Log- week twelve 29
Randy finally looked at his schedule for the next few weeks, and hit the roof. I told him he could either take the one shift I’m giving him or give notice. And that if he showed up late this weekend, he might as well not bother showing up at all. Amazing things happened when I pointed out to Bill that I was right outside setting up the footage that pays for the upkeep on the project, and his godson just had to walk 20 feet and stick his head out a door to warn me. I even got Bill to back me and tell Randy he wouldn’t give him any back-up shifts at the lab either. A great deal of sulking later, he swore he’d show up on time and actually do his job, and I agreed that if he could manage that for a few weeks, I’d consider giving him more hours.
George is still attempting to wheedle his way back into the building. I’m holding fast to a flat no. So was Bill, last I heard. Dave might be trying to push the line that neither of us have the standing to fire him, but both of us still have control over the schedules, budgets, and staffing over our respective facilities. If you want him to have any hours, find him something to do on your end, Dave. At the moment, he’d take so much supervision to be allowed near either of ours we might as well do whatever the task is ourselves. (And that goes double for him helping you babysit the facility when I have a day off. I’m not stupid enough to think that won’t end with you having a last minute whatever and leaving him there alone while I’m away. I called Asher the moment you proposed that idea, we’ll reschedule. I was really fucking looking forward to a movie and dinner, but not enough to let George in the same room as the Pack. Maybe Katy will be able to cover for me later this week.) It isn’t my problem that he’s running short on savings. Maybe he could cut back on the MMO subscriptions, MTG tournaments, and pre-ordering every expansion and new release. Or he could go get an actual job that doesn’t involve making mine harder. Not like he was doing anything around here I can’t do just as easily myself. Ditch his “supervisor rate” wages from the budget and I could hire either another couple part-timers or a full-time employee who actually answers to me.
On the other hand, Kal, as absolutely furious as I am with him even if I don’t trust him unsupervised here either, his share of the work is both needed and beyond my skill level. About the same conclusion Bill came to. Still leaves me high and dry for coverage on saturdays, but at least the appliances keep working and the preventative maintenance is getting done.
Birch had her babies last night. Six foals, three of them as white as their parents, a bay, a chestnut, and a grey. Two of the whites are unicorns, as well, so I have hopes for them turning out decent sale stock. I shouldn’t be surprised that the mare I pulled from Warlock’s little herd is one of my better mothers. If the brownies end up as cute and sweet as Birch’s sister Willow, I’ll try adding them into sale stock with their siblings for a few weeks before I move them outside. In the mean time, they’re all staying with their mother, at least until the itty bittys have their eyes open and are moved in with the rest of the pack.
I’ll try moving Pepper with them for a couple weeks, once her own litter is being weaned and moved to sale stock. It’ll mean moving that little grey alicorn she’s fostering as well, but I can live with that remarkably well. Especially if it means getting Marnie back in the playroom so I don’t have to deal with Foxfire’s attempts at puppy eyes. If she’s at least in the room, the whining and leaning morosely against the dog run gate will stop, and she can still help Pepper keep them looked after until it’s time to wean them as well. I suppose I could enlist the older demonfluffs in babysitting, but… Their parental instincts are still by and large untested, let alone their responses to unrelated infants. I’d like proven foal tenders and the “weanling pen” fence and babygates between the kiddos and the itty bitties until after I’ve run a few supervised visits.
Speaking of, the itty bitties are less itty bitty, but still cute little lumps. Their tiny little cloven hooves are less mushy than they were, if still very rubbery. Little wing nubs have teeny little pin feathers developing, and they have a little more baby fluff and a lot more baby fat. Really a lot more baby fat where a couple of them are concerned. I’ve got no worries about any of them going hungry with the two extra milk boxes set for their use as well as their surrogate dams, but wow. The little golden unicorn is very close to ball shaped, his pegasus sister isn’t much worse off, and even the little bat winged runt is in no danger of starving. The other two are still thriving, but still. The moment they’ve got their eyes open and I can get them settled elsewhere safely, I’m pulling that entire litter out of Sunshine’s reach and letting Marnie and Pepper take over entirely.
Myra’s litter is also doing well, without quite the same drastic difference given her universally bland attachment to all of them. The red and black alicorns are pudgeballs never far away from some kind of milksource, but they aren’t much fatter than their siblings. I’ll worry about appropriate weights and chonkyness when they aren’t all neonatal. At this point, the only weight problem would be skinny babies, which none of them are in danger of.
The walnut and teal alicorn already has his picture up on the relevant part of the new website, and I’ve had already had a few decent offers. Should have him sold, chipped and ready for pick-up by the end of next week. Working on getting photos of the rest of the current salestock up as well. He’s the draw of the current batch, but most of them are still pretty cute. Cotton candy’s three and most of Pepper’s are looking to start around the twenty, thirty buck range, and I can bump the two fillies out of Margarita’s litter up a bit higher than that, maybe as much as sixty bucks each if I play up the fact they’re littermates to an alicorn. His brother isn’t bad either, pale orange and dusty pink pegasus, probably worth thirty or forty bucks to the right buyer. It helps that all of them are “alicorn friendly”, and that I can play the “Small licensed Breeder” card. Put their pictures up, put the parents up with happy spaghetti induced expressions, maybe even sitting in the playroom. Behold, reputable, responsible, hugbox friendly hobby breeder! Bwaha. I’ll figure out how to say that with a straight face eventually.
