Survival is Insufficient

https://kolektiva.social/@ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs

(she/her; autistic)
Dogs don't have alphas;
Cats aren't sociopaths.
Ⓐ 🏴 🍉
Occupied Wahpekute territory
Ursula K. Le Guin stan
Special interests: 🐘🐶🐱 animal behavior, anthrozoology, anthropology, ethnology, & being a bummer about cute animal videos.
I'm a professional, accredited, force‐free, R+ pet trainer using a gift economy where folks give any amount at any time.
Profile pic: illustration of me, my cat, & pitbull by Ethan Kocak.
Header: "The Wounded Table", Frida Kahlo

$upport Me: https://linktr.ee/itstrainingcatsanddogs
Email: itstrainingcatsanddogs@protonmail.com

Public Key

npub1pzeray6lthgn5f0u949mzhceyfzh8dqwsd7m5qjd9l4t6y7jhzcq78xdvz

NIP-05 Address

itstrainingcatsanddogs_at_kolektiva.social@momostr.pink

Profile Code

nprofile1qqsq3v37jd04m5f6yh7z6ja3tuvjy3tnks8gxld6qfxjl64az0ft3vqpz3mhxue69uhhyetvv9ujuerpd46hxtnfduqs6amnwvaz7tmwdaejumr0dspt95mk

Publishing to

relay.damus.io

nos.lol

Author Public Key

npub1pzeray6lthgn5f0u949mzhceyfzh8dqwsd7m5qjd9l4t6y7jhzcq78xdvz

Show more details

Last Notes

2024-08-06 18:18:38

Tear Gas #TimWalz is the most likable of the politicians that were up for VP, which means it will be harder to organize against him when he’s tear gassing us. Like watching a charming abuser love bomb everyone.

2024-08-04 05:12:18

If you are organizing to protest, do everything as if authorities would consider it terrorism. You can’t just publicly do a zoom meet. There will be undercover cops building their terrorism case. Even if you are doing something vanilla and legal. You would be surprised what gets twisted. Lots of naivety I see going around.

2024-08-02 21:20:40

Not sure who else needs to hear this, but Dave Grohl is an AIDS denialist and he can go fuck himself.

2024-08-01 19:09:20

- reply

Peach trees do grow this far north but they get so heavy the branches are nearly breaking off. One has! I need to be better about pruning.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/888/336/526/380/122/original/b635d89d0ca5b384.jpeg

2024-08-01 19:08:09

- reply

Another volunteer: Amaranth! I’m gonna eat it.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/888/331/745/578/276/original/b36280bab357a9ec.jpeg

2024-08-01 18:59:08

- reply

Just this year this volunteer plant decided to grow onto the sidewalk. I will relocate it. It will be that bee balm that has lots of stacked flowers that look like tiny orchids to me. I have it elsewhere.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/888/293/962/417/967/original/860db4c925d89f52.jpeg

2024-08-01 18:57:06

- reply

My native grasses are trying so hard not to get choked out by flowers.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/888/278/813/667/123/original/921d22763fb7bc6a.jpeg

2024-08-01 18:38:53

- reply

This is from the other side. I really need to weed and thin…
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/888/212/572/157/655/original/87ff96ce4196bb31.jpeg
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/888/212/920/666/722/original/fe1c39fe614861e8.jpeg
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/888/213/073/587/341/original/19ff8425eddfb0a1.jpeg

2024-08-01 18:25:52

- reply

I forgot what these purple flowers are, but I bought a tiny one for a dollar at the native plant sale and it’s bonkers now. I love it.
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/888/167/375/289/272/original/ab0c28ed5ffd632c.jpeg
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/888/167/441/249/103/original/cc9cd00b7995a41f.jpeg

2024-08-01 18:14:01

I love the trend of planting pollinator gardens and native plants. I see yards with delicate little baby natives, newly planted in a particular patch with trim around it. But y’all have no idea what established gardens look like. Y’all are in for a surprise. Look at these before and after photos. This is your future:
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/888/113/877/841/021/original/ffa95253d697b044.jpeg
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/888/114/027/669/574/original/e02cbc3343994a14.jpeg

2024-07-29 19:47:32

- reply

These are the same problems autonomous or anarchist zones have. Which is why they also get accused of racism. Everyone has to do the work themselves, but if it is modeled on the problematic systems of old, that’s even worse! Instances trying to be twitter? *shudders* A worse copy of the old.

