I got this drinking fountain for Skritch to cool off this summer. (well, I got it for all of them, but I knew only Skritch would use it, he's the only one who loves water.) As expected, he really likes it :)

Dropping by to say Слава Україні 🇺🇦 from the US

Героям Слава!

Hiya, I don't know if you're aware, but the links you give to the meshes in your lisen dining and beryllium living recolours (both by thepixelry) are now broken, and, as far as I can tell, not archived by Wayback machine. I've made a good faith attempt to find them elsewhere online, but no luck. Would you be able to include those meshes in your downloads, or update the link? If so, many thanks, if not, np!

Hi. I'm sorry :( Pixelry deleted their old blog and started a new one under the name Thimblesims. All their old downloads, including the sets you've mentioned, are avaliable here.

I can't update my posts now because I currently don't use my simming PC. One of these days I'll get to it. Or I will forget. Who knows.

"rats against the ugly green wall" should be a tag at this point. The only time I can get a more or less decent photo is when I lay on the couch and they look down at me, because they stay still for a little while, hence the ugly wall.

I think this might be the cutest Skritch has ever looked in a photo.

Syrnyk is molting into his adult coat, so his fur is all splotchy, making him look dirty all the time. It's a silly phase that all rats with a siamese coat pattern go through. They are born pure beige and develop their markings with age.

The main thing is:

we still don't know how many Ukrainians have died during the flood on the russian-occupied bank of the Dnipro River.

The russians made essentially no effort to evacuate people, because we're not people to them.

A year ago ...

because of pride month, I saw something that unblocked a long-forgotten memory of how I "came out" to my mom. Went like this:

me: I'm not sure, but I think I might be a lesbian mom, calmly: Well, that's really bad if true. I hope you're wrong about that.

And we literally never talked about it again. lol

Just to be clear, I'm not a lesbian, considering the fact that I'm married to a guy. But he somehow gets mistaken for a girl all the time, haha. It's just that my stupid teenage self couldn't grasp the concept of being bi at the time.

Syrnyk is now part of the gang!

It took about four days: two days in a tiny carrier cage, two more in a medium-sized cage, and now they've been living for three days in the normal cage with all the hammocks, hides, and everything. Zero scuffles, complete harmony.

Skritch did bit him once, in the first minute of introduction. It was inevitable. For Skritch, a bite is an analogue to "poke it with a stick to see if it moves." He checks if another creature (rat or person) is dangerous by biting first. That's just who he is. But the bite was not serious, and there were no fights after that. It was probably the easiest intro I've done with adult bucks. There were actually more complications with Baton than with Skritch.

Syrnyk is a very dominant bugger, so he tries to dominate Baton, despite being twice as small as him. Baton is quite scared of him still. (Baton never bites though, he's a good boy). Skritch, on the other hand, lets Syrnyk do anything to him - jump on him, groom him obsessively, tease him. He likes Syrnyk and now has a younger rat to play with.

Don’t you think that the public has forgotten about Ukraine and the genocide that is happening there?

Hi. That's a tricky question. If I answer yes, then people who do still care will be upset. When in frustration I write that no one cares, there are always people in the notes telling me that they do care very much. These people exist, of course. But most of them have either friends or family from Ukraine, or have Ukrainian roots themselves. There are always exceptions, but they are few and far between. It also depends on the country. I have the impression that people from the Baltic states and some neighboring countries still do care about Ukraine. It's a war close to their home, they risk becoming russia's next victim, and most of them have suffered from russia before.

The fact that fewer and fewer people care with each passing year is not surprising. The shock factor from seeing bombed apartments and flattened cities wears off quickly, it gets old, becomes a new normal. As we always knew it would. Since it's not news anymore, most of it doesn't make it to the mainstream media, you have to actively search for the war updates rather than seeing them everywhere.

Popular posts from the far-left where they compare Russia to Israel illustrate really well just how little people know about this genocide, about the russian invasion. How little they want to know. They write something like "imagine if russia did THIS in Ukraine, there would be immediate international outrage and brutal repercussions!!!", while in reality russia has been doing THIS and worse the whole time, not just since 2022, but much earlier, and not only in Ukraine. Some people close their eyes and cover their ears to live in this fantasy where russia can do no wrong, and if it did, it would have been punished for it. As a Ukrainian suffering from russian unprovoked aggression, this notion is really hurtful to see.

I'd say that being a Ukrainian on tumblr is even worse than being a Ukrainian on twitter. The genocide of your nation is mostly ignored here and if not, then often denied. (again, not by everyone, please don't take this the wrong way!)

While I was typing all this, I thought - why bother? You can simply look at my (or blogs similar to mine) recent posts about this genocide, look at the number of notes, but most importantly, see how many of those who reblogged are my fellow Ukrainians. The majority. It wasn't like that in the first six or so months of the invasion. So yes, people care very little, but I can't blame the whole world for that or else I'll go insane.