Aurora is steadily getting bigger and clingier, with me and her siblings. She still seems to be slightly on the outskirts of inter-Pack interactions, the last to eat, choose a toy out of the basket or pick a spot to watch tv. (Behold the field in which I grow my fucks over her status loss. Look upon it, and see that it is somehow still barren.) Rook especially seems to be making a point of this. All the more if Aurora has been within five feet of me in the last hour. Foxfire is out of bandages and the least inclined to pull rank on her sister, so they’ve been cuddling during TV time a lot. “Babbehs” was always a show both the girls were eager to watch, but it’s now hit the point where the intro jingle starts and everything else ceases to exist for Aurora. The next few weeks are going to be absolutely filled with joy, I can tell already.
The boys have developed a sudden interest in watching “Babbehs!” with their sisters without any of the usual complaints about how it’s a silly, boring show. Somehow, they now also always do so with cushions or blankies conveniently concealing their lower halves. A surreptitious habit of sniffing near the kennels and the brood mare cages every chance they get has also started. I’ll introduce the subject and the fillies this weekend, before that gets any farther.
The fillies have settled sullenly into their little cages, so the sudden upgrade might be enough to ensure cooperation when they meet the boys. Going from a bare metal cage in a dim lit room to the preschool chic of the playroom, with baskets of toys, piles of cushions and blankets, and Fluff-tv going most of the time? If that doesn’t perk them up, nothing will. (Kal, as well meaning as the idea of pre-emptively pillowing them into “enfie pals” for the boys is… NO. I don’t want them to have that as their introduction to this concept, thank you. Let’s leave living sex toys for after they’ve explored the idea of mares that aren’t their sisters. Or Marnie.)
The pink one has started on the topic of “nyu Mummah? Gib nice housie?” and goes on at length about how good a fluffy she is every time I might possibly be in earshot. I’d take this as a better sign if she didn’t have the shrillest, whiniest voice I’d ever heard out of those operas Grandmother… Carmen. She is now named Carmen, if only because “Migraine impending” doesn’t look as good on the tag
The other two (yes, Dave, I did look around. Haven’t found a bidder for an basically adult Coluratura yet, even with Asher’s contacts added in with Kal’s, Bill’s, and mine- She’s a bit character from a single later season episode, and an Applejack focused one at that. Besides the fact she only has a “Show accurate” personality insofar as they both started out a little stuck up. If she wasn’t pretty and around the right age to play temporary girlfriend to one of the boys, she- Well, fine, I might have still pulled her out for broodstock. Maybe.) She’s currently named Melody, because “Coluratura” is a little beyond her ability to even attempt. That lavender sister of hers is Harmony, just to keep the theme.
I don’t one hundred percent want to breed them this young, really. But even if the boys are cross-fertile, the chances of quality offspring from the mix is… We’ll see. Either with the boys or dumped back into normal broodstock, they don’t need to be good mother material. If they prove problematic after whelping, the foals will go to Pepper and or whoever I draft to help her. Bill really wants to start figuring out if there are any cross fertility issues and what they would be, and at least letting the boys have pets doesn’t risk their health.
In other news, their brothers outside are becoming what I can only describe as relentlessly cute. If they were younger I might try posting them on the sale website despite their colors. As it is, if I hear word of someone looking for a sweet tempered pair of fluffies well past the needy foal stage… I will give them away in a heartbeat. To be honest, if I had new homes for most of Warlock’s herd…
I went back the next day, collected the former toughies as expected for the freezer, and Warlock’s first request for his reward was that I give the “poopie” colt an actual name. “Poopie nu am guud namsies. Wittw fwuffy nee’ betta namsies, pwease.” Soot was involved in that request, but the entirety of Warlock’s original herd agreed to getting the name from me instead of the container of spaghetti approximation I was holding in their line of sight. Soot’s brown brother is now named Smudge. (And then I gave them the ramen I’d already made anyways. For reasons.)
I’ll keep an eye on the foals Warlock sired, and Druid and Willow’s when they come. Maybe even Aster’s litter, with this herd raising them. Try to shuffle them out to the sale stock when they’re weaned, at a discount for not being raised around alicorns. At least if they turn out anything like Warlock and Druid.
Color aside- If I find the chance, I might upgrade Druid and Willow into the kennels. Willow’s litter comes out pretty, they can be brood stock. They don’t come out salable level, I’m pretty sure they could both learn to help Pepper. The same goes for those neon eyesores mothering Warlock’s foals.
First Chapter- The Pack- because what we need is more fluffies bred to eat other fluffies. (1) by :Shadowfox
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