2024-07-29 19:39:09

- reply

By “annoying bullshit in general” (see above), I tend to think of fashy or even neolib or centrist types, reply guys, and spam. Racism also crosses my mind and so I need to be more careful about not putting blame on victims. But since seeing the other posts, I have been thinking a lot of about defederation. I always thought of it as abolishing something bad, but if you have to abolish so much it starts to feel like segregation. I have never considered that.

2024-07-29 19:17:33

When I talked about taking control and leaving instances that are too big and/or have moderation problems, I was NOT subtooting and was not criticizing people frustrated by racism or putting the responsibility on the victims of racism. I had not seen those posts yet and was responding to annoying mastodon dot social bullshit in general.

2024-07-27 19:53:36

- reply

a scientist who studies NDEs and thinks they are like portals to parallel universes kidnaps and imprisons people who have special abilities as a result of their NDE and forces them to have repeated NDEs to study them and the powers they acquire, eventually using them to travel across parallel universes and realities. They go, too. And all are trying to escape him. OA is “original angel”.
Here is a clip: https://youtu.be/0APisfyIUh4

2024-07-27 19:43:56

- reply

what do you think of one of my favorite shows ever, the OA?!

2024-07-27 19:42:24

- reply

omg! I knew someone with seizures that caused that during seizures! My biological neurology professor in college a long time ago told me that same area of the brain responsible for religious or patriotic or even sports team euphoria is very specific, and when overstimulated, people can think they’re god or magical.

2024-07-27 19:35:50

- reply

not that — that isn’t woo if it’s culturally appropriate. I’m talking about naturopaths and functional medicine and integrative medicine, most chiropractors, conspiracy theories about diseases and treatments, etc.

2024-07-27 19:12:12

Be careful. I see some of y’all on the “harmed by medical practice in capitalism” to woo pipeline.

2024-07-26 21:56:37

- reply

no one likes the government anymore, Jeff.

2024-07-26 07:26:51

Choose the fate of your corpse

2024-07-21 18:24:35

I see the baker who lost her sense of smell and taste permanently after her covid infection just shut down her bakery.

2024-07-20 04:57:31

Y’all, let’s be real. The worst, climate-warmed, Mad Max hellscape on Earth is easier to live in than on Mars or anywhere in space. Stop with the nonsense.

2024-07-19 16:44:58

There is no such thing as bad publicity. Sharing ridiculous AI takes, or fascist sound bites, or imagery of hate symbols, etc., makes people consume these things more. The best advertisement is a bad one that is so annoying you remember it forever. When Trump brought Fauci into his office after Fauci said Trump was wrong at a press conference, Fauci shared he was surprised Trump was VERY pleased. He kept smiling and saying, look at those ratings! My god!
Please remember this when you post or read posts.

2024-07-18 01:45:48

For my birthday today, we went hiking, and I saw 5 snakes! Here is one of them for you:
https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/804/960/922/032/284/original/4a20630758fa2a67.jpeg

2024-07-15 18:18:45

Sometimes I think about the kid who rides a bike through our Cub grocery store, yelling that he’s the Gingerbread Man when store cops chase him. I intervened once when the cop caught him, and I de-arrested him, but I had the pleasure of seeing him do it again. Living his very best life and never giving up.