I have currently only a few hours of electricity a day and I waste the time answering depressing questions or thinking how to answer them. *sigh*

This is Roman Horilyk after two years in russian captivity.

Roman was the senior checkpoint supervisor for the protection of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant. The russians took him and the other 168 national guardsmen guarding the Chornobyl NPP hostage and took him out of Ukraine through Belarus in March 2022. Now he was returned home, exchanged for the russian invaders.

Look at these photos. This is not an isolated case, but a pattern. Russia calls us Nazis...

Wait, this is actually kind of sad...

I received this lovely message on my nature-scares-me blog. It seemed fishy from the get-go because no one would really like my crappy photos taken with a cheap ancient camera that much to message me about it. But hey, I tried to hold back my cynicism and be polite.

They later added "you just have to do as I say......." but I blocked them before I could screenshot it.

It's not sad for me, of course, because I'm not an actual artist with any talent. I know my photos are bad, but I'm okay with it because I make them for myself. But I imagined how upsetting it would be if I were a struggling artist, with years of practice in a specific craft, going unnoticed in the sea of other artists and AI "art." And then, finally, someone notices me and wants to actually buy my work, only for them to turn out to be scammers. It's tough.

Maybe I should have messed with them just for fun, asked them which one of my "art" they like the most, but I'm not good at that kind of thing.

Be vigilant. I'm sorry if someone tried to scam you this way. I'm sure your art is beautiful.

Hi. I wanted to ask how you have those among Ukrainians who believe in russian propaganda. I just met one refugee from Kharkov, and he told me that Putin is fighting for the Russian world, and it was the United States that started the war. He reasons that since he speaks Russian, he should support Russia's actions. And this despite the fact that his city was bombed, and he and his family were on the verge of life and death.

Hi. I can't really answer this. I mean, I can try, but I'm not good at answering vague questions. I'm not well-spoken enough.

How come so many USAmericans worship Trump and see him as a savior of the poor when he's the exact opposite? How come far-right parties all across Europe gain more and more popularity, with people believing that fascists in power will resolve all their problems? Hell, we can take it a step further and ask how come people become anti-vaxxers and flat Earth believers? The answer is only one - propaganda. People fall under the harmful influence.

Russian propaganda has been extremely active in the southeast of Ukraine basically since we gained independence. Russia has been spending millions upon millions on brainwashing Ukrainians. The propaganda became more and more aggressive since the Orange Revolution. It was everywhere in the Donbas, you couldn't even wear a piece of orange clothing without risking being beaten up.

I was only a middle-schooler, but I remember it in detail. Propaganda materials such as leaflets were distributed everywhere. I remember one with Viktor Yushchenko (pro-European presidential candidate) against the background of the US flag and Uncle Sam who's saying, "Yushchenko is our pResident." I remember asking my mother what it meant, and she said it means that Yushchenko is a very bad person. This stuff was wild. And it only got wilder.

Russian propaganda claims over the years varied from the statement that "Donbas feeds the entire Ukraine" to "pro-European politicians and the US will make concentration camps in the Donbas for the Russian-speakers and will populate the territory with people from the West instead." I don't know how, but people believed in this purely artificial conflict. Not only were there never any persecutions against the Russian-speakers, but you would actually feel more comfortable speaking Russian in Ukraine. In most regions, the Ukrainian language was considered a "redneck" language and would get you nowhere. Of course, the Ukrainian government is also to blame for letting Russia control the narrative. But for most of these independent years, Ukraine was basically externally managed by Russia. During Yanukovych's presidency, we were like Belarus is now - a false "president" taking instructions straight from the Kremlin. So the brainwashing was getting worse and worse.

I told this story several times, and I'll tell it again. Before the "referendum" in Donetsk, most people laughed at the idea of the "republic." It was supported by some local lunatics, but mostly the whole thing was done by russian mercenaries and russian military. During this time, my aunt told me that those who support this are crazy and they're calling war into our homes. She was a reasonable person. She had a job, a nice apartment of her own, a happy family, and a bright future ahead. In 2015 they fled from Donetsk to russia, along with my grandmother. Why to russia? Propaganda. Then they got russian citizenship and used it to vote for putin. I asked how they could vote for him after what he did to them, after they lost it all. "We're thankful he gave us a home, gave us citizenship," was the answer. At first, he took everything from you, ruined your life, then let you restore a tiny bit of it - and you're grateful. I don't know how this works. It's not like they were welcomed in russia, they faced a lot of prejudice and oppression for being from Donetsk. To the point that my cousin was bullied at school for being from the Donbas, not only by kids but by teachers, despite being an excellent student and graduating with honors. Russians are outraged that their state "rescues" and "helps" those Donbas khokhols instead of helping "true" russians.

In the second month of the full-scale invasion, my grandmother proposed that I move to them, to the moscow region of russia. "This is the country that is trying to kill us all, how can you ask me to move there?" "What difference does it make which country to live in? It's safe here." So along with pro-putin brainrot comes also apoliticalness, passivity.

