Roadside America

Jul. 10th, 2025 04:05 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Roadside America lists a lot of quirky attractions.  Here's the list for Illinois.

Activism

Jul. 9th, 2025 03:03 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Scientists host 'science fair of canceled grants' on Capitol Hill to fight funding cuts

The researchers gathered, alongside the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, to present posters in a good, old-fashioned science fair, titled “The Things We’ll Never Know: A Science Fair of Canceled Grants.”


It's a great tactic, and one that other fields could use too. "Here are some useful things you could have had, but these specific people took them away from you." That's guaranteed to piss off a lot of people.

It's also among the standard protest techniques in Terramagne. Not only is it sound activism for pounding the perpetrators, it also has a pretty good chance of someone else deciding to sponsor your canceled project if they like your pitch. Feel free to prompt me for that.

Cuddle Party

Jul. 9th, 2025 03:01 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Everyone needs contact comfort sometimes. Not everyone has ample opportunities for this in facetime. So here is a chance for a cuddle party in cyberspace. Virtual cuddling can help people feel better.

We have a
cuddle room that comes with fort cushions, fort frames, sheets for draping, and a weighted blanket. A nest full of colorful egg pillows sits in one corner. There is a basket of grooming brushes, hairbrushes, and styling combs. A bin holds textured pillows. There is a big basket of craft supplies along with art markers, coloring pages, and blank paper. The kitchen has a popcorn machine. Labels are available to mark dietary needs, recipe ingredients, and level of spiciness. Here is the bathroom, open to everyone. There is a lawn tent and an outdoor hot tub. Bathers should post a sign for nude or clothed activity. Come snuggle up!

Birdfeeding

Jul. 9th, 2025 02:38 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny, humid, and hot.  Yesterday it rained for half the day and into the night.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.  They've drained half the thistle feeder but I still need to refill that one.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I filled the thistle feeder.

I've seen a male cardinal and a fox squirrel.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I sprayed weedkiller on poison ivy around the yard.

EDIT 7/9/25 -- I potted up two apricot seeds.



.

Sunshine Revival Challenge 3: Food

Jul. 9th, 2025 12:44 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Sunshine Revival Challenge 3: Food

Journaling prompt: What are your favorite summer-associated foods?

Creative prompt: Draw art of or make graphics of summer foods, or post your favorite summer recipes. Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so
.

Sunshine-Revival-Carnival-2.png


This is actually from 7/7/25 but it wasn't up when I checked, and then the net was down.

Read more... )

Today's Adventures

Jul. 8th, 2025 08:38 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
We went up to Champaign-Urbana today.

Read more... )

July has already been busy

Jul. 8th, 2025 02:58 pm
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[personal profile] azurelunatic
Susan visited!

Thorn didn't get carjacked by a Bigfoot.

Birdfeeding

Jul. 8th, 2025 12:51 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny and warm.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a few sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/8/25 -- It rained for about half the day and into the night.

various

Jul. 7th, 2025 11:36 pm
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[personal profile] sinew posting in [community profile] icons
[63] heaven official's blessing (tgcf)
[16] pixel
[13] art
[06] boyfriends
[03] sanrio
[02] barbie



more here

Poem: "Tomato Seedlings in Tin Cans"

Jul. 7th, 2025 04:48 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the June 3, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "growth" square in my 6-2-25 card for the Pride Fest bingo. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony Barrette. It belongs to the series Daughters of the Apocalypse.

Read more... )

Bee Food Flowers

Jul. 7th, 2025 03:11 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Scientists’ top 10 bee-magnet blooms—turn any lawn into a pollinator paradise

Botanists from the University of Copenhagen and the UK set out to find the best flower combinations for bees and hoverflies.
Danish and Welsh botanists sifted through 400 studies, field-tested seed mixes, and uncovered a lineup of native and exotic blooms that both thrill human eyes and lure bees and hoverflies in droves, offering ready-made recipes for transforming lawns, parks, and patios into vibrant pollinator hotspots
.


Below are the plants recommended for European and United Kingdom uses...