2024-07-14 00:45:58

https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/782/072/592/217/678/original/de4a93ba855bcbb9.png

2024-07-11 19:03:04

The Amazon rainforest has been carefully curated by Indigenous people for tens of thousands of years, as they deliberately made soil and groves of specific species together, etc. what looked and looks like wild, untouched forest is actually a semi-domesticated garden. Even if you left logged places alone to rewild, it would not get the biodiversity back without Indigenous caretaking. Humans make things better— like bison and prairie. Don’t let ecofascists get away with their anti human bullshit.

2024-07-11 15:01:41

Had a client tell me they cannot pay me anything because they have to save their money for their dog’s CBD oil, calming flower essences, Dog Appeasing Pheromone plug ins and collars, and supplements. I reminded them that they are wasting their money on all of it because it is all snake oil. They do not believe me. I would ask why they pay me then, but I guess they don’t!

2024-06-14 18:59:59

Anarchist artists and creators who declined to copyright:
Do you regret it?
(I do not.)

2024-06-13 19:48:36

Fuck it. Mask AND balaclava.

2024-06-13 17:37:59

Masking makes facial recognition, which Target and everyone uses on their customers, less effective. Masks have never been in the best interest of the ruling class (in case you're scratching your head in confusion about these mask bans).

2024-06-13 15:22:32

- reply

Europeans back then sacrificed more people more often than the Mayans. https://www.science.org/content/article/it-s-really-horror-bones-across-europe-suggest-stone-age-ritual-killings

2024-06-11 01:34:38

- reply

It seems hardest for people who expected blank slates. They thought they would mold a certain type of person but babies are born already themselves.

2024-06-11 01:33:13

- reply

I think expectation has a lot to do with it. Being pleasantly or unpleasantly surprised...

2024-06-11 01:29:43

The friends in my life who always wanted kids are really struggling being parents, and the people who were uninterested or even scared about becoming parents love it. What gives?

2024-06-10 17:34:40

A pest removal service came to our door soliciting and wondered if we have a problem because they noticed our lawn is mostly restored prairie, and they assume we have pest issues. We have zero issues. He was surprised and said our neighbors have issues. I assume they think our yard is the source of the problem? But I told him we used to have issues when we had a normal lawn but now those issues have resolved.
When we transitioned away from lawn, at first we noticed too many rodents. But then the raptors and snakes moved in (I hear owls and hawks every day and night), and then there were never any rodents. We stopped seeing snakes so much and see just so many raptors, constantly (raptors get them, too). Then we had a bunny explosion but the coyotes came and ate them. I do see coyotes swing through every day. We started to get crazy insects but then the birds came-- omg the rare, amazing birds! And amazing insects! We noticed we had wasp nests going up everywhere but then a skunk came through and ate all the nests. The black wasps that are attracted to our figwort eat the other wasps and katydids. Anyway, everything evens out when you restore the ecosystem.
We have no pests!
Edit: I have a vegetable garden that doesn't get bothered even though my neighbors' gardens have issues. I don't even have a fence around my garden! The white moths do the most damage but I plant buckwheat crops for them now, and that fixed it.

2024-06-09 16:34:23

I was watching a show about a cult, and the cult members were instructed on how to cut their family members off without them even knowing so they won't cause a fuss, and I realize that it describes how I behave in my relationships with my narcissist parents perfectly. Anyway, these parents on TV with a daughter in a cult say when they see her, her eyes are glazed over and nothing progresses beyond small talk-- she is a shell of herself. I realize I act like she does with her loving parents the same way I do with my narcissist parents, but my parents think that shell IS my personality at this point, and so the running joke is how dull I am. Little do they know I just cut them off without cutting them off because that way causes me the least harm.

2024-06-08 02:53:21

When dogs are showing lots of teeth while being antagonistic or aggressive, they are scared and defensive. It is pretty easy to de-escalate by giving them space. When you can't see their teeth when things are intense, it is offensive and more dangerous. Like if they are barking in an unfriendly way and they cover their teeth by making a little "O" with their lips pushed forward (like when you say "woo woo woo" and your lips go forward). If I can see lots of teeth-- especially the bigger back teeth-- it is better. 😅 Closed, tight mouths are not good. When they are rough-housing with other dogs, make sure you can see those chompers in open mouths.

