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dialecticdreamer is hosting Feathering the Nest. This one is always about fluff and comfort. Leave prompts, get ficlets!dialecticdreamer is hosting Feathering the Nest. This one is always about fluff and comfort. Leave prompts, get ficlets!
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Austin is over for his usual Monday datenight, made harder by both of us being very _very_ worn out.
(the weather is not helping. the fascism definitely not)
We had a little bit of a "blaaaah what do" and then Austin asked "what do you want to do" and I paused a long while and admitted that what I wanted to do was play video games and not think. And so he pointed out that Slay the Spire 2 has just come out in early release and maybe we could try it? I hemmed a little (I don't like the idea of playing games in early release) and we read some of the literature, and I decided "sure, let's give it a shot".
(I still have steambux from my da, and certainly Slay the Spire original is one of those games that I have put a staggering number of hours into1 so I do not at all begrudge giving the makers another round of dollarbux in thanks)
And so we went ahead and hit play and cooperated and chatted and balanced our different playstyles and charged on through. And won! We won very satisfyingly, by mostly creating a good deck vibe (all combos around casting vulnerable) and then immediately blowing that up when given a super powerful artifact at the end of act II.
It was a really lovely balance between "this is extremely familiar" and "this is new and exciting". It's very funny playing my obsessive games with other people, because like, I don't think of myself as being an expert in this game or anything, but I suppose yes, I do immediately know what the cards do or which cards are new. There's definitely some intriguing new options popping up and I look forward to doing some replay.
The timeline is going to be absolutely lovely to find out more about --I like me a little bit of explicit lore sometimes! I mean, I do enjoy the scraps and fragments of the story that you get in the first game, but it's _so_ barebones sometimes that there's nothing really to hang onto.
And it's nice that being cozy and silly and collaborative was able to really turn my mood around at least, and hopefully Austin's as well. Now I can go to sleep feeling a little bit better about my universe (in which my last two workdays were 9.5(today) and 12.5(Fri) hours of active work, and the rest of the week is not looking milder.)
The world is bad but sometimes escapism can be quite nice! Especially when done in good company! I hope you are finding some of that too.
~Sor
MOOP!
1: According to a quick skim of my steam library:
1st place: Crypt of the Necrodancer, 631.5 hours
2nd place: Slay the Spire, 416.8 hours
3rd place: Stardew Valley, 388.9 hours2
4th place: Heroes of Might and Magic III, 324.8 hours3
5th place: Rogue Legacy - 293 hours
In summation, I am not a _broad_ video game player, I am a _deep_ video game player. This is why I am still running through the steambux from my da from two years ago, I just don't buy games very much.
2: Please do not observe that the first time I played this game was like, end of May 2025. The rest of these times are on much longer timeframes (like, multiple years apiece).
3: Heroes should be much higher, there's been lots of times where I've owned this through GoG and emulators not through steam, and I should get that set up again because I miss having phoenixes (and the Steam version doesn't have the expansions, sigh.) It's basically been incomplete playing since I switched away from my mac, so like, since 2019 since I've played it "proper".
(the weather is not helping. the fascism definitely not)
We had a little bit of a "blaaaah what do" and then Austin asked "what do you want to do" and I paused a long while and admitted that what I wanted to do was play video games and not think. And so he pointed out that Slay the Spire 2 has just come out in early release and maybe we could try it? I hemmed a little (I don't like the idea of playing games in early release) and we read some of the literature, and I decided "sure, let's give it a shot".
(I still have steambux from my da, and certainly Slay the Spire original is one of those games that I have put a staggering number of hours into1 so I do not at all begrudge giving the makers another round of dollarbux in thanks)
And so we went ahead and hit play and cooperated and chatted and balanced our different playstyles and charged on through. And won! We won very satisfyingly, by mostly creating a good deck vibe (all combos around casting vulnerable) and then immediately blowing that up when given a super powerful artifact at the end of act II.