Read more... )

Monday Update 7-7-25

Jul. 7th, 2025 02:10 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Artwork of the wordsmith typing. (typing)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "An Interest in the Affairs of Your Government"
Poem: "Incompetence, Sloppy Thinking, and Laziness"
Poem: "Always Surprised by Consequences"
Poem: "No Such Thing as Finished"
Geology
Birdfeeding
Today's Smoothie
Early Humans
Birdfeeding
Philosophical Questions: Government
Fireworks
Writing About Fireworks
Birdfeeding
Follow Friday 7-4-25: Historical Fiction
Blazing the Trail: Celebrating Indigenous Fire Stewardship
Birdfeeding
Climate Change
Birdfeeding
Problem-Solving
Hard Things

"Philosophical Questions: Looks" has 41 comments. "Not a Destination, But a Process" has 146 comments. "The Democratic Armada of the Caribbean" has 95 comments.


[community profile] sunshine_revival is running through July. See the schedule, meet the moderators, and use the master post to navigate the event. Meet new folks in the friending meme. Spread the word!

Sunshine-Revival-2025-Banner-3.png

* Sunshine Revival Challenge 1: Light
Poem: "The Pleasure of Escaping the Responsibility"

* Sunshine Revival Challenge 2: Tunnel of Love
Poem: "Legs of Grass, Feet of Flowers"


[community profile] summerofthe69 is now open! You can see the calendar here and the current themes are Tetris 69 and Body Worship 69.


"In the Heart of the Hidden Garden" is now complete! Lawrence shows Stan more of his favorite places.


The weather has been variable here. It rained yesterday and last night. Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a pair of mourning doves, a male cardinal, a gray catbird, a fox squirrel, a skunk, and at least 1 probably 2 bats. Currently blooming: dandelions, pansies, violas, marigolds, petunias, red salvia, wild strawberries, verbena, lantana, sweet alyssum, zinnias, snapdragons, blue lobelia, perennial pinks, impatiens, oxalis, moss rose, yarrow, anise hyssop, firecracker plant, tomatoes, tomatillos, Asiatic lilies, cucumber, snowball bush, yellow squash, zucchini, morning glory, purple echinacea, narrow-leaf mountain mint, black-eyed Susan, yellow coneflower, wild bergamot, chicory, Queen Anne's lace, sunflowers, cup plant. Daylilies are done blooming. Cucumbers, tomatillo, and pepper have green fruit. The first 'Chocolate Sprinkles' tomato ripened and some other tomatoes are showing color. Wild strawberries, mulberries, peas, and blackberries are ripe. Black raspberries are done.

Birdfeeding

Jul. 7th, 2025 01:59 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is partly sunny and warm. It rained yesterday and last night.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, a male cardinal, and at least one mourning dove.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/7/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/7/25 -- I harvested a handful of peapods for supper. :D

EDIT 7/7/25 -- I took some pictures around the yard.

EDIT 7/7/25 -- I trimmed brush in the prairie garden.

The first of the gladioli are blooming in the telephone pole garden and notch of the prairie garden. A sunflower is blooming in the telephone pole garden too.

EDIT 7/7/25 -- I cut some of the brush into sticks for making bonfire cores.

I've seen at least 2 bats. I've seen several half-grown possums, one deceased, two alive.

Fireflies are coming out. Cicadas are singing.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

July 4 Flood Relief

Jul. 7th, 2025 11:42 am
marthawells: Atlantis in fog (Atlantis)
[personal profile] marthawells
Kerr County Flood Relief Fund

The Kerr County Flood Relief Fund supports relief and rebuilding efforts after the flood of July 4, 2025. Your generosity helps our neighbors recover.

The Community Foundation - a 501(c)(3) public charity serving the Texas Hill Country - will direct funds to vetted organizations providing rescue, relief, and recovery efforts as well as flood assistance. The Fund will support the communities of Hunt, Ingram, Kerrville, Center Point, and Comfort. All donations are tax-deductible, and you will receive a receipt for your gift.

https://cftexashillcountry.fcsuite.com/erp/donate/create/fund?funit_id=4201


And Kerrville Pets Alive! is taking donations for rescue and fostering lost pets.

https://kerrvillepetsalive.com/?link_id=3&can_id=588b5a597b5d30fd7e36b213e5ba6987&source=email-freedom-is-fought-for-not-given&email_referrer=email_2803907&email_subject=how-you-can-help-texas-flood-victims&&
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the March 4, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] wyld_dandelyon. It also fills the "Secrets" square in my 3-1-25 card for the Tolkien Bingo Fest. This poem has been sponsored by Anthony Barrette. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Victor Frankenstein in his fancy clothes (Frankenstein)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem came out of the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired and sponsored by [personal profile] janetmiles. It also fills the "close-knit community" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. It belongs to the series Frankenstein's Family; it follows "Signs of Their Trespass," so read that first or this won't make much sense.

