It was a battle between my queer identity and my biologist identity. For regular browsing and posting, science won out. But I have an account with blajah.zone too to discuss the queer agenda.
I consider myself a people, and I prefer my body jewelry to be gold if I can afford it. A few pieces are gold-colored anodized titanium (which are fading), but very prominent pieces are solid gold. I like yellow gold, not rose gold. I actually think titanium/"silver" looks more tacky than gold.
But that's just for pieces of jewelry that go into my body. For bracelets and such, I prefer brass, leather, and shades of brown. I don't wear necklaces.
Gold cars are disgusting though.
I too use peanut oil for cooking nearly everything. So cheap.
Same with me and Catan. I generally do not like resource-hoarding "competitive" games anyway, and Catan did not help that.
I definitely have my fair share of close crops, especially herps! I also posted a close crop (because it was just that close) of a brown-capped rosy finch to the wildlife photography community today too.
I like to leave some habitat because I find it adds interest and complexity to a photo. Plus, sometimes the birb no longer appears smol if so focused in the photo! I've gotten more comfortable with even more distant shots of birbs, too--sometimes I can make raptors look illegally smol.
The gain and then subsequent slashing of human rights based on fascist beliefs and lack of representation (and possibly over representation by fringe groups that capture the news cycle). Across the world, populism and fascism is gaining in popularity - again. It felt like we'd gotten past this point for a minute.
I don't get tired of little ducks like teal. Two cinnamon teal on the left, blue-winged teal drake on the right.
Colorado, USA, May 2022
Sometimes warblers don't care how close you are. This one was probably ten feet away. They are truly smol, and I like to crop my photos.
Honduras, April 2023
Golden-crowned kinglet
Pennsylvania, January 2022
That community didn't seem too active. I'm trying to boost inactive communities, but that's too niche for me, lol. I only have ~checks notes~ 23 species photographed!
Routine:
There is not yet enough content for your sort selection to really matter. I sort by new because at least I'll see more content as stuff is posted throughout the day.
Sometimes I don't even know what I'm photographing. This is a male blue-black grassquit doing a "I'm sexy" dance as he calls.
Harlequin ducks! Ohio, Feburary 2023
I love finding huge flocks of ducks and picking through them to see which species are hanging out. This flock has gadwall, American wigeon, and a northern shoveler.
Pennsylvania, July 2023
It might not be obvious, but these sparkling-tailed hummingbirds are actually smaller than some big beetles. When they're flying past, it's hard to believe that they're actually birds.
Honduras, June 2022
This guy has been in Pennsylvania for over a month now. The juxtaposition between this Florida-to-South-Texas duck and the Canada geese in the background is wild to me. While it was great to see one of my favorite duck species, the mottled duck is threatened in the south by genetic swamping by mallards. Some folks I've talked to estimate that we will no longer have pure mottled ducks in the next 40-50 years due to hybridization. This guy has a bit of white at the bottom of his speculum, but it's not too much for a pure mottled duck drake. I commonly identify hybrids, so it was wonderful to photograph this duck.
July 2023. Ducks are my people.
I repotted all of my plants a few weeks ago and then didn't transition them slowly enough to being outside for the summer. A bunch got burns. Last weekend, we had a short but fast and windy thunderstorm roll through which knocked over several plants. My little andersoni (Swiss cheese one) lost two other stems that I am trying to prop now, but this one is hanging on.
I'm seeing new leaves on most of my plants. The tiny Monstera deliciosa on the left grew from roots I hadn't cleared out when I decided to behead the larger plant (which also has a new leaf). Those two leaves popped out within a few weeks of each other!
I'm hoping I can avoid any other major issues over the rest of the summer, but I'm still learning a lot.
Tsuro is always our go-to short game for when folks are getting to game night and getting into the mood. We also like to play Uno at the end of the night when our brains are fried or Jackbox.