We have protective lenses, & I’m not sure that will be enough. The land practically shines with color, although Deno, who is colorblind, says that the patterns within the colors are quite beautiful.

There are the cutest little puffball creatures here, in a sort of neon lavender color, as well as something similar but white-and-green-striped.  The problem is, the smaller of the lavender puffballs are venomous, and the larger ones, it turns out, are poisonous.

On the other hand, the green-and-white-striped ones, maybe the size of a terrier, are quite friendly and so far have not harmed anyone in the least.

This planet may hurt our eyes, but so far it’s been quite entertaining.

Planetary D17

The puffballs – the lavender ones – are a bit of a problem.  We solve most of that by putting in a low fence around everything, since they cannot seem to climb too high.

Sadly, these leaves out the green-and-white ones as well, and the new ones Deno found, blue and yellow and almost a football size and shape.

So now we have a puffball pen where we keep the ones we like. We’ve discovered that the little blue/yellow ones are quite nice for fur, and Deno is already planning a breeding program.

In the meantime, Felin is working on some food products with the translucent but still vivid succulent-like plants we found, the ones with fronds almost like fennel.  They taste like tofu.  Processed, they taste… more like tofu.

Lucky for us we brought food with us.

Planetary Date 132

We’ve been breeding Puffballs.

The Dawn (blue/yellow) Puffs have a gestation period of 1/15 of the local year, litters of 5-7 pea-sized pufflings, and, like all puffs, appear to have either three or four genders. I challenge you to sex something that looks like a pom-pom with sharp teeth on one end, a prehensile tail on the other, and claws in between.

They aren’t as domesticated as the Vernal Puffs (Green/white) and not half as friendly, but they do make really nice mittens.

The Vernals, on the other hand, have turned out to be scent hounds, and THEY have found us something that, blessing of blessings, does not taste like tofu.

Now if only they could find us sugar. Or coffee.

Planetary Date 232

The problem with breeding puffballs is, as it turns out, they have a high rate of mutation.

Our mitten-puffs, the Dawn line, produced a green-&-cyan thing that seemed to be two puffs together and ate everything in sight – thank heavens we have no children here yet!  It would not eat other mitten-pufffs if there was anything else available, but that seemed to be its only qualm.

On the other hand, the Vernal puffs produced a whole litter of mouthless red abominations that appear to SNORT their food in through giant nostrils.

On the plus side, we’ve found a sugar plant. And it turns out the abominations taste great with a sugar glaze.

• Tootplanet: Captain’s Log
• Tootplanet: Explorers’ Logs Planet 7-12-1
• Tootplanet: Explorers’ Logs Planet 7-12-1
• Tootplanet: Explorers’ Logs Planet 7-12-1

We landed on the lowest part of the main landmass we could manage.  From there, we have been sending out instruments and probes.

The sea has a smell to it, almost like a cocktail at the wrong sort of party. But it is lovely, crystal and blue.

What arable land there is is crowded with plant life – meadows and little forests running in stripes from the mountains almost to the sea, small animals skittering everywhere.  Nothing touches the sea, not even the amphibian-like creatures.

We’ve set up camp beyond the high water mark, just in case. Continue reading →

From space, everything about this planet was bloody, red and black.

On the ground, we find the underbrush violet and grey and pink.  The air is sweet, floral, and moist where we landed.  The sky, too, is pink, where you can see it through the underbrush.

The plants we’ve sampled taste dusty, with a hint of coppery flavor.  Nothing to write home about.  But the animals…!

Our first beast sighting was a great thing, three meters at the shoulder with purple horns longer than I am tall.  Lucky for us it appears to be an herbivore.  Still, we’re glad for the sturdy shelter of the drop vessel.

Planetary Day 18

We’ve found three tasty plants: one a grain, one that tastes rather like peas when cooked, and one a root vegetable. This planet is livable, although the pink-and-grey wears on one after a while.

More exciting than the plants are the beasts.  In addition to the Pink-Yak (we are creative with naming, aren’t we?) we’ve found a sleek little predator, knee-high and as long as I am tall, that preys on the purple-and-red birds with the obnoxious song.  It’s also purple, with spots and splotches in mauve and grey, and three of them have been haunting our campsite, chasing the little (pink) rodents that like our food scraps.

Day 110

We are coming into winter here & I am very glad that we have been experimenting with the foodstuffs.

We have also been experimenting with the animals.  The Pink-Yak, the spotted-Cat, and the puff-mice all appear to hibernate through the winter.  So do the Red-Beast, which is bigger even than the Pink-Yak, omnivorous, & deadly (also not very tasty) but with a very nice fur.

We found a (pink) cavern where many of the Pink-Yaks were settling in for the winter and built ourselves a secondary shelter in the center.  The body heat of the Pink-Yaks may prove the key to our survival, if winter is as bad as it looks like it may be.

Day 169

The snowfall here is unreal.  It is survivable,  but for humans only with planning or, in our case, some planning and some emergency supplies.

It is also, of course, pink, reddish where it is stacked too deeply, and it is stacked far too deeply everywhere.

Our cavern shelter has saved our lives – that and the warmth of the Pink-Yaks. The smell is a bit… strong, but after a week or two you stop smelling it.

Or so we tell ourselves.

Torvi and Paet have been tunneling out, & they found several small mammals that do the same – and two grains which survive, in a sense, under the snow.

The rest of us are studying the Pink-Yaks and praying for Spring.

Day 269

The Pink-Yaks have a fascinating hibernation cycle

That is, they appear to mate while in hibernation, which, I can tell you, is an amazing thing to be in the middle of, although it is not so much noisy as it is an entire room moving at once, slowly and with purpose.

How do they choose their mates?  We are beginning to think they do it before they go to sleep. If not, there must be some mechanism — or selection works very differently here than at home.

The small mammals appear to stay awake, tunnelling down to grain pods.  We have found three grain “fields” big enough to sustain human life, although I do feel bad for the mice whose harvest we are stealing.

Still, we pray for spring.

Day 312

We made it through winter!

We might still have a ways to go until we have been here a year – either by ship’s clock or by the planet’s long, lazy cycle – but we are celebrating a New Year as the Pink-Yaks frolic in the bare patches of earth and the small burgundy felines (Red Cats, of course) run about attacking mice still running under the snow.

We have broken out some reserve supplies and Torvi and Paet have found some small baby greens.  It’s not much of a feast, but still.

We made it through winter!

Day 329 

As spring comes into its own here, we’re finding out something new about this planet.

Kittens.  Cubs. Calves.

Turns out they are a softer pink color, in general, and nearly blend in to the surrounding terrain.

Also, you do not want to get between a Pink-Yak and its calf.

Torvi survived, but it was a close call.

Paet is nursing three baby red-cats whose mother ran afoul of the same Pink-yak Torvi did.  No clue if they can be domesticated, but we’re going to try.  Ditto for the yaks.

Day 341 

The flowers.

The flowers when they bud, they fill the air with pink pollen.

There is pink EVERYWHERE.

And I do mean everywhere.

It coats your skin.  It coats the animals.

A violet animal we had not seen before – Torvi is calling it a Zeeraffe – tried to eat me.  We think it’s an herbivore.  It just liked the taste of the pollen that much.

Or the pollen is some sort of aphrodesiac, but it does not, at least, work on humanoids.

And we thought winter was dangerous!

• Tootplanet: Captain’s Log
• Tootplanet: Explorers’ Logs Planet 7-9-1
• Tootplanet: Explorers’ Logs Planet 7-9-1
• Tootplanet: Explorers’ Logs Planet 7-9-1