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem came out of the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] rix_scaedu. It also fills "The Harder They Fall" square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by [personal profile] janetmiles. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.

Read more... )

Poem: "No Such Thing as Finished"

Jul. 6th, 2025 06:18 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
This poem is spillover from the July 1, 2025 Poetry Fishbowl. It was inspired by a prompt from [personal profile] jake67jake. It also fills the "He's all hat and no cattle." square in my 7-1-25 card for the Western Bingo fest. This poem has been sponsored by [personal profile] janetmiles. It belongs to the series Polychrome Heroics.

Read more... )

Geology

Jul. 6th, 2025 04:15 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Defying physics: This rare crystal cools itself using pure magnetism

Research team identifies atacamite as a magnetocaloric material.
Deep in Chile’s Atacama Desert, scientists studied a green crystal called atacamite—and discovered it can cool itself dramatically when placed in a magnetic field. Unlike a regular fridge, this effect doesn’t rely on gases or compressors. Instead, it’s tied to the crystal’s unusual inner structure, where tiny magnetic forces get tangled in a kind of “frustration.” When those tangled forces are disrupted by magnetism, the crystal suddenly drops in temperature. It’s a strange, natural trick that could someday help us build greener, more efficient ways to cool things
.

Birdfeeding

Jul. 6th, 2025 02:06 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly cloudy and sweltering. 

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.

I put out water for the birds.  Bees are visiting the small metal birdbath again.

EDIT 7/6/25 -- It's raining, so I won't have to water anything today.  :D
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[personal profile] squidgestatus
We started our Summer Sleepaway Camp Fundraiser on the first day of Summer 2025, and I'm proud to say that we have managed to reach - and surpass - our goal!

Over the last three weeks, generous donors have stepped forward and together, we have raised $2,187.46 - almost 10% above our goal!  We should be in good form for the next year, but the fundraiser will continue in case anyone wants to donate, with the chance to get either a sticker (with $10 minimum donation) or a t-shirt (with a minimum $100 donation).

Thank you to everyone who has donated, ensuring we can cover our expenses for the next year.  And for those of you who have donated, we will be in touch with outstanding questions like addresses and shirt sizes.

Today's Smoothie

Jul. 5th, 2025 10:39 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we made a smoothie with:

1 cup orange juice
1 cup Brown Cow vanilla yogurt
1 banana
1/2 cup frozen strawberries
1/2 cup ice

The result is bright pink and on the thin side. It tastes mostly of orange. It's okay, but not as good as the tropical version from earlier.

Early Humans

Jul. 5th, 2025 05:19 pm
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[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
125,000-year-old ‘fat factory’ run by Neanderthals discovered in Germany

Stone Age humans living by a lake in what’s now Germany systematically processed animal carcasses for fatty nutrients — essentially running what scientists describe as a “fat factory” to boil bones on a vast scale, according to new research.


Note that another thing you can make with animal fat is pemmican: a stable, high-energy trail food made with fat, powdered meat, and a carbohydrate such as berries.  Since it's not something you'd make in a hot climate like Africa (where humans evolved) but rather in a cold climate (such as northern Europe), I'm suddenly wondering if it is in fact a Neanderthal or Denisovan recipe.

Birdfeeding

Jul. 5th, 2025 03:12 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is partly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, plus some brown birds that might be female blackbirds.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I refilled the thistle feeder.

I picked up the concrete paver that we used for fireworks last night, along with scraps of paper and cardboard left behind.

Volunteer sunflowers are blooming under the fly-through feeder.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden.

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden and some of the savanna seedlings.  A sunflower in the telephone pole garden is close to blooming.  :D

EDIT 4/5/25 -- I pulled some weeds from the septic garden.

Fireflies are out.  Cicadas are singing.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Sunshine Revival Challenge 2: Tunnel of Love

Journaling: The romance of summer! What do you love? Write about anything you feel sentimental about or that gets your heart pumping.

Creative: Write a love poem to anyone or anything you like

See "Poem: Legs of Grass, Feet of Flowers."

Post your answer to today’s challenge in your own space and leave a comment in this post saying you did it. Include a link to your post if you feel comfortable doing so.

Sunshine-Revival-Carnival-4.png

Read more... )

Philosophical Questions: Government

Jul. 5th, 2025 12:14 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
People have expressed interest in deep topics, so this list focuses on philosophical questions.