It was a really lovely balance between "this is extremely familiar" and "this is new and exciting". It's very funny playing my obsessive games with other people, because like, I don't think of myself as being an expert in this game or anything, but I suppose yes, I do immediately know what the cards do or which cards are new. There's definitely some intriguing new options popping up and I look forward to doing some replay.
The timeline is going to be absolutely lovely to find out more about --I like me a little bit of explicit lore sometimes! I mean, I do enjoy the scraps and fragments of the story that you get in the first game, but it's _so_ barebones sometimes that there's nothing really to hang onto.
And it's nice that being cozy and silly and collaborative was able to really turn my mood around at least, and hopefully Austin's as well. Now I can go to sleep feeling a little bit better about my universe (in which my last two workdays were 9.5(today) and 12.5(Fri) hours of active work, and the rest of the week is not looking milder.)
The world is bad but sometimes escapism can be quite nice! Especially when done in good company! I hope you are finding some of that too.
~Sor
MOOP!
1: According to a quick skim of my steam library:
1st place: Crypt of the Necrodancer, 631.5 hours
2nd place: Slay the Spire, 416.8 hours
3rd place: Stardew Valley, 388.9 hours2
4th place: Heroes of Might and Magic III, 324.8 hours3
5th place: Rogue Legacy - 293 hours
In summation, I am not a _broad_ video game player, I am a _deep_ video game player. This is why I am still running through the steambux from my da from two years ago, I just don't buy games very much.
2: Please do not observe that the first time I played this game was like, end of May 2025. The rest of these times are on much longer timeframes (like, multiple years apiece).
3: Heroes should be much higher, there's been lots of times where I've owned this through GoG and emulators not through steam, and I should get that set up again because I miss having phoenixes (and the Steam version doesn't have the expansions, sigh.) It's basically been incomplete playing since I switched away from my mac, so like, since 2019 since I've played it "proper".
* Seattle Torrent to be Grand Marshals in the Seattle Pride Parade this summer!
* With Wints out for undisclosed personal reasons, the Seattle Kraken are probably out of the playoff race. We aren't eliminated yet, but added into everything else, this feels like it. Kraken got off to the best start in their (very short) franchise history. They held onto high standings sometimes in a 3 way tie, painfully close division all season with every game having a huge impact. Insane pressure all season. And now, well shit.
How well positioned we are for next year has a lot to do with whether our trade deadline acquisition stays. He didn't choose to come here, and he honestly didn't think the Leafs were going to trade him away. I hope he stays, but if not still glad we got him for a bit. But if we keep him, let certain UFAs walk, that's going to be a good set up for us. But, we'll see how things pan out and what Front Office does.
* With Wints out for undisclosed personal reasons, the Seattle Kraken are probably out of the playoff race. We aren't eliminated yet, but added into everything else, this feels like it. Kraken got off to the best start in their (very short) franchise history. They held onto high standings sometimes in a 3 way tie, painfully close division all season with every game having a huge impact. Insane pressure all season. And now, well shit.
How well positioned we are for next year has a lot to do with whether our trade deadline acquisition stays. He didn't choose to come here, and he honestly didn't think the Leafs were going to trade him away. I hope he stays, but if not still glad we got him for a bit. But if we keep him, let certain UFAs walk, that's going to be a good set up for us. But, we'll see how things pan out and what Front Office does.
This last Friday afternoon, I held my hand out and a ladybug landed on me. All I'd seen was a tiny bit of movement coming my way, and in holding my hand out, I gave a ladybug a place to sit a moment. Yesterday, I got sunburned from walking around under early cherry blossoms on an absolutely gorgeous late March day. I'm still sore and a little itchy, and I'll be wearing high-necked clothes for a while. There was boba tea, and three different bakeries, and pizza and tacos and a lot of fandom talk with the friend I was staying with - making the other laugh was something we both tried to do a fair amount of, in a game where both sides come out ahead of where they started.
The train got me there early, and got me back a little late. I gave my friend excuse to take me to some of her favorite places, and reason to visit a few more. The both of us stepped away from our regular lives for a while in a mutually beneficial relationship, and now the prospect of the real world looms for tomorrow morning. There was a lot of freedom to be found in basically cutting myself off from the internet - the extent to what I could do on a practical level was check email. My phone wasn't connected to a wifi network, so I couldn't get anything but plain text messages, and it was a surprise to see how many non-text messages I'd missed when I got back to my place.
