Mel (they/them)🐀
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kupgup.bsky.social
Mel (they/them)🐀
@kupgup.bsky.social
190 followers 120 following 770 posts
Neurospicy, queer. Feral goblin hermit since 2020.

I knit (mostly socks) and hang out with my pet rats and sometimes bake bread and stuff.

Sometimes I am sighted at post-apocalyptic preenactment events.
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kupgup.bsky.social
Breaking news: KITTY
A black and white cat lies on the ground in front of a worn wooden fence. They are flanked by two orange flags marking a utility line
November 12, 2025 at 5:36 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
Since starting another attempt at intros, Toffee has been good at sharing sofa time with the old boys. Mostly he ignores them and goes about his own business.

... But tonight, Nico followed Toffee into the pillow fort to hang out together! Twice! Maybe we have some actual friendship developing?? 🤞
Two rats, Toffee and Nico, sit on a crumpled gray blanket with a sofa cushion as a roof
November 10, 2025 at 4:42 AM
kupgup.bsky.social
Y
O

He's named Peter Murphy, and he diligently supervises all the remote work around here.
A long haired black cat, curled into a circle, sleeping.
November 5, 2025 at 1:11 AM
kupgup.bsky.social
IMPORTANT BREAKING NEWS

Old man El Chikitin has found a piece of cereal and wants you to admire his foraging skills. His nose is still sharp after almost 2.5 years!

#PetRats
El Chikitin, an elderly gray and white rat with dumbo ears, stands on the sofa with nose raised high, proudly showing off the snack he found. See pic 1
October 25, 2025 at 1:54 AM
kupgup.bsky.social
I love the zoo animals that don't BELONG TO the zoo, they're just AT the zoo.

This bold as brass squirrel stared at me as they ate, for a solid 5 minutes before I left to follow my party. I did not know squirrels had that much attention span.
A gray squirrel lounges atop a sandstone-looking ledge, back legs outstretched, eating food with his lil hands.
October 19, 2025 at 10:47 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
(His old-man buddies say hi too! Their 2.5-year birthdays are coming up in November!)
The pale scraggly looking head of El Chikitin sticks out of a box to lick a dish of whipped cream. We can't see into the box, and Chiki is not moving a millimeter farther than he must, so the head looks festively disembodied. Spooky!! 👻 Nico, a rat with a charcoal hood, stands in his cage eating whipped cream from a little white dish. His dish secretly has medicine in it for his sneezes. 🤫
October 15, 2025 at 4:28 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
Happy half birthday to Filiberto! He's an impressive 2.5 years old!

#PetRats 🐀
Filiberto, a black colored rat, leans out of a hide to eat birthday whipped cream from a small white dish. He has spattered some small droplets of the cream onto his whiskers.
October 15, 2025 at 4:28 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
Here's Bucket! He's ready if you need someone to bite the drama.

(I'm not sure how one bites drama, but if anyone can find a way, it'll be Bucket.)
Bucket, a brown rat, perches on his human's shoulder and glares into the camera.
October 8, 2025 at 4:02 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
Raliberto
4/15/23 - 9/24/25

Such a good-natured potato. He was mellow enough I could balance Cheerios on him, as long as I left some for eating.

He almost made it to 2.5 years, which is a good long rat lifespan. Still feels too soon.
Raliberto, a chonky black rat with dumbo ears, sits in a yellow hide and eats a snack with his little hands. Raliberto, focused on eating a snack. There is a line of five cheerios running along his spine from head to rump. (His pal Churro stands beside him also enjoying the snack, but is much too wiggly for such a stunt.)
September 26, 2025 at 11:38 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
My fall school supply itch has been scratched, thanks to cognitive-surplus.com

I'm going to be SO ORGANIZED! Any second now...
A square mousepad with cephalopods on a dark blue background, and a weekly planner notepad also with cephalopods A stack of notebooks with assorted sciencey themed covers
September 22, 2025 at 9:58 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
#PetRats are very helpful at cleaning out yogurt cups for the recycle bin.

(And if you want to reuse the cup as a planter, they're happy to nibble some drainage holes too!)

Follow for more housekeeping pro tips! 🧹
Two plump rats in their cage, helpfully kicking yogurt bits out of a yogurt cup. Toffee (brown with white sides) is in front, with his head all the way in the cup. His brother Sharky (blond with curly rex fur) leans over his shoulders to work on the rim of the yogurt cup. Just after first pic. Sharky is in the background with his head fully in the yogurt cup. Toffee has come over to see the camera, and has small yogurt drops on his face.
September 14, 2025 at 8:54 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
Lunch! Yay I'm successfully caring for the tamagotchi that is my body.
Lunch! A reused plastic takeout tray with rice, broccoli, and chicken bits. And a bowl of lentil soup.
September 5, 2025 at 9:02 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
Starting a bit late, but today I am again feeding myself BEFORE dinner. Yay me.
Brunch on a light wood-look desk, next to a computer keyboard. A sandwich on white bread (PBJ) on a paper plate, a cup of blueberry yogurt, a glass of milk, and a can of Coke Zero (which BTW looked much cooler when it was the OG red on black, not the current black on red, cuz it was GOTH DIET COKE)
September 5, 2025 at 5:05 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
I don't see katydids often down here in Tucson, but one visited today!
A bright green katydid perches on a dingy dark brown windowsill
September 5, 2025 at 12:05 AM
kupgup.bsky.social
Hey look I'm eating lunch too!
A partially eaten bowl of couscous, falafel, and roasted veggies, topped with a sorta-tzatziki sauce. (No cucumbers in the house, just sour cream, lemon juice, and dry dill.)
September 4, 2025 at 7:49 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
Speaking of TOTAL FAILURE OF EXECUTIVE FUNCTION.