What should the role of a government be, what boundaries and limitations should it have?

Read more... )

Fireworks

Jul. 4th, 2025 09:13 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Tonight we did our home fireworks show. :D These are the things we bought from JT Fireworks Sales in Charleston...

Read more... )

Writing About Fireworks

Jul. 4th, 2025 03:09 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
In honor of the Fourth of July, here are a few tidbits to enjoy.

Today's Adventures 6/28/25 -- We bought fireworks for our home show, and we watched the show in Tolono.

Fireworks 7/4/25 -- Read about our home show tonight.

Read more... )

Birdfeeding

Jul. 4th, 2025 02:50 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a mourning dove.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I checked the south lot and put topsoil in a few low spots, prior to our fireworks show tonight.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked up a trough pot that fell off the old picnic table, restored the curry plant and purple basil as best I could, then watered them and a few other things in the house yard.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I sowed 6 pots with mulberry seeds. Half are from a particularly pleasing mulberry sapling near the west end of the old fishpond, the other half from a mulberry that was left on the porch step as if a gift.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I watered the telephone pole garden and a few seedlings in the savanna.

My partner Doug mowed the ritual meadow and prairie paths.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of herbs to make a skillet scramble for supper.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden. There are plenty left; I ran out of heat tolerance long before I ran out of berries. :D

Cicadas are singing.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- I picked a handful of blackberries in the prairie garden. Still more left, but I'll have to hunt those another day, because it is still hot and the sun is about to set.

EDIT 7/4/25 -- We did our home fireworks show.  :D  I'm sure it confused the bats and the fireflies.

As it is now dark, I am done for the night.

pixellated: (Default)
[personal profile] pixellated posting in [community profile] style_system
hi! here's what i'm trying to achieve: i want my journal's main page to display one entry (the most recent one), and i want that entry to be vertically centered, so that the distance from the top of the entry to the navstrip is the same as the distance from the bottom of the entry to the bottom of the page. here is a quick mockup of what i have in mind:


click here for fullsize

i've tried using margin: auto for this, but it didn't work; googling around leads me to believe that that's because the entry container is an inline element and thus doesn't have a specified height, which you need for that to work. i thought about using a flexbox inside the entry with three elements arranged in a column, with the middle element holding the actual contents of the entry and the top and bottom elements growing/shrinking to provide padding, to achieve something visually similar, but i don't think that would work either for the same reason (no specified height).

is there any way to do this? the theme i'm currently using is blanket, but i'm not married to it, so if there is a different theme that allows me to do this, i will happily switch.

thank you!

uc_xmen drabble-a-thon/prompt meme

Jul. 4th, 2025 12:35 pm
flareonfury: (Madelyne Pryor '97)
[personal profile] flareonfury posting in [site community profile] dw_community_promo
uc-xmen-drabbleathon

Event Info: [community profile] uc_xmen is having a fic meme/drabble-a-thon for X-Men unconventional ships. So in the style of the various fic memes and oxoniensis' Porn Battles - click on the banner to get to the master list of prompts and start commenting! :)
ysabetwordsmith: A blue sheep holding a quill dreams of Dreamwidth (Dreamsheep)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today's theme is Historical Fiction.

Read more... )
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
FireSmart Canada is pleased to release Blazing the Trail: Celebrating Indigenous Fire
Stewardship
, a beautiful, bound publication that recognizes the contributions to wildfire
prevention of Indigenous communities in Canada
.

Read more... )

Birdfeeding

Jul. 3rd, 2025 02:49 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is partly sunny and hot.

I fed the birds. I refilled the thistle feeder. I've seen a large mixed flock of sparrows and house finches plus a male cardinal.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I took a few more pictures around the yard, mostly flowers at the end of the driveway.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I dug up three pots of wild senna and one of purple echinacea that had seeded themselves in the savanna, hopefully to transplant them elsewhere if they survive.

I've seen a pair of mourning doves and a gray catbird. I also saw a very large bird, possibly a vulture or eagle, flying over the field to the west.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- We hooked up the new, flat water hose. The "non-kinking" label is a complete lie; it is the most prone to kinking of any hose I've ever used. Straightening it out enough to work is a bitch. However, it is extremely lightweight and completely flexible, so those are pluses. Also the multifunction water wand is by far the best nozzles I've ever used. I favor with "shower" and "flat" functions the most. The new picnic table garden and septic garden have been thoroughly watered.