Bread Furst, Rose Ave, Un Je Ne Sais Quoi, Comet Ping Pong, 801, Spot of Tea, various Smithsonian cafeterias, my friend's kitchen. Various Smithsonian museums, the tidal basin and its various memorials, the circle at Dupont Circle, Metro stations, my friend's apartment. Her roommate and her two cats. A short walk along an urban trail that took us to the Ann and Donald Brown House, which I knew looked impressive enough to be worth talking about. A lot of time with nothing to do and no reason to worry about that. Some TV watched, some movies, not much writing but a good deal of reading and talking. She'll be leaving Washington DC soon, possibly to another coast, possibly somewhere still reasonably close by. I'm glad I got to visit her before she left, when I could still do it by train and be home well before bedtime when it was over.
The train got me there early, and got me back a little late. I gave my friend excuse to take me to some of her favorite places, and reason to visit a few more. The both of us stepped away from our regular lives for a while in a mutually beneficial relationship, and now the prospect of the real world looms for tomorrow morning. There was a lot of freedom to be found in basically cutting myself off from the internet - the extent to what I could do on a practical level was check email. My phone wasn't connected to a wifi network, so I couldn't get anything but plain text messages, and it was a surprise to see how many non-text messages I'd missed when I got back to my place.
Bread Furst, Rose Ave, Un Je Ne Sais Quoi, Comet Ping Pong, 801, Spot of Tea, various Smithsonian cafeterias, my friend's kitchen. Various Smithsonian museums, the tidal basin and its various memorials, the circle at Dupont Circle, Metro stations, my friend's apartment. Her roommate and her two cats. A short walk along an urban trail that took us to the Ann and Donald Brown House, which I knew looked impressive enough to be worth talking about. A lot of time with nothing to do and no reason to worry about that. Some TV watched, some movies, not much writing but a good deal of reading and talking. She'll be leaving Washington DC soon, possibly to another coast, possibly somewhere still reasonably close by. I'm glad I got to visit her before she left, when I could still do it by train and be home well before bedtime when it was over.
(tcampbell1000 posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png)
scans_daily Mar. 23rd, 2026 08:03 pm)
tcampbell1000 posting in scans_daily Mar. 23rd, 2026 08:03 pm)
As should be obvious, I love the JLI work of Keith Giffen and his scripting collaborators like J.M. DeMatteis, so I feel a little treasonous saying this about a story by neither Giffen nor DeMatteis. But I have to speak truth. The lead story here, by Mark Waid and Mike McKone, is my favorite JLI story. Full stop.
( If only the JLU cartoon had adapted this one. )
The Myth of Mobility: Why Faster Cities Often Leave People Behind
When cities measure mobility by speed, they often make everyday life harder to reach.
In many large urban areas, particularly those built during the late twentieth century, everyday necessities have been separated from residential life. Homes are clustered in residential zones while shops, restaurants, libraries, and workplaces are placed far away along commercial corridors or in large retail centers. The result is a city where nearly every basic activity requires driving. On paper, this appears to increase mobility. In reality, it often reduces it.
For people who cannot drive easily, such as older adults, children, individuals with disabilities, or those who cannot afford a car, the distance between daily needs becomes a barrier. Even for those who can drive, environments designed for cars are not always designed for people. Vast parking lots, wide arterial roads, and enormous retail spaces can be physically exhausting and psychologically overwhelming to navigate. True mobility should not be measured only by how fast people can travel, but by how easily they can reach the things they need.
When cities measure mobility by speed, they often make everyday life harder to reach.
In many large urban areas, particularly those built during the late twentieth century, everyday necessities have been separated from residential life. Homes are clustered in residential zones while shops, restaurants, libraries, and workplaces are placed far away along commercial corridors or in large retail centers. The result is a city where nearly every basic activity requires driving. On paper, this appears to increase mobility. In reality, it often reduces it.