Nuvaring also VERY MUCH helps with my general mood and stress level, and my gender dysphoria. So it hasn't been JUST things like life stress and transphobic regimes and societal collapse making me unhappy lately. Good to know I guess?
Screenshot of messages from me to husband. They read: ..... Yeah so I just realized my Nuvaring reminders dropped off the face of my calendar after May. Which almost certainly means I have not changed it in nearly three months. [Edit: actually going on four months] Can't even blame [insurance] bs this time, just my own stupidity No wonder I've been feeling constantly stressed and cranky and have achey boobies and uterus bs.
September 4, 2025 at 5:10 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
Unlike the past few days, today I WILL NOT get so absorbed in other stuff that I neglect eating all day, and then realize as soon as my workday ends that I've turned into a achey-stomached frayed-nerved Ball Of Pure Hanger. That's no way to live.

Behold, BREAKFAST. Fuck you executive dysfunction! 🖕
Breakfast snacks on a desk. A cup of blueberry yogurt, a bowl with pineapple chunks and grapes, and a plate with cheese slices and small crackers. And a can of Coke Zero for the caffeine.
September 4, 2025 at 3:58 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
They glow under blacklight. But (shocking I know) it's nowhere near as dramatic as the package illustration.

I'm more surprised that the color under normal light is a bland pale peach. NOWHERE near the bright pink on the bag, or what I'd expect for watermelon or strawberry flavored candy.
A sample of several mini Swedish Fish candies (new Strawberry-Watermelon GLOW UPS flavor!!) under blacklight. They do indeed have glowing yellowish specks of blacklight reactive stuff throughout. The main substance is an indistinct pale color. Sample fish under normal light. They are kinda peachy-orange color, and are translucent presumably so the edible confetti shows. (The edible confetti isn't very visible though, even closer and in person.)
September 4, 2025 at 2:13 AM
kupgup.bsky.social
We have confirmed, turmeric is somewhat blacklight reactive. Seems plausible that you could extract something from it for a more prominent effect, and remain edible.
An orange plastic mold of Nemo from Finding Nemo. There is some turmeric powder inside but it's very difficult to see against that background under normal light. A purply blacklight shines a spot next to the mold. Same mold and turmeric, this time with the blacklight shining right on it. The mold has a purply cast now, like most surfaces under blacklight. The turmeric powder has kept closer to its normal-light appearance, but seems brighter, and is much more easily visible against the background.
September 4, 2025 at 1:54 AM
kupgup.bsky.social
Dear Swedish Fish:

Your food scientists were so preoccupied with whether or not they could, that they didn't stop to think if they should.
A bag of Swedish Fish candy... But not the normal lingonberry flavor, it's a special flavor!! Probably limited edition, cuz it sure seems gimmicky. The package declares the flavor is "Strawberry-watermelon GLOW UPS" and adds that it's "with EDIBLE CONFETTI that glows under BLACKLIGHT." It's illustrated with a few candy fish pieces that are watermelon-ish pink with embedded multicolored sprinkles. Each fishy also has a few sparkly lens-flare flashes which are probably not representative of how the actual candies look under blacklight. (You bet I'm going to confirm this later.) A panel from the back of the package, with some further claims. One of the sparkly pink fishies stands upright next to a spotlight unit, which is shining a purple blacklight beam away off the side. The fish tells us, "Our edible confetti contains turmeric extract which gives it its fun glow!" and adds in smaller print, "Hint: You can't taste it!" Very reassuring, thank you, helpful spokesfish. (Obviously I will be confirming this too. I've tasted turmeric things where the turmeric is meant to be a noticeable part of the flavor, so I have some basis to judge this.)
September 3, 2025 at 7:52 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
DAMN this is like a wortserchertshirier-flavored salt lick.

And I say this as someone with (last I checked) taste buds calibrated to keep the salt industry alive, like a good red-blooded 'Murican.

I'm impressed they came up with a flavor too CHEX-treme for me, but bravo I guess.
A Costco bag of Chex Mix, in Traditional Original Recipe flavor. The front of the bag triumphantly declares that it is "Now CHEX-tra delicious." There's a little fine print note that this is "as compared to previous recipe."
August 29, 2025 at 5:23 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
It is a Suprelorin implant.
Partial shot of an itemized vet invoice. Top one says "Suprelorin Implant"
August 28, 2025 at 11:18 PM
kupgup.bsky.social
Sharky called for reinforcements. It IS a pretty big job. Bucket and Toffee have taken a shift.

(It's mostly like small, very focused, slightly scratchy bursts of scalp massage. Though Toffee has tugged too hard a few times.)
Two rats, Bucket (solid brown) and Toffee (brown with white sides) perch on the sofa and groom their human's hair.
August 28, 2025 at 1:33 AM
kupgup.bsky.social
Sharky has concerns about my wet hair. He was making a valiant effort to help me groom, before getting distracted.
A curly furred blond rat, Sharky, stands on the back of the sofa and leans onto his human's head to groom them. (He's looking up now since his camera sense was tingling.)
August 28, 2025 at 1:15 AM
kupgup.bsky.social
I intended just to get out of the house for some of my workday.... But I can't NOT browse and get some books.

(Even if I have two books I'm already actively reading. But hey, all but the top one can be renewed!)
A stack of freshly checked out books on a table at the library, with a pen lying nearby. The books are: Klein, Ezra and Derek Thompson. Abundance. Boddy, Elaine. Easy Everyday Sourdough Bread Baking. Khounnaroj, Arounna. Visible Mending. Viola, David. You Have Unleashed a Storm.
August 21, 2025 at 11:16 PM