I'm rambling at this point. I don't want to go on about this forever, like I know I can. Let's leave it at this.

Just Sandy being sandy.

She's happy outside, but recently she's been even more fearful and anxious than usual. She was always afraid of the sounds of explosions (even very distant ones), thunder or fireworks. But the intensity of the recent airstrikes increased her fear tenfold. She now begins to hyperventilate and hide even from the strong wind howling outside the window.

She is a very impressionable dog, one random occurrence can cause her a phobia that will last for years. When we first got her (from the street), she was afraid to go through any kind of doors for over a year. She and her siblings lived near a grocery store where she probably was hit by a door, and she remembered it. She is also afraid of rats, lol. So at least I don't have to worry about her attacking them, she can't stand even when they simply look at her, she gets spooked and leaves.

Then negotiate a peace. Stop trying to save a shred of territory because doing so is resulting in mass slaughter of incompetent barely trained Ukrainians. You fuckers are gonna capitulate at this rate, then Russia can do whatever they want. Negotiate. A. Peace.

1. Negotiating wouldn’t help.

We had the Budapest memorandum in 2014 when we got “security guarantees” from russia, USA and the UK in exchange for our nuclear arsenal and some other weapons. Did that help us in 2014? Nope.

Now, the year of 2014. Russians took our Crimea, parts of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. We tried to negotiate with them and signed the Minsk Agreement. Did it ever help us in 2022? No.

Peace treaties with russia are worthless.

2. Giving up this “shred of territory” (which is the size of two Belgiums, by the way) would never stop the “mass slaughter of Ukrainians”.

Every day with russians on our land creates more torture chambers, mass graves, rape, forced deportation of Ukrainian children and concentration camps.

3. Does russia want to negotiate right now? No, unless all of Ukraine surrenders.

If all of Ukraine surrendered and became a part of russia, it would result in a complete genocide. Those Ukrainians who manage to survive will be sent by moscow as cannon fodder to Poland or Moldova. Is this the “mass slaughter of incompetent Ukrainians” you meant?

By the way, this is already happening with Ukrainians from the occupied territories who are sent by russians to the frontlines with no equipment, no training or even a health check.

If you mean “peace” as in a ceasefire, and letting russia keep the land it controls, it wouldn’t work either. Russians do not want to negotiate right now. If they did, they wouldn’t have started a new counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region.

Even if russia agreed to a ceasefire, and stopped bombing us (which would be a miracle), it would not last. They would use some time to regroup, train more soldiers, produce more weapons and ask for reduce of sanctions. In a few months or years they will attack Ukraine again, using the occupied territories. Just like in 2022.

4. Historically, we’re looking at the Third Reich annexing Sudetenland right now. Or even attacking Poland - if we remember Ukraine in 2014, Georgia in 2008 and two Chechen wars in the 1990s.

I’m sure you’ve heard of wwii but here’s a quick recap: everyone tried to appease hitler, no one cared when the third reich swallowed Austria, Czechia, Slovakia and only when the nazis attacked Poland, the people were like ‘OH MY GOD HITLER IS TRYING TO CONQUER EUROPE! This is unbelievable, why haven’t we stopped him before???’

(Well, not everyone was like that. Many people said “why should we fight for Poland, who cares about that hitler guy”)

5. Do you want a russian war with NATO? Or would you prefer to just send Ukraine some old weapons (that you don’t use anyway) and let us stop russia by ourselves?

NATO either helps Ukraine win now, or they will have to really fight russia in a few years. Do you want to send boys from NATO countries to die in Warsaw, Riga or Tallinn? Do you want russians to come to your country, to bomb your house, to kill your mother and rape your kid?

6. And for fuck’s sake, don’t talk to me like that. I wasn’t born in a first world country, yes. But that doesn’t make me inferior to you.

Syrnyk takes his medicine while being a bit of a pig

we're gonna freeze in darkness this winter and no one fucking cares

it's only June but our energy infrastructure is already severely fucked by russian attacks and it will only get worse

worse than before

the whole country descending into the stone age worse

and it still won't be an escalation as long as it's Ukrainian lives that are at stake

saturday, 4 in the morning

we wake up from an explosion

before we can process it, another, stronger explosion shakes the house

we know it's not the last. I squeeze my loved one's hand as hard as I can, waiting for another explosion in a couple of seconds. we wait in silence. I hope we both die simultaneously

I hear a distinct rattle, I already know the sound, it means a very close explosion in half a second

the house shakes harder, the windows shudder loudly, but do not break

we know it was the last one for now. we look out the window and see a huge fire and black smoke. they hit our power grid again

neighbors run out of their houses in panic and jump into their cars. we have no car and nowhere to go.

swallows are chirping as if nothing had happened. we are alive for now. we go back to sleep