For people who cannot drive easily, such as older adults, children, individuals with disabilities, or those who cannot afford a car, the distance between daily needs becomes a barrier. Even for those who can drive, environments designed for cars are not always designed for people. Vast parking lots, wide arterial roads, and enormous retail spaces can be physically exhausting and psychologically overwhelming to navigate. True mobility should not be measured only by how fast people can travel, but by how easily they can reach the things they need.
Tags:
sweettartheart had this one!50 This or Thats
1. Bagels or donuts? Bagels
2. Bar soap or body wash? Bar soap
3. Being afraid or being embarrassed? - yeah neither? Both turn me into rage!beast
4. Big bash or intimate gathering? Intimate, I guess, as I now have crippling social anxiety
5. Board games or video games? Board games
( and the rest )
Tags:
This floating time crystal breaks Newton’s third law of motion
A simple setup of sound-levitated beads has revealed a bizarre new time crystal that breaks physics rules—and could reshape future technology.
Scientists have created a new kind of time crystal using sound waves to levitate tiny beads in mid-air. These particles interact in a one-sided, unbalanced way, breaking the usual rules of motion and creating a steady, repeating rhythm. The system is surprisingly simple yet reveals complex physics with big implications. It could help advance quantum computing and deepen our understanding of biological timing systems.
Aaaaaand all of us from the Torn World shared world are going O_O >_< O_O
A simple setup of sound-levitated beads has revealed a bizarre new time crystal that breaks physics rules—and could reshape future technology.
Scientists have created a new kind of time crystal using sound waves to levitate tiny beads in mid-air. These particles interact in a one-sided, unbalanced way, breaking the usual rules of motion and creating a steady, repeating rhythm. The system is surprisingly simple yet reveals complex physics with big implications. It could help advance quantum computing and deepen our understanding of biological timing systems.
Aaaaaand all of us from the Torn World shared world are going O_O >_< O_O
Ugh, I don't know. Feeling restless and mildly discontented. At least there's sun today.
A week and a half ago I located my spare viola strings (leftover from the last time I changed strings, whenever that was), picked up a 1/8-size cello G, and restrung my viola to a tenor. I'm liking it an awful lot. It's certainly harder to play. I've switched to my cello bow, which is heavier than the viola bow, and it still requires significant deliberate pressure to get a halfway decent sound. Left-hand work feels slower too. Might be a result of the higher tension on the strings making them harder to press down, I guess?
But: I like it. I like the way it sounds, I like the way it feels to play. I find myself in the position of actively wanting to practice. I'm doing something that I enjoy and calls to me, and that I'm happy about afterwards. It's been a really long time since I had something like that. I suspect the social aspect helps. I took it out to the session last Wednesday and it blended in well: not drowning anyone out, not getting drowned out. I need a great deal of practice but that's no surprise. And fixable.
When I have money (cue bitter laughter) I may look into getting a proper tenor viola, instead of hoping the higher tension on the strings doesn't cause damage. There's this guy in Georgia who makes them, and he's put a decent amount of effort into the design. His tenor/octave violas have thicker bodies, and are fatter at the bottom ('a wide lower bout') but not at the top, so you get a bigger resonance chamber and can still get your left arm around to reach the neck.
Two weeks ago the movers cleared out half my stuff. Unsurprisingly the place looks much bigger and brighter. It's nice to have more light, granted... but it's just so empty. Hm. Likely affecting my mood.
I'd like to have my books back, too. I don't require them to be visible at all times, I'd be happy with a separate library room, but I do want them accessible. Good information to have. I probably could cut ruthlessly but there's no need, not immediately anyway.
Rhonda the realtor came by last week and took some reference photos. She emailed me today to say that the real photographer can come on Friday and we can list on Monday. Works for me. Gives me a few more days to finish moving extraneous stuff to the storage unit, now that I know I've got a little more room in there than I was afraid of. Still no idea what the market will be like; guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks.
Still in a holding pattern, but I can see the beginnings of what might be movement.
