use.

This is all because I've been chosen for Jury Duty. For those that have been fortunate enough not to discover what this means, you're randomly selected from the Electoral Register. (My name's still misspelt on it, after three years of complaints, emails, calls and letters.)

It's a governmental calling, so you can't get out of it unless you a) know any of the involved in the case you're assigned, b) have a sufficient medical reasonm or c) will be on an already paid for holiday.

This is a bad thing - for example, one of the girls forgot to move her Registry when she moved to Portsmouth. So she's having to stay at a friends house here so she doesn't get fined. Oh yeah - that's right, not only is it mandatory, but if you fail to turn up, they can and will stick you with a £1000 fine. Some cases can go on 200+ days too, but most normally consist of a bunch of short cases for a two week period.

My first day wasn't very entertaining. Nothing happened, and we sat around in the waiting room. They did let us out a little early though, so I took the opportunity to explore Taunton's magnificent Lush store. Yomnom bath bomb! Vanilla-y. The moisturiser I grabbed leaves you smelling like New York cheesecake, and the Toffee Apple bomb smells heavenly.

Proper lush!

Trying More Tasty Things...

First up, the lemon mousse, milk chocolate shell with white stripes.

His Lordship is pleased because: "I like lemon mousses." - which is a good start.

Initially, it has a very lemony citrussy scent which smells fresh; clean even. It's got a creme fraiche centre - the chocolate a little oversweet at first - but actually well counterbalanced by the sweet lemon zesty centre. Yes, indeed - it's zingy and brash, with a sweet almost gingery light warmth at the end, possibly in the chocolate shell - quite complimentary.

In summary, it's "A good nomming chocolate - one I'd happily pop whole into my mouth and just..." hand gesture of nom. Personally, I love the texture - this one is a nice surprise after the array of the scentless, oddly flavoured items we've had previously.

But the pistachio and raspberry marzipan (which has a white shell, green stripes) baffles me. It smells almost minty through the shell, which is different for a start. "Yeah, definitely minty, I'll grant you that." It puts me in mind of an East Asian sweet, visually and contents-wise. Licking gives "white chocolate and that's all I get out of it". It has green and pink marzipan inside, which is a little too strong - the pistachio note is a little lost against the powerful almondyness. (Yes, that's now a word) But the raspberry manages to hold its own as a sweeter note. HL isn't a fan, but concedes that the flavour is pretty good for marzipan. Likewise, it's not a top winner for me (as He says, not one I'd choose to buy) but not too bad - definitely recommended for marzifans.

Think marzipan might be too strong a medium for the lighter pistachio and raspberry flavours - perhaps a fondant instead? I'll have to think about that one.

The Lime and Chili is my favourite to look at - I LOVE the decoration on this one. Hopefully it shows well in the photo, as they've used a transfer method to put thin, grassy patterns of green, white, chocolate and metallic bronze on the top - a great visual impact. It smells of dark chocolate and something bittersweet, possibly the lime oil. The chocolate is indeed dark and gingery, which is interesting. The centre is a very thick ganache, the lime and chili coming in late, and the chili with a good firm KICK when it does finally arrive. The lime is delicate and finally! NOT washing up liquidy!

At long last, someone who knows how to treat lime oil usage in chocolate-working. His Lordship just found the chilli and exclaims: "Dangerous!" I don't think he was expecting it. "Not personally how I enjoy my chocolates, but I can see the appeal.". It's strong enough to lightly warm your tongue and tell you it's there, which is a nice treat out of a chili chocolate - I find only Montezuma's pack a proper dose. It's public-friendly. A great one to quickly chew and then allowing to dissolve, as it leaves a pleasantly toasty sensation on the tongue - it reminds me a lot of proper xocolatl. (Dark chocolate, chili, a drop of honey and vanilla. Dark and dangerous, very good if you get the chance - one of my favourite culinary treats and very hard to find someone that makes it properly.)

Ten minutes later and I am still aware of a light chili warmth. Lovely.

The Apricot Praline comes wrapped in a metallic orange foil. It has a hexagonal top leading to a round cup, and has an oak leaf design on the top. Oh. It smells bland, perhaps a note of dark chocolate, but the shell isn't thick like they usually are - it's fine and pops, releasing a liquid, buttery praline, which is salty and slightly gritty with a nice delicate burnt hazelnut tone. There wasn't enough apricot jam for my liking, but it was a fine treat when we finally found find it.

Conclusion: this week's treats weren't too shabby. I'd totally have the chilli again, and the lemon was fantastic.