EDIT 7/3/25 -- I watered the old picnic table garden and the plants in the house yard.

The corn is tasseling. The pollen hangs heavy on the wind with a sweet, dusty, buttery, golden smell.

Fireflies are coming out.

I saw a skunk in the house yard. I've seen a squirrel at the hopper feeder.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night.

Climate Change

Jul. 3rd, 2025 02:45 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
When rainforests died, the planet caught fire: New clues from Earth’s greatest extinction

When Siberian volcanoes kicked off the Great Dying, the real climate villain turned out to be the rainforests themselves: once they collapsed, Earth’s biggest carbon sponge vanished, COâ‚‚ rocketed, and a five-million-year heatwave followed. Fossils from China and clever climate models now link that botanical wipe-out to runaway warming, hinting that losing today’s tropical forests could lock us in a furnace we can’t easily cool.


I pointed this out decades ago and nobody listened. Now here we are. But hey, someone could roll up this newspaper and beat Brazil with it.
ysabetwordsmith: Damask smiling over their shoulder (polychrome)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Thanks to a donation from [personal profile] fuzzyred, you can now read the rest of "In the Heart of the Hidden Garden."  Lawrence gives Stan a tour of two more buildings and two more gardens -- and then explains why.
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[personal profile] squidgestatus
Just to keep everyone in touch with what's going on with our yearly fundraiser, we're getting close!  Our yearly goal is to raise at least $2,000 so that we can get through the next year, and as of 3pm Pacific Time today, we've raised $1,792.16 - almost 90% of our goal!

If you can help get us to our goal, or just need more information about the fundraiser, including the cool design on either a sticker or t-shirt you get for donating, you can click here for all the details.  And if you're so inclined, you can simply use PayPal to send a donation to donations@squidge.org.

Thank you for being part of our little space on the Internet!

Birdfeeding

Jul. 2nd, 2025 04:20 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today is mostly sunny and warm.

I fed the birds.  I've seen a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches.  Robins are foraging in the short grass that my partner Doug mowed yesterday in the house yard.

I put out water for the birds.

EDIT 7/2/25 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.

EDIT 7/2/25 -- I took some pictures around the yard.

EDIT 7/2/25 -- I watered the old picnic table, new picnic table, and telephone pole gardens.

Fireflies are out.  Cicadas are singing.

EDIT 7/2/25 -- I watered the septic garden.

I've seen a bat over the south lot, which also got mowed today.

As it is getting dark, I am done for the night. 

Problem-Solving

Jul. 2nd, 2025 02:19 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
New study backs up 'sleeping on it,' suggesting naps promote creative problem-solving

All groups improved in the dot-sorting test after their nap, but 85.7% of those who achieved the first deeper sleep phase — called N2 sleep — had the breakthrough.

Hard Things

Jul. 2nd, 2025 02:17 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

Whales

Jul. 2nd, 2025 02:13 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Killer whales attempt to feed people in first-ever sightings: 'Represents altruism'

Among their own whale circles, they have long shared their prey with one another, but in a new study, recorded over the course of the last two decades, wild orcas were spotted trying to share their food with human beings.

These wild whales, on 34 occasions, across four oceans, were documented approaching humans on their own, dropping a fresh kill in front of the people, and waiting for a response.



The polite thing to do is accept it, and if you have anything suitable, swap something back. Cetaceans love the hell out of human item drops. A sturdy beach toy should go over well.  Treat this as a first-contact situation; be cautious but aware that you are dealing with a sophont of another species.

Moment of Silence: Jimmy Swaggart

Jul. 2nd, 2025 02:07 am
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Sinful televangelist Jimmy Swaggart has passed away

... I just kinda want to pass Lucifer a big bag of popcorn and a big shaker of Mexican spice blend.  He's gonna need it.

Today's Smoothie

Jul. 1st, 2025 10:54 pm
ysabetwordsmith: Cartoon of me in Wordsmith persona (Default)
[personal profile] ysabetwordsmith
Today we made a smoothie with:

1 cup orange juice
1 cup Brown Cow vanilla yogurt
1 banana
1/2 cup Great Value Mixed Fruit (pineapple, sliced strawberries, mango, peaches)
1/2 cup ice

The result is slightly thick, a pale peach color, with a nice orange-tropical flavor -- almost reminds me of a dreamsicle.  It'd be good with some coconut; there's another tropical mix with that but it's not what we have at the moment.

Profile

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simonejester

February 2023

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