A week and a half ago I located my spare viola strings (leftover from the last time I changed strings, whenever that was), picked up a 1/8-size cello G, and restrung my viola to a tenor. I'm liking it an awful lot. It's certainly harder to play. I've switched to my cello bow, which is heavier than the viola bow, and it still requires significant deliberate pressure to get a halfway decent sound. Left-hand work feels slower too. Might be a result of the higher tension on the strings making them harder to press down, I guess?
But: I like it. I like the way it sounds, I like the way it feels to play. I find myself in the position of actively wanting to practice. I'm doing something that I enjoy and calls to me, and that I'm happy about afterwards. It's been a really long time since I had something like that. I suspect the social aspect helps. I took it out to the session last Wednesday and it blended in well: not drowning anyone out, not getting drowned out. I need a great deal of practice but that's no surprise. And fixable.
When I have money (cue bitter laughter) I may look into getting a proper tenor viola, instead of hoping the higher tension on the strings doesn't cause damage. There's this guy in Georgia who makes them, and he's put a decent amount of effort into the design. His tenor/octave violas have thicker bodies, and are fatter at the bottom ('a wide lower bout') but not at the top, so you get a bigger resonance chamber and can still get your left arm around to reach the neck.
Two weeks ago the movers cleared out half my stuff. Unsurprisingly the place looks much bigger and brighter. It's nice to have more light, granted... but it's just so empty. Hm. Likely affecting my mood.
I'd like to have my books back, too. I don't require them to be visible at all times, I'd be happy with a separate library room, but I do want them accessible. Good information to have. I probably could cut ruthlessly but there's no need, not immediately anyway.
Rhonda the realtor came by last week and took some reference photos. She emailed me today to say that the real photographer can come on Friday and we can list on Monday. Works for me. Gives me a few more days to finish moving extraneous stuff to the storage unit, now that I know I've got a little more room in there than I was afraid of. Still no idea what the market will be like; guess we'll find out in a couple of weeks.
Still in a holding pattern, but I can see the beginnings of what might be movement.
The Pattern Recognition TV series? I have no idea. Awhile ago I called my Hollywood agent -- who was Harlan Ellison's Hollywood agent, to give you an idea how long he's been in the business -- and asked him about it. He said, "Well, it's starting to look almost exactly like something does right before it goes into production." And I got excited and said, "Really?" and he said, "Yeah... it's weird."
--William Gibson, c.2013
An epistolatory novel about the friendship between an American Jew, Max, and a German, Martin. As Hitler rises to power, their relationship sours, in some expected ways and some less expected, as their characters are revealed.
Very short, very powerful, very technically skilled, a quick easy read with an unexpected and unforgettable outcome. Seriously, don't click on spoilers if there's any chance you'll read the book. That being said, I read it because Naomi Kritzer told me the whole story and it was still great. Thanks for the rec!
The book was published in 1939 under a male-sounding pseudonym, but the style feels almost modern and the themes feel incredibly modern. There's an afterword about what inspired the book, which which is worth reading. Taylor had some German friends who seemed like kind, wonderful people, who became fervent Nazis and abandoned their Jewish friends. In a question so many of us are asking now, she wondered, What changed their hearts so? What steps brought them to such cruelty?
( Read more... )
---
tags:
- habit/Braindump
- habit/Exercise
- habit/Going Outside
- habit/Meds
---
Capybara tangent!
So, it was me, S, and some of her other friends. Everyone got on pretty well, and seemed to have a really good time. I'd met one of the folks before, but not the other two. H and I get along already, but never talk or anything but she knows the other two and they were her friends before they were S's.
The place we went wasn't actually a cafe but rather, a general animal encounter place. We weren't sure how it was going to go because well, those places aren't always run the best, but this one seems really, really great. It's tied to a rescue, and they vet the animals that go to that place, and are very careful with the amount of people that are in the encounter both at once, and throughout the day. They also kept an eye out on the animals and were willing to go "Okay, this little guy is done now so we're going to let him chill out."
