den: (puggle)
den ([personal profile] den) wrote2003-07-01 10:30 pm

Rampaging Puggles.

Tongight Rexie climbed out of the feeding box without me noticing and went rampaging through the house. The first I knew of this was when she wandered into the office and pushed against my right leg, forcing her spines through my sock and drawing blood from a dozen tiny pin-holes. Needless to say it was brown-trousers time for me. I said something like "WHOAAARGHWHATTHE FUUUUUOUUUCH!" and a few other noises indicating fear and alarm before discovering the source of the fear. And alarm.

Anyway. Rexie now weighs 1.02kg after her feed.

It's funny the way things I consider normal make others shake their heads.

"Oh, that's where the owl scratched me..."
"Yeah, the joey pooped on that seat..."
"Last week I was bitten by a bat..."
"That stain is echidna piss, and *that's* a curry stain..."
"When I had my rabies shots..."
"So we steam-ironed the eagle's tail feathers..."

I can't think why.

[identity profile] janetmiles.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 05:41 am (UTC)(link)
Oh, dear. First, I offer sympathy at the unprovoked rampaging puggle attack (or was that a form of echidna greeting? I don't know). Second, I'm grinning like mad at the second half of the entry (for what it's worth, if anyone else I know ((except maybe [livejournal.com profile] ladysprite)) said things like that, I'd shake my head and worry, but coming from you they seem perfectly reasonable).

[identity profile] makovette.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 05:54 am (UTC)(link)
She wuuuuvs you :-)

Immensely amusing and well written stuff Batty, one must say. :-D

CYa!
Mako

[identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 06:08 am (UTC)(link)
It's hard to tell what they're thinking. She might love me, or she attacked me. Who knows?

[identity profile] kelloggs2066.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 06:10 am (UTC)(link)
Maybe she's got feline motivations for getting your attention:

"Feed me or I'll spike you again." ;)

Scott

[identity profile] tatterdemalion.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 06:00 am (UTC)(link)
You're a strange man Den Whitton

[identity profile] hedgegoth.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 06:26 am (UTC)(link)
Sounds normal to me.

Did you catch her near your computer using pseudonyms?

[identity profile] hopeforyou.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 07:17 am (UTC)(link)
So I may be a sick human being, but I'd like to see what a puggle wound looks like. I'm really curious.

So she just spikes you unintentionally, then? It's like a cat rubbing against your legs? I'm trying to grok the puggle demeanour and temperment...

[identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 05:07 pm (UTC)(link)
They holes starf out looking like a pin-prick, then they turn into small itchy lumps. There's nothing serious about them.

As for why, I think she was just trying to push past my foot. I don't think they really think of much apart from food and shelter, and at that time of year the males are thinking of something else.

That's why you get the "love trains" of a female being followed by half a dozen males.

Comments that turn heads...

[identity profile] ionotter.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 08:17 am (UTC)(link)
At the change of command ceremony, it was threatening to rain. We were all in our dress whites, which are polyester. And when they get wet, they turn translucent.

Which, for some reason known only to God, prompted me to speak out loud, "Now we get to see who's freeballin' or wearin' skivvies!"

I suppose I must have hit a nerve, because *everyone* in front of me started to shift uncomfortably. And one of my shipmates turned to me and said, "Alright...time for you to retire, you've been in the Navy WAY too long."

Feh.

Re: Comments that turn heads...

[identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
That just tells me you've been there long enough to learn The Ways.

[identity profile] ursulav.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 08:45 am (UTC)(link)
Well, all in a good cause. I assume echidna spines aren't like porcupine, and they don't come off and lodge in your flesh or anything...

[identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 05:11 pm (UTC)(link)
Echidna spines are modified hairs and don't end in a barb. They are quite firmly fixed to the animal and take a lot of pressure to break. The injury is more like what you'd get from jabbing youself with a thumbtack.

[identity profile] tygermoonfoxx.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 09:55 am (UTC)(link)
I LOVE your rescue stories; have you ever considered compiling them into a book and getting them published?

[identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 05:15 pm (UTC)(link)
Finding the time to actually write them into a coherent story is a problem. I have a dragon, a flying-fox, and a bunch of aliens all pestering me to write their stories too.

[identity profile] fledchen.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 11:27 am (UTC)(link)
Well, I suppose it's better than when she got you in the crotch? How long are echidna spikes, anyway?

[identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 05:18 pm (UTC)(link)
The spines are 2 inches long and start off about 1/4 inch thick. They're not barbed like a porcupines.

and the ankle is preferred over spines in the crotch.

[identity profile] dewhitton.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 05:19 pm (UTC)(link)
It's not dull, but I have a level of "ordinary" that is different from almost everyone else's.

[identity profile] weyrdbird.livejournal.com 2003-07-01 08:41 pm (UTC)(link)
Maybe she's practicing in case she ever encounters Steve Irwin:D. Smart puggle you got there!

"Hmm, I'm hungry and bored, and the table service here is lacking. If I wander about maybe I can find a sufficient source of nourishment before I perish! I'll just have them add it to my bill!"

She sure found a way to get your attention all right!
I'm amazed she didn't try to climb *up*.