2024-05-26 09:22:46

- reply

this reminds me of anti-racist action days in the 90s. Neo-nazis always co-opted everything. If I wrote "ACAB" back then, I would have to explain I am not a Nazi. I would have to explain my skinhead friends are not Nazis. They would literally just copy any symbols at all.

2024-05-24 15:47:03

The most jaw dropping conflict and resistance taking place in the world right now, IMHO, is the human-elephant conflict. Y'all have no idea. Elephants have made organized gangs who mass communicate using infrasound and share info about specific humans and trains to strategically attack in retaliation for events they never even witnessed but just heard about. People are still trying to work out their syntax and grammar (like the Cornell Ornithology Lab of all places), which elephants have in their communication. That is actual language. The bird people noticed it.

2024-05-20 17:37:50

I just saw a preschool class walking in a line down the sidewalk. Native plants were on either side of them when they reached my house, and the class started asking "what's this" and "what's that" with lots of other exclamations and stopping to look. Teachers sternly hollered "pay attention" and "keep walking" and "keep moving" over and over. No questions answered.
Fuck school.

2024-05-18 18:47:57

Oh cool, another march.

2024-05-15 06:28:46

An orca named Gladys started the boat sinking and taught others to do it!

2024-05-13 05:50:05

I heard a newscast that people are dying from shit like appendicitis in Gaza because the surgeons don't even have gauze. I knew this was happening, but hearing the doctor get really emotional about watching people die from treatable things hit me in the feels.

2024-05-06 13:47:52

I wish liberals and anyone else who supports the State would get the term "mutual aid" out of their goddammned mouths. Mutual aid is defined as undermining the State.

2024-05-05 18:03:44

Fascism level in the USA: Arresting history professors.

2024-04-30 12:16:25

People in the USA are indoctrinated to protest peacefully and will double down and respond to state violence with more peace. Very docile. In case you are wondering how we got here.

2024-04-26 03:28:44

One of the ways the George Floyd riots were so successful in Minneapolis was how everyone split up into smaller groups in all directions to riot. Police can't be everywhere at once.

2024-04-20 22:56:49

I lot of rich people don't even realize they're rich. Here are some clues:
- You are worried about someone hijacking your car when you drive downtown.
- You can afford things you actually need, like healthcare.
- You don't use a calculator while grocery shopping, and you don't use the produce scales in grocery stores.
- You spend money on traveling for leisure.
- You never worry about hidden, snowballing fees or "poor tax".
- You never have to hustle to work out where you will sleep or where your next meal comes from.
- You can invest in something that pays off later or just simply stock up because buying more is cheaper.
- You don't hold up the line with your complicated benefits when checking out in the grocery store line.
- You don't have to worry about logistics, like how you will show up to appointments on opposite sides of the city in one day.
- You shop online.
- You don't have to worry about your kid's tech access for school.
- Bureaucratic procedures, such as getting a driver's license, are not prohibitively impossible.
I'm going to stop there for now...

2024-04-15 12:55:50

https://kolektiva.social/system/media_attachments/files/112/275/332/312/145/863/original/3c4a9a35df18cdca.jpg

2024-04-11 14:51:12

It is illegal in my town to grow vegetables in a front yard or have any plants over 6 inches. I had to fight tooth and nail and had to go to a state level to get special permissions. Presenting science does not work. The only thing that works is a higher power agreeing with you. The State of Minnesota tells my City cops to leave me alone based on the Dept of Natural Resources making recommendations on their website that align with my yard. When you try to fight the system, you realize the whole of it is ridiculous and useless. Thousands of taxpayers dollars went into fighting me over doing what the state already tells me to do.