So, we all felt really good about that, and are probably going to go back because they have other animals to befriend and stuff like this works a lot better for me and my vision rather than other things.
The two capybaras we met were named Tater Tot (tiny boyyyy), and Augustus (not so tiny boy. XD). They were both friendly with people, and were very food motivated, so we shared much lettuce with them. They're really bristly, which I didn't expect for some reason, and Augustus was very grumpy when he wasn't the center of attention. It was both endearing and kind of funny because Tater Tot was like three times as small as he was, but did not give a fuck.
We also got to meet a baby kangaroo! He was such a good, friendly little fellow and he tried to follow us into the room where the capybaras were. We got to pet him briefly and omg, I had no idea small kangaroos were so soft.
After we left, we stopped at an ice cream place and got some. S and I got a really nice and refreshing lemon ginger thing, and it was such a good choice. So tasty. They had a strawberry balsamic one too, which was...Eh. It really just tasted like mediocre strawberry. S has had something like that before and was like "Oh no, it should be a little different than that."
Then yesterday was like 3 hours of Dragon Age! It was great, I was so pleased! I'm having a blast and K is so kind and sweet. I kind of adore them and I'm so glad my partner is dating them too.
I have not seen more Exorcist, but hopefully that will change soo. Later today should be more Dragon Age though, assuming I'm not driving somewhere when the time rolls around. I'm going to be heading to S's house for some housesitting later today, so I miiiight not be able to do it. We'll see.
tags:
- habit/Braindump
- habit/Exercise
- habit/Going Outside
- habit/Meds
---
Capybara tangent!
So, it was me, S, and some of her other friends. Everyone got on pretty well, and seemed to have a really good time. I'd met one of the folks before, but not the other two. H and I get along already, but never talk or anything but she knows the other two and they were her friends before they were S's.
The place we went wasn't actually a cafe but rather, a general animal encounter place. We weren't sure how it was going to go because well, those places aren't always run the best, but this one seems really, really great. It's tied to a rescue, and they vet the animals that go to that place, and are very careful with the amount of people that are in the encounter both at once, and throughout the day. They also kept an eye out on the animals and were willing to go "Okay, this little guy is done now so we're going to let him chill out."
So, we all felt really good about that, and are probably going to go back because they have other animals to befriend and stuff like this works a lot better for me and my vision rather than other things.
The two capybaras we met were named Tater Tot (tiny boyyyy), and Augustus (not so tiny boy. XD). They were both friendly with people, and were very food motivated, so we shared much lettuce with them. They're really bristly, which I didn't expect for some reason, and Augustus was very grumpy when he wasn't the center of attention. It was both endearing and kind of funny because Tater Tot was like three times as small as he was, but did not give a fuck.
We also got to meet a baby kangaroo! He was such a good, friendly little fellow and he tried to follow us into the room where the capybaras were. We got to pet him briefly and omg, I had no idea small kangaroos were so soft.
After we left, we stopped at an ice cream place and got some. S and I got a really nice and refreshing lemon ginger thing, and it was such a good choice. So tasty. They had a strawberry balsamic one too, which was...Eh. It really just tasted like mediocre strawberry. S has had something like that before and was like "Oh no, it should be a little different than that."
Then yesterday was like 3 hours of Dragon Age! It was great, I was so pleased! I'm having a blast and K is so kind and sweet. I kind of adore them and I'm so glad my partner is dating them too.
I have not seen more Exorcist, but hopefully that will change soo. Later today should be more Dragon Age though, assuming I'm not driving somewhere when the time rolls around. I'm going to be heading to S's house for some housesitting later today, so I miiiight not be able to do it. We'll see.
Today is partly cloudy and chilly, now in the 40s. Yesterday went from a high of 87°F to just below freezing. >_<
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows, a mixed flock of blackbirds including a redwing, and two mourning doves.
I put out water for the birds.
We measured the parking lot and driveway.
EDIT 3/23/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
I've seen a pair of house finches.
EDIT 3/23/26 -- I sowed 4 pots (each with 2 seeds) of 'Sugar Ann' snap peas and 4 pots (each with 2 seeds) of 'Avalanche' snow peas on the new picnic table garden. My plan is to sow the other pots when I plant tomatoes, peppers, or whatever and then see which does best.
EDIT 3/23/26 -- I cleaned up the 4 giant pots by the septic garden.
EDIT 3/23/26 -- I did some trimming in the savanna.
I set up air-layering on the excellent mulberry beside the old fishpond.
I've seen a female cardinal at the hopper feeder.
EDIT 3/23/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
I am done for the night.
* * *
Measurements for driveway and parking lot:
Length of driveway, from street to parking area: 117 feet
Width of driveway: 10 feet
Width of parking area, from sidewalk to rock border: 47 feet
Length of parking area, from rock border to propane tank: 39 feet
Area of driveway (10’ width): 1170 square feet
Area of parking area: 1833 square feet
Total surface area of driveway and lot: 3003 square feet
I fed the birds. I've seen a large flock of sparrows, a mixed flock of blackbirds including a redwing, and two mourning doves.
I put out water for the birds.
We measured the parking lot and driveway.
EDIT 3/23/26 -- I did a bit of work around the patio.
I've seen a pair of house finches.
EDIT 3/23/26 -- I sowed 4 pots (each with 2 seeds) of 'Sugar Ann' snap peas and 4 pots (each with 2 seeds) of 'Avalanche' snow peas on the new picnic table garden. My plan is to sow the other pots when I plant tomatoes, peppers, or whatever and then see which does best.
EDIT 3/23/26 -- I cleaned up the 4 giant pots by the septic garden.
EDIT 3/23/26 -- I did some trimming in the savanna.
I set up air-layering on the excellent mulberry beside the old fishpond.
I've seen a female cardinal at the hopper feeder.
EDIT 3/23/26 -- I did more work around the patio.
I am done for the night.
* * *
Measurements for driveway and parking lot:
Length of driveway, from street to parking area: 117 feet
Width of driveway: 10 feet
Width of parking area, from sidewalk to rock border: 47 feet
Length of parking area, from rock border to propane tank: 39 feet
Area of driveway (10’ width): 1170 square feet
Area of parking area: 1833 square feet
Total surface area of driveway and lot: 3003 square feet
* The NHL has teams play a few regular seasons games over in Europe each season. Next season, it's the Kraken and the Canes off to Finland to play some of their matches there. That'll be cool.
* I've already have some conversations about hockey where I've said I don't have a problem with fighting in hockey, I have a problem with the circumstances that lead to fights. In addition to the Gudas hits, now we've got Greer only getting suspended for 3 games over this shit. ( This got long )
* Joey Daccord talking about what he anticipates from various shooters. This was a longer reel on the NHL insta a bit ago, but glad at least part of it was put on youtube, a goalie's breakdown of approaches.
Also, I've mentioned it before, but Joey's youtube channel is great. Gear breakdowns, training sessions, even him getting PT.
* I've already have some conversations about hockey where I've said I don't have a problem with fighting in hockey, I have a problem with the circumstances that lead to fights. In addition to the Gudas hits, now we've got Greer only getting suspended for 3 games over this shit. ( This got long )
* Joey Daccord talking about what he anticipates from various shooters. This was a longer reel on the NHL insta a bit ago, but glad at least part of it was put on youtube, a goalie's breakdown of approaches.
Also, I've mentioned it before, but Joey's youtube channel is great. Gear breakdowns, training sessions, even him getting PT.
Anyway.
Partner and I are in need of a solicitor for a fairly routine and non-urgent matter, so, looked up who it was we went to last time we had a routine life admin thing requiring the services of a legal professional.
(This was actually a bit more time-consuming than I anticipated, have I mentioned that archivists are really Not All That at keeping on top of their own papers? The cobbler's children syndrome.)
But, I found the name of the practice and looked them up on The Internetz and they are there, as having gone out of business some few years ago, on Companies House website.
And they are by no means the first solicitors I have had dealings with, though I think the ones in Kentish Town saw me through the purchase of First Flat and present dwelling and possibly various other legal matters, but are now no longer operating more or less adjacent to the Tube station.
I suppose that these days one should not anticipate that you have Old Mr Thing the attorney-at law and Young Mr Thing his son who keeps up the practice and Even Younger Mr Thing who is being brought on in the family tradition -
- and that these things come and go like everything else and they are no longer quite the repository of folk memory like in mystery novels.
Way back when I was starting out as a Wee Babby Archivist, I remember that a big thing of the day, practically A Crisis, was solicitors' records. As I was never actually employed in a repository where I had any direct dealings with the problem, I'm not sure whether this was due to practices going defunct, or just somebody going down into the cellar and realising that they still had all the papers from Jarndyce v Jarndyce back to its origins along with tons of other stuff. But anyway, there were Massive Amounts of Very Misc Material (quite surprising what turned up) which looking back I suspect had all sorts of issues around ownership to complicate matters even further.
(If anyone has recs for N London solicitors would be glad to hear of them.)
These are some posts from the later part of last week in case you missed them:
Poem: "The Bridge of Mist"
Science
Birdfeeding
Select Seeds Order
Prairie Moon Order
Fossils
Birdfeeding
Moment of Silence: Nicholas Brendon
Philosophical Questions: Marriage
Follow Friday 3-20-26: Magic
Friday Five
Birdfeeding
Birdfeeding
Community Thursdays
Science
Birdfeeding
Cuddle Party
Linguistics has 45 comments. Philosophical Questions: Pregnancy has 63 comments. Safety has 59 comments. Wildlife has 49 comments.
Last week's bonus fishbowl went well. I am still writing.
marchmetamatterschallenge is running this month. See my tracking post and the first check-in post.
The weather has been erratic here, and yesterday was downright psychotic. It was cold with howling wind, then mild, then hot. Yesterday went from 87F to 57F in an hour, then 47F, and just below freezing overnight. We got a dribble of rain, but most of last night's storm missed us. The ground is starting to crack -- in March, which used to be the Moon of Mud Everywhere. >_< Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, several brown-headed cowbirds, two mourning doves, two male cardinals, and a fox squirrel. Red-winged blackbirds have been singing overhead. Currently blooming: crocuses, snowdrops, daffodils, squill, violets, apricot, grape hyacinths.
Poem: "The Bridge of Mist"
Science
Birdfeeding
Select Seeds Order
Prairie Moon Order
Fossils
Birdfeeding
Moment of Silence: Nicholas Brendon
Philosophical Questions: Marriage
Follow Friday 3-20-26: Magic
Friday Five
Birdfeeding
Birdfeeding
Community Thursdays
Science
Birdfeeding
Cuddle Party
Linguistics has 45 comments. Philosophical Questions: Pregnancy has 63 comments. Safety has 59 comments. Wildlife has 49 comments.
Last week's bonus fishbowl went well. I am still writing.
marchmetamatterschallenge is running this month. See my tracking post and the first check-in post.The weather has been erratic here, and yesterday was downright psychotic. It was cold with howling wind, then mild, then hot. Yesterday went from 87F to 57F in an hour, then 47F, and just below freezing overnight. We got a dribble of rain, but most of last night's storm missed us. The ground is starting to crack -- in March, which used to be the Moon of Mud Everywhere. >_< Seen at the birdfeeders this week: a mixed flock of sparrows and house finches, several brown-headed cowbirds, two mourning doves, two male cardinals, and a fox squirrel. Red-winged blackbirds have been singing overhead. Currently blooming: crocuses, snowdrops, daffodils, squill, violets, apricot, grape hyacinths.
Wish to inform those that are interested in Clorinda Cathcart's Circle that Volume 25, Choices: Taking Decisions will appear this coming Friday, 27th March:
A Parliamentary election causes considerable upheaval to the summer plans of Society in general, and of Clorinda and her circle. But besides any choices concerning the government of the nation, several of them find that they have to make decisions touching on more personal matters.
The delay in making this announcement has been caused, in part, by problems with the Google Books version: but it is hoped that these will be resolved in